Sneak Preview

If you want to thank the ingenious Finnish for inventing the steam bath, among other great innovations, do so by venturing into their scenic country - Finland. The Finnish are a welcoming, confident and cosmopolitan lot and you should feel right at home in the multi-lingual, multi-cultural aura of this country. Finland contains some of the most densely forested parts of the Scandinavian Peninsula – a land of lakes, woods and astounding Nordic beauty. Come explore this land of stark natural beauty, from the rugged terrain of Lapland to the idyllic landscapes of the Swedish influenced Aland Islands and into the metropolitan city of Helsinki. Finland is truly a land where nature reigns alongside high technology and 21st century modernity.

Blowing hot and blowing cold can be justified in Finland when, according to custom, people after a hot and steamy sauna bath tumble out in the snow for icy summersaults. Well, you have to try it to believe it! Believe it or not - mosquitoes are quite a menace in the summers especially just after the rains. Thankfully they are not the malaria kind - mosquito bites just cause some redness and itching.

Historically Speaking

Finland today shoulders the legacy of the two nations that dominated its course for most of its history – Sweden and Russia. After seven centuries of being caught between the two countries, some Finnish leaders took advantage of the Russian revolution in 1917 and declared themselves independent of the tsar. Thereafter Finland displayed its patriotic potential and desire for self-realization by fighting the Russians tooth and nail in the Winter War of 1939. Finland has since constantly asserted the sovereignty of its territory from the USSR. Signing of a peace treaty 1947 by Finland and USSR improved relations between them which improved further with the arrival of Mikhail Gorbachev in Kremlin. The countries then signed a ten-year treaty in 1992. At present Finland is an active member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Partnership for Peace and serves as a member in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. Moreover, Finland became a part of the EU in 1995 and has established stable relations with Europe while still maintaining good relations with Moscow.

Habitat

This is an amazing land of lakes: no less than 187,888 lakes and streams run through Finnish soil. Besides this, the landscape is primarily tableland – and is fairly level with an average elevation of about 120m above sea level. The terrain starts to become hilly in the north, and full-fledged mountains appear in the northwest. The southwestern region extends into an archipelago jutting out into the Baltic Sea, forming a few thousand islands around the mainland. Finland also has dense forests covering about 70% of its land, as it does a good amount of wildlife and proliferating flora and fauna such as aspen, alder and maple.