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Conclusive archaeological evidence exists indicating that the area now comprising Finland was settled around 8500 BC, during the Stone Age, as the inland ice of the last ice age receded. The earliest inhabitants are thought to have been hunter-gatherers, living primarily off what the forests and sea could offer. Pottery is known from around 5300 BC. The existence of extensive exchange systems is indicated by the spread of asbestos and soapstone from Eastern Finland, and by finds of flint from South Scandinavia and Russia, chisels from Lake Onega, and spearheads from North Scandinavia. It is considered probable that the speakers of the Finno-Ugric language arrived in Finland during the Stone Age, possibly even among the first Mesolithic settlers. The arrival of the Battle-Axe Culture (or Cord-Ceramic Culture) in Southern Finland around 3200 BC is considered as the start of agriculture. However, hunting and fishing continued to be important parts of the subsistence economy, especially in the northern and eastern parts of the country.
The Bronze Age (1500?500 BC) and Iron Age (500 BC?AD 1200) were characterized by extensive contacts with Scandinavia, Northern Russia and the Baltic region. There is little written information of Finnish history before the 13th century AD, discounting the obscure and possibly fictitious stories of Finnish kings in Scandinavian sagas.
The beginning of Finland's nearly 700-year association with the Kingdom of Sweden is traditionally connected with the year 1154 and the hypothesized introduction of Christianity by Sweden's King Erik. Actually many of the Finnish pagans were already Christianized hundreds of years before. Historically the union began from Birger Jarl's expedition in Central Finland of 1249. Swedish became the dominant language of administration and education; Finnish chiefly a language for the peasantry and clergy, considered useful mainly for printing religious literature.
During the 18th century, virtually the whole of Finland was twice occupied by Russian forces (1714?1721 and 1742?1743), known by the Finns as the Greater Wrath and the Lesser Wrath. After that, "Finland" became the predominant term for the area ? both in domestic Swedish debate and in Russians promising protection from Swedish oppression.
In 1808, Finland was conquered by the armies of Russian Emperor Alexander I and thereafter remained an autonomous Grand Duchy in personal union with the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. To sever the cultural and emotional ties with Sweden, the Finnish language was ardently promoted by both the imperial court and the Finnish government and a strong nationalist movement, known as fennomania, since about 1860s. Milestones in this development were the publication of what would become Finland's national epic, the Kalevala, in 1835; and Finnish getting a legally equal status with Swedish in 1892.
On December 6, 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Finland declared its independence. The independence was approved by Bolshevist Russia, but the following civil wars in Russia and in Finland, and activist expeditions (called Heimosodat, "tribal wars", in Finnish), for example to White Karelia and to Aunus, complicated the relations.
In 1918, the country experienced a brief but bitter Civil War that coloured domestic politics for many years. The Civil War was chiefly fought between "the whites", supported by Imperial Germany, and "the reds", supported by Bolshevist Russia. The reds consisted mostly of property?less rural and industrial workers who, despite universal suffrage in 1906, had found themselves without political influence.
The Finnish?Russian border was agreed at the Treaty of Tartu in 1920, largely following the historic border but adding Petsamo and its Barents Sea harbour to Finland.
During World War II, Finland fought the Soviet Union twice: in the Winter War of 1939?1940 and in the Continuation War of 1941?1944, in time closely following Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. This was followed by the Lapland War of 1944?1945, when Finland forced the Germans out of northern Finland.
Treaties signed in 1947 and 1948 with the Soviet Union included obligations, restraints and reparations on Finland vis-à¶is the Soviet Union as well as further territorial concessions by Finland (compared to the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940). Finland ceded most of Finnish Karelia, Salla and Petsamo.
After the Second World War, Finland was in the grey zone between western countries and Soviet Union. The "YYA Treaty" (Finno-Soviet Pact of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance) gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics and included a guarantee whereby Finland promised to defend her territory and airspace against Germany or her allies, in practice NATO. Many politicians, like President Kekkonen (1956?81), used their relations with Moscow to solve party controversies, which meant that the Soviet Union gained even more influence; other people worked single-mindedly to oppose the Kremlin. However, Finland maintained a democratic goverment and market economy, unlike other countries bordering the Soviet Union.
The post-war era was a period of rapid economic growth and increasing wealth and stability for Finland. The war-ravaged agrarian country was transformed into a technologically advanced market economy with a sophisticated social welfare system.
When the Soviet Union fell in 1991 Finland was surprised and suffered economically, but was free to follow her own course and joined the European Union in 1995, where Finland is an advocate of federalism contrary to the other Nordic countries that are predominantly supportive of confederalism.
The Bronze Age (1500?500 BC) and Iron Age (500 BC?AD 1200) were characterized by extensive contacts with Scandinavia, Northern Russia and the Baltic region. There is little written information of Finnish history before the 13th century AD, discounting the obscure and possibly fictitious stories of Finnish kings in Scandinavian sagas.
The beginning of Finland's nearly 700-year association with the Kingdom of Sweden is traditionally connected with the year 1154 and the hypothesized introduction of Christianity by Sweden's King Erik. Actually many of the Finnish pagans were already Christianized hundreds of years before. Historically the union began from Birger Jarl's expedition in Central Finland of 1249. Swedish became the dominant language of administration and education; Finnish chiefly a language for the peasantry and clergy, considered useful mainly for printing religious literature.
During the 18th century, virtually the whole of Finland was twice occupied by Russian forces (1714?1721 and 1742?1743), known by the Finns as the Greater Wrath and the Lesser Wrath. After that, "Finland" became the predominant term for the area ? both in domestic Swedish debate and in Russians promising protection from Swedish oppression.
In 1808, Finland was conquered by the armies of Russian Emperor Alexander I and thereafter remained an autonomous Grand Duchy in personal union with the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. To sever the cultural and emotional ties with Sweden, the Finnish language was ardently promoted by both the imperial court and the Finnish government and a strong nationalist movement, known as fennomania, since about 1860s. Milestones in this development were the publication of what would become Finland's national epic, the Kalevala, in 1835; and Finnish getting a legally equal status with Swedish in 1892.
On December 6, 1917, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Finland declared its independence. The independence was approved by Bolshevist Russia, but the following civil wars in Russia and in Finland, and activist expeditions (called Heimosodat, "tribal wars", in Finnish), for example to White Karelia and to Aunus, complicated the relations.
In 1918, the country experienced a brief but bitter Civil War that coloured domestic politics for many years. The Civil War was chiefly fought between "the whites", supported by Imperial Germany, and "the reds", supported by Bolshevist Russia. The reds consisted mostly of property?less rural and industrial workers who, despite universal suffrage in 1906, had found themselves without political influence.
The Finnish?Russian border was agreed at the Treaty of Tartu in 1920, largely following the historic border but adding Petsamo and its Barents Sea harbour to Finland.
During World War II, Finland fought the Soviet Union twice: in the Winter War of 1939?1940 and in the Continuation War of 1941?1944, in time closely following Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. This was followed by the Lapland War of 1944?1945, when Finland forced the Germans out of northern Finland.
Treaties signed in 1947 and 1948 with the Soviet Union included obligations, restraints and reparations on Finland vis-à¶is the Soviet Union as well as further territorial concessions by Finland (compared to the Moscow Peace Treaty of 1940). Finland ceded most of Finnish Karelia, Salla and Petsamo.
After the Second World War, Finland was in the grey zone between western countries and Soviet Union. The "YYA Treaty" (Finno-Soviet Pact of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance) gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics and included a guarantee whereby Finland promised to defend her territory and airspace against Germany or her allies, in practice NATO. Many politicians, like President Kekkonen (1956?81), used their relations with Moscow to solve party controversies, which meant that the Soviet Union gained even more influence; other people worked single-mindedly to oppose the Kremlin. However, Finland maintained a democratic goverment and market economy, unlike other countries bordering the Soviet Union.
The post-war era was a period of rapid economic growth and increasing wealth and stability for Finland. The war-ravaged agrarian country was transformed into a technologically advanced market economy with a sophisticated social welfare system.
When the Soviet Union fell in 1991 Finland was surprised and suffered economically, but was free to follow her own course and joined the European Union in 1995, where Finland is an advocate of federalism contrary to the other Nordic countries that are predominantly supportive of confederalism.