The Archipelago Sea is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland, within Finnish territorial waters. By some definitions it contains the largest archipelago in the world by the number of islands, although many of the islands are very small and tightly clustered.
The inner archipelago is wooded. Picture taken in autumn, when reeds surrounding the islands have turned brown.
The minor inhabited island groups could sustain only one or a few families and only with fish as the main source of income. Kråkskär was inhabited until 1956.
A cable ferry in winter
A maypole in Nagu
The Gulf of Bothnia is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast and the northern part of Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lies Åland, between the Sea of Åland and the Archipelago Sea.
Satellite image of Fennoscandia in winter. The northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bothnian Bay, is covered with sea ice.
Depiction of the gulf, circa 1830
June 2006 view of the Gulf of Bothnia in Finland.
Pilot station and lighthouse in the Hailuoto Island, a municipality island at the Bothnian Bay near the city of Oulu
