FINLAND (Fin. Suomema, region of lakes), a
grand duchy in the northwest of the Russian
empire, lying between lat. 59° 45′ and 70° N.,
and lon. 20° 50′ and 32° 50°′ E., bounded N. by
the Norwegian province of Tromsö, E. by the
Russian provinces of Archangel and Olonetz,
S. by the gulf of Finland, and W. by the gulf
of Bothnia and Sweden; area, 134,830 sq. m.
The name of Finland was given to it by the
Swedes. The läns or governments and their
population in 1867 were as follows:
Nyland
174,388
Abo-Björneborg
319,784
Tavastehuus
170,264
Viborg
279,944
St. Michael
161,936
Kuopio
226,670
Vasa
313,109
Uleaborg
184,758
Total
1,830,853
The population comprises 125,000 Swedish
Finns, 8,000 Russians, 1,000 Lapps, 1,000
gypsies, and 400 Germans, the rest being Finns
proper. In December, 1870, the population
amounted to only 1,732,621, showing a
considerable decrease since 1867; as in several
years, in consequence of famine and epidemics,
the number of deaths largely exceeded that of
births. There are 34 towns with an aggregate
population of 135,000, constituting only 7.5 per
cent. of the total population, a smaller
percentage than is found in any other country of
Europe. The most populous districts are along
the coast; there are some tracts in the interior
wholly uninhabited. The population of the
whole country is about 13 to the square mile.—The
S. coast of Finland is bordered with
rocky islets, between which and the mainland
are narrow and intricate channels difficult of
navigation. The W. coast is generally low,
but becomes very rocky near the Quarken,
and in some parts is not less dangerous than
the southern. Some of the islands, as those
of Sveaborg, which command the entrance to
the harbor of Helsingfors, are strongly fortified.
The rivers are few and unimportant; the
principal is the Kymmene, which flows into the
gulf of Finland, and is broad and deep, but
owing to cataracts is not navigable. The lakes,
however, constitute a prominent feature in the
geography of the country, being very numerous
and occupying a large proportion of the territory.
Independently of Lake Ladoga, which
lies partly in Finland, the largest of these sheets
of water are Lakes Saima and Enare. The
communication between the various watersheds
and the Finnish gulf has been established
since 1854 by the lake of Saima. The surface
is table land from 400 to 600 ft. above the level
of the sea, with occasional higher elevations.
The Maan Selkä mountains, which with their various branches traverse the north, rise to an
altitude of about 2,400 ft. The principal
geological formation is red granite with hard
limestone and slate. The granite is soft and readily
disintegrates. The soil is poor and stony, but
long furnished considerably more grain than was
required for home consumption. The climate
is more severe than that of Sweden, although
resembling it in many other respects. Dense
fogs are frequent, and the rains in autumn are
very heavy. In the southern provinces the
winter lasts seven months. In the northern
the sun disappears in December, and is not
seen again until the middle of January; but
during the short summer it is almost continually
above the horizon.—The mineral products
comprise bog iron, lead, sulphur, arsenic, and
a little copper ore. Salt is very scarce, and is
one of the principal articles of importation.
The entire mineral produce of the country was
in 1870 valued at $1,152,245. Among the
fauna are the bear, wolf, elk, deer, beaver,
polecat, and various kinds of game. Large
herds of reindeer are domesticated in the north,
and cattle breeding is a prominent branch of
industry. Seals and herrings are caught off
the coasts, and the lakes and streams abound
in salmon and a small species of herring which
form an important part of the food of the
inhabitants. Finland was formerly called the
granary of Sweden; but since the Russian
conquest agricultural production is said to have
declined. The chief crops are barley, rye,
hops, hemp, flax, oats, leguminous plants, and
potatoes. A little tobacco, carrots, colewort,
parsnips, and onions are also grown. Wild
berries are almost the only fruit. The forests
are extensive, reaching N. to lat. 69°, consisting
principally of pine and fir, but containing
also beech, elm, oak, poplar, ash, and birch.
These forests are one of the chief sources of
national wealth, but have been much wasted
by a system of manuring land with their ashes.
The soil requires frequent stimulus, and when
the cleared land ceases to produce sufficiently
it is abandoned for other portions of soil, the
timber of which is purposely burned. Much
tar, pitch, and potash, however, as well as firewood,
are still exported. The pasture lands
are good, but ill managed.—Manufactures are
chiefly domestic. The peasant prepares his
own tar, potash, and charcoal, builds his own
boat, makes his own chairs and tables, and in
his cottage are woven the coarse woollen and
other fabrics of which his dress is composed.
But there are several cotton manufactories. In
1865 there were in Finland 32 manufactories
of tobacco, 19 of glassware, 7 of paper, and
various others. The aggregate produce of the
Finnish manufactures in 1865 was valued at
$2,962,880; the number of workmen employed
was 6,946. The exports of Finland amounted
in 1870 to $8,514,720 ($3,200,000 to Russia),
and the imports to $7,848,480 ($2,769,600
from Russia). The chief articles of export
were timber and wooden ware, butter, iron,
corn, tar, and fish; the chief imports were coffee,
iron, sugar, raw cotton, salt, tobacco, wine, and
brandy. Of foreign countries, England ranks
first as regards the exports of Finland, and
Germany first as regards its imports. Finland
has two banks: one national bank, FinlandsBank, established in 1811, and administered
since 1868 by deputies of the diet; and one
private, Föreningsbanken i Finland, founded
in 1862, which in 1870 had branches in 17
towns. The commercial marine consisted in
1870 of 78 steamships and 504 sailing vessels,
of 81,352 tons, manned by 5,742 sailors. The
largest number of commercial vessels is owned
by the town of Brahestad; next in order follow
Abo, Nystad, Vasa, Uleaborg, and Jakobstad.
Not included in the above number are
1,109 coasting vessels, of 52,054 tons. There
is regular steamship connection all along the
coast from St. Petersburg to Tornea, as well as
on most of the lakes in the interior of the
country. There are 14 lighthouses and 740
pilots distributed among 97 stations. The first
railway was opened in 1862 between Helsingfors
and Tavastehuus; in 1870 the railway
between St. Petersburg and Helsingfors was
completed, and in 1874 that between the former
city and Hango. The entire length of the
Finnish railways in 1871 was 298 m., of
telegraph lines 1,686 m., and of telegraph wires
2,758 m. In 1869 a submarine telegraph was
laid between Sweden and Finland, via the Aland
islands.—With the exception of 41,000 Greek
and 800 Roman Catholics, nearly the whole
population are Lutherans, divided into three
dioceses. The archbishop resides at Abo, the
two bishops at Borga and Kuopio. Education
receives considerable care, and the study
of the Finnish language, which was much
neglected while the country was subject to
Sweden, is encouraged by the Russian government.
Besides the Alexander university, transferred
from Abo to Helsingfors, there are six
gymnasiums, 13 superior elementary schools, and
a military academy, and most of the
parishes have primary schools. In 1864 a Finnish
normal school was established at Jyväskylä;
and in 1871 the establishment of two Swedish
normal schools, one male and one female, was
ordered. In 1872 the study of the Russian
language in all state schools was made compulsory;
up to that time it had been optional, and, from
the aversion of the Finns to all that is Russian,
generally neglected.—Since 1809 Finland has
been united with the empire of Russia. Its
fundamental laws are the Swedish constitution of
1772, and the act of union of 1789. These were
confirmed by the emperor Alexander I., March
27, 1809; again by the emperor Nicholas, Dec.
24, 1825; and by Alexander II., March 4, 1855.
The right of representation was regulated
anew by a law in 1869. The government is
administered by a governor general and a
senate consisting of 14 members, half of whom
are noble, and who are presided over by the
governor general assisted by two vice presidents not included in the number of the
members. The senators are named for three years
by the emperor. The vice presidents are chiefs
of the departments of justice and finance. The
deliberations of the senate are held at Helsingfors,
the modern capital. High courts of
justice sit at Abo, Vasa, and Viborg. There
is also a regular military court. Provincial
governors reside at Helsingfors, Abo, Tavastehuus,
Viborg, St. Michael, Kuopio, Vasa, and
Uleaborg. These dignitaries are all, by the
terms of the constitution, Finns, and a secretary
of state for Finnish affairs resides at St.
Petersburg, and is a member of the imperial
council. A diet, composed like the former
diet of Sweden of the four orders, nobility,
clergy, burghers, and peasants, is a constitutional
privilege of Finland, according to the
imperial recognition. The troops of the army
as well as of the navy consist of men who
volunteer for a term of six years. In 1872
Finland had only a battalion of sharpshooters,
consisting of 679 men; the marine troops
numbered 100 men. The revenue in the
general budget for 1871 amounted to $3,058,370,
of which $363,440 were from real estate,
$1,322,092 from customs, stamps, &c., $500,166
from casual dues, and $240,000 from tax
on brandies, &c. The expenditures amounted
to $2,736,499, of which $575,076 were for the
civil administration, $205,440 for government,
$475,937 for agriculture and commerce, and
$512,110 for extraordinary expenditures. The
revenue and the expenditure of the military
budget amounted to $492,788 each. The
clergy, part of the troops, and various civil
functionaries receive their emoluments and pay
from resources not included in the foregoing
list of revenue; namely, from country parishes,
or from government lands reserved for this
purpose. These expenditures therefore do not
appear in the general budget. The debt of
the state in 1871 amounted to $8,309,000.—Less
is known of early Finnish history than of
that of any other European country. The
inhabitants, pagans, were governed by their own
independent kings until about the middle of
the 12th century. Their piracies at this period
so much harassed the Swedes, that St. Eric,
king of the latter people, undertook a crusade
against them, and introduced Christianity, and
also probably planted Swedish colonists upon
their coasts. The Swedes thus acquired a hold
upon the country which they retained for
several centuries. From this period down to 1809
the history of Finland is included in that of the
kings of Sweden, during which the country
was the frequent scene of Russian and Swedish
wars. By the peace of Nystad (1721), three
years after the death of Charles XII., the
territory of Viborg, the eastern division of
Finland, became definitively Russian. In 1741
the Swedes, hoping to repair their losses,
declared war, but in a few months the whole of
Finland was overrun by the Russians. In the
following year, at Abo, Sweden ratified anew
all her former cessions, yielding additional
territory also, but recovered the principal duchy.
In 1787 Gustavus III. began his great attempt
to recover these losses and to humble his
antagonist; but the results of the war added
little glory to the Swedish arms. In 1808 a
fresh invasion from Russia took place, and
Sweden purchased peace by the cession of all
Finland and the islands of Aland, Sept. 17,
1809. The Swedish language and customs
during 750 years had taken such firm root that
Russian dominion has been unable to modify
them. Abo remains in some degree a Swedish
city, and the removal of the seat of government
to its rival Helsingfors (1819), and of the
university (1827), has not contributed to
Russianize the ancient capital. Indeed, at the
present day Stockholm is for Abo much what
St. Petersburg is for Helsingfors. During the
whole period from 1809 to 1863 the Finnish
diet was not convoked by the Russian government.
On Sept. 18, 1863, the emperor
Alexander opened the diet at Helsingfors, composed
of 48 representatives of the rural population,
30 of the towns, 32 of the clergy, and 141
noblemen. The emperor promised that he would
coöperate with this diet in the introduction of
reasonable reforms. Several resolutions of the
diet of 1863-'4, as well as of those which met
in 1867 and 1872, have been sanctioned by the
emperor. Besides the new electoral law,
already referred to, a new church law for the
Lutheran church of Finland was published in
1869. A new press law which had been adopted
by the diet in 1864 was promulgated in
1865, and was to remain in force only till
1867; but as the diet of 1867 failed to agree
on the proposed amendments, it remained in
force till 1872, when all the four estates
composing the diet declared in favor of the liberty
of the press, which the government refused to
concede. On April 12, 1872, the customs
frontier between Finland and Russia was abolished.—Language and Literature. The Finnish
language (Finnish, Suomen Kieli) is one of the
chief branches of the Uralo-Finnish family;
being, with the Esthic and Lappic collaterals,
kindred to the languages of the Ugrians or eastern
Turks, Osmanli Turks, Samoyeds, Tartars,
Magyars, Mongols, and Tunguses, whose chief
branch is the Mantchoos. All these, with some
other tribes, constitute the family variously
designated as Scythic, Turanian, Allophylic,
Mongolian, or Uralo-Altaic. (See Ethnology,
Finns, and Turanian Race and Languages.)
The Kieli, which is spoken by more than 2,000,000
people, consists of many dialects, of which
the principal are the lower, used along the
coasts (except the islands and towns, where
Swedes have settled), its Abo variety being
the dialect used in books; the upper, or that
of the inland region, divided into the sub-dialects
of Ulea and Viborg, and the varieties
of Karelia, Ingria, &c. The Suomic language
is written with 23 Latin or German letters,
of which two are repeated at the end of the alphabet with a diacritic sign, viz., ä, ö.
It contains, however, but 19 genuine sounds,
viz., 8 vowels and 11 consonants. The
letters b, c, d, f, g occur only in a few foreign
words and in some dialects. K, p, h are the
most frequent initials, k, p, t the most
frequent consonants, and sound a little softer
than in other languages. The concurrence
of consonants is avoided, so that the foreign
words Francis, Stephen, school, stable become
Rantsi, Tehvan, koulu, tallis. There are many
diphthongs. Long vowels are written double.
The hiatus is not avoided. A few themes end
in consonants, but none in m. The rhythm of
the language is trochaic, and the root bears
the tone. Rask considers the Suomic to be
the most harmonious of tongues. The radical,
which precedes all other syllables, never
undergoes any change in its beginning and
middle. The theme is originally dissyllabic, and
often corresponds to monosyllabic Magyar
roots; thus: käsi, Magyar kéz, hand; sata,
száz, 100; vesi, víz, water; veri, vér, blood;
sana, szó, word; tyvi, tő, stem, &c. The various
relations of nouns to one another, which in
other languages are expressed both by cases
and prepositions, are indicated by post-positions
or suffixes, forming from the nominative,
which is sometimes the theme with a changed
final, 14 cases, of which 7 are simple, the
others more full. There are two declensions.
The object is indicated by the genitive, nominative,
or partitive, according to the shade of
meaning. Plurality is denoted for the nominative
by suffixing t, and for the other cases by
inserting i before their endings. In some
instances a euphonic e is inserted before the
endings. Vocal harmony is strictly observed
between the vowels of the theme (in nouns as
well as verbs), and for this purpose the vowels
are distinguished into three groups, viz.: a, o,
u; e, i; and ä, ö, y; those of the first and last
never occurring in one word together, but being
compatible with those of the middle one. Hence
the vowels of the first and last group are
converted reciprocally in the suffixes, in order to
suit the vowels of the theme; for instance,
maa-ta, land-part, but pää-tä, head-part. No
language of this family has grammatic genders,
but all indicate sexes either by distinct words or
by epithets. The Magyar alone uses an article.
The adjectives in Suomic are immutable, and
are rendered comparative by suffixing mpa,
mma, mlu, and superlative by inserting i before
that termination. Nouns and adverbs receive
an intenser meaning by inserting mpa and
impa. The numerals are: 1, yksi; 2, kaksi;
3, kolme; 4, neljä; 5, viisi; 6, kuusi; 7,
seit-semän; 8, kahdeksan; 9, yhdeksän; 10,
kymmenen; 11, yksi-to ista-kymmentä; 20,
kaksi-kymmentä; 30, kolmi-kymmentä; 100, sata;
1,000, tuhanen, tuhot. The personal pronouns
are: minä, I; sinä, thou; hän, he, she; me,
we; te, you; he, hevat, they. The possessive
is formed by a suffix, as isä, a father; isäni, my
father; isäs, thy father; isänsä, his father;
isämme,
our father; isänne, your father; isänänse,
their father. The verbs have but two simple
tenses, viz., the present and past, the others
being periphrastic. Their conjugation is more
complicated than in any other family of
languages, expressing by certain syllables inserted
between the theme and the personal suffixes all
voices, modes, species, and other nice shades of
meaning. The infinitive shares more than in
any other language in the nature of a noun;
it comprehends the Latin gerunds, supines, and
other shades of sense, and is declinable. The
Finnish language has no separable particles,
and even affirmation is expressed by means
of the auxiliary olen, I am, and negation by
means of the verb e. By connecting several
such significant syllables into one word, the
most complicated ideas may be very precisely
expressed, which often require many separate
words in other languages. Derived words
may be formed almost indefinitely. The
construction is extremely free, as in Magyar, without
endangering the clearness of the sense; as
for instance:
Katso
kylväjä
meni
kylvänään,
ja
kylväisänsä
Lo!
sower
went
sow-to,
and
sowing-while
lankesivat
muutamat
tien
oheen
ja
linnut
fell
some (seeds)
road's
edge-on,
and
birds
tulivat,
ja
söivät
ne.
came
and
picked-up
them.
The best grammars of the language are those
of Juden (Viborg, 1818) and Koskinen (Abo,
1865), in Swedish. Finnish dictionaries have
been published in Latin and Swedish by D.
Justenius in 1745, Renvall in Latin, Swedish, and
German (Abo, 1826), C. Helenius in Swedish
(Abo, 1838), and E. Lönnrot (Helsingfors, 1853).—The
national songs or runes of the Finns may
be divided into mythological and lyrical songs.
They are sung by Runolainen (song men), to the
sound of the favorite national instrument, the
kantele, a species of harp with five wire strings.
They have also magic songs (Luvut), which
are not sung but recited in a solemn measured
tone. The songs, scattered among the people
for generations past, and some of which had
been published since the beginning of this
century, were at length collected by Lönnrot and
published at Helsingfors in 1835 under the
title of Kalevala, which work is now regarded
as the great national epic of Finland. So great
was its success that the Finnish literary society
took immediate measures for a more
comprehensive collection, and the second edition,
which appeared in 1849, contains 50 songs,
with 22,790 verses, while the first edition
contained only about half as many. A Swedish
translation of the poem by Castrén (Helsingfors,
1844) was speedily followed by a French
translation by Léouzon le Duc (2 vols. 8vo, Paris,
1845), and by a German translation by A.
Schiefner (Helsingfors, 1852). Lönnrot has
further collected about 600 ancient lyrical
songs and 60 ballads (Kanteletar, Helsingfors, 1840); 7,077 proverbs (Suomen kansansanalskuja, 1842); and about 2,200 charades (Suomenkansan orwoituksia, 2d ed., 1851); while
Rudbäk has edited a collection of legends and
tales (Suomen kansan satuja, Helsingfors, 1854),
and Salmelainen has edited Suomen kansansatuja ja tarinoita, a collection of prose tales
and proverbs (4 vols., Helsingfors, 1854-'62).
There are many poets in Finland of Swedish
descent, and Swedish works are often translated
into Finnish. The most popular modern
Finnish poet is a peasant named Paavo Korhonen.
An edition of his songs was published
at Helsingfors in 1848, under the auspices of
Lönnrot. Next in rank is probably the poet
Oksaselta, who published in 1860 Säkeniä,kokous runoutta. The prose literature of
Finland was formerly devoted almost exclusively
to religious and moral subjects. A Finnish
translation of the New Testament by Michael
Agricola appeared in 1548, and a portion of the
Old Testament in 1552; but the whole Bible
was not translated into Finnish until 1642.
The literature of Finland has, however, passed
through a remarkable development during the
last few decades. There are now publications
in the national tongue on almost every branch
of scientific research. Works on linguistics
have been published by Geitlin, Stjerncreutz
and Rothman, Ahlman, and others; a translation
of Tacitus's Germania by Blomstedt (1865),
of the Poema del Cid by Estlander (1863), and
of the Hindoo epos Ramayana, part Sitaharanam,
by Donner (1865). Prominent historical
works are: Yrjö Koskinen's Nuija-sota, &c.
(1857 et seq.), Blomstedt's Kapina Kauhajoella
(1862), and Pütz's Yleisen historian oppikirja
(1865 et seq.). Krohn's Suomenkielinenrunollisuus ruotsinvallan aikana (1862) is a valuable
contribution toward a history of Finnish
literature. Periodical literature is well
represented by Maiden ya meren takaa (since 1864)
and the Kirjallinen kuukaus lehti (since 1866).
