Finland officially the Republic of Finland is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.

Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.

Finland was a part of Sweden from the 12th to 19th century, and from 1809 to 1917 was an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire. The Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in 1917 was followed by a civil war in which the red side was defeated with German support. Finland fought World War II as essentially three separate conflicts: the Winter War (1939–40), the Continuation War (1941–44), and the Lapland War (1944–45). Finland joined the United Nations in 1955, the OECD in 1969, the European Union in 1995, and the eurozone at its inception in 1999.

Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialisation, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. Thereafter, economic development was rapid. Finland is one of the world's wealthiest nations with per capita income of $49,349. It built an extensive welfare state and balanced between the East and the West in global economics and politics. With the best educational system in Europe according to some measures,Finland has recently been ranked as one of the world's most peaceful, competitive and livable countries.

Etymology

Among the first documents to mention Finland are three rune-stones. There are two in the Swedish province Uppland, with the inscriptions finlonti (U 582) and one in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea, with the inscription finlandi (G 319), the latter dating from the 13th century^.

Suomi

The name Suomi (Finnish for "Finland") has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a cognate is the Proto-Baltic word *zeme, meaning "land". In addition to the close relatives of Finnish (the Finnic languages), this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian. Alternatively, the Indo-European word *gʰm-on "man" (cf. Gothic guma, Latin homo) has been suggested, being borrowed as *ćoma. The word originally referred only to the province of Finland Proper, and later to the northern coast of Gulf of Finland, with northern lands such as Ostrobothnia still being excluded as late as the 18th century. Earlier theories suggested derivation from suomaa (fen land) or suoniemi (fen cape), and parallels between saame (Sami, a non-Finnish people in Finland) and Häme (a Finnish people and a province) were drawn, but these theories are now considered outdated.

Geography

Lying approximately between latitudes 60° and 70° N, and longitudes 20° and 32° E, Finland is one of the world's northernmost countries. Of world capitals, only Reykjavik lies more to the north than Helsinki. The distance from the southernmost—Hanko—to the northernmost point in the country—Nuorgam—is 1,160 kilometres (720 mi).

Finland is a country of thousands of lakes and islands—187,888 lakes (larger than 500 m²/0.12 acre) and 179,584 islands.Its largest lake, Saimaa, is the fourth largest in Europe. The area with most lakes is called Finnish Lakeland. The greatest number of islands are to be found in the southwest in the Turku archipelago. Further from the coast lies Ahvenanmaa or Åland (in Swedish) Islands.

Much of the geography of Finland is explained by the Ice Age. The glaciers were thicker and lasted longer in Fennoscandia compared to the rest of Europe. Their eroding effects have left the Finnish landscape mostly flat with few hills and fewer mountains. Its highest point, the Halti at 1,324 metres (4,344 ft), is found in the extreme north of Lapland at the border between Finland and Norway. The highest mountain whose peak is entirely in Finland is Ridnitsohkka at 1,316 m (4,318 ft), directly adjacent to Halti.

The retreating glaciers have left the land with morainic deposits in formations of eskers. These are ridges of stratified gravel and sand, running northwest to southeast, where the ancient edge of the glacier once lay. Among the biggest of these are the three Salpausselkä ridges that run across southern Finland.

Due to having been compressed under the enormous weight of the glaciers, terrain in Finland is rising due to the post-glacial rebound. The effect is strongest around the Gulf of Bothnia, where land steadily rises about 1 cm a year. As a result, the old sea bottom turns little by little into dry land: the surface area of the country is expanding by about 7 square kilometres (2.7 sq mi) annually. In a sense, Finland is rising from the sea.

Forest covers 86% of the country's area, the largest forested area in Europe. The forest consists of pine, spruce, birch and other species. Finland is the largest producer of wood in Europe and among the largest in the world.

The landscape is covered mostly (75% of land area) by coniferous taiga forests and fens, with little arable land. The most common type of rock is granite. It is a ubiquitous part of the scenery, visible wherever there is no soil cover. Moraine or till is the most common type of soil, covered by a thin layer of humus of biological origin. Podzol profile development is seen in most forest soils except where drainage is poor. Gleysols and peat bogs occupy poorly drained areas.

Climate

Finland has a humid and cool semi-continental climate, characterized by warm summers and freezing winters. The climate type in southern Finland is north temperate climate. Winters of southern Finland (average day time temperature is below 0 °C/32 °F) are usually 4 months long, and the snow typically covers the land from middle of December to early April. In the southern coast, it can melt many times during early winter, and then come again. The coldest winter days of southern Finland can be as low as −40 °C (−40 °F), and the warmest days of July and August can be as high as 35 °C (95 °F). Arctic tundra proper is not found in Finland; Finland lies almost exactly on the taiga belt, being covered in boreal forest. Alpine tundra can be found in the mountainous Lapland, and oak grows in the southernmost islands and coast.

Climatic summers of the southern Finland last 4 months (from mid May to mid September). In northern Finland, particularly in Lapland, a subarctic climate dominates, characterized by cold—occasionally severe—winters and relatively warm, short summers. Winters in north Finland are nearly 7 months long, and snow covers the lands almost 6 months, from October to early May. Summers in the north are quite short, only two to three months.

The main factor influencing Finland's climate is the country's geographical position between the 60th and 70th northern parallels in the Eurasian continent's coastal zone, which shows characteristics of both a maritime and a continental climate, depending on the direction of air flow. Finland is near enough to the Atlantic Ocean to be continuously warmed by the Gulf Stream, which explains the unusually warm climate considering the absolute latitude.

The Finnish climate is suitable for grain farming in the southernmost regions but not farther north.

A quarter of Finland's territory lies within the Arctic Circle and the midnight sun can be experienced for more days the farther north one travels. At Finland's northernmost point, the sun does not set for 73 consecutive days during summer, and does not rise at all for 51 days during winter.

Languages

Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of Finland. Finnish predominates nationwide while Swedish is spoken in some coastal areas in the west and south and in the autonomous region of Åland. The Sami language is an official language in northern Lapland. Also Finnish Romani and Finnish Sign Language are recognized in the constitution. The Nordic languages and Karelian are also specially treated in some contexts.

The native language of 90% of the population is Finnish, which is part of the Finnic subgroup of the Uralic languages. The language is one of only four official EU languages not of Indo-European origin. Finnish is closely related to Karelian and Estonian and more remotely to the Sami languages and Hungarian.

Swedish is the native language of 5.4% of the population (Swedish-speaking Finns)^. To the north, in Lapland, are the Sami people, numbering around 7,000 and recognized as an indigenous people. About a quarter of them speak a Sami language as their mother tongue. There are three Sami languages that are spoken in Finland: Northern Sami, Inari Sami and Skolt Sami. Finnish Romani is spoken by some 5,000–6,000 people, who usually also speak Finnish. The Finnish Sign Language is used as a first language by 4,000–5,000 people. Tatar language is spoken by a Finnish Tatar minority of about 800 people who moved to Finland mainly during the Russian rule from the 1870s until 1920s. The right of minority groups (in particular Sami, Swedish-speaking Finns and Romani people) to cherish their culture and language is protected by the constitution.

Immigrant languages include Russian (1.1%), Estonian (0.6%), Somali, English and Arabic (see Languages of Finland).

The best known foreign languages are English (63%), German (18%), and French (3%). English is studied by most pupils as a compulsory subject from the third or fifth grade (at 9 or 11 years of age respectively) in the comprehensive school (in some schools other languages can be chosen instead). German, French and Russian can be studied as second foreign languages from the eighth grade (at 14 years of age; some schools may offer other options). A third foreign language may be studied in upper secondary school or university (at 16 years of age or over).

Sports

Various sporting events are popular in Finland. Pesäpallo (a reminiscent of baseball) is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular sports in terms of spectator interest are ice hockey, athletics, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Formula One.

In terms of medals and gold medals won per capita, Finland is the best performing country in the Olympic history. Finland first participated at the Olympic Games in 1908. At the time, Finland was still an autonomous Grand Duchy within the Russian Empire and the Finns took great national pride especially in the three gold medals won by the original Flying Finn Hannes Kolehmainen at the 1912 Summer Olympics.

Finland was one of the most successful countries at the Olympic Games before World War II. At the 1924 Summer Olympics, Finland, a nation of only 3.2 million people at the time, placed second in the medal count behind only to the USA. Perhaps most significantly, Finnish long-distance runners dominated the Olympics during the 1920s–30s. Paavo Nurmi won a total of nine Olympic gold medals between 1920 and 1928 and set 22 official world records between 1921 and 1931. Nurmi is often considered the greatest Finnish sportsman ever and one of the greatest athletes of all time.

For over 100 years, Finnish male and female athletes have consistently excelled at the javelin throw. The event has brought them nine Olympic gold medals, five world championships, five European championships and 24 world records.

In addition to Kolehmainen and Nurmi, some of Finland’s most internationally well-known and successful sportspeople are long-distance runners Ville Ritola and Lasse Virén; ski-jumpers Matti Nykänen and Janne Ahonen; cross-country skiers Veikko Hakulinen, Eero Mäntyranta, Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi and Mika Myllylä; rower Pertti Karppinen; gymnast Heikki Savolainen; ice hockey players Jari Kurri, Teemu Selänne, and Saku Koivu; football players Jari Litmanen and Sami Hyypiä; alpine skiers Kalle Palander and Tanja Poutiainen; Formula One world champions Keke Rosberg, Mika Häkkinen and Kimi Räikkönen; and four-time World Rally champions Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen.

The 1952 Summer Olympics were held in Helsinki. Other notable sporting events held in Finland include the 1983 and 2005 World Championships in Athletics.

Some of the most popular recreational sports and activities include floorball, Nordic walking, running, cycling and skiing.

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