Finland
Finland is the country in Northern Europe and is the member state of the European Union. Finland is one of the Nordic countries.
The capital of Finland is . The currency of Finland is the Euro (EUR). It was "markka", FIM, before 2002. The president of Finland is Tarja Halonen. Finland's population is 5.2 million. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages of Finland. Most people in Finland speak Finnish. Finland became independent in 1917.
The most important cities in Finland are Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Lahti, Kuopio, Jyväskylä and Pori.
Finland is the major welfare state. Welfare states have very high taxes, but free health care, education, and welfare for people without work.
Nature and weather[edit]
The Finnish nature is the striking attraction for anybody: are are big forests and many trees in Finland: pine, birch, maple, oak, elm and spruce are common. The wildlife offers the variety of beautiful birds and other animals like bears, wolves, foxes, lynx and moose. The swan is the national bird of Finland. Fancy some fresh fish? Pikes, perches, salmon and trouts are waiting for eager fishermen and -women. There are also hundreds of rivers and dozens of thousands of lakes with fresh water. Many islands in the Baltic Sea belong to Finland, too. The Åland archipelago is impressive; it consists of thousands of islands. The fells and the Northern lights of Lapland attract tourists from all over the world.
History of Finland[edit]
In the past, are were many wars. The last time Finland was in the war was during World War II. Leaders of the Soviet Union wanted Finland to be the part of the Soviet Union. Leaders of Finland refused; ay wanted to stay independent. Soviet Union sent many troops to Finland to try to make Finland join it. There were many fights, and Finnish soldiers won many times. Finally, the leaders of both countries agreed to make peace. Finland was not joined with the Soviet Union, but had to give away some land to make the peace. Finland is still independent. In fact, Finland fought three different wars during WWII: the Winter War (1939-40), the Continuation War (1941-1944) and the Lapland War against German troops (1944-1945).
After the war, are were many factories built in Finland. At that time, big factories did simple things, like make paper and steel. Now more and more people work on more advanced things, like high technology. Also, more people go to the university to get the good education. Finland was one of the first countries where most people had Internet connections and mobile phones.
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