Suomi [antikvár]

FinlandAs a country Finland is in many ways special.On the map of the world there are countries the territory of which extends farther north the Soviet Union, Norway, Canada, and the United States too, (since it includes Alaska) but the central areas of political importance of these countries lie farther south, so Finland competes with Iceland for the honor of being the northernmost country of the world. The distance from Lapland to the North Pole is 2,200 kilometers, from Helsinki to the equator is 6,600 kilometers.Finland is the fifth largest country in Europe: its surface area is 337,000 square kilometers, its length is 1,160 kilometers. The common land boundary of Finland with the Soviet Union is 1,269 kilometers in length, with Norway 716 kilometers, and with Sweden 536 kilometers. On the south and west Finland is also bounded by the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia; the 'straight' length of the sea-coast of Finland is 1,100 kilometers, but because of the many bays and capes the actual coastline extends for over 4,600 kilometers.Since there are only 4.8 million inhabitants in this extensive country, the density of population is only 15 persons per square kilometer; the average density of population on the earth is 25 persons per square kilometer. And since half of the population of Finland live in three southwestern provinces, central and northern Finland are, in fact, sparsely populated; the province of Lapland has only two inhabitants per square kilometer. The Finns are really a northern people of all the people on this earth who live north of the 60th parallel, which is the latitude of the southern coast of Finland, one out of three is Finnish.Because Finland is so long and extends so far North, the flora is different in different parts of the country. On the coast of the Gulf of Finland there is a strip of a Central European botanical zone including oaks and maple trees; in northernmost Lapland there are vast tundra areas. Finland is among the most forested countries of the world; two-thirds of its surface area is made up of forests, which are the basis of the country's economy. Only one-tenth of the area is cultivated fields, and even that area is concentrated in southern Finland and in Ostrobotnia, the western coast area.Lakes are Finland's pride the inland waters of Finland cover a total of 31,600 squarekilometers. As separate units the lakes and ponds number 60,000, but they form a continuous labyrinth of waters unique in the world especially in the southern and central regions of the country. There are 17 large lakes of more than 200 square kilometers in area; elsewhere in Europe there are a total of only 29 lakes of this size. The archipelago of southwestern Finland and the Aland Islands, consisting of 20,000 islands and extending over a hundred kilometers, is in its charming fragmented ruggedness rare in the world.Finland is a country of changing seasons. Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter each bring variety, and each colors nature with its own characteristic colors.Finland is a country with a bright summer and a dark winter. In northernmost Lapland there is a period of two months in the summer when the sun does not set below the horizon at all, and there is a period of two months in the winter when the sun does not appear at all. The climate of Finland is such that the summers are warm, the winters comparatively mild the Gulf Stream provides warmth.The oldest archeological findings giving evidence of settlement in Finland date from the period immediately after the ice age, around 7500 B.C., but as late as the sixteenth century A.D. settlement in Finland was concentrated in the southern parts of Finland and on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. In the thirteenth century A.D. Sweden annexed the area of- Finland to the territory under Swedish rule, but the East also craved the same wilderness areas for its own. For half a millenium Finland was fought over; East and West in turn imprinted their stamp on all life in Finland. After the War of Finland, 180809, the whole country was annexed to Russia, and as Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy the Finnish people became aware of their unity and began to strive toward independence. In the turmoil of the Russian Revolution Finland in 1917 declared itself and independent state. The Republic of Finland preserved its independence in the conflagration of the last world war, after dramatic vicissitudes.At present this northern country, Finland, is a state with surprisingly great vitality: in the heated international competition for a higher standard of living it is aiming at a position among the ten richest countries in the world.