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97-567: Varma Pension Insurance Company (Finnish: Keskinäinen työeläkevakuutusyhtiö Varma ) is a pension insurance company in Finland . Varma manages statutory TyEL insurance for employees and YEL insurance for the self-employed and statutory vocational rehabilitation and services relating to predicting and managing work ability risks. Varma is a mutual company and its head office is located in Salmisaari , Helsinki . In 2021, Varma paid out pensions in

194-604: A presidential republic , with K. J. Ståhlberg elected as its first president on 25 July 1919. A liberal nationalist with a legal background, Ståhlberg anchored the state in liberal democracy , promoted the rule of law and initiated internal reforms. Finland was also one of the first European countries to strongly promote women's equality , with Miina Sillanpää becoming the first female minister in Finnish history in Väinö Tanner's cabinet in 1926–1927. The Finnish-Russian border

291-480: A common etymology with saame (the Sami) has been suggested. In the earliest historical sources, from the 12th and 13th centuries, the term Finland refers to the coastal region around Turku . This region later became known as Finland Proper in distinction from the country name Finland. (See also Etymology of Finns .) The 12th and 13th centuries were a violent time in the northern Baltic Sea. The Livonian Crusade

388-422: A diminishing margin of utility in that the best lands for farming are usually already under cultivation, forcing people to move into less and less arable lands. Agrarianism most often refers to a social philosophy which values agrarian society as superior to industrial society and stresses the superiority of a simpler rural life as opposed to the complexity and chaos of urbanized, industrialized life. In this view

485-463: A diverse and extensive range of fauna. There are at least sixty native mammalian species, 248 breeding bird species, over 70 fish species, and 11 reptile and frog species present today, many migrating from neighbouring countries thousands of years ago. Large and widely recognized wildlife mammals found in Finland are the brown bear , grey wolf , wolverine , and elk . Three of the more striking birds are

582-660: A greater extent than was possible under horticulture for two reasons. First, settlement sizes grew with agrarian technology because more productive farmers freed more people for urban specialty occupations. Second, land and maritime transportation improvements made it possible to supply great cities of 1,000,000, plus inhabitants such as Rome , Baghdad , and the Chinese capital cities. Rome, for example, could obtain grain and other bulk raw materials from Sicily , North Africa , Egypt, and Southern France to sustain large populations, even by modern standards. This required maritime transport on

679-415: A large step toward controlling their environments, are less dependent on them, and hence show fewer correlations between environment and technology-related traits. A rather different view is that as societies become larger and the movement of goods and people cheaper, they incorporate an increasing range of environmental variation within their borders and trade system. But environmental factors may still play

776-570: A largely agricultural country until the 1950s. After World War II, it industrialised quickly and established an advanced economy, with a welfare state built on the Nordic model . This allowed the country to experience overall prosperity and high per capita income . During the Cold War , Finland officially embraced a policy of neutrality. Since then, it has become a member of the European Union in 1995,

873-518: A mutual security pact with the United Kingdom. On 12 May, Finland's president and Prime Minister called for NATO membership "without delay". Subsequently, on 17 May, the Finnish Parliament voted 188–8 in favour of Finland's accession to NATO. Finland became a member of NATO on 4 April 2023. Lying approximately between latitudes 60° and 70° N , and longitudes 20° and 32° E , Finland

970-461: A nutritionally insignificant component to the diet, did not occur until the Bronze Age . Agriculture allows a much greater density of population than can be supported by hunting and gathering and allows for the accumulation of excess product to keep for winter use or to sell for profit. The ability of farmers to feed large numbers of people whose activities have nothing to do with material production

1067-479: A population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns . The official languages are Finnish and Swedish ; 84.9 percent of the population speak the first as their mother tongue and 5.1 percent the latter. 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 . Finland

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1164-486: A result of the two wars, Finland lost 12% of its land area, 20% of its industrial capacity, its second largest city, Vyborg ( Finnish : Viipuri ), and the ice-free port of Liinakhamari ( Finnish : Liinahamari ). The Finns lost 97,000 soldiers and were forced to pay war reparations of $ 300 million ($ 4.1 billion in 2023). However, the country avoided occupation by Soviet forces and managed to retain its independence. Along with Great Britain, Finland emerged from

1261-660: A strong role as variables that affect the internal structure and history of a society in complex ways. For example, the average size of agrarian states will depend on the ease of transportation, major cities will tend to be located at trade nodes, and the demographic history of a society may depend on disease episodes. Until recent decades, the transition to farming was seen as an inherently progressive one: people learnt that planting seeds caused crops to grow, and this new improved food source led to larger populations, sedentary farm and town life, more leisure time and so to specialization, writing, technological advances and civilization . It

1358-581: A well-trained cavalrymen called " Hakkapeliitta ". Finland suffered a severe famine in 1695–1697 , during which about one third of the Finnish population died, and a devastating plague a few years later . In the 18th century, wars between Sweden and Russia twice led to the occupation of Finland by Russian forces, times known to the Finns as the Greater Wrath (1714–1721) and the Lesser Wrath (1742–1743). It

1455-593: Is characterized by three coinciding contrasts: governing class versus the masses , urban minority versus peasant majority, and literate minority versus illiterate majority. This results in two distinct subcultures; the urban elite versus the peasant masses. Moreover, this means that cultural differences within agrarian societies are greater than the differences between them. The landowning strata typically combine government, religious, and military institutions to justify and enforce their ownership, and support elaborate patterns of consumption, slavery , serfdom , or peonage

1552-463: Is commonly the lot of the primary producer. Rulers of agrarian societies do not manage their empire for the common good or in the name of the public interest , but as a piece of property they own and can do with as they please. Caste systems , as found in India, are much more typical of agrarian societies where lifelong agricultural routines depend upon a rigid sense of duty and discipline. The emphasis in

1649-745: Is directly engaged in agricultural production. Such societies started appearing because of the Commercial and Industrial Revolution which can be seen beginning in the Mediterranean city-states from 1000 to 1500 CE. As European societies developed during the Middle Ages , classical knowledge was reacquired from scattered sources, and a new series of maritime commercial societies developed again in Europe. The initial developments were centered in Northern Italy, in

1746-661: Is estimated that almost an entire generation of young men was lost during the Great Wrath, due mainly to the destruction of homes and farms, and the burning of Helsinki. The Swedish era ended with the Finnish War of 1809. On 29 March 1809, after being conquered by the armies of Alexander I of Russia , Finland became an autonomous grand duchy within the Russian Empire , as recognised by the Diet of Porvoo . This situation continued until

1843-565: Is now Finland was settled in, at the latest, around 8,500 BC during the Stone Age towards the end of the last glacial period . The artefacts the first settlers left behind present characteristics that are shared with those found in Estonia , Russia, and Norway. The earliest people were hunter-gatherers , using stone tools. The first pottery appeared in 5200 BC, when the Comb Ceramic culture

1940-447: Is now clear that agriculture was adopted despite certain disadvantages of that lifestyle. Archeological studies show that health deteriorated in populations that adopted cereal agriculture, returning to pre-agricultural levels only in modern times. This is in part attributable to the spread of infection in crowded cities, but is largely due to a decline in dietary quality that accompanied intensive cereal farming. People in many parts of

2037-550: Is one of the world's northernmost countries. Of world capitals, only Reykjavík lies more to the north than Helsinki. The distance from the southernmost point – Hanko in Uusimaa – to the northernmost – Nuorgam in Lapland – is 1,160 kilometres (720 mi). Finland has about 168,000 lakes (of area larger than 500 m or 0.12 acres) and 179,000 islands. Its largest lake, Saimaa , is the fourth largest in Europe. The Finnish Lakeland

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2134-437: Is restricted due to the low energy density of solar radiation and the low efficiency of technology. To increase production, an agrarian society must either increase the intensity of production or obtain more land for expansion. Expansion may take place either by claiming territories occupied by other communities, but expansion also may take place by claiming new ecological niches from other living species. Societies are limited by

2231-691: Is shared between the Arctic, central European, and northern European provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom . According to the WWF , the territory of Finland can be subdivided into three ecoregions : the Scandinavian and Russian taiga , Sarmatic mixed forests , and Scandinavian Montane Birch forest and grasslands . Taiga covers most of Finland from northern regions of southern provinces to

2328-493: Is the area with the most lakes in the country; many of the major cities in the area, most notably Tampere , Jyväskylä and Kuopio , are located near the large lakes. The Finnish coastline is speckled with the world's largest archipelago, encompassing more than 50,000 islands, greatest concentration of which is found in the southwest, in the Archipelago Sea between continental Finland and the main island of Åland . Much of

2425-427: Is the highest point in Finland. It is found in the north of Lapland at the border between Finland and Norway. The highest mountain whose peak is entirely in Finland is Ridnitšohkka at 1,316 m (4,318 ft), directly adjacent to Halti. The retreating glaciers have left the land with morainic deposits in formations of eskers . These are ridges of stratified gravel and sand, running northwest to southeast, where

2522-487: Is the largest producer of wood in Europe and among the largest in the world. The most common type of rock is granite . It is a ubiquitous part of the scenery, visible wherever there is no soil cover. Moraine or till is the most common type of soil, covered by a thin layer of humus of biological origin. Podzol profile development is seen in most forest soils except where drainage is poor. Gleysols and peat bogs occupy poorly drained areas. Phytogeographically , Finland

2619-405: Is thus the model society. Agrarianism is similar but not identical with back-to-the-land movements. Agrarianism concentrates on the fundamental goods of the earth, communities of more limited economic and political scale than in modern society, and on simple living—even when this shift involves questioning the "progressive" character of some recent social and economic developments. Thus agrarianism

2716-538: The Kalevala , in 1835 and the legal equality of the Finnish language with Swedish in 1892. In the spirit of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson - "we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, so let us be Finns" - a Finnish national identity was established. Nevertheless, there was no real independence movement in Finland until the early 20th century. The Finnish famine of 1866–1868 occurred after freezing temperatures in early September devastated crops and killed around 15% of

2813-465: The Bronze Age , permanent all-year-round cultivation and animal husbandry spread, but the cold climate slowed the change. The Seima-Turbino phenomenon brought the first bronze artefacts to the region and possibly also the Finno-Ugric languages . Commercial contacts that had so far mostly been to Estonia started to extend to Scandinavia. Domestic manufacture of bronze artefacts started 1300 BC. In

2910-600: The Declaration of Independence on 4 December 1917, which was officially approved by the Finnish Parliament on 6 December. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), led by Vladimir Lenin was the first country to recognise Finland's independence on 4 January 1918. On 27 January 1918, the government began to disarm the Russian forces in Ostrobothnia . The socialists took control of southern Finland and Helsinki, but

3007-638: The Eurozone in 1999, and NATO in 2023. Finland is a member of various international organisations, such as the Nordic Council , the Schengen Area , and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The nation performs extremely well in national performance metrics , including education , economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, and human development. The area that

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3104-402: The Finnish War , Finland was captured from Sweden and became an autonomous grand duchy within the Russian Empire . During this period, Finnish art flourished and the independence movement began to take hold. Finland became the first territory in Europe to grant universal suffrage in 1906, and the first in the world to give all adult citizens the right to run for public office. Following

3201-572: The Finns gradually converted to Lutheranism . The end of the Kalmar Union ushered in an era of religious, social, and economic changes. Gustav Vasa ( r.  1523–1560 ) made his second second son Johan the duke of Finland , while Gustav Adolf ( r.  1611–1632 ) created the office of governor-general for Finland as part of his restructuring of the administration of the Swedish realm. In

3298-537: The Iron Age , population grew. Finland Proper was the most densely populated area. Commercial contacts in the Baltic Sea region grew and extended during the eighth and ninth centuries. Main exports from Finland were furs, slaves, castoreum , and falcons to European courts. Imports included silk and other fabrics, jewelry, Ulfberht swords , and, in lesser extent, glass. Production of iron started approximately in 500 BC. At

3395-612: The Neolithic Revolution , has taken place independently multiple times. Horticulture and agriculture as types of subsistence developed among humans somewhere between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East . The reasons for the development of agriculture are debated but may have included climate change , and the accumulation of food surplus for competitive gift-giving . Most certainly there

3492-603: The Onciderini also being common. The most common breeding birds are the willow warbler , common chaffinch , and redwing . Of some seventy species of freshwater fish, the northern pike , perch , and others are plentiful. Atlantic salmon remains the favourite of fly rod enthusiasts. The endangered Saimaa ringed seal , one of only three lake seal species in the world, exists only in the Saimaa lake system of southeastern Finland, down to only 390 seals today. The species has become

3589-582: 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 a total area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 sq mi), including a land area of 303,815 square kilometres (117,304 sq mi), and has

3686-822: The Russian Revolution of 1917, Finland declared its independence . A civil war was fought in Finland the following year, with the Whites emerging victorious. Finland's status as a republic was confirmed in 1919. During World War II , Finland fought against the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War , and later against Nazi Germany in the Lapland War . As a result, it lost parts of its territory but retained its independence and democracy. Finland remained

3783-615: The Social Democratic Party . The development of trade with the Western powers, such as the United Kingdom, and the payment of reparations to the Soviet Union led to Finland's transformation from a primarily agrarian society to an industrialised one. Valmet , originally a shipyard and then several metal workshops, was established to produce materials for war reparations. After the reparations were paid, Finland continued to trade with

3880-603: The Social Democrats , passed the so-called Power Act to give the parliament supreme authority. This was rejected by the Russian Provisional Government , which decided to dissolve the parliament. New elections were held in which the right-wing parties won by a small majority. Some social democrats refused to accept the result, claiming that the dissolution of parliament and the subsequent elections were extra-legal. The two almost equally powerful political blocs,

3977-592: The World Bank , the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade . During the Cold War , Finland officially embraced a policy of neutrality . The YYA treaty (Finno-Soviet Pact of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance) recognized Finland's desire to remain outside great-power conflicts. From 1956 president Urho Kekkonen had a virtual monopoly on relations with

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4074-553: The whooper swan , a large European swan and the national bird of Finland; the Western capercaillie , a large, black-plumaged member of the grouse family; and the Eurasian eagle-owl . The latter is considered an indicator of old-growth forest connectivity, and has been declining because of landscape fragmentation. Around 24,000 species of insects are prevalent in Finland some of the most common being hornets with tribes of beetles such as

4171-546: The 16th century, a bishop and Lutheran Reformer Mikael Agricola published the first written works in Finnish; and Finland's current capital city, Helsinki , was founded by King Gustav Vasa in 1555. The first university in Finland, the Royal Academy of Turku , was established by Queen Christina of Sweden at the proposal of Count Per Brahe in 1640. The Finns reaped a reputation in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) as

4268-561: The 1860s, a strong Finnish nationalist movement , known as the Fennoman movement , grew. One of the movement's most prominent leaders was the philosopher and politician J.V. Snellman , who worked to stabilise the status of the Finnish language and its own currency, the Finnish markka , in the Grand Duchy of Finland. Milestones included the publication of what would become Finland's national epic ,

4365-465: The Industrial Revolution is far from completely replacing agrarianism with industrialism. Only a minority of the world's population today live in industrialized societies although most predominantly agrarian societies have a significant industrial sector. The use of crop breeding , better management of soil nutrients , and improved weed control have greatly increased yields per unit area. At

4462-462: The Mediterranean. It is productivity per unit of labor and transport efficiency improvements of agrarian technology that had the widest impact on the more peripheral culture core features of agrarian societies. The populations of agrarian societies have historically fluctuated substantially around the slowly rising trend line, due to famines , disease epidemics and political disruption. At least at

4559-564: The Middle Ages, Finland gradually became part of the kingdom of Sweden and the sphere of influence of the Catholic Church . Under Sweden, Finland was annexed as part of the cultural order of Western Europe . The Swedes built fortresses in Häme and Turku , while a Swedish royal council was instituted, an administrative structure and fiscal apparatus was created, and law codes were codified during

4656-581: The Soviet Union as part of bilateral trade . In 1950, 46% of Finnish workers were employed in agriculture and a third lived in urban areas, but new jobs in manufacturing, services and trade quickly attracted people to the cities. The average number of births per woman fell from a baby boom peak of 3.5 in 1947 to 1.5 in 1973. As the baby boomers entered the workforce, the economy failed to create jobs fast enough and hundreds of thousands emigrated to more industrialised Sweden, with emigration peaking in 1969 and 1970. Finland participated in trade liberalisation in

4753-456: The Soviet Union, and a global economic downturn caused a deep recession in Finland in the early 1990s . The recession bottomed out in 1993 and Finland enjoyed more than a decade of steady economic growth. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland began to integrate more closely with the West. Finland joined the European Union in 1995 and the euro zone in 1999. Much of the economic growth of

4850-554: The Soviet Union, which was crucial to his continued popularity. In politics, there was a tendency to avoid any policy or statement that could be interpreted as anti-Soviet. This phenomenon was dubbed " Finlandisation " by the West German press. A market economy was maintained in Finland. Various industries benefited from trade privileges with the Soviets. Economic growth was rapid in the post-war period, and by 1975 Finland's GDP per capita

4947-891: The Takarkori rockshelter, which is representative of the broader Sahara; this continued until the beginning of the Pastoral Neolithic in the Sahara. In addition to the emergence of farming in the Fertile Crescent, agriculture appeared: by at least 6,800 BCE in East Asia ( rice ) and, later, in Central and South America ( maize and squash ). Small-scale agriculture also likely arose independently in early Neolithic contexts in India (rice) and Southeast Asia ( taro ). However, full dependency on domestic crops and animals, when wild resources contributed

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5044-483: The amount of 6.2 billion euros to 346,000 people, and at year-end 571,229 people were insured with Varma. In terms of turnover, Varma was the twelfth-biggest company in Finland in 2020. In 2021, Varma was one of the largest real estate investors in Finland. Finland – in Europe  (green & dark grey) – in the European Union  (green)  –  [ Legend ] Finland , officially

5141-446: The ancient edge of the glacier once lay. Among the biggest of these are the three Salpausselkä ridges that run across southern Finland. Having been compressed under the enormous weight of the glaciers, terrain in Finland is rising due to the post-glacial rebound . The effect is strongest around the Gulf of Bothnia, where land steadily rises about 1 cm (0.4 in) a year. As a result,

5238-732: The beginning of the war to govern Finland after Soviet conquest. There was widespread international condemnation of the unprovoked attack and it led to the Soviet Union being expelled from the League of Nations . The Red Army was defeated in numerous battles, most notably the Battle of Suomussalmi . After two months of negligible progress on the battlefield, as well as heavy losses in men and material, Soviet forces began to advance in February and reached Vyborg ( Finnish : Viipuri ) in March. The Moscow Peace Treaty

5335-446: The city-states of Venice , Florence , Milan , and Genoa . By about 1500 a few of these city-states probably met the requirements of having half of their populations engaged in non-agricultural pursuits and became commercial societies. These small states were highly urbanized, imported much food, and were centers of trade and manufacture to a degree quite unlike typical agrarian societies. The culminating development, still in progress,

5432-454: The coastal areas such as Helsinki, snow often covers the land from late December to late March. Even in the south, the harshest winter nights can see the temperatures fall to −30 °C (−22 °F) although on coastal areas like Helsinki, temperatures below −30 °C (−22 °F) are rare. Climatic summers (when mean daily temperature remains above 10 °C or 50 °F) in southern Finland last from about late May to mid-September, and in

5529-402: The decade. Sauli Niinistö was elected President of Finland from 2012 until 2024, when Alexander Stubb took over. Finnish support for NATO rose sharply after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 . Before February 2022, opinion polls showed a narrow but decisive majority against NATO membership; by April, a supermajority was in favour of membership. On 11 May 2022, Finland signed

5626-435: The emblem of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation. A third of Finland's land area originally consisted of moorland , about half of this area has been drained for cultivation over the past centuries. The main factor influencing Finland's climate is the country's geographical position between the 60th and 70th northern parallels in the Eurasian continent's coastal zone. In the Köppen climate classification ,

5723-418: The end of 1917. In 1812, Alexander I incorporated the Russian province of Vyborg into the Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1854, Finland became involved in Russia's involvement in the Crimean War when the British and French navies bombed the Finnish coast and Åland during the so-called Åland War . Although Swedish was still widely spoken, the Finnish language began to gain recognition during this period. From

5820-408: The end of the ninth century, indigenous artefact culture, especially weapons and women's jewelry, had more common local features than ever before. This has been interpreted to be expressing common Finnish identity. An early form of Finnic languages spread to the Baltic Sea region approximately 1900 BC. Common Finnic language was spoken around Gulf of Finland 2000 years ago. The dialects from which

5917-426: The farmer is idealized as self-sufficient and thus independent as opposed to the paid laborer who is vulnerable and alienated in modern society. Moreover, Agrarianism usually links working the land with morality and spiritualty and links urban life, capitalism, and technology with a loss of independence and dignity while fostering vice and weakness. The agricultural community, with its fellowship of labor and cooperation,

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6014-479: The form of the tractor , reduced the necessity of humans performing the demanding tasks of sowing , harvesting , and threshing . With mechanization, these tasks could be performed with a speed and on a scale barely imaginable before. These advances have resulted in a substantial increase in the yield of agricultural techniques that have also translated into a decline in the percentage of populations in developed countries that are required to work in agriculture to feed

6111-421: The geography of Finland is a result of the Ice Age. The glaciers were thicker and lasted longer in Fennoscandia compared with the rest of Europe. The eroding effects have contributed to a mostly flat landscape in Finland, characterized by hills. However, in the northern regions, including areas bordering the Scandinavian Mountains, the terrain features mountainous elevations. At 1,324 metres (4,344 ft), Halti

6208-519: The high points, population densities often seem to have exceeded the level at which everyone could be productively employed at current levels of technology. Malthusian deterioration, under-employment and a decline in rural and lower-class urban standards of living, ensued. Agrarian societies are especially noted for their extremes of social classes and rigid social mobility. As land is the major source of wealth, social hierarchy develops based on landownership and not labor. The system of stratification

6305-447: The inland, the warmest days of July can reach over 35 °C (95 °F). Although most of Finland lies on the taiga belt, the southernmost coastal regions are sometimes classified as hemiboreal . In northern Finland, particularly in Lapland, the winters are long and cold, while the summers are relatively warm but short. On the most severe winter days in Lapland can see the temperature fall to −45 °C (−49 °F). The winter of

6402-405: The late 1990s was fuelled by the success of mobile phone manufacturer Nokia . The Finnish people elected Tarja Halonen in the 2000 Presidential election , making her the first female President of Finland. Her predecessor, President Martti Ahtisaari , later won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. Financial crises paralysed Finland's exports in 2008, leading to weaker economic growth throughout

6499-450: The laws passed by the Finnish parliament. The desire for independence gained ground, first among radical liberals and socialists , partly driven by a declaration called the February Manifesto by the last tsar of the Russian Empire, Nicholas II , on 15 February 1899. After the February Revolution of 1917, Finland's position as a Grand Duchy under the rule of the Russian Empire was questioned. The Finnish parliament , controlled by

6596-597: The limited possibilities of converting one energy form into another. Energy radiating from the sun is primarily caught and chemically fixed by plant photosynthesis . Then it is secondarily converted by animals and, finally, processed for human use. Unlike hunter-gatherers, agrarianism's basic strategy is to control these flows. For this purpose, agrarian systems mainly use living organisms which serve as food, tools, building material. Mechanical devices making use of wind or running water also can be used to convert natural energy flows. The amount of energy an agrarian society can use

6693-446: The moderating effects of the Baltic Sea and numerous inland lakes to explain the unusually warm climate compared with other regions that share the same latitude , such as Alaska , Siberia , and southern Greenland . Winters in southern Finland (when mean daily temperature remains below 0 °C or 32 °F) are usually about 100 days long, and in the inland the snow typically covers the land from about late November to April, and on

6790-442: The modern West on personal liberties and freedoms was in large part a reaction to the steep and rigid stratification of agrarian societies. Within agrarian societies, the primary source of energy is plant biomass . This means that like hunter-gatherer societies, agrarian societies are dependent on natural solar energy flows. Thus agrarian societies are characterized by their dependence on outside energy flows, low energy density, and

6887-499: The modern-day Finnish language was developed came into existence during the Iron Age. Contacts with the ancient Baltic and eastern Germanic peoples greatly influenced the Proto-Finnic language . Although distantly related, the Sami people retained the hunter-gatherer lifestyle longer than the Finns. The Sami cultural identity and the Sami language have survived in Lapland , the northernmost province. The name Suomi ( Finnish for 'Finland') has uncertain origins, but

6984-550: The north lasts for about 200 days with permanent snow cover from about mid-October to early May. Summers in the north are quite short, only two to three months, but can still see maximum daily temperatures above 25 °C (77 °F) during heat waves. No part of Finland has Arctic tundra , but Alpine tundra can be found at the fells Lapland. Agrarian country Agrarian society were preceded by hunters and gatherers and horticultural societies and transition into industrial society . The transition to agriculture, called

7081-536: The north of Lapland. On the southwestern coast, south of the Helsinki- Rauma line, forests are characterized by mixed forests, that are more typical in the Baltic region. In the extreme north of Finland, near the tree line and Arctic Ocean, Montane Birch forests are common. Finland had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.08/10, ranking it 109th globally out of 172 countries. Similarly, Finland has

7178-471: The old sea bottom turns little by little into dry land: the surface area of the country is expanding by about 7 square kilometres (2.7 sq mi) annually. Relatively speaking, Finland is rising from the sea. The landscape is covered mostly by coniferous taiga forests and fens , with little cultivated land. Of the total area, 10% is lakes, rivers, and ponds, and 78% is forest. The forest consists of pine , spruce , birch , and other species. Finland

7275-594: The population, making it one of the worst famines in European history. The famine led the Russian Empire to relax financial regulations, and investment increased in the following decades. Economic development was rapid. The gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was still half of that of the United States and a third of that of Britain. From 1869 to 1917, the Russian Empire pursued a policy of Russification , which

7372-485: The proportion of the population with capital. About 70% of the workforce was employed in agriculture and 10% in industry. The Soviet Union launched the Winter War on 30 November 1939 to annex Finland in accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany to divide Europe into spheres of influence between the two dictatorships. The Finnish Democratic Republic was set up by Joseph Stalin at

7469-468: The reigns of Magnus Ladulås (1275–1290) and Magnus Eriksson (1319–1364). As a result, the Finnish lands were firmly integrated into the Swedish realm. Swedish was the dominant language of the nobility, administration, and education; Finnish was chiefly a language for the peasantry , clergy, and local courts in predominantly Finnish-speaking areas. During the Protestant Reformation ,

7566-559: The rest of the population. The main demographic consequences of agrarian technology were simply a continuation of the trend toward higher population densities and larger settlements. The latter is probably a more secure consequence of agrarian technology than the former. In principle livestock compete with humans for food and in some environments, advanced horticultural techniques can probably support more people per square kilometer than agrarian techniques. Aside from average density, agrarian technology permitted urbanization of population to

7663-619: The right-wing parties and the Social Democratic Party, were deeply divided. The October Revolution in Russia changed the geopolitical situation once again. Suddenly the right-wing parties in Finland began to reconsider their decision to block the transfer of supreme executive power from the Russian government to Finland when the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia. The right-wing government, led by Prime Minister P. E. Svinhufvud , presented

7760-429: The same time, the use of mechanization has decreased labor input. The developing world generally produces lower yields, having less of the latest science, capital, and technology base. More people in the world are involved in agriculture as their primary economic activity than in any other activity, yet it only accounts for four percent of the world's GDP. The rapid rise of mechanization in the 20th century, especially in

7857-568: The so-called second Crusade to Finland , in 1249 against Tavastians and the third Crusade to Finland in 1293 against the Karelians. The so-called first Crusade to Finland , possibly in 1155, most likely never occurred. As a result of the Crusades, mostly with the Second Swedish Crusade led by Birger Jarl , and the colonization of some Finnish coastal areas with Christian Swedes during

7954-471: The summer of 1944 led to a breakthrough until the Finns finally repulsed it at Tali-Ihantala . This partial Soviet success led to a stalemate and later an armistice . This was followed by the Lapland War of 1944–1945, when Finland fought retreating German forces in northern Finland. The Armistice and treaty signed with the Soviet Union in 1944 and 1948 included Finnish obligations, restraints, and reparations, as well as further territorial concessions. As

8051-479: The war as the only European country to have taken part in hostilities that was never occupied and managed to preserve its democracy throughout. For a few decades after 1944, the Communists were a strong political party. Furthermore, the Soviet Union persuaded Finland to refuse Marshall Plan aid. However, in the hope of preserving Finland's independence, the United States provided secret development aid and supported

8148-493: The white government continued in exile in Vaasa . This led to a short but bitter civil war . The Whites , backed by Imperial Germany , prevailed over the Reds and their self-proclaimed Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic . After the war, tens of thousands of Reds were interned in camps where thousands were executed or died of malnutrition and disease. A deep social and political enmity

8245-526: The whole of Finland lies in the boreal zone , characterized by warm summers and freezing winters. Within the country, the temperateness varies considerably between the southern coastal regions and the extreme north, showing characteristics of both a maritime and a continental climate . Finland is near enough to the Atlantic Ocean to be continuously warmed by the Gulf Stream . The Gulf Stream combines with

8342-483: The world remained hunter-gatherers until quite recently; though they were quite aware of the existence and methods of agriculture, they declined to undertake it. Many explanations have been offered, usually centered around a particular factor that forced the adoption of agriculture, such as environmental or population pressure . Main source of income was cultivation and farming. Agrarian societies transition into industrial societies when less than half of their population

8439-569: Was a gradual transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural economies after a lengthy period when some crops were deliberately planted and other foods were gathered from the wild. An example of this transition can be found in the cultivation of wild cereals by hunter-gatherers in the Central Sahara. Between 7500 BCE and 3500 BCE, undomesticated central Saharan flora were farmed , stored, and cooked , and domesticated animals (e.g., Barbary sheep ) were milked and managed, by hunter-gatherers near

8536-448: Was established in 1920 by the Treaty of Tartu , which largely followed the historical border but gave Finland Pechenga ( Finnish : Petsamo ) and its Barents Sea port. Finnish democracy survived Soviet coup attempts and the anti-communist Lapua movement . In 1917 there were three million people in the country. After the civil war, a credit-based land reform was introduced, increasing

8633-565: Was first settled around 9000 BC after the last Ice Age . During the Stone Age , various cultures emerged, distinguished by different styles of ceramics. The Bronze Age and Iron Ages were marked by contacts with other cultures in Fennoscandia and the Baltic region . From the late 13th century, Finland became part of Sweden as a result of the Northern Crusades . In 1809, as a result of

8730-476: Was introduced. The area of present-day Finland was in the western limits of the culture, which produced pottery with a distinct comb pattern . The arrival of the Corded Ware culture in the south of coastal Finland between 3000 and 2500 BC may have coincided with the start of agriculture. Even with the introduction of agriculture, hunting and fishing continued to be important parts of the subsistence economy. In

8827-568: Was ongoing and the Finnish tribes such as the Tavastians and Karelians were in frequent conflicts with Novgorod and with each other. Also, during the 12th and 13th centuries several crusades from the Catholic realms of the Baltic Sea area were made against the Finnish tribes. Danes waged at least three crusades to Finland, in 1187 or slightly earlier, in 1191 and in 1202, and Swedes , possibly

8924-561: Was signed on 12 March 1940, and the war ended the following day. Finland had defended its independence, but ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union. Hostilities resumed in June 1941 with the Continuation War , when Finland allied itself with Germany following the latter's invasion of the Soviet Union ; the main aim was to regain the territory lost to the Soviets barely a year earlier. Finnish troops occupied Eastern Karelia from 1941 to 1944. The massive Soviet Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive in

9021-568: Was sown between the Reds and the Whites that would last until the Winter War and beyond. The civil war and the activist expeditions to Soviet Russia in 1918–1920, known as the " Kinship Wars ", strained relations with the East. After a brief experiment with monarchy , when an attempt to make Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse the king of Finland failed, a republican constitution was adopted and Finland became

9118-411: Was suspended between 1905 and 1908. In 1906, universal suffrage was introduced in the Grand Duchy of Finland. However, relations between the Grand Duchy of Finland and the Russian Empire soured when the Russian government began to take steps to restrict Finland's special status and autonomy. For example, universal suffrage was virtually meaningless in practice, as the tsar did not have to approve any of

9215-576: Was the 15th highest in the world. During the 1970s and 1980s, Finland built one of the most extensive welfare states in the world. Finland negotiated a treaty with the European Economic Community (EEC, a forerunner of the European Union) that largely eliminated tariffs with the EEC from 1977. Miscalculated macroeconomic decisions, a banking crisis , the collapse of its largest trading partner,

9312-411: Was the crucial factor in the rise of surplus, specialization, advanced technology, hierarchical social structures, inequality, and standing armies. Agrarian societies thus support the emergence of a more complex social structure . In agrarian societies, some of the simple correlations between social complexity and environment begin to disappear. One view is that humans with this technology have moved

9409-471: Was the development of industrial technology , the application of mechanical sources of energy to an ever-increasing number of production problems. By about 1800, the agricultural population of Britain had sunk to about one third of the total. By mid-19th century, all the countries of Western Europe , plus the United States of America had more than half their populations in non-farm occupations. Even today,

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