Map of Finland - click to enlarge

Satellite image

The geography of Finland differs from that of other Nordic countries. Bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, and Gulf of Finland, between Sweden and Russia, Finland is the northernmost country on the European continent. Although other countries have points extending farther north, virtually all of Finland is north of 60 degrees north latitude; nearly a quarter of the land area and fully one-third of the latitudinal extent of the country lie north of the Arctic Circle. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1662x2000, 1540 KB) Finland. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1662x2000, 1540 KB) Finland. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (867x1258, 299 KB)NASA image, thus Public Domain modified from original at http://visibleearth. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (867x1258, 299 KB)NASA image, thus Public Domain modified from original at http://visibleearth. ... Political map of the Nordic countries and associated territories. ... The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. ... The Baltic Sea The Gulf of Bothnia (Fin. ... The Baltic Sea The Gulf of Finland is an arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland (to the north) and Estonia (to the south) all the way to the city of Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

Geographic coordinates: 64°0′N 26°0′E

Size, external boundaries, and geology

In area, Finland has 304,623 square kilometers of land and 33,522 square kilometers of inland water, a total of 338,145 square kilometers. It shares borders on the west with Sweden for 540 kilometers, on the north with Norway for 720 kilometers, on the east with Russia for 1,268 kilometers and a maritime border with Estonia. There are approximately 1,107 kilometers of coastline on the Gulf of Finland (south), the Baltic Sea (southwest), and the Gulf of Bothnia (west). The rugged coastline is deeply indented with bays and inlets. The offshore region is studded with islands.

The most predominant influences on Finland's geography were the continental glaciers that scoured and gouged the country's surface. When the glaciers receded about 10,000 years ago, they left behind them moraines, drumlins, and eskers. Other indications of their presence are the thousands of lakes they helped to form in the southern part of the country. The force of the moving ice sheets gouged the lake beds, and meltwaters helped to fill them. The recession of the glaciers is so recent (in geologic terms) that modern-day drainage patterns are immature and poorly established. The direction of glacial advance and recession set the alignment of the lakes and streams in a general northeast to southwest lineation. The two Salpausselkä Ridges, which run parallel to each other about twenty-five kilometers apart, are the terminal moraines. At their greatest height they reach an elevation of about 200 meters, the highest point in southern Finland. Austrias longest glacier, the Pasterze, winds its 8 km (5 mile) route at the foot of Austrias highest mountain, the Grossglockner A glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. ... Moraine at Mono Lake, California, United States Moraines clearly seen on a side glacier of the Gorner Glacier, Zermatt, Switzerland. ... Drumlin in Cato, New York Drowned drumlin in Clew Bay Drumlin at Withrow Moraine and Jameson Lake Drumlin Field National Natural Landmark A drumlin (Irish droimnín, a little hill ridge) is an elongated whale-shaped hill formed by glacial action. ... Eskers are long, winding ridges of stratified sand and gravel which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North America. ... Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park (US) showing recession since 1850 of 1. ... A drainage system is the pattern formed by the streams, rivers, and lakes in a particular watershed. ... Salpausselkä is an extensive ridge system left by the ice age in Southern Finland. ... Moraine is the general term for debris of all sorts originally transported by glaciers or ice sheets that have since melted away. ...

Landform regions

Many countries of the world can be divided into distinct geographic regions, in each of which some physical characteristic is dominant, almost to the exclusion of others. In Finland, the same physical characteristics are common to each of the four geographic regions into which the country is divided. Regional differences in Finland lie, therefore, in subtle combinations of physical qualities. In archipelago Finland, rock and water are dominant. Coastal Finland consists of broad clay plains where agriculture plays a leading role. The interior lake district supports extensive forests. Upland Finland is covered by Arctic scrub. Nonetheless, each of these regions contains elements of the others. For instance, patches of agriculture extend far northward along some rivers in Lapland, and in southern Finland a substantial bogland, the Suomenselkä, is sometimes referred to as Satakunta Lapland because it has the character of Arctic tundra.^{[citation needed]} National anthem Sámi soga lávlla Languages Sami, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Russian Area ca. ... In physical geography, tundra is an area where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. ...

Archipelago Finland, consisting of thousands of islands and skerries, extends from the southwestern coast out into the Baltic Sea. It includes the strategically significant Åland Islands, positioned at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia. After World War I, both Finland and Sweden laid claim to the islands, which are culturally more Swedish than Finnish. For strategic reasons, however, the League of Nations awarded the Åland Islands to Finland in 1921. A principal reason for this decision was that, during the winter, the islands are physically linked to Finland by the frozen waters of the sea and are thus essential for the country's defense. These forest-covered and bare bedrock islands were, and continue to be, formed by the process of uplift following the last glaciation. Motto: none Anthem: Ã…länningens sÃ¥ng Capital (and largest city) Mariehamn Swedish Government Autonomous province  - Governor Peter Lindbäck1  - Premier Roger Nordlund Autonomy    - Declared 1920   - Recognized 19212  Accession to EU January 1, 19953 Area  - Total 13,517 km² (n/a) 5,267 sq mi   - Water (%) 89 Population  - 2005 estimate... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Franz... The League of Nations was an international organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for full calendar). ...

The rest of the country is also still emerging from the sea. The weight of the continental glaciers depressed the land over which they moved, and even now, a hundred centuries after their recession, Finland is rising up from this great load through the process of isostatic rebound. In the south and the southwest, this process is occurring slowly, at a rate of twenty-five to thirty centimeters a century. Farther north in the Ostrobothnia area, uplift is more rapid, it amounts to eighty or ninety centimeters a century. The process also means that Finland is growing about seven square kilometers yearly as land emerges from the sea. Post-glacial rebound (sometimes called continental rebound, isostatic rebound or isostatic adjustment) is the rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last ice age, through a process known as isostatic depression. ... Ostrobothnia, Österbotten (literally East (of) Bottom / the Gulf of Bothnia) or Pohjanmaa (literally Bottom land / soil / ground), is a historical province to the north in Finland. ...

Coastal Finland consists of broad clay plains extending from the coast inland, for no more than 100 kilometers. These plains slope southward from the morainic Salpausselkä Ridges in southern Finland. Along the Gulf of Bothnia coast, the plains slope southwest from upland areas. The land of coastal Finland is used for agriculture and dairy farming. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

The interior lake district is the largest geographic region, and it is perhaps what most foreigners think of when they imagine Finland. The district is bounded to the south by the Salpausselkä Ridges. Behind the ridges extend networks of thousands of lakes separated by hilly forested countryside. This landscape continues to the east and extends into Russia. As a consequence, there is no natural border between the two countries. Because no set definition of what constitutes a lake and no procedures for counting the number of lakes exist, it has been impossible to ascertain exactly how many lakes the region has. There are, however, at least 55,000 lakes that are 200 or more meters wide. The largest is Lake Saimaa, which, with a surface area of more than 4,400 square kilometers, is the fifth largest lake in Europe. The deepest lake has a depth of only 100 meters; the depth of the average lake is 7 meters. Because they are shallow, these many lakes contain only slightly more water than Finland's annual rainfall. The hilly, forest-covered landscape of the lake plateau is dominated by drumlins and by long sinuous eskers, both glacial remnants. A Picture of Saimaa Saimaa, or Saimen in Swedish, is a lake in southeastern Finland. ...

Upland Finland extends beyond the Arctic Circle. The extreme north of this region is known as Lapland. The highest points in upland Finland reach an elevation of about 1,000 meters, and they are found in the Kilpisjärvi area of the Scandinavian Keel Ridge. In the southern upland region the hills are undulating, while in the north they are rugged. Much of upland Finland is not mountainous, but consists of bogs. World map showing the Arctic Circle in red A sign along the Dalton Highway marking the location of the Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. ... Kilpisjärvi is a village in the municipality of Enontekiö, Lapland, Finland. ... The Scandinavian Mountains, in Swedish Skanderna, Fjällen (The Mountains) or Kölen and in Norwegian Kjølen, with the two latter meaning the Keel, are a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula. ...

Finland's longest and most impressive rivers are in the north. The Kemijoki has the largest network of tributaries. Farther south the Oulujoki drains the beginning of the north country. Most of the streams flow to the Gulf of Bothnia, but there is a broad stretch of land in the north and northeast that is drained by rivers flowing north across Norway and northeast across Russia to the Arctic Ocean. The Kemijoki about 30 km downstream of Rovaniemi Kemijoki, with its 550 km length, is the longest river in Finland. ... Oulujoki is a river in Oulu province, Finland. ...

Climate

Latitude is the principal influence on Finland's climate. Because of Finland's northern location, winter is the longest season. On the average, winter lasts 105 to 120 days in the archipelago and 180 to 220 days in Lapland. This means that southern portions of the country are snow-covered about three to four months of the year and the northern, about seven months. The long winter causes about half of the annual 500 to 600 millimeters of precipitation in the north to fall as snow. Precipitation in the south amounts to about 600 to 700 millimeters annually. Like that of the north, it occurs all through the year, though not so much of it is snow.

The Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Eurasian continent to the east interact to modify the climate of the country. The warm waters of the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift Current, which warm Norway and Sweden, also warm Finland. Westerly winds bring the warm air currents into the Baltic areas and to the country's shores, moderating winter temperatures, especially in the south. These winds, because of clouds associated with weather systems accompanying the westerlies, also decrease the amount of sunshine received during the summer. By contrast, the continental high pressure system situated over the Eurasian continent counteracts the maritime influences, causing severe winters and occasionally high temperatures in the summer. Eurasia African-Eurasian aspect of Earth Eurasia is a landmass covering about 54,000,000 km² compared with the Americas (approximately 42,000,000 km²), Africa (approximately 30,000,000 km²), Antarctica (approximately 13,000,000 km²) and Oceania (9,000,000 km²). Eurasia is composed of the traditional continents... For the album by Ocean Colour Scene, see North Atlantic Drift (album) The Gulf Stream is orange and yellow in this representation of water temperatures of the Atlantic. ... The North Atlantic Current (North Atlantic Drift and the North Atlantic Sea Movement) is a powerful warm ocean current that continues the Gulf Stream northeast. ...

Area and boundaries

Area:
total: 337,030 km²
land: 305,470 km²
water: 31,560 km²

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Germany

Land boundaries:
total: 2,628 km
border countries: Norway 729 km, Sweden 586 km, Russia 1,313 km

Coastline: 1,126 km (excludes islands and coastal indentations)

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 6 nautical miles (11 km)
continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive fishing zone: 12 nautical miles (22 km)
territorial sea: 12 nautical miles (22 km), 3 nautical miles (6 km) in the Gulf of Finland A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of length. ... The Baltic Sea The Gulf of Finland is an arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland (to the north) and Estonia (to the south) all the way to the city of Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. ...

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Baltic Sea 0 m
highest point: Haltitunturi 1,328 m The Baltic Sea is located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. ... The Haltitunturi mountain is the highest point in Finland, at 1328 m above sea level. ...

Resources and land use

Natural resources: timber, copper, zinc, iron ore, silver

Land use:
arable land: 8%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 76%
other: 16% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 640 km² (1993 est.)

Environmental concerns

Natural hazards: Cold periods in winter pose a threat to the unprepared.

Environment - current issues: air pollution from manufacturing and power plants contributing to acid rain; water pollution from industrial wastes, agricultural chemicals; habitat loss threatens wildlife populations

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note: long boundary with Russia; Helsinki is northernmost national capital on European continent; population concentrated on small southwestern coastal plain Founded 1550 Country Finland Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki Area[1] - Of which land - Rank 185. ...

See also

• Extreme points of Finland
• Finland
• Population of Finland

This is a list of the extreme points of Finland, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location. ... Finland numbers some five million inhabitants and has an average population density of 17 inhabitants per square kilometre. ...

References

• This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.
• This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.