The Republic of Finland is a country in Scandinavia. It has a total area of 337,030 km2. The climate is cold temperate; potentially sub-arctic, but comparatively mild because of the moderating influence of the North Atlantic Current, Baltic Sea, and more than 60,000 lakes. The terrain is mostly low, flat to rolling plains interspersed with lakes and low hills. Natural resources are timber, copper, zinc, iron ore, silver. The religion is 97% Evangelical Lutheran, 1.2% Eastern Orthodox, 1.8% other The offcial languages are Finnish soiken by 94% of the population and Swedish spoken by the remaining 6% of the population with small Saami- and Russian-speaking minorities. During the 12th century Finland was conquered and ruled by Sweden. In 1721 the part of Finland which formed the province of Wiborg was secured to Peter the Great by treaty, the remainder of the country passing into Russian control in 1809 by conquest and becoming a grand duchy ruled by the Russian czar, though being allowed to retain much of its liberties. In 1917 Finland proclaimed its independence. Research Finland
Abbreviations
Gazetteer
Research Finland