Suomi - Finland

● Capital: Helsinki● Population: about 5 500 000● President: Sauli Niinistö● Prime minister: Jyrki Katainen● Area: 338 432,07 km²● Languages: Finnish and Swedish

● Currency: Euro (€)● Government: Parliamentary rebublic

● Indepedence day: 6.12.1917● In the European Union● WE DONT HAVE POLAR BEARS HERE AND WE

DON’T LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST

Finland’s geography

● Provinces:● 1) Province of southern Finland● 2) Province of western Finland● 3) Province of eastern Finland● 4) Province of Oulu● 5) Province of Lapland● 6) Province of Ahvenanmaa

● 1) Most Finns live in the southern part of Finland. There are a lot of grain fields. The capital of Finland, Helsinki is there. Landscape is very flat and there are not many lakes.

● 2) Landscape in western Finland is very flat and there are many rivers. Rivers flood every spring when the snow melts. Including Ahvenanmaa, this is the area where the Swedish language is spoken most in Finland.

Grain fields of Southern Finland

Floods in Pohjanmaa.

● 3) Eastern Finland is also called Järvi-Suomi (Lake-Finland). Most of the lakes (and the biggest) in Finland are located in this area.

● 4) Province of Oulu has got its name because the biggest city in the area is Oulu. People in this area live quite far away from each other. Most of the area are forests and there are barely any grain fields.

● Lake-Finland

● 5) Lapland, the home of the reindeer, huge untouched forests, midnight sun, northern lights, Sami people and Santa Claus. The biggest city: Rovaniemi, people usually live very far away each other. (About 2 people in km²)

● 6) Ahvenanmaa is the biggest island that belongs to Finland. Almost all people in Ahvenanmaa speak Swedish.

● Hikers in Lappland.

● Map of Ahvenanmaa.

History of Finland

● The reason why Swedish is spoken in Finland, is because it has been a part of Sweden for a long time (12th century – 18th century).

● Finland was separated from Sweden in 1809. There was a war between Russia and Sweden and the Russian army conquered the area of Finland.

● Finland was under Russian control until 1917.

● Winter war and Continuation war was names of battles of World war 2 that took place in Finland. Both of them were against the Soviet Union. Finland lost the war because our army was a lot of smaller. But the defeat was only theoretic because Russians were killed over ten times more than Finnish soldiers.

● Finland had to give away some parts of land for the Russia to make peace.

Finnish specialities

● Sauna. It’s a place to bath, originally a room heated with a fireplace inside a stone stove. In old religion sauna was sacred place where people were born and died.

● Santa Claus lives in the nothern Finland, on the mountain called Korvatunturi.

● Nokia cellphones are originally from Finland. They are known world wide.

● Salmiakki (salt liqourice) is Finnish candy. They taste salty and that’s why almost no one else but Finns like them.

Salmiakki (salt liqourice)

Traditional sauna

● Rovio, maker of worldwide known game Angry Birds is a Finnish company. Game achieved huge success in a short time. The newest version of the game, Angry Birds Space, sold over 10 millions in the USA in the first days after release.

● Ice Hockey is the most popular sport in Finland. Finland has won world’s championship twice, 1995 and last year. The whole of Finland went crazy after the win and there were over 100 000 people in the parade next day.

Helsinki – Winning party after ice-hockey championship