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76-656: Kuivasaari ( Torra Mjölö in Swedish ) is a Finnish island in the Gulf of Finland , near Helsinki . Kuivasaari is located some 5 kilometres (3 miles) out into the Gulf of Finland, due south of Helsinki city centre, and was for many years the outermost inhabited island in the Helsinki archipelago (now there is no permanent settlement based on the island). It lies parallel to the Harmaja lighthouse , and

152-670: A bilingual country with a Swedish-speaking minority (5.2% of mainland Finland 's population in December 2019) living mostly in the coastal areas of southern, south-western, and western Finland. During the 20th century, the urbanization following the Industrial Revolution has led to large majorities of Finnish speakers in all major cities. The capital Helsinki (in Swedish Helsingfors) became predominantly Finnish-speaking as recently as around 1900. A large and important part of

228-506: A million kilograms. It is 19 metres tall, and its diameter is 16 metres. The shooting sector is 360 degrees, and the shells weigh 471 kilograms. The range is 40 kilometres. 15–20 persons were required to calculate the firing values, and a further 80–137 men were needed to operate the guns. The guns were part of the coastal defense of Finland, but they were only fired twice during the Second World War , once during an exercise, and once when

304-562: A result of the 1219, crusade and the Battle of Lindanise , northern Estonia became part of Denmark ( Danish Estonia ). In the 13th century, the city of Reval (Tallinn) ( Latin : Revalia ) was established on the site of modern Tallinn, capital of Estonia. As a result of the Estonian uprising in 1343 , northern Estonia was taken over by the Teutonic Order and sold by Denmark in 1346. In 1559, during

380-451: Is 400 km (250 mi) and the width varies from 70 km (43 mi) near the entrance to 130 km (81 mi) on the meridian of Moshchny Island ; in the Neva Bay , it decreases to 12 km (7.5 mi). The gulf is relatively shallow, with the depth decreasing from the entrance to the gulf to the continent. The sharpest change occurs near Narva-Jõesuu , which is why this place

456-638: Is a simple fricative [ɕ]. The tonal word accent , which distinguishes some minimal pairs in most dialects of Swedish and Norwegian, is not present in Finland Swedish (except around the parish of Snappertuna, west of Helsinki). Hence, Central Swedish minimal pairs like /ˈandɛn/ ("the duck") and /ǎndɛn/ ("the spirit") are both pronounced [ˈandɛn] in Finland. Finland Swedish lacks the aspirated stops present in Central Standard Swedish, making

532-502: Is an ordinary one. In this way, the same pressure is achieved as with a shell, and the springs, the restrainer and the return mechanisms function normally. In principle, it would be possible to fire shells, but there are some practical concerns: this would mean live firing, and it would need to be published ahead of time and it would need to be monitored by army personnel. At the same time, the Gulf of Finland would need be cleared of maritime traffic within 50 kilometres, and of air traffic to

608-647: Is called the Narva wall. The average depth is 38 m (125 ft) with the maximum of 115 m (377 ft). The depth of the Neva Bay is less than 6 metres (20 ft); therefore, in March 2019, a channel was dug at the bottom for safe navigation. Because of the large influx of fresh water from rivers, especially from the Neva River (two-thirds of the total runoff), the gulf water has very low salinity – between 0.2 and 0.3 ‰ at

684-485: Is carried out in spring and autumn. Grey seal and ringed seal are met in the gulf, but the latter is very rare. Many ancient sites were discovered on the shores of the gulf dated to up to 9000 years old. Humans began to inhabit these places soon after the ice age glaciers retreated and the water level of the Littorina Sea lowered to reveal the land. Remains of about 11 Neolithic settlements were found since 1905 in

760-816: Is located in Finland. Korsnäs has also been cited as such. However, as there are no official statistics on the mother tongue of inhabitants of Sweden, this is impossible to verify. In addition bilingualism is very common for immigrants in Sweden, so the term Swedish-speaking may be deceptive in that sense. In the spoken vernacular, especially among young people in Finnish-dominated areas, Finnish loanwords as well as calques from Finnish are frequently incorporated into Finland Swedish. There are also some words in Finland Swedish that would be considered slightly archaic in Sweden. Some government and public service terms that have been created in recent centuries also differ. The same

836-597: Is not a separate language from the Swedish of Sweden. The Swedish dialects in Finland are considered varieties of Swedish, and the norm for written Standard Swedish is completely applicable also for Finland Swedish. Today, Swedish dialects are spoken in four different regions in Finland: Ostrobothnia, Åland , Southwest Finland and Uusimaa . Swedish as spoken in Finland is regulated by the Swedish Department of

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912-570: Is not in use, but it still belongs to the Finnish Defence Forces. The Military Museum of Finland had wanted to turn the island into a museum, but due to lack of funds, this project was not realized. However, the Suomenlinna Coastal Regiment Guild has seen to it that the houses and the equipment has been maintained. In principle, access is severely restricted, and the public is not permitted to go ashore or to approach

988-512: Is regulated by the Institute for the Languages of Finland . Official Swedish is not supposed to be very different from Swedish as found in Sweden. There are however e.g. words regarded as archaic in Sweden, but commonly used in Finland, and terms that differ from their counterparts in Sweden, often because of slight differences in the related legislation. Bilingualism of municipalities is regulated by

1064-534: Is reviewed once in a decade, and enacted by a government decree issued by the Finnish Council of State . The country's public broadcaster, Yle , provides two Swedish-language radio stations, Yle Vega and Yle X3M . The Swedish-language TV channel Yle Fem was merged with Yle Teema in 2017 to form Yle Teema & Fem . With the exception of the dialects spoken in Ostrobothnia along the west coast, close to

1140-461: Is significant contamination by ions of mercury and copper , organochlorine pesticides , phenols , petroleum products and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons . Cleaning of waste water in Saint Petersburg was started in 1979 and by 1997 about 74% of wastewater was purified. This number rose to 85% in 2005, to 91.7% by 2008, and as of 2009 was expected to reach 100% by 2011 with the completion of

1216-549: Is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea . It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg in Russia to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. Other major cities around the gulf include Helsinki and Tallinn . The eastern parts of the Gulf of Finland belong to Russia, and some of Russia's most important oil harbors are located farthest in, near Saint Petersburg (including Primorsk ). As

1292-717: Is the main transhipment cargo port for Russia), Hanko (containers, vehicles), Turku (containers, rail ferry), Kilpilahti/Sköldvik harbour ( oil refinery ); in Estonia: Tallinn (grains, refrigerators, oil), Paldiski , Sillamäe . Gulf of Finland is also part of the Volga–Baltic Waterway and White Sea–Baltic Canal . Important goods include apatite from the Kola Peninsula , Karelian granite and greenstone , timber from Arkhangelsk Oblast and Vologda , ferrous metals from Cherepovets , coal from Donbas and

1368-408: Is true of other new words, notably loanwords from English . A common misconception among many Swedes is that Finland Swedish is simply Swedish spoken with a Finnish accent, something that can be a considerable source of frustration to most native Swedish-speakers in Finland. Any language adopts features, especially pronunciation habits, from dominant languages it comes in touch with, but many of

1444-590: The Gulf of Bothnia (example: the dialect spoken in Närpes ), Finland Swedish is not particularly different from Central Swedish. The phoneme /ʉː/ is more centralized and pronounced like [ʉː] , quite similar to how many speakers of English pronounce /uː/ (as in moon ). That should be compared to the Central Swedish [ʉ̟ː] , which is very close to the short vowel [ʏː] and is more rounded . The highly variable sj sound / ɧ / varies between [ʂ] and [ɕ ~ ʃ] on

1520-413: The Institute for the Languages of Finland . This regulation includes the officially stated aim of keeping Finland Swedish close to the Swedish as spoken in Sweden and strongly phrased advice against loanwords and calques from Finnish , which are usually incomprehensible to Swedes. It is said that the municipality with the highest proportion of Swedish speakers in the world, Larsmo (93% as of 2017 ),

1596-572: The Kuznetsk Basin , pyrite from Ural, potassium chloride from Solikamsk , oil from Volga region, and grains from many regions of Russia. Passenger transport on the gulf includes a number of ferry lines which connect the following ports: Helsinki and Hanko (Finland), Mariehamn ( Åland ), Stockholm and Kapellskär (Sweden), Tallinn and Paldiski (Estonia), Rostock (Germany), Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad (Russia), as well as many other cities. Another major and historical activity in

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1672-608: The Livonian War , the Bishop of Ösel-Wiek in Old Livonia sold his lands to King Frederick II of Denmark . The Danish king gave the territory to his younger brother Magnus who landed on Saaremaa with an army in 1560. The whole of Saaremaa became a Danish possession in 1573, and remained so until it was transferred to Sweden in 1645. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Finnish tribes on

1748-531: The Russian Empire and became an autonomous Grand Duchy , Swedish remained the only official language. In 1863, both Finnish and Swedish became official languages with equal status, and by the time of Finland's independence in 1917, after a Finnicization campaign by the Fennoman movement , Finnish clearly dominated in government and society. See further: Finland's language strife . Finland has since then been

1824-519: The Swedish-speaking population , commonly also referred to as Finland Swedes , as their first language . For the most part, these dialects and the dialects spoken in Sweden are mutually intelligible , although some archaic dialects in Ostrobothnia are practically unintelligible to Swedish-speaking people in southern Finland (and in Sweden). Most Swedish-speaking Finns emphasize that Finland Swedish

1900-568: The Treaty of Stolbovo (1617) the lands on the Gulf of Finland and Neva River became part of the Swedish Ingria . Its capital Nyen was located in the delta of Neva River. Russia reclaimed the eastern part of the gulf as a result of the victory in the Great Northern War (1700–1721). On 16 May 1703, Saint Petersburg was founded in the mouth of Neva River, not far from Nyen, and in 1712 it became

1976-480: The evacuation of the Baltic Fleet from Tallinn to Kronstadt, German forces sank 15 Russian military vessels, (5 destroyers , 2 submarines , 3 guard ships , 2 minesweepers , 2 gunboats and 1 Motor Torpedo Boat ) as well as 43 transport and support ships. Several ships still remain on the gulf bottom near Cape Juminda, and a monument was raised there in memory of those lost in the events. In 1978, construction

2052-572: The incision of large rivers during the Cenozoic prior to the Quaternary glaciation . These rivers eroded the sedimentary strata above the Fennoscandian Shield . In particular the eroded material was made up of Ediacaran (Vendian) and Cambrian -aged claystone and sandstone. As erosion progressed, the rivers encountered harder layers of Ordovician -aged limestone , leading to the formation of

2128-500: The spawning of fish. Extraction of sand and gravel in the Neva Bay for the land reclamation destroy spawning sites of European smelt . Construction of the Saint Petersburg Dam reduced water exchange of the Neva Bay with the eastern part of the gulf by 10–20% that increased the contamination level of Neva Bay. The largest changes occur within 5 km (3 mi) from the dam. Some shallow areas between Saint Petersburg and

2204-517: The 1980s, the commander of the Suomenlinna Coastal Regiment decided to save it. The Suomenlinna Coastal Regiment Guild restored the turret in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it is being maintained so that it can be used. The Suomenlinna Coastal Regiment Guild maintains a notable collection of historical guns on the island. Earlier, a 100 56 TK was also maintained on the island, but it has now been decommissioned. The island fortress

2280-628: The Baltic Sea. The waste, mostly depleted uranium hexafluoride , is further transported through Saint Petersburg to Novouralsk , Angarsk and other cities of eastern Russia. This transit point will be moved from Saint Petersburg to the port Ust-Luga , which is about 110 kilometres (68 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, and within the Border Security Zone of Russia , as decided by the Russian government in 2003 (Order No. 1491-r of 14 October 2003). It

2356-500: The Finnish mainland, often close to sh in English shoe . In the Åland Islands, its realization is similar to the velar (and often labialized ) pronunciations of nearby parts of Sweden. The historic k sound before front vowels and the tj sound, in modern Central Swedish a fricative /ɕ/ , is an affricate [t͡ɕ] or [t͡ʃ] in all Finland Swedish dialects, close to ch in English chin , except for some Åland dialects , in which it

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2432-676: The Great in the Great Northern War (1710). In 1323, the Treaty of Nöteborg set the border between Sweden and Russia along the river Sestra. In the 15th century, the Izhorian lands of the Novgorod Republic were attached to the Grand Duchy of Moscow . In 1550, Gustav I of Sweden founded a city on the site of modern Helsinki . As a result of the Russian defeat in the Ingrian War (1610–1617) and

2508-519: The Language Act of 2003. If the minority has increased into at least 3,000 persons or 8% of inhabitants, then the municipality must become bilingual. If the minority has fallen below 3,000 persons and 6% of inhabitants, then the municipality becomes monolingual, unless it decides to keep its bilingual status. At present, only one such municipality has done so, namely Lohja ( Lojo in Swedish). The status

2584-681: The Soviets were retreating from Hanko in the autumn of 1941. After the war, the Allied Control Commission demanded that the guns be dismantled. The barrels were taken a hundred kilometres away to the Armoured Brigade in Parola . However, in 1960 the guns were brought back and installed again. During the 1960s and 1970 many test firings were conducted, but after that the firings were discontinued. The firings caused enormous shock waves, and all

2660-571: The Swedish marshal Torkel Knutsson . The castle was fought over for decades between Sweden and the Novgorod Republic . By the Treaty of Nöteborg in 1323, Vyborg was finally recognized as a part of Sweden . It withstood a prolonged siege by Daniil Shchenya during the Russo-Swedish War of 1496–1499 . The town's trade privileges were chartered by King Eric of Pomerania in 1403. Vyborg remained in Swedish hands until its capture by Peter

2736-472: The Swedish-speaking population nevertheless lives in the capital. The autonomous island province of Åland is an exception, being monolingually Swedish-speaking according to international treaties. It is a matter of definition whether the Swedish dialects spoken on Åland are to be considered a kind of Finland Swedish or not. Most Swedish-speaking Finns and linguists consider them to be closer to some of

2812-494: The battery there was room for another hundred men. The officers had their own quarters. At most, 250 military personnel lived on the island. The Russians left on the island 12"/52 Pattern 1907 guns that had been manufactured in the Obukhov State Plant near St. Petersburg. In the 1930s, they were housed in a heavy double turret, which is one of the few remaining such guns in the world. The turret has 5 floors, and it weighs

2888-448: The beginning of the Swedish-speaking population of Finland . From the 16th century, Swedish was the main language of jurisdiction, administration and higher education in Finland (which was then a part of Sweden ), but the majority of the population in the Finnish inland spoke Finnish outside of these sectors of society, i.e. in normal, daily life. In 1809, when Finland was conquered by

2964-658: The capital city of Russia. To protect the city from the Swedish fleet, the Kronshlot fortress was built on an artificial island near the Kotlin Island in May 1704. By 1705, five more such forts were built nearby composing the city Kronstadt . These fortifications, nicknamed by the contemporaries "the Russian Dardanelles ", were designed to control the Gulf waterway. In 1710, the cities of Peterhof and Oranienbaum were founded on

3040-454: The cliffs of Baltic Klint in northern Estonia and Ingria . Subsequently, the depression was somewhat reshaped by glacier activities. Its retreat formed the Littorina Sea , whose water level was some 7–9 metres higher than the present level of the Baltic Sea. Some 4,000 years ago the sea receded and shoals in the gulf have become its islands. Later uplifting of the Baltic Shield skewed

3116-584: The contrast between "fortis" and "lenis" stops one of voicing only. The retroflexion that occurs in many dialects when /r/ precedes a coronal consonant does not occur in certain pairs in Finland Swedish (e.g. /rt/ , which is realized as [ʈ] in Standard Swedish but [rt] in Finland Swedish). Finland Swedish mostly has the same vocabulary as Swedish in Sweden, and there is a conscious effort to adopt neologisms from Sweden, to maintain cohesion between

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3192-532: The dam are turning into swamps. Waterlogging and the associated rotting of plants may eventually lead to eutrophication of the area. Also worrying is expansion of oil ports in the gulf and the construction of a treatment center for spent fuel from the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant . The port of Kronstadt is currently serving as a transit point for the import in Russia of radioactive waste through

3268-466: The dialects spoken in nearby parts of Sweden. Swedish is one of the two official and national languages of the Republic of Finland, the other being Finnish. These two languages have formally equal status in nearly all legislation, though the status of Swedish in Finland has long been a subject of sociopolitical debate. The other minority languages (such as Sami ) are regulated separately. Finland Swedish

3344-507: The disastrous Russo-Japanese War , the Russians had a need to fortify the coastal western areas of the empire, and fortification works on the island began on the eve of World War I . The island became part of Peter the Great's Naval Fortress , to which belonged 212 points of land and islands in Finland. When the war broke out, the Kuivasaari fortress was almost completed. However, war time action

3420-573: The dominant activity in the gulf. The major port cities and their functions are, in Russia: Saint Petersburg (all kinds of goods), Kronstadt (container shipping), Lomonosov (general cargo, containers, metals), Vyborg (general cargo), Primorsk (oil and petroleum products), Vysotsk (oil and coal), Ust-Luga ( oil , coal, timber, containers); in Finland: Helsinki (containers), Kotka (containers, timber, agricultural products; it

3496-468: The doors and windows on the island had to be opened during the firings, otherwise they would have been broken. The turret is still operational, but it is fired only ceremonially, such as during the Finnish Independence Day . The shots are so called water shots, i.e. instead of a projectile, a polystyrene plug is put in the barrel as well as a plastic bag with 500 kilograms of water. The charge

3572-649: The east, the gulf ends with Neva Bay; in the west it merges with the Baltic Sea. The gulf contains numerous banks, skerries and islands. The largest include Kotlin Island with the city of Kronstadt (population 42,800), Beryozovye Islands , Lisiy Island, Maly Vysotsky Island with the nearby city of Vysotsk (population 1706), Gogland (Suursaari), Moshtchny (Lavansaari), Bolshoy Tyuters (Tytärsaari), Sommers , Naissaar , Kimitoön , Kökar , Seskar (Seiskari), Pakri Islands and others. Starting in 1700, Russia constructed nineteen artificial islands with fortresses in

3648-452: The entrance to Helsinki harbour during the World Wars. The island gets its name, meaning 'dry island', from the fact that there is no fresh water on the island, and water is instead pumped from the nearby Isosaari island. Coastal fishermen used the island as their base from the 18th century on. In 1896, the state of Russia bought the island for military use. Less than a decade later, after

3724-518: The environment. Mines were laid in the gulf during World War I (38,932 units), the Russian Civil War , and the Winter War (1939–1940), with an estimated total number of 60,000; 85,000 more mines were set during World War II, and only a fraction of all those were eliminated after the wars. The ecological condition of the Gulf of Finland, Neva Bay and Neva River is unsatisfactory. There

3800-531: The expansion of the main sewerage plant. Nevertheless, in 2008, the Federal Service of Saint Petersburg announced that no beach of Saint Petersburg is fit for swimming. Fish catchment decreased 10 times between 1989 and 2005. Apart from pollution, another reason for that is hydraulic and engineering works. For example, construction of new ports in Ust-Luga and Vysotsk and on Vasilyevsky Island adversely affected

3876-418: The fall of 1743, 17 Russian warships returning from Finland sank in just 7 hours, and in the summer of 1747, 26 merchant vessels sank within 4 hours near Narva. A record was set in 1721 when during the evacuation of Russian troops from Finland, more than 100 vessels were lost within 3 months, including 64 in a single night. By the end of 1996, about 5,000 submerged objects were identified in the Russian part of

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3952-850: The far eastern part of the gulf vegetation of the marshy areas consists mainly of bulrush and reeds , as well as fully aquatic plants, such as white and yellow waterlilies and acute sedge . Aquatic plants in the shallow waters of the gulf include Ruppia and spiny naiad . Fish species of the gulf include Atlantic salmon , viviparous eelpout , gobies , belica , loach , European chub , common minnow , silver bream , common dace , ruffe , Crucian carp , stickleback , European smelt , common rudd , brown trout , tench , pipefish , burbot , perch , gudgeon , lumpsucker , roach , lamprey , vendace , garfish , common whitefish , common bream , zander , orfe , northern pike , spined loach , sprat , Baltic herring , sabre carp , common bleak , European eel and Atlantic cod . Commercial fishing

4028-748: The gulf from the south. From the north flow the Sestra River , Porvoo , Vantaa and several other small rivers. The Saimaa Canal connects the gulf with the Saimaa lake. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the western limit of the Gulf of Finland as a line running from Spithami (59°13'N), in Estonia, through the Estonian island of Osmussaar from SE to NW and on to the SW extremity of Hanko Peninsula (22°54'E) in Finland. The modern depression can be traced to

4104-405: The gulf is fishing, especially on the northern coast near Vyborg, Primorsk and on the southern coast near Ust-Luga. Commercial fish species are herring , sprats , European smelt , whitefishes , carp bream , roaches , perch , European eel , lamprey and others. In 2005, the catchment was 2000 tons by the ships of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast alone. In September 2005 the agreement

4180-412: The gulf is high and winding, with abundant small bays and skerries , but only a few large bays ( Vyborg ) and peninsulas (Hanko and Porkkalanniemi ). The coast is mostly sloping; there are abundant sandy dunes, with occasional pine trees. The southern shores are smooth and shallow, but along the entire coast runs a limestone escarpment, the Baltic Klint , with a height up to 55 m (180 ft). In

4256-446: The gulf is one of the world's largest ship cemeteries . Because of the low salinity and cold waters, and no shipworms , the ships are relatively well preserved. Since the 6th century, major waterways were running through the gulf, and from the 8th to the 10th century, about 3,000 tonnes of silver was transported there. Later, the gulf was actively used by Sweden and Russia for transport of goods. Every year saw dozens of lost ships. In

4332-546: The gulf, including 2,500 ships, 1,500 airplanes, and small items such as boats, anchors , tanks, tractors, cars, cannons, and even naval mines , aerial bombs , torpedoes, and other ammunition. The ships belonged to Russia (25%), Germany (19%), United Kingdom (17%), Sweden (15%), Netherlands (8%), and Finland (7%). The remaining 9% are from Norway, Denmark, France, United States, Italy, Estonia, and Latvia. These objects present potential hazards to navigation, fishery, coastal construction, laying of submarine pipelines and cables, and

4408-456: The gulf. They aimed to defend Russia from maritime attacks, especially in the context of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. Such fortresses include Fort Alexander , Krasnaya Gorka , Ino , Totleben and Kronshlot  [ ru ] . The largest rivers flowing into the gulf are the Neva (from the east), the Narva (from the south), and the Kymi (from the north). Keila , Pirita , Jägala , Kunda , Luga , Sista and Kovashi flow into

4484-433: The height of 10 kilometres, which is not possible. The use of the guns was given up early in the 1970s, when the electric equipment went into poor shape, and the gun was retired of possible war time use. The last theoretical use for the guns would have been to fire on the Seutula Airport , as it was then known, in case there was a need to protect it from invading troops. The guns were in danger of having been scrapped, but in

4560-407: The island to less than 100 meters, but several companies organize chartered tours to the island. Permits have to be secured beforehand, and visitors must carry IDs. Finland-Swedish Finland Swedish or Fenno-Swedish ( Swedish : finlandssvenska ; Finnish : suomenruotsi ) is a variety of the Swedish language and a closely related group of Swedish dialects spoken in Finland by

4636-521: The main shipping route into and out of Helsinki passes between the two. In fair weather the city of Tallinn, Estonia on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland is visible from the observation tower. The whole island is a military installation of the Finnish Defence Forces , and access for civilians is heavily restricted. A number of coastal artillery guns are installed there, including some exceptionally heavy 12-inch (305 mm) pieces. The island served as an important coastal artillery fort protecting

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4712-426: The mouth of the river Sestra River (Leningrad Oblast) . They contain arrow tips and scrapers made of quartz , numerous food utensils and traces of fire camps – all indicative of hunting rather than agricultural or animal husbandry activities. The gulf coast was later populated by Finnic peoples . Estonians inhabited the region of the modern Estonia, Votes were living on the south of the gulf and Izhorians to

4788-402: The north of the gulf were conquered by the Swedes who then proceeded to the Slavs. The first encounter is attributed to 1142 when 60 Swedish ships attacked 3 Russian merchant vessels. After a Swedish attack in 1256, the Russian army of Alexander Nevsky crossed the frozen gulf and raided the Swedish territories in the modern Finland. In 1293, the Vyborg Castle and city of Vyborg was founded by

4864-429: The seaway to Saint Petersburg, the Gulf of Finland has been and continues to be of considerable strategic importance to Russia . Some of the environmental problems affecting the Baltic Sea are at their most pronounced in the shallow gulf. Proposals for a tunnel through the gulf have been made. The gulf has an area of 30,000 km (12,000 sq mi). The length (from the Hanko Peninsula to Saint Petersburg)

4940-432: The south of Neva River. Korela tribes settled to the west of Lake Ladoga . They were engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting and fishing. From the 8th to the 13th century, the Gulf of Finland and Neva were parts of the waterway from Scandinavia to the Byzantine Empire . From the 9th century, the eastern coast of the gulf was controlled by Veliky Novgorod and was called Vodskaya Pyatina . As

5016-446: The southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. On 27 July 1714, near the Hanko Peninsula , the Russian Navy won the Battle of Gangut – a decisive victory over the Imperial Swedish Navy. The Russo-Swedish war ended in 1721 by the Treaty of Nystad , by which Russia received all the lands along the Neva and the Gulf of Finland, as well as Estland , Swedish Livonia and western part of the Karelian Isthmus , including Vyborg. However, Finland

5092-551: The surface and 0.3–0.5 ‰ near the bottom. The average water temperature is close to 0 °C (32 °F) in winter; in summer, it is 15–17 °C (59–63 °F) at the surface and 2–3 °C (36–37 °F) at the bottom. Parts of the gulf can freeze from late November to late April; the freezing starts in the east and gradually proceeds to the west. Complete freezing usually occurs by late January, and it may not occur in mild winters. Frequent strong western winds cause waves, surges of water and floods . The northern coast of

5168-520: The surface of the gulf; for this reason, its ancient northern shores are significantly higher than the southern ones. The climate in the area is humid continental climate , characterized by temperate to hot summers and cold, occasionally severe winters with regular precipitation. The vegetation is dominated by a mixture of coniferous and deciduous forests and treeless coastal meadows and cliffs. The major forest trees are pine , spruce , birch , willows , rowan , aspen , common and gray alder . In

5244-444: The traits of Finland Swedish exist also in monolingual areas and some are in fact preserved features of Old Swedish, as with Scots in comparison with English or Afrikaans in comparison with Dutch . Finland Swedish was a result of Swedish colonisation of Finland during the Northern Crusades in the 12th to 14th centuries. Colonisation focused on the Finnish archipelago and some of its coastal regions. This colonisation led to

5320-611: The two varieties. Nevertheless, there are differences, which generally fall into two categories: words now considered archaic in Sweden, and loanwords and calques from Finnish or independently borrowed from other languages (nowadays mostly English). There are also some terms differing because of differing legislation. Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( Estonian : Soome laht ; Finnish : Suomenlahti [ˈsuo̯menˌlɑhti] ; Russian : Фи́нский зали́в , romanized :  Finskiy zaliv , pronounced [ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif] ; Swedish : Finska viken )

5396-402: Was never experienced during the war. During the Finnish Civil War , after the German Baltic Sea Division invaded the Hanko Peninsula , the Russian soldiers in Kuivasaari fled to Petrograd . The Kuivasaari Battery remained intact, and the Germans trained Finnish men to use it, men who had at least an elementary knowledge of the German language . The barracks could house a hundred men, and in

5472-652: Was repeatedly contested, invaded and occupied, first by the Soviet Union in 1940, then by Nazi Germany in 1941, and was ultimately reoccupied in 1944 by, and annexed into, the USSR as an administrative subunit (Estonian SSR). Estonia regained independence in 1991. In March 1921, the Kronstadt rebellion by sailors was put down by the Red Army. The Gulf of Finland had several major naval operations during World War II. In August 1941, during

5548-518: Was returned to Finland. On 6 December 1917, the Parliament of Finland promulgated the Finnish Declaration of Independence . Western Karelia was annexed by the Soviet Union after the Winter War . Estonia declared independence in 1918, and in 1918–1920 fought a successful war of independence against Soviet Russia. Estonia declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War II; however the country

5624-544: Was returned to Sweden. The war resumed in (1788–1790), and the Battle of Hogland occurred on 6 July 1788 near the island Gogland . Both the battle and the war were relatively minor and indecisive, with the outcome of Russia retaining its territories. The next Russo-Swedish war was fought in (1808–1809). It ended with the Treaty of Fredrikshamn giving the Russia rights on the territory of Finland and Åland . A newly established Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 received broad autonomy from Russian Empire, and Western Karelia

5700-696: Was signed on the construction of the Nord Stream 1 offshore gas pipeline on the Baltic Sea, from Vyborg to the German city of Greifswald . The first line was expected become operational in 2011. Afterwards, the first line of Nord Stream was laid by May 2011 and was inaugurated on 8 November 2011; the second line was inaugurated on 8 October 2012, and was completed in September 2021, but has not entered service yet, as its approval got halted in February 2022. The bottom of

5776-467: Was started on the Saint Petersburg Dam aiming to protect Saint Petersburg from the frequent floods . The work was halted at 60% completion in the late 1980s, due to the financial problems related to the breakup of the Soviet Union; it was resumed in 2001 and is – as of August 2011 – complete. The southern coast of the gulf contains the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant and a network of ports and unique natural and historical places. Navigation has long been

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