Mainland Scandinavia's most
culturally isolated and least
understood country,
Finland
has been independent only since
1917, having been ruled for hundreds
of years by first the Swedes and
then the Tsarist Russians. Much of
its history involves a struggle for
recognition and survival, and it's
not surprising that modern-day Finns
have a well-developed sense of their
own culture, manifest in the widely
popular Golden Age paintings of
Gallen-Kallela and others, the music
of Sibelius, the National Romantic
style of architecture, and the
deeply ingrained values of rural
life.
Finland is mostly flat and
punctuated by huge forests and
lakes, but has wide regional
variations. The South contains the
least dramatic scenery, but the
capital, Helsinki, more than
compensates, with its brilliant
architecture and superb collections
of national history and art.
Stretching from the Russian border
in the east to the industrial city
of Tampere, the vast waters of the
Lake Region provide a natural means
of transport for the timber industry
- indeed, water here is a more
common sight than land. Towns lie on
narrow ridges between lakes, giving
even major manufacturing centres
green and easily accessible
surrounds. North of here, Finland
ranges from the flat western coast
of Ostrobothnia to the thickly
forested heartland of Kainuu and
gradually rising fells of Lapland,
Finland's most alluring terrain and
home to the Sami, the semi-nomadic
reindeer herders found all over
northern Scandinavia.
