Portal:Finland
Welcome to the Finnish Portal!
Tervetuloa Suomen teemasivulle!
The Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomen tasavalta Swedish: Republiken Finland) is a Nordic country in northeastern Europe, bordered by the Baltic Sea to the southwest, the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. Finland has land frontiers with Sweden, Norway and Russia. The Åland Islands, off the southwestern coast, are under Finnish sovereignty while enjoying extensive autonomy. The Finnish name for Finland is Suomi; in Swedish it is Finland.
Finland gained independence from Soviet Union on 6 December 1917. Prior to that, it had been part of the Kingdom of Sweden and Imperial Russia. After fighting two wars with the Soviet Union in the mid-20th century, it has grown quickly from a largely agrarian society to one of the world's most developed countries. Finland has a high standard of living, one of the best educational systems in the world, and it has been the birth place to many technological phenomena such as Nokia, Linux, Angry Birds and IRC.
Finland has been a member of the European Union since 1995.
Selected article
The Flag of Finland (Finnish: Suomen lippu, Swedish: Finlands flagga), also called Siniristilippu ("Blue Cross Flag"), dates from the beginning of the 20th century. It features a blue Nordic cross on a white background. Blue represents lakes and the sky, and white represents snow and the white nights of the Finnish summer. The state flag has a coat of arms in the centre, but is otherwise identical to the civil flag. The swallow-tailed state flag is used by the military. The presidential standard is identical to the swallow-tailed state flag but also has in its upper left corner the Cross of Liberty after the Order of the Cross of Liberty, which has the President of Finland as its Grand Master. Like Sweden's, Finland's national flag is based on the Scandinavian cross. It was adopted after independence from Russia, when many patriotic Finns wanted a special flag for their country, but its design dates back to the 19th century. The blue coloring is said to represent the country's thousands of lakes and the sky, with white for the snow that covers the land in winter. This color combination has also been used over the centuries in various Finnish provincial, military, and town flags.
Selected picture
Photo credit: Petteri Sulonen
The VR warehouses in Helsinki on fire on May 5th 2006.
Did you know...
- ...that the Finnish Communist leader Arvo Tuominen broke with the Soviet Union during the Winter War and ordered the Finnish Communists not to assist the Red Army?
- ...that mobile phone throwing is an international sport in which thrown mobile phones are judged by the distance and choreographics of the throw?
- ...that the self-taught weapon designer Aimo Lahti designed over 50 weapons of all types prior to and during World War II, including the successful Suomi M-31?
- ...that Norse sagas record some Finnish campaigns against Sweden in the mid-8th century?
- ...that Larin Paraske, a Finnish oral poet, could recite over 32,000 verses of poetry?
Selected biography
Thomas is the first known Bishop of Finland. Only a few facts remain about his life.
The only reference to Bishop Thomas during his episcopate in Finland is a letter signed by him in Nousiainen in 1234, which granted certain lands around the parish to his chaplain, Wilhelm. The lands may be related to the papal permission from Pope Gregory IX in early 1229 that authorized the church to take over all non-Christian places of worship in Finland. The letter is the first surviving letter ever written in Finland.
No further information on bishop's activities has survived before he was granted resignation by Pope Innocent IV on February 21, 1245. According to the Pope, Thomas had admitted committing several felonies, like torturing a man to death and forging a papal letter. Church representatives to oversee the resignation were the Archbishop of Uppsala and the Dominican prior of the Dacian province. Thomas donated his books to the newly established Dominican convent in Sigtuna and went on to live his last years in the Dominican convent in Visby, Gotland. He died there in 1248, shortly before the Second Swedish Crusade which cemented the Swedish rule in Finland for more than 550 years.
Finland News
- December 5: Finnish trio shot dead in Brazil
- August 10: Finnish police to receive guidance on Internet 'hate speech'
- August 9: Former Prime Minister of Finland Harri Holkeri dies aged 74
- July 8: Finnish Olympic champion skier Mika Myllylä found dead
- May 15: Azerbaijan win 2011 Eurovision Song Contest
- November 10: Nokia takes over Symbian OS development
- September 12: Nokia appoints Microsoft Business Division Head as chief executive
- August 28: Air Berlin to code-share with American Airlines and Finnair by November
- January 27: Healing ozone layer may contribute to global warming
- January 25: Ambidextrous children more likely to have problems at school, say researchers
Things you can do
- Add {{Portal|Finland}} to existing See also sections of Finland-related articles.
- Tag the talk pages of Finland-related articles with the {{Finland}} banner.
- Rate the Unassessed Finland articles in the Finland WikiProject.
- Stubs: Fix a Finland stub by expanding it into a full article.
- Help with the Finland articles needing attention.
- Look at Wikipedia:WikiProject Finland/New article announcements.
Wikiprojects
|
You are invited to participate in Finland WikiProject, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Finland. |
What are WikiProjects?
Selected panorama
Panoramic photo shot of Jyväskylä, Finland.
Categories
Featured and Good content
Featured articles: Finnish Civil War · Gyromitra esculenta · Henry (Bishop of Finland) · Swedish language
Featured lists: List of Swedish-speaking and bilingual municipalities of Finland
Good articles: Finland Plot · Henri Toivonen · Kauhajoki school shooting · Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne · Personent hodie · Response to Kauhajoki school shooting · Thomas (Bishop of Finland)
Related portals
Associated Wikimedia
- What are portals?
- List of portals
- Featured portals
