An interest in other athletics developed from the time that the Finns took part in the interim Olympic Games held in Athens in 1906. Finland has excelled in Olympic track and field as well as winter sports, especially in distance running, in which the tradition of “Flying Finns” includes Hannes Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola, Lasse Virén, and Paavo Nurmi, who won nine gold medals in Olympic middle- and long-distance running events in the 1920s, becoming a national hero. Other popular sports are waterskiing, riding, fishing, shooting, ice hockey, and pesäpallo, a Finnish version of baseball. Media and publishing
Freedom of the press is guaranteed by the 1919 constitution and the Freedom of the Press Act (also 1919); both contain provisions safeguarding editorial rights and outlining press responsibilities. The Supreme Court can suppress publications under certain circumstances, but in general there are few restrictions apart from those governing libel and copyright.
Newspaper publication began in Finland in 1771 by the learned Aurora Society, and the Åbo Underrättelser, published in Swedish, has been in operation since 1824. Finns are among the world’s most voracious newspaper readers, and the country ranks near the top of newspapers sold per capita. Most of Finland’s many newspapers are independently owned and operated. The national Finnish News Agency (Oy Suomen Tietotoimisto; founded 1887) is independent and owned by the press.
The state-run Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yleisradio Oy [YLE]; established 1926) operates a number of nationwide television networks—both public service and commercial—along with several digital channels and offers programming in Swedish. YLE also owns Radio Finland, which broadcasts in Finnish, Swedish, English, and Russian. Jointly owned by Finland, Sweden, and Norway, Sámi Radio provides radio service to the Sami areas in northern Lapland. Carl Fredrik Sandelin Ilmari Sundblad Susan Ruth Larson History Earliest peoples
The first people arrived in Finland about 9,000 years ago. They probably represented several groups and tribes, including the ancestors of the present Sami. Lured by the plenitude of game, particularly fur-bearing animals and fish, they followed the melting ice northward. The first people perhaps came to hunt only for the summer, but gradually more and more of them stayed over the winter. Apparently berries played a significant role in their diet.
Another group probably arrived some 3,000 years later from the southeast. They possibly spoke a Finno-Ugric language and may have been related to the ancestors of the present Finns, if they were not actually of the same group. Other peoples—including the ancestors of the Tavastians—followed from the southwest and central Europe, eventually adopting the Finno-Ugric tongue.
During the 1st millennium bce several more groups arrived, among them the ancestors of the present Finns. The nomadic Sami, who had been scattered over the greater part of Finland, withdrew to the north. Most other groups intermarried and assimilated with the newcomers, and settlement spread across the south of Finland. The population was still extremely sparse, but three loose unities seem to have crystallized: the Finns proper, the Tavastians, and the Karelians. These each had their own chiefs, and they waged war on one another.
Even before the beginning of the Viking Age (8th–11th century ce), Swedes had settled on the southwestern coast. During the Viking Age, Finland lay along the northern boundary of the trade routes to Russia, and the inhabitants of the area served as suppliers of furs. The Finns apparently did not take part in the Viking expeditions. The end of the Viking Age was a time of unrest in Finland, and Swedish and Danish raids were made on the area, where Russians and Germans also traded. Competition for trade and converts
From the 12th century, Finland was a battleground between Russia and Sweden. The economic rivalry of the powers in the Baltic was turned into a religious rivalry, and the Swedish expeditions took on the character of crusades. Finland is mentioned together with Estonia in a list of Swedish provinces drawn up for the pope in 1120, apparently as a Swedish missionary area. The first crusade, according to tradition, was undertaken in about 1157 by King Erik, who was accompanied by an English bishop named Henry. Henry remained in Finland to organize the affairs of the church and was murdered by a Finnish yeoman; by the end of the 12th century, he was revered as a saint, and he later became Finland’s patron. In a papal bull (c. 1172), the Swedes were advised to force the Finns into submission by permanently manning the Finnish fortresses in order to protect the Christianization effort from attacks from the east.
By the end of the 12th century, competition for influence in the Gulf of Finland had intensified: German traders had regular contacts with Novgorod via Gotland, and Denmark tried to establish bases on the gulf. The Danes reportedly invaded Finland in 1191 and again in 1202; in 1209 the pope authorized the archbishop of Lund to appoint a minister stationed in Finland. The Swedish king counterattacked, and in 1216 he received confirmation from the pope of his title to the lands won by himself and his predecessors from the heathens. He was also authorized to establish a seat for one or two bishops in the Finnish missionary territory. In eastern Finland the Russian church attempted to win converts, and in 1227 Duke Jaroslav undertook a program of forced baptisms, designed to tie Karelia closer to Novgorod. In response the pope placed Finland under apostolic protection and invoked a commercial blockade against Russia (1229). A large force, led by Birger, a Swedish jarl (a noble ranking immediately below the king), and including Swedes, Finns, and crusaders from various countries, was defeated in 1240 by a duke of Novgorod, and the advance of Western Christendom into Russia was halted, while the religious division of Finland was sealed, with the Karelians in the Eastern sphere. The bishop of Finland, Thomas, resigned in 1245, and the mission territory was left without leadership until 1249, when the Dominicans founded a monastery in Turku. Finland under Swedish rule
Birger Jarl decided that a full effort was necessary to bring Finland into the Swedish sphere; in 1249 he led an expedition to Tavastia (now Häme), an area already Christianized. Birger built a fortress in Tavastia and some fortifications along the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland, where Swedish settlement on a mass scale began. Swedes also moved to the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. In 1293 Torgils Knutsson launched an expedition in an attempt to conquer all of Karelia and built a fortress in Viipuri. The war lasted until 1323, when the Treaty of Pähkinäsaari (Nöteborg; now Petrokrepost) drew the boundary between the Russian and Swedish spheres of influence in a vague line from the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland through the middle of Karelia northwest to the Gulf of Bothnia, and the crusades were ended, with Finland a part of the Swedish realm.
The Swedes began to administer Finland in accordance with Swedish traditions. Castles were built and taxes were collected, mainly in furs and, later, in grain, butter, and money. During the early Middle Ages, Finland was often given to members of the royal family as a duchy. Two new estates, the clergy and the nobility, evolved, with the nobility increased by transplantation from Sweden and the clergy containing a large native element. The first native bishop was appointed in 1291. Union with Sweden
In 1362 King Haakon of Sweden established the right of the Finns to participate in royal elections and the equal status of Finland with the other parts of the kingdom. Several years later Haakon was overthrown and Albert of Mecklenburg was crowned. Albert was unpopular with the Finns, and by 1374 a Swedish nobleman, Bo Jonsson Grip, had gained title to all of Finland. Grip died in 1386, and Finland soon after became part of the Kalmar Union. Henrik Enander Markku Ilmari Henriksson The 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries