Finland was a province and then a grand duchy under Sweden from the 12th to the 19th centuries and an autonomous grand duchy of Russia after 1809. It finally won its complete independence in 1917, eventhough the country promptly plunged into a bitter civil war between the conservative Whites and the Communist Reds, eventually won by the Whites.

During World War II, Finland was attacked by the Soviet Union in the Winter War, but fought them to a standstill that saw Russia conquer 20% of Finnish territory. Finland then allied with Gera number of in an unsuccessful attempt to repel the Russians, but was defeated and, as a condition for peace, had to turn against the Germans instead. After the war, Finland fell into the Soviet sphere of influence, but maintained a studied policy of official neutrality and managed to retain a free market economy and internal political freedom. In the subsequent half century, the Finns made a remarkable transformation from a farm/forest economy to a diversified modern industrial economy featuring high-tech giants like Nokia, and per capita income is now on par with Western Europe.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland joined the European Union in 1995, and was the only Nordic state to join the euro system at its initiation in January 1999.

Unlike craggy Norway and Sweden, Finland is mostly low, flat to rolling plains interspersed with lakes and low hills, with mountains (of a sort) only in the extreme north and Finland's highest point, Mount Halti, rising only to a modest 1,328 m. Finland has 187,888 lakes (about 60,000 of them are big lakes) as per Geological Survey of Finland (Geologian tutkimuskeskus), making the moniker Land of a Thousand Lakes actually an underestimation. Along the coast and in the lakes are (as per another estimate) 179,584 islands, making the country an excellent boating destination as well.

Posted by: Betsy

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