Finland has a population of over 5 million people and its capital and largest city is Helsinki. Some notable museums in Helsinki include the National Museum of Finland and Kiasma Art Museum. Finland uses the euro as its currency and has two official languages: Finnish and Swedish. Finland gained independence in 1917 and has a history dating back over 8,500 years. Finnish culture is influenced by its Scandinavian and agrarian roots and places importance on traditions like sauna, nature, and family.

2. LOCATION

3. Helsinki
National Museum of Finland
Kiasma Art Museum
Uspenski Cathedral

4. FINLAND CURRENCY

5. Facts about Finland
Area: 338 424 km2
Population: 5,389 million people (2011)
Government: Parliamentary Republic
Capital: Helsinki
Official languages: Finnish, Swedish
National Anthem: Maamme (Finnish),
Vart Land (Swedish)
Tarja Halonen
Jyrki Katainen

6. Prehistory
 The area was settled 8500
BCE (Stone Age)
 First people were huntergatherers
 Used stone tools
 The first verifiable written
documents appeared in the
12th century.
Astuvansalmi rock paintings at
Saimaa (3000 – 2500 BC)

7. The 20th century
 December 6, 1917 Finland got
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independence
Civil war 1918
First president Kaarlo Juho Stahlberg
1920 Finnish-Russian border is
formed by the treaty of Tartu
1939 – 1940 Winter War
1941 – 1942 World War II
1944 – 1945 Lapland War
1950 - around 1977 Cold War
Urho Kekkonen
(3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986 )

8. Recent History
 Late 1980s Finland
liberalized economy
 1999 Finland joined
Eurozone
 2002 euro becomes the
currency (before that it
was Finnish Markka)
Linus Torvalds

9. Social EtiquEttE
 Bring flowers , chocolates or wine when
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invited to a finish home
Flowers should not be given in even numbers
Avoid giving potted plants
Avoid giving whit or yellow flowers as they
are associated with funerals.
Gifts are opened when received.

10. FinniSh MEEting EtiquEttE
•Greetings are formal, with a
firm handshake, direct eye
contact and a smile
•It is common practice to repeat
your first surname while
shaking hands
•When greeting a married
couple, the wife should be
greeted first

11. BuSinESS EtiquEttE
 Finns often build or maintain
business relationship in a
restaurant or the sauna
 Never reject an invitation to
use the sauna
 It is an appreciated part of
the Finnish culture
 Appointments are necessary

12. BuSinESS EtiquEttE
 . The basic business style is formal - i.e. there is
relatively little small talk and Finns prefer
people to speak succinctly and to focus purely
on business.
 Finns do not require face-to- face contact and,
in fact, are quite comfortable using e- mail.
 Finns are excellent time managers who prefer
to organize their workday in order to
accomplish as much as possible.
 Finns are interested in long- term
relationships.

13.  Relationship building often takes place
outside the office: in a restaurant or the
sauna.
 Never turn down an invitation to use the
sauna, as it is an entrenched part of the
Finnish culture.
 Finns place a great value on speaking plainly
and openly.
 What someone says is accepted at face value
and this is a culture where "a man's word is
his bond" and will be treated as seriously as a
written contract, so verbal commitments are
considered agreements.

14. Table Manners
•Wait to be told where to sit
•Hold the fork in the left
hand and knife in right while
eating
•Always keep your hand
visible when eating
•Do not begin eating until
the hostess invites you to
start
•Finish everything on your
plate . Finns do not
appreciate waste.

15. What is Finland famous for?
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Nokia phones
Sauna
“Black candies”
Snow and cold
Santa Claus
Reindeers
Ice Hockey

16. Music
 Heavy Metal = mainstream!!!!
 Festivals: Tuska, Sauna open Air,
Sonisphere, Ruisrock,
Provinssirock, Pori Jazz,
Savonlinna Ooppera, Kaustinen
Folk Music

17. lanGUaGes In FInlanD
 Finnish -93%
 Swedish -6%
 Sami – 0.3%
 Other -0.7%

18. ClIMaTe 0F FInlanD
 Finland has a humid and cool
semi-continental climate
 Winters of southern Finland are
usually 4 months long, and the
snow typically covers the land

19. Ethnic makE-up
•Finn- 93%
•Swede-6%
•Russian -0.5%
•Estonian
-0.3%
•Roma -0.1%
•Sami -0.1%

20. RELiGiOnS
 Finland religiosity (2011)
 Lutheranism 77.3%
 No religion 20.1%
 Orthodoxy 1.1%
 Islam 1%
 Others 0.5%

21. cuLtuRE
 Finns value being close to nature,
the agricultural roots are
embedded in the rural lifestyle
 The traditions were partly
indigenous, but also influenced by
Norse paganism. Song magic and
bear worship are distinctive marks
of the ancient religion
 nuclear family, rather than the
extended family

22. FinSka FOLkdancER

23. Y
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