Hello, dear readers! It’s our pleasure to introduce to you our humble blog, which is dedicated to the beauty of Finland and which will hopefully show you why it’s one of the best tourist destinations.
This blog will mainly focus on cruises in and leading to Finland, but we will also expand to other topics detailing popular tourist attractions, and more broadly, places to visit in the Nordic country.
As our blog grows, we would love to get your feedback on topics you want us to cover in the future.
For our first post, we thought you might enjoy learning more about Finland itself, so we will give you some basic information and interesting facts about the country. Enjoy reading!
Finland, Land of Breath-taking Beauty
Finland is a European country partially situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Finnish capital is Helsinki, which has a population of 1,338,000 (out of the whole Finnish population of 5,541,000). Finland has two official languages, the native Suomi and Swedish, but it has several other nationally recognised languages, such as Sami and Karelian.
People have been living in nowadays Finland for at least 10,000 years, with the first settlements appearing during the Stone Age. An early type of Finnish language was first spoken around 4000 years ago in the region.
There were many Finnic tribes in the area for millennia until the Swedes conquered and settled in the lands after the Third Crusade to Finland (1293-1295). Swedish thus became the dominant language and that of the nobility which is the reason why it’s an official language in Finland nowadays.
Then, in 1809, the Russian Empire conquered Finland from the Swedes and established the Grand Duchy of Finland. The Swedish influence waned in the following decades, and the Finnish language became more prominent. This also gave birth to nationalist movements seeking an independent Finnish state, similar to other European nations at the time.
After the October Revolution and the creation of the USSR, Finland’s desire for statehood did not seem like a pipedream. The USSR founded and recognised the independent Finnish state in January 1918. A civil war broke out in 1918 between right (Finnish Whites) and left-wing (Finnish Reds) fractions for control of Finland, with a decisive victory for the Finnish Whites.
The new state was briefly a monarchy, but these plans failed and Finland became a presidential republic. K. J. Ståhlberg was elected as the first president in 1919.
Fun Facts About Finland
Now, let’s give you some interesting facts about Finland that you might not know about.
- Finns celebrate the errors of their past on 13th October, their National Day of Failure.
- Santa Claus hails from Lapland, Finland.
- Finns are the biggest coffee drinkers in the world.
- Finland is the world’s happiest country, according to surveys.
- Saunas are a big part of the Finnish national identity. There’s even a sauna in the Finnish Parliament!
- The best spot to observe the Northern Lights is Lapland, Finland.
- High Elvish, the language developed by J.R.R. Tolkien for his works, is based on the Finnish language.
- 74% of Finland is covered in forests.
- Angry Birds, Nokia’s Snake and Clash of Clans are all Finnish mobile games.
- The surface area of Finland increases due to the Ice Age glaciers, which are still melting.
- There’s free public access in Finland, meaning that you can freely camp in nature and/or pick fruits and mushrooms from public spaces.
