Finland

FINNISH HISTORY

The earliest known sled was used in Finland c.6500 BC.

The first known instance of written Finnish is the phrase found in a German travel journal dating back to c.1450: Mÿnna tachton gernast spuho somen gelen emÿna daÿda (Modern Finnish: "Minä tahdon kernaasti puhua suomen kieltä, [mutta] en minä taida;" English: "I want to speak Finnish, [but] I am not able").

From the Middle Ages Finland was a part of Sweden. On 29 March 1809, having been taken over by the armies of Alexander I of Russia in the Finnish War, Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire. On 6 December 1917, Finland became independent,

Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, whose music such as his famous 1899 tone poem Finlandia helped establish Finland's national identity, was born on December 8, 1865.

Finlandia was banned by the Russian rulers of Finland because it aroused much patriotic fervor among the Finns.

The three month Winter War began with the Soviet invasion of Finland on November 30, 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II. At the beginning of the conflict the Soviet Union possessed more than twice as many soldiers as Finland, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland ceded territory representing 11 percent of its land area and 13 percent of its economy to the Soviet Union.

Since 2011, December 8 has been a flag day in Finland known as "The Day Of Finnish Music".

Sibelius in 1913

Finnish people were believed to be able to control weather. This resulted in reluctance to accept Finnish sailors aboard ships from the Vikings all the way until the 1900s.

In 1906, Finland became the first nation in the world to give the right to vote and to run for office to all adult citizens, including women. It was among reforms passed following the 1905 uprising.

As a result of the 1907 parliamentary elections, Finland's voters elected 19 women as the first female members of a representative parliament; they took their seats later that year.

Finland was the only country to repay its war reparations after World War I.

FUN FINNISH FACTS

Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear any pants.

Finland's Lågskär island lighthouse contained the world's first rotating gas lighting device.

One third of Finland is within the Arctic Circle.

Finland is only technically separated from North Korea by one country - but that country is Russia. . Finland and North Korea are actually approximately 4,000 miles from each other, about the same distance apart as the United States and Finland.

Finns weren’t originally considered “white” in the United States, they were linked to Mongols and called “China Swedes” due to not speaking an Indo-European Language.

In June and July, the sun doesn’t drop below the horizon. In the winter, the sun never reaches the horizon.

Finland has the most heavy metal bands, with 53 per 100,000 people.

Finns drink more coffee per head of population than any other country.

Finland is one of two nations that have earned medals at every Olympic Games (including both summer and winter) since 1908. (The other is Sweden).

With only 41 people per square mile, Finland is the most sparsely inhabited country in the European Union.

There are 5,521,15 million inhabitants and more than two million saunas in Finland. 99 percent of Finns take a sauna at least once a week.

Saunas have been built into buses, cars, tractors, and even bicycles in Finland.

Finland celebrates "National Sleepy Head Day," each year on July 27th where the last person in the house to wake up is thrown into water by the early risers.

According to the 2018 World Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country on Earth.

There is a small group of a few thousand Samis (also called Lapps) in the most northern part of Finland, called Lapland. The Sami are the only indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized and protected under the international conventions of indigenous peoples, and are hence the northernmost indigenous people of Europe.

It is a myth that the Inuit Eskimos have fifty words for snow. Whilst the Inuit did have about as many words for snow as the English, the Sami in Finland have in excess of fifty.

The Nokia company is named after a place in Southern Finland.

86% of the land area is covered by coniferous taiga forests and fens. There is little cultivated land in Finland.

Finland has planted 150 million trees per year for decades. For a small nation of 5.5 million people that means 27 trees per person. If the entire European Union were to do the same, there would be nearly 14 billion trees planted every year in the EU.

It is estimated that up to one-third of all wood resources of the European Union are in Finland.

There are about 188,000 lakes and 179,000 islands in Finland. Its largest lake, Saimaa, is the fourth largest in Europe.

Source Daily Express