Geographically , Finland is theeighth largest countryin theEuropean Union . With a estate area of 117,344 satisfying miles ( or 303,920 satisfying kilometers ) , it ’s bigger thanItaly , Austria or Greece , to name a few .
The shoes is not well categorise . Modern Finland shares borders with Russia , Sweden and Norway . Also , it ’s flank by theGulf of Bothniaand ( go form ) theGulf of Finland . So Finland is obviously part of Northern Europe .
But since humans make love classify things , there ’s a natural impulse to lump this home of5.5 million soulsinto a smaller , clearly defined subregion .
Some sources — like various travelling guides and the Monty Python melodic , " Spamalot " — will tell you Finland is Norse . Yet it ’s more often cited as one of the " Nordic Countries . " While those two full term are related , they ’re not of necessity synonyms .
Uniting Scandinavia
The countersign " Scandinavia " isderivedfrom " Scania , " the name of a historic province in southerly Sweden . " Scandinavia , " as a distinct term , was first popularized in the mid-1800s .
Pull out a map and you ’ll see that Sweden is located on theScandinavian Peninsula . This cragged stretch of land in the North Atlantic also contains the entirety of Norway — plus flake of Russia and Finland .
Thing is , not every nation with holding on the Scandinavian Peninsula is considered " Scandinavian . " Russia unquestionably is n’t . And Finland … well , we ’ll get back to Finland .
Denmark and Sweden had beenrecurring rivalsfor centuries , waging numerous wars against each other ( often with Norway ’s participation ) . But in 1851 , academics in both rural area get down calling for solidarity . " Pan - Scandinavianism " — as their cause came to be love — emphasized the full-bodied ethnic heritage that Danes share with Swedes and Norwegians .
Language was one of the many thing their hoi polloi had in common .
Let’s Have Words
The Danish , Swedish and Norwegian linguistic process are all associate . They ’re class as North Germanic languages , lay them in the same lingual family as Icelandic andFaroese . Many word and idiomatic expression are shared between them . Native Swedes can oftendeciphertexts spell in Danish or Norwegian , for model .
Which bring us to one of the fundamental differences between Finland and its Norse neighbors . See , Finnish is n’t a North Germanic words at all . Actually , it ’s aFinno - Ugric language , which puts it in the same family as Hungarian and Estonian . One notable feature of the Finno - Ugric language is their lack ofgrammatical sex ; in Finnish , the pronoun " hän " means both " he " and " she . "
Swedish Ties
Thanks to their similar language and the legacy of the Pan - Scandinavianism movement , Norway , Sweden and Denmark are the three countries universally regarded as " Scandinavian " today ( even though Denmark ’s not a part of the Scandinavian Peninsula ) .
So caseful closed , correct ? Well , have ’s not be too hasty .
We ca n’t ignore the fact that the Kingdom of Sweden rule parts of Finland for600 years . Right up until 1809 , when the Russian Empire claimed it during the Napoleonic Wars .
Although Finland became an main country in the other twentieth hundred , it still retain Sweden ’s influence . After all , Swedish is thenative languagefor over 5 percentage of the Finnish universe .
The Nordic Countries
Defining ethnical regions can be tricky . ( IsTexasa southerly state or a Western one ? You separate us . ) Theusual consensusamong Northern Europeans is that " Scandinavia " only include Sweden , Denmark and Norway .
On the other hand , the New York City - basedAmerican - Scandinavian Foundation(ASF ) describes itself as " the leading cultural and educational link between the U.S. and Denmark , Finland , Iceland , Norway and Sweden . " take down the expanded tilt of Carry Nation .
Ultimately , the head of whether Finland is Norse or not isopen to some debate . But here ’s a point everyone agrees on : The land ofNokia phonesandSanta Claus Villageis one of the " Nordic Countries . " That crowd is made up of Finland , Iceland , Norway , Denmark , and Sweden — along with their autonomous regions and territories ( ergo , Greenland and the Faroe Islands make the cut ; they ’re both part of the Kingdom of Denmark ) .
representative from all these stead sit on theNordic Council . An inter - parliamentary body , this system facilitates cooperation between its member countries .
