Portal maintenance status:(June 2018)
|


Finland, officially theRepublic of Finland, is aNordic country inNorthern Europe. It bordersSweden to the northwest,Norway to the north, andRussia to the east, with theGulf of Bothnia to the west and theGulf of Finland to the south, oppositeEstonia. Its capital and largest city isHelsinki. Finland has a population of 5.6 million. The official languages areFinnish andSwedish, themother tongues of 84.1 percent and 5.1 percent of the population, respectively. Finland's climate varies fromhumid continental in the south toboreal in the north. Its land is predominantly covered byboreal forest, withover 180,000 recorded lakes.
Finland was first settled around 9000 BC after thelast Ice Age. During theStone Age, various cultures emerged, distinguished by different styles of ceramics. TheBronze Age andIron Ages were marked by contacts with other cultures inFennoscandia and theBaltic region. From the late 13th century, Finland became part of Sweden following theNorthern Crusades. In 1809, as a result of theFinnish War, Finland was captured from Sweden and becamean autonomous grand duchy within theRussian Empire. During this period,Finnish art flourished and anindependence movement gradually developed. (Full article...)
Kontio is aFinnish state-ownedicebreaker. Built byWärtsiläHelsinki shipyard in 1987 as a replacement for the agingKarhu-class icebreakers, she and her sister shipOtso were the first Finnish post-war icebreaker to be built without bow propellers.
In addition to icebreaker duties,Kontio was fitted foroil spill response by theEuropean Maritime Safety Agency between 2010 and 2016. (Full article...)


You are invited to participate inFinland WikiProject, a WikiProject dedicated to developing and improving articles aboutFinland.

Juha Harri "Junnu" Vainio, also known asJuha "Watt" Vainio (10 May 1938 inKotka,Finland – 29 October 1990,Gryon,Switzerland) was aFinnishlyricist, singer, composer and teacher. With the lyrics or music to over 2,400 songs to his name, Vainio is one of Finland's most prolific lyricists along with Sauvo Puhtila,Reino Helismaa andVexi Salmi. Vainio enjoyed a short professional career as a teacher at Kymenranta Primary School.
Vainio began writing songs in the early 1960s and continued until his death. Apart from his home town Kotka, he lived for several years inHelsinki andEspoo. In his last years Vainio lived in Gryon, Switzerland, where he died of a heart attack in October 1990. He is buried in the family grave in Helsinki. (Full article...)
Northern Europe
Other countries
The followingWikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: