Finland is divided into 19 regions which are governed by regional councils that serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of each region. The councils are composed of delegates from the municipal councils. The main tasks of regional councils are regional planning, the development of enterprises, and education. Between 2004 and 2012, the regional council of Kainuu was elected via popular elections as part of an experimental regional administration.
The history of Åland can be traced back to roughly 4000 BCE, when humans first reached the archipelago in the Neolithic period. Several Bronze Age villages have been found on Åland. During the Viking Age, six hillforts were built. Sweden controlled the Åland Islands from the 1200s until 1809, during which, Kastelholm Castle was the focal point of many battles. In 1809, the Russian empire took Åland and Finland. In 1854, British and French forces attacked Bomarsund. The Åland Islands were then demilitarised until 1906. In 1918, Swedish and German forces occupied the Åland Islands. After the Finnish Civil War, Åland joined Finland following the Åland Convention of 1921.
Mariehamn is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. It is mostly surrounded by Jomala, the second-largest municipality in Åland in terms of population; to the east, it is bordered by Lemland. Like the rest of Åland, Mariehamn is unilingually Swedish-speaking and around 82% of the inhabitants speak it as their native language.
The Landskapsregering is the government of Åland, an autonomous region of Finland. The government is led by a Lantråd, the premier of Åland, who is elected by the Lagting, the parliament of Åland.
Politics of the Åland Islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic autonomous, demilitarised, and unilingually Swedish territory of Finland, whereby the Lantråd is the head of government, and of a multi-party system.
The Lagting, or Lagtinget, is the parliament of Åland, an autonomous, demilitarised and unilingually Swedish-speaking territory of Finland. The Lagting has 30 seats, which makes for approximately one seat per 700 voters in 2022.
Finström is a municipality of Åland, an autonomous territory of Finland. The municipality has a population of 2,624 of which 90.1% speak Swedish and 2.5% Finnish as their first language. The municipality covers an area of 172.50 square kilometres (66.60 sq mi) of which 49.23 km2 (19.01 sq mi) is water. The population density is 21.26 inhabitants per square kilometre (55.1/sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Swedish.
.ax is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Åland, Finland, introduced in 2006. Previously, most Åland websites were under the .aland.fi subdomain.
The flag of Åland is a yellow or gold Nordic cross with another red cross inside on a blue background with the vertical bar shifted towards the hoist side. It is intended to resemble the Swedish flag defaced by a red cross symbolizing Finland. The flag was officially adopted as the flag of Åland in 1954 and first hoisted in Mariehamn on 3 April 1954. Prior to autonomy, an unofficial horizontal bicolour triband of blue-yellow-blue was in use until it was made illegal in 1935.
The Future of Åland is a separatist political party on Åland. As a member of the European Free Alliance, the goal of the party is to make Åland an independent state.
Novum Testamentum Graece is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek, forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical criticism. It is also known as the Nestle–Aland edition after its most influential editors, Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland. The text, edited by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, is currently in its 28th edition, abbreviated NA28.
Kurt Aland was a German theologian and biblical scholar who specialized in New Testament textual criticism. He founded the Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster and served as its first director from 1959 to 1983. He was one of the principal editors of Nestle–Aland – Novum Testamentum Graece for the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft and The Greek New Testament for the United Bible Societies.
New Testament manuscripts in Greek are categorized into five groups, according to a scheme introduced in 1981 by Kurt and Barbara Aland in The Text of the New Testament. The categories are based on how each manuscript relates to the various text-types. Generally speaking, earlier Alexandrian manuscripts are category I, while later Byzantine manuscripts are category V. Aland's method involved considering 1000 passages where the Byzantine text differs from non-Byzantine text. The Alands did not select their 1000 readings from all of the NT books; for example, none were drawn from Matthew and Luke.
The Åland Sea is a waterway in the southern Gulf of Bothnia, between Åland and Sweden. It connects the Bothnian Sea with the Baltic Sea proper. The western part of the basin is in Swedish territorial waters while the eastern part is in Finnish territorial waters.
Bank of Åland Plc is a Finnish commercial bank and banking group with over 700 employees and operations in Åland, Finland and Sweden. The bank was founded in 1919 and was listed on the stock exchange in 1942. Its president and CEO is Peter Wiklöf.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Åland Islands:
The Institute for New Testament Textual Research at the University of Münster, Westphalia, Germany, is to research the textual history of the New Testament and to reconstruct its Greek initial text on the basis of the entire manuscript tradition, the early translations and patristic citations; furthermore the preparation of an Editio Critica Maior based on the entire tradition of the New Testament in Greek manuscripts, early versions and New Testament quotations in ancient Christian literature. Under Kurt Aland's supervision, the INTF collected almost the entire material that was needed. The manuscript count in 1950 was 4250, in 1983, 5460, and in 2017 approximately 5800 manuscripts.
Åland is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area (1,580 km2) and population (30,129), constituting 0.51% of Finland's land area and 0.54% of its population. Its only official language is Swedish and the capital city is Mariehamn.
Barbara Aland, née Ehlers is a German theologian and was a professor of New Testament Research and Church History at Westphalian Wilhelms-University of Münster until 2002.
The levels of education in Åland are primary, secondary and higher education. Education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 15. Compulsory education consists of six years of primary and three years of lower secondary education. Upon completion of the third year of lower secondary education students can continue to the upper secondary education which is carried out by the Ålands Gymnasium. Higher education is offered at the Åland University of Applied Sciences. Education in Åland is administered and regulated by the Ministry of Education and Culture.