From the twelfth century, Finland was a province and then a grand duchy of Sweden. In 1809 it became a grand duchy of Russia and gained independence in 1917. It has remained independent since, having defended itself during World War II. The Soviet Union attempted to invade Finland in 1939. Finland resisted the invasion, then signed a peace treaty that ceded 9% of their land including 20% of their industrial capacity to the USSR in 1940. During the last half of the 20th century, Finland changed from what was a primarily agricultural economy to a modern, industrial economy; creating among the highest average per capita income in Europe. Claiming membership in the European Union since 1995, Finland is the sole Scandinavian country that joined the euro system at its initiation in January, 1999. |
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| Location |
Primarily surrounded by the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland, Finland is sandwiched between Russia (sharing 1,313 kilometers of border) and Sweden (with 614 kilometers of border) while joined by 727 kilometers of border with Norway to the north. The upper 1/4 of its land mass is above the Arctic Circle. (Geographic Coordinates: 64 00 N, 26 00 E) |
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| Size/Area |
Finland’s total area is 338,145 square kilometers; 304,473 square kilometers of land mass which is nearly the size of Montana, mainly consisting of low, flat to rolling plains interspersed with low hills and 33,672 square kilometers of water. The lowest point in the country is at the Baltic Sea (0 meters) while the highest point is at Haltiatunturi at 1,328 meters high. There are 1,250 kilometers of coastline. Finland claims 12 nautical miles of territorial sea (3 nautical miles in the Gulf of Finland), a contiguous zone of 24 nautical miles, 12 nautical miles of an exclusive fishing zone that extends to the continental shelf boundary with Sweden. The continental shelf claimed is 200 meters deep or to the depth of exploitation. |
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| Climate |
Finland would be considered subarctic overall were it not for its proximity to the North Atlantic Current, Baltic Sea and its more than 60,000 lakes. These influences create a more temperate climate. |
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| Natural Resources |
| Finland produces timber, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, chromite, nickel, gold, silver and limestone. |
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| Land Use |
Having moved away from a farm-based economy, the country has approximately 6.54% of arable land (640 square kilometers being irrigated (2003)) using only 0.02% for permanent crops. The rest of the 93.44% is either used for other purposes, is timberland or is unused at this time. |
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| Freshwater |
Finland has 110 cubic kilometers of renewable water. Their freshwater withdrawal totals 2.33 cubic kilometers per year. Domestic usage is about 14%, while industry takes the lion’s share at 84% and agriculture uses only 3%. The per capita usage is about 444 cubic meters per year (1999). |
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