FINLAND by Paula García Allué

It is a Nordic country, member of the European union, located on the north of Europe. It has confines with Sweden by the west, with Russia by the east and with Norway by the north. It is separated from Sweden and Estonia by the Baltic sea. The capital and most important city is Helsinki.

Finland is the 6^th largest country of Europe but also it has the second lowest population density. Most people live in the south, by the gulf coast and surroundings.

Most people speak finnish as their first language, but also some people speak Swedish.

This country had been part of Sweden until it was invaded by Russia in 1809. In 1917 they announced their independence. Actually, it is a parliamentary and democratic republic. In 1918 it suffered a small civil war, and it had to sign different arrengements with several countries that made Finland lose many territories, like its second biggest city, Viipuri. Also many people had to be evacuated and rehoused.

Their economy is one of the most successful, thanks to wood, metal and electronic industry, but also engineering and design. They use the euro as most of Europe. It is becoming also and import touristic destiny.

They have a semiparliamentary system, but the president has a big power.

Since 1154, most of the people practice Christianity.

In the XIV century, the country was divided between two big powers but It didn´t took part in the cold war.

At first, Finland was divided in twelve areas, but in 1997 it was redistributed in just six.

The countryside is almost flat, with just a few small mountains except from the Haltitunturi (1328 metres) which is located on the north of Laponia. Also it has many lakes and little islands. Their forests are most of them boreal, which are really bad for crops. That why this country needs a lot of food import.

The climate it´s between cold and temperate. Winter is sometimes really cold but on the other hand, summer is mild. A cuarter of the territory of the country belongs to the artic pole, that is why the sun shines 73 days consecutive in summer and disappears 51 days in winter. The south is covered with snow three or four months a year and the north, near seven months.

The sport most followed here is icehockey and the national sport is the pesäpallo, similar to beisbol.

In the musical area, Finland is considered the origin of heavy-metal.

And in literature we can highlight Mika Waltari, a famous novelist known for his book “the Egipcian”.