Maame (Finnish for) ("Our land") | |||||||
Anthem | "Maame " | ||||||
Capital | Turku | ||||||
Largest city | Turku | ||||||
Other cities | Helsinki, Vaasa, Närpes, Petsamo, Oulu, many others | ||||||
Language official |
Finnish, Karelian, Ingrian, Estonian | ||||||
others | Russian, Swedish, Saami | ||||||
Religion main |
Protestantism | ||||||
others | Orthodox Church, Roman Catholicism | ||||||
Ethnic Groups main |
Scandinavian | ||||||
others | Russian, Balt | ||||||
Demonym | Finn | ||||||
Government | Constitutional Monarchy | ||||||
Grand Prince | Nikolai V | ||||||
Dynasty: | Romanov | ||||||
President | Tarja Halonen | ||||||
Area main |
area | ||||||
water (%) | water area | ||||||
Population | 29,500,000 | ||||||
Established | 1817 | ||||||
Independence | from Russia | ||||||
declared | 1817 | ||||||
recognized | 1821 | ||||||
Currency | Finnish Markka | ||||||
Time Zone | UTC +2 | ||||||
summer | UTC +3 | ||||||
Calling Code | 358 | ||||||
Internet TLD | .fi | ||||||
Organizations | EU, CoE, Nordic Council |
The Grand Duchy of Finland (Finnish: Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta ) is a nation in Northern Europe. The only nation in Scandinavia that doesn't have a Scandinavian language or is part of the Scandinavian Union, it is politically isolated from the other North European countries.
History[]
Although Saami and other Finno-Ugric tribes had inhabited the territory of what today is Finland, it was not until the Swedish Viking expeditions on to Finland that a Finnish identity started to form.
Sweden started invading and colonizing Finnish lands in the IX Century. Slowly forcing the Saami tribes to back up, and subordinating the Finns, Karelians and Estonians living in the territory of what today is Finland. By the early XIII Century, when Denmark, Sweden and Norway fell into personal union as what is currently known as the Kalmar Union, most of Finland was under Swedish rule, and the regions of Åland and Finland Proper were mostly Swedish-speaking.
The Swedish dominion didn't stop when the Kalmar Union disintegrated into Denmark-Norway and Sweden, however. Sweden continued holding Finland under its rule, forcing Swedish as an administrative language and sending many Finnish to colonies. This was not unlike the Irish-British relationship of the XVIII and XIX Centuries.
Finnish dissidents realize they wouldn't be able to break free from Sweden alone, and asked help to Sweden's nearest rival neighbor; Russia. Russia agreed to help the Finnish revolts as long as the new state of Finland would become a Russian vassal state.
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