This is a timeline of Finnish history. To read about the background of these events, see History of Finland.
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
9000 BC | End of the last ice age in Finland. | |
8900 BC | Finland was inhabited by modern humans. [1] | |
5300 BC | First pottery in Finland. | |
3500 BC | Giant's Church was constructed.[ citation needed ] | |
2000 BC | Beginning of the Kiukainen culture. [2] | |
1500 BC | Beginning of the Bronze Age. | |
500 BC | Beginning of the Iron Age. [1] |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1 | Beginning of the Roman Period. | |
400 | Beginning of the Migration Period. | |
575 | Beginning of the Merovingian Period. | |
800 | End of the Merovingian Period. |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1239 or 1256 | The Second Swedish Crusade took place. [3] | |
1278 | Karelia was controlled by Novgorod. | |
1293 | The Third Swedish Crusade took place. |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1323 | 12 August | The Treaty of Nöteborg was signed. |
1348 | Magnus IV of Sweden led a crusade against the Orthodox, but they failed. | |
1397 | The Kalmar Union was established. |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1403 | Eric of Pomerania arrived in Finland. | |
1407 | Eric of Pomerania arrived in Finland again. | |
1495 | Russo-Swedish War (1495–97) : The war began. | |
1497 | Russo-Swedish War (1495–97) : The war ended. |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1521 | The Kalmar Union was disestablished. | |
1550 | Founding of Helsinki. |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1610 | Ingrian War : The war began. | |
1611 | Gustavus Adolphus became king of Sweden. | |
1617 | Ingrian War : The war ended. | |
1655 | Second Northern War : The war began. | |
1660 | Second Northern War : The war ended. | |
1661 | The Treaty of Cardis was signed with the Russian Empire. | |
1695 | The Great Famine of 1695–1697 began. | |
1697 | The Great Famine of 1695–1697 ended with one-third of the population dead. [4] | |
1700 | Great Northern War : The war began. [5] |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1703 | Saint Petersburg was founded. | |
1710 | 27 February | The Battle of Helsingborg began. |
28 February | The Battle of Helsingborg ended with Swedish victory. | |
1718 | Charles XII was killed. | |
1721 | 30 August | The Treaty of Nystad was signed. |
21 September | The Great Northern War ended with Russian victory. | |
Population: 250,000. | ||
1749 | Population: 427,000. [6] | |
1771 | Gustav III started a coup d'état. | |
1788 | June | Gustav III started a war against Russia. |
1790 | August | Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790) : The war ended. |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1808 | 21 February | Finnish War : The war began. |
1809 | 29 March | Diet of Finland was formed. |
17 September | Finnish War : The war ended. | |
1818 | The House of Bernadotte was established. | |
1869 | The Ecclesiastical Law of 1869 was passed. | |
1889 | The Dissenter Law of 1889 was passed. [7] | |
1892 | Finnish became an official language of Finland. | |
1899 | The Russification of Finland took place. |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1919 | 26 July | Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg became the 1st president of Finland. [8] |
1920 | 14 October | Treaty of Tartu was signed to improve relations with the Soviet Union. |
31 December | The Treaty of Tartu became effective. | |
1925 | 2 March | Lauri Kristian Relander became president of Finland. [8] |
1931 | 2 March | Pehr Evind Svinhufvud became president of Finland. [8] |
1932 | Mäntsälä rebellion took place. [9] | |
1937 | 1 March | Kyösti Kallio became president of Finland. [8] |
1939 | 30 November | Winter War : The war began. |
1940 | 13 March | Winter War : The war ended. |
19 December | Risto Ryti became president of Finland. [8] | |
1941 | 25 June | Continuation War : The war began against Soviet Union. |
10 July | Finnish conquest of East Karelia (1941) : The conquest began. | |
September | Finland conquered East Karelia. | |
6 December | Finnish conquest of East Karelia (1941) : The conquest ended. | |
1944 | 4 August | Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim became president of Finland. [8] |
15 September | Lapland War : The war began against Nazi Germany. | |
19 September | Continuation War : The war ended with Soviet victory. | |
1945 | 27 April | Lapland War : The last of the German troops left the country and thus, ending the war in Finland. |
1946 | 11 March | Juho Kusti Paasikivi became president of Finland. [8] |
1947 | 10 February | The Paris Peace Treaties were signed and restored borders from 1 January 1941. |
1952 | Finland entered into a passport union. | |
1956 | 1 March | Urho Kekkonen became president of Finland. [8] |
1961 | Finland requested membership for the European Free Trade Association. | |
1975 | Finland signed the Helsinki Accords. | |
1982 | 27 January | Mauno Koivisto became president of Finland. [8] |
1982 | Keke Rosberg wins the 1982 Formula One Championship, marking him the first Finnish Formula One driver to win a Championship. | |
1986 | Finland became a member of the European Free Trade Association. | |
1991 | A depression took place after an overheating of the economy. | |
1994 | 1 March | Martti Ahtisaari became president of Finland. [8] |
1995 | Finland joined the European Union. | |
1998 | 1 November | Mika Hakkinen wins the Championship against Michael Schumacher, in Japan. |
1999 | Finland joined the Eurozone. | |
2000 | 1 March | Tarja Halonen became president of Finland. [8] |
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
2006 | 15 January | A presidential election took place. |
2007 | 21 October | Kimi Raikkonen wins the Championship against both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, in Brazil. |
2009 | 31 December | The Sello mall shooting occurred. |
2010 | 12 February | In the 2010 Winter Olympics, 95 athletes competed. |
2011 | 17 April | The Finnish parliamentary election was held. |
16 October | The Ålandic legislative election was held. | |
26 December | Cyclone Dagmar struck Finland, making it the worst storm that struck Finland after 10 years. [10] | |
2012 | 1 March | Sauli Niinistö became president of Finland. [8] |
26 May | The Hyvinkää shooting occurred. | |
2013 | 30 January | The Jyväskylä library stabbing occurred. |
15 November | The 2013 Nordic storms struck Finland. | |
2014 | 9 June | Vladimir Putin said Finland could join NATO but Russia would have to react. [11] |
24 July | Two Finnish women were killed working in Herat, Afghanistan. | |
28 November | Same sex marriage was legalized. [12] | |
2018 | 28 January | A presidential election was held. |
2023 | 4 April | Finland joins NATO. |
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, opposite Estonia. Finland covers an area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 sq mi) and has a population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages, with Swedish being the native language of 5.2% of the population. Finland's climate varies from humid continental in the south to boreal in the north. The land cover is predominantly boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.
Helsinki is the capital, largest and most populous city in Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the Uusimaa region in southern Finland and has a population of 674,963. The city's urban area has a population of 1,360,075, making it by far the most populous urban area in Finland and the country's most important centre for politics, education, finance, culture and research. Helsinki is located 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 km (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has close historical links with these three cities.
Yleisradio Oy, abbreviated as Yle, translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock company, which is 99.98% owned by the Finnish state and employs around 3,200 people in Finland. Yle shares many of its organisational characteristics with its British counterpart, the BBC, on which it was largely modelled.
The Swedish People's Party of Finland is a Finnish political party founded in 1906. Its primary aim is to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finland. The party is currently a participant in the Government of Petteri Orpo, holding the posts of Minister of Education, Minister for European Affairs, and Minister of Youth, Sport and Physical Activity.
The Centre Party, officially the Centre Party of Finland, is an agrarian political party in Finland.
Matti Taneli Vanhanen is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2003 to 2010. He was also Chairman of the Centre Party in 2006. In his earlier career, he was a journalist. Vanhanen is the son of professor Tatu Vanhanen and Anni Tiihonen.
The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party.
Uusimaa is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, along with the surrounding Greater Helsinki area, are both contained in the region, and Uusimaa is Finland's most populous region. The population of Uusimaa is 1,734,000.
Siuntio is a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Southern Finland. Its neighboring municipalities are Ingå to the west, Kirkkonummi, to the east, Lohja to the north-west, and Vihti to the north. It is 46 kilometres (29 mi) west of Helsinki.
Sauli Väinämö Niinistö is a Finnish politician who has served as the 12th president of Finland since March 2012.
Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015. He rose to politics as a researcher specialized in the affairs of the European Union and was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 as a member of the National Coalition Party. In 2008, Stubb was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs following a scandal surrounding his predecessor, Ilkka Kanerva. In 2011 Stubb stood for election to the Finnish Parliament for the first time and was elected MP with the second highest vote count in the election, which led to Stubb becoming the Minister for Europe and Foreign Trade in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet.
Human rights in Finland are freedom of speech, religion, association, and assembly as upheld in law and in practice. Individuals are guaranteed basic rights under the constitution, by legislative acts, and in treaties relating to human rights ratified by the Finnish government. The constitution provides for an independent judiciary.
Independence Day of Finland is a national public holiday, and a flag flying day, held on 6 December to celebrate Finland's declaration of full independence from the Russian Empire when the Bolsheviks took power in late 1917.
Erkki Johan Bäckman is a Finnish political activist, propagandist, author, eurosceptic, and convicted stalker working for the Russian government. Bäckman has been a prominent Finnish propagandist in Russia who has actively participated in long-standing operations to propagate anti-Finnish and anti-Western Russian propaganda.
Presidential elections were held in Finland in January and February 2012. The first round took place on 22 January 2012 with advance voting between 11 and 17 January. Since no candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on 5 February, with advance voting between 25 and 31 January. Sauli Niinistö was elected the President of Finland for a term from 1 March 2012 until 1 March 2018.
The Social Democratic Party of Finland is a social democratic political party in Finland. It is the third largest party in the Parliament of Finland with 43 seats.
Soldiers of Odin is an anti-immigrant group which was founded in Kemi, Finland, in October 2015. The group was established in response to the thousands of migrants who were arriving in Finland amidst the European migrant crisis. They call themselves a "patriotic organisation that fights for a Finland" that wants to scare away "Islamist intruders" they say cause insecurity and increase crime.
Finland has been a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 4 April 2023.
Movement Now is an economically liberal political party in Finland.
Seven Star Movement was a Finnish political party founded in 2018. The party was founded by Paavo Väyrynen, its president and only MP, after he was ousted from his previous party, Citizens' Party. The Seven Star Movement shut down its activities after the 2019 European Parliament election and was de-registered in 2023 after failing to win seats in two consecutive parliamentary elections.