Portal:Finland
Introduction
Finland (Finnish: Suomi [suo̯mi] (
listen); Swedish: Finland Swedish pronunciation: [ˈfɪnland]), officially the Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomen tasavalta, Swedish: Republiken Finland) is a country in Northern Europe bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, and Gulf of Finland, between Norway to the north, Sweden to the northwest, and Russia to the east. Finland is a Nordic country and is situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia. The capital and largest city is Helsinki. Other major cities are Espoo and Tampere.
Finland's population is 5.52 million (2018), and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region. 88.7% of the population is Finnish and speaks Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages; next come the Finland-Swedes (5.3%). Finland is the eighth-largest country in Europe and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. The sovereign state is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital city of Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and one autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which produces one third of the country's GDP.
Selected article
Turku (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈturku], Swedish:
Åbo (help·info)) is a city in Finland, founded in the 13th century. Turku is the fifth largest city in Finland, with a population of 175 286 (2007), and is located in the south-west of the country at the mouth of the Aura river. It is the capital city of both the region of Finland Proper and the province of Western Finland, as well as being the centre of the country's third largest urban area with over 300,000 inhabitants.
Turku is the former capital and oldest city in Finland, having been founded on an as yet undetermined date during the late 13th century. It has a long history as the country's largest city and administrative centre, but has during the last two centuries lost that status to Helsinki. As a remnant of the its long history, the city hosts a number of important historical landmarks, such as the Turku Castle and the Cathedral of Turku.
Due to the city's location, the sea is also an important part of the its history and present. Today the Port of Turku is possibly the most important seaport in the whole of Finland.
Selected image
Photo credit: fi:User:Neofelis Nebulosa
The Central Park of Helsinki during the summer
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?}}
Selected biography
Henri Toivonen (August 25, 1956 – May 2, 1986) was a Finnish rally driver born in Jyväskylä, the home of Rally Finland. His father, Pauli Toivonen, was the 1968 European Rally Champion for Porsche and his brother, Harri Toivonen, became a professional circuit racer.
Toivonen's first World Rally Championship victory came with a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus at the 1980 Lombard RAC Rally in Great Britain, just after his 24th birthday. He had the record of being the youngest driver ever to win a world rally until his countryman Jari-Matti Latvala won the 2008 Swedish Rally at the age of 22. Toivonen switched to driving for Lancia before finally signing up for a full WRC programme in 1985. Despite nearly ending up paralysed at a rally in Costa Smeralda early in 1985, he returned to rallying later that year. He won the last event of the season, the RAC Rally, as well as the 1986 season opener, the Monte Carlo Rally, which his father had won exactly 20 years earlier.
Toivonen, driving a Lancia Delta S4, died in an accident on May 2, 1986 while leading the Tour de Corse rally in Corsica. His American co-driver, Sergio Cresto, also died when the Lancia plunged down a ravine and exploded. The fatal accident had no close witnesses and the remains of the car were merely blackened spaceframe, making it impossible to determine the cause of the accident. Within hours of the accident, Jean-Marie Balestre, then President of the FISA, had banned the powerful Group B rally cars from competing the following season, ending rallying's popular supercar era. The annual Race of Champions, originally organised in Toivonen's memory, awards the winning individual driver the Henri Toivonen Memorial Trophy.
Finland News
- July 4: In Pictures: Helsinki Pride 2018 ends after record number of attendees
- August 21: Man with knife stabs people in Finnish city of Turku
- December 31: Helsinki court jails anti-drug chief Jari Aarnio for drug smuggling
- December 4: Gunman kills official, two journalists in Imatra, Finland
- October 5: World Wildlife Fund: 75% of seafood species consumed in Singapore not caught sustainably
- September 1: Biologist Nick Bos tells Wikinews about 'self-medicating' ants
- November 28: Finland passes law allowing same-sex marriage
- June 29: Medal-seeking Spanish men arrive at 2014 Goalball World Championships
- June 26: Belgian men's goalball team departs for Finland for World Championships
- March 10: Wheelchair curling enters third day at 2014 Winter Paralympics
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Wikiprojects
| You are invited to participate in Finland WikiProject, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles about Finland. |
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Selected panorama
Panorama of Lake Pielinen from a hill in Koli National Park, Finland.
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