Finland has a population of around 5.5 million people and its capital and largest city is Helsinki. The country has a diverse landscape that ranges from the flat southern agricultural regions to the forested north where Sami people live. Finland was formerly part of Sweden but gained independence in 1917 and is now a parliamentary republic and member of the European Union. Some notable Finnish contributions include Nokia phones, Angry Birds, and success in ice hockey.

1. Suomi - Finland

2. ●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Capital: Helsinki
Population: about 5 500 000
President: Sauli Niinistö
Prime minister: Jyrki Katainen
Area: 338 432,07 km²
Languages: Finnish and Swedish
Currency: Euro (€)
Government: Parliamentary rebublic

4. ●
●
●
Indepedence day: 6.12.1917
In the European Union
WE DONT HAVE POLAR BEARS HERE AND WE
DON’T LIVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FOREST

5. Finland’s geography
●
Provinces:
●
●
●
●
●
●
1) Province of southern Finland
2) Province of western Finland
3) Province of eastern Finland
4) Province of Oulu
5) Province of Lapland
6) Province of Ahvenanmaa

6. ●
●
1) Most Finns live in the southern part of
Finland. There are a lot of grain fields. The
capital of Finland, Helsinki is there. Landscape
is very flat and there are not many lakes.
2) Landscape in western Finland is very flat
and there are many rivers. Rivers flood every
spring when the snow melts. Including
Ahvenanmaa, this is the area where the
Swedish language is spoken most in Finland.

7. Grain fields of Southern Finland

8. ●
●
3) Eastern Finland is also called Järvi-Suomi
(Lake-Finland). Most of the lakes (and the
biggest) in Finland are located in this area.
4) Province of Oulu has got its name because
the biggest city in the area is Oulu. People in
this area live quite far away from each other.
Most of the area are forests and there are
barely any grain fields.

9. ●
Lake-Finland

10. ●
●
5) Lapland, the home of the reindeer, huge
untouched forests, midnight sun, northern
lights, Sami people and Santa Claus. The
biggest city: Rovaniemi, people usually live
very far away each other. (About 2 people in
km²)
6) Ahvenanmaa is the biggest island that
belongs to Finland. Almost all people in
Ahvenanmaa speak Swedish.

11. ●
Hikers in Lappland.

12. History of Finland
●
●
●
The reason why Swedish is spoken in Finland,
is because it has been a part of Sweden for a
long time (12th century – 18th century).
Finland was separated from Sweden in 1809.
There was a war between Russia and Sweden
and the Russian army conquered the area of
Finland.
Finland was under Russian control until 1917.

13. ●
●
Winter war and Continuation war was names
of battles of World war 2 that took place in
Finland. Both of them were against the Soviet
Union. Finland lost the war because our army
was a lot of smaller. But the defeat was only
theoretic because Russians were killed over
ten times more than Finnish soldiers.
Finland had to give away some parts of land
for the Russia to make peace.

15. Finnish specialities
●
●
●
●
Sauna. It’s a place to bath, originally a room
heated with a fireplace inside a stone stove. In old
religion sauna was sacred place where people
were born and died.
Santa Claus lives in the nothern Finland, on the
mountain called Korvatunturi.
Nokia cellphones are originally from Finland. They
are known world wide.
Salmiakki (salt liqourice) is Finnish candy. They
taste salty and that’s why almost no one else but
Finns like them.

16. Salmiakki (salt liqourice)
Traditional sauna

17. ●
●
Rovio, maker of worldwide known game Angry
Birds is a Finnish company. Game achieved huge
success in a short time. The newest version of the
game, Angry Birds Space, sold over 10 millions in
the USA in the first days after release.
Ice Hockey is the most popular sport in Finland.
Finland has won world’s championship twice,
1995 and last year. The whole of Finland went
crazy after the win and there were over 100 000
people in the parade next day.

19. Helsinki – Winning party after ice-hockey championship