Portal:Finland
The Finland Portal
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, opposite Estonia. Finland covers an area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 sq mi) and has a population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages, with Swedish being the native language of 5.1% of the population. Finland's climate varies from humid continental in the south to boreal in the north. The land cover is predominantly boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.
Finland was first settled around 9000 BC after the last Ice Age. During the Stone Age, various cultures emerged, distinguished by different styles of ceramics. The Bronze Age and Iron Ages were marked by contacts with other cultures in Fennoscandia and the Baltic region. From the late 13th century, Finland became part of the Swedish Empire as a result of the Northern Crusades. In 1809, as a result of the Finnish War, Finland was captured from Sweden and became a Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous state ruled by the Russian Empire. During this period, Finnish art flourished and the idea of full independence began to take hold. In 1906, Finland became the first European state to grant universal suffrage, and the first in the world to give all adult citizens the right to run for public office. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Finland declared its full independence. In 1918 the young nation was divided by the Finnish Civil War. During World War II, Finland fought against the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War, and later against Nazi Germany in the Lapland War. As a result, it lost parts of its territory but retained its independence. (Full article...)
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Linus Benedict Torvalds (/ˈliːnəs ˈtɔːrvɔːldz/ LEE-nəs TOR-vawldz, Finland Swedish: [ˈliːnʉs ˈtuːrvɑlds] ⓘ; born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish-American software engineer who is the creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel. He also created the distributed version control system Git.
He was honored, along with Shinya Yamanaka, with the 2012 Millennium Technology Prize by the Technology Academy Finland "in recognition of his creation of a new open source operating system for computers leading to the widely used Linux kernel." He is also the recipient of the 2014 IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award and the 2018 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award. (Full article...)Selected image -
Did you know (auto-generated)
- ... that Finnish linguist Eeva Leinonen was one of four women to be inaugurated as heads of Irish universities in 2021, the others being Maggie Cusack, Linda Doyle and Kerstin Mey?
- ... that tourists on holiday trips arranged by the Finland travel agency Keihäsmatkat were encouraged to drink alcoholic beverages, partly to avoid culture shock?
- ... that Venla Luukkonen is the first Finnish person to win the World IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championship at black belt level?
- ... that Kuappi in Iisalmi, Finland, holds the Guinness world record for the smallest restaurant?
- ... that Kaija Saariaho's 2021 opera Innocence includes traditional Finnish cow-herding calls?
- ... that the United States severed diplomatic ties with Finland in 1944 because of a personal letter sent to Hitler?
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You are invited to participate in Finland WikiProject, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Finland.
More did you know -
- ...that the career of Tiia Piili, four-time FISAF World Champion in sport aerobics, was threatened when she got food poisoning attending a competition in Morocco?
- ...that Erkki Karu founded both Suomi-Filmi and Suomen Filmiteollisuus, the two largest film production companies during the 'Golden Age' of Finnish cinema?
- ...that "Blooddrunk", a track by Finnish band Children of Bodom about self-destructive behaviour, debuted at number one in Finland?
- ...that Taisto Mäki, one of the so-called Flying Finns, was the first man to run 10,000 metres in under half an hour?
- ...that when called by the opposition to quit after the Kauhajoki school shooting, Finnish politician Anne Holmlund refused and compared resigning her post as Interior Minister to "desertion"?
- ... that the asteroid 1536 Pielinen is named after Pielinen Lake (pictured) in Finland?
During World War II, the Lapland War (Finnish: Lapin sota; Swedish: Lapplandskriget; German: Lapplandkrieg) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. Though the Finns and the Germans had been fighting together against the Soviet Union since 1941 during the Continuation War (1941–1944), peace negotiations between the Finnish government and the Allies of World War II had been conducted intermittently during 1943–1944, but no agreement had been reached. The Moscow Armistice, signed on 19 September 1944, demanded that Finland break diplomatic ties with Germany and expel or disarm any German soldiers remaining in Finland.
The Wehrmacht had anticipated this turn of events and planned an organised withdrawal to Nazi-occupied Norway, as part of Operation Birke (Birch). Despite a failed offensive landing operation by Germany in the Gulf of Finland, the evacuation proceeded peacefully at first. The Finns escalated the situation into warfare on 28 September after Soviet pressure to adhere to the terms of the armistice. The Finnish Army was required by the Soviet Union to push Wehrmacht troops out of Finnish territory. After a series of minor battles, the war came to an effective end in November 1944, when all of the Wehrmacht troops had reached Norway or the border area and took fortified positions. The last Wehrmacht soldiers left Finland on 27 April 1945, shortly before the end of World War II in Europe. (Full article...)General images
In the news
- 2 April 2024 – Viertola school shooting
- A student is killed and two others are injured in a shooting at a school in Vantaa, Uusimaa, Finland. A 12-year-old student is detained. (AP) (Yle)
- 1 March 2024 – 2024 Finnish presidential election
- Alexander Stubb is sworn in as the 13th President of Finland. (Reuters)
- 11 February 2024 – 2024 Finnish presidential election
- Alexander Stubb is elected President of Finland with 51.6% of the vote.(Yle)
- 27 January 2024 – Israel–Hamas war
- The United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Italy, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany suspend humanitarian aid to UNRWA over allegations that some UNRWA staff members were involved in the Hamas-led attack on Israel. (BBC News) (CBS News)
- 14 December 2023 – Finland–United States relations
- Finland announces the creation of a defense cooperation agreement with the United States. The agreement will grant Finland access to American military resources for use in defensive operations, while the US will gain military access to Finland in the event of conflict. (Reuters)
- 29 November 2023 – Finland–Poland relations, Finland–Russia relations
- National Security Bureau chief Jacek Siewiera announces that Poland will send "a team of military advisors" to the Finland–Russia border in response to an official request for allied support. Finland says it was unaware of the Polish offer. Russia warns against the move, viewing the concentration of troops on the border as a threat. (Reuters)
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