1.
National anthem
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The majority of national anthems are either marches or hymns in style. The countries of Latin America tend towards more operatic pieces, while a handful of countries use a simple fanfare, a national anthem is usually in the national or most common language of the country, whether de facto or official, there are notable exceptions. Amhrán na bhFiann, the anthem of the Republic of Ireland, was written in English, the current national anthem of South Africa is unique in that five of the countrys eleven official languages are used in the same anthem. One of the two national anthems of New Zealand, God Defend New Zealand, is commonly now sung with the first verse in Māori. The tune is the same but the words are not a translation of each other. God Bless Fiji has lyrics in English and Fijian which are not translations of each other, although official, the Fijian version is rarely sung, and it is usually the English version that is performed at international sporting events. There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their anthems, one of these is the Marcha Real, the anthem of Spain. In 2007 a national competition to write words was held, other anthems with no words include Inno Nazionale della Repubblica, the anthem of San Marino, and that of Kosovo, entitled Europe. National anthems rose to prominence in Europe during the 19th century, the oldest national anthem belongs to the Netherlands and is called the Wilhelmus. It was written between 1568 and 1572 during the Dutch Revolt, but did not become the anthem until 1932. The Japanese anthem, Kimigayo, has the oldest lyrics, which were taken from a Heian period poem, in contrast, the music of Qaumi Taranah, Pakistans national anthem was composed in 1949, preceding its lyrics, which were written in 1952. The Philippine anthem Lupang Hinirang was composed in 1898 as wordless incidental music for the ceremony declaring independence from the Spanish Empire, the Spanish poem Filipinas was written the following year to serve as the anthems lyrics, the current Tagalog version dates to 1962. Spains national anthem, the Marcha Real, written in 1761, was among the first to be adopted as such, in 1770. Denmark adopted the older of its two national anthems, Kong Christian stod ved højen mast, in 1780, and La Marseillaise, Serbia became the first Eastern European nation to have a national anthem – Rise up, Serbia. – in 1804. Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu, the anthem of Kenya, is one of the first national anthems to be specifically commissioned. It was written by the Kenyan Anthem Commission in 1963 to serve as the anthem after independence from the United Kingdom, National anthems are used in a wide array of contexts. Certain etiquette may be involved in the playing of a countrys anthem and these usually involve military honours, standing up/rising, removing headwear etc. In diplomatic situations the rules may be very formal, there may also be royal anthems, presidential anthems, state anthems etc. for special occasions
2.
Sami national anthem
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Sámi soga lávlla is the anthem of the Sámi people. The text was written by Isak Saba, and Arne Sørli composed the music, originally a poem, it was first published in the Sámi newspaper Saǥai Muittalægje on 1 April 1906. Sámi soga lávlla has been translated into most of the Sámi languages, the poem Sámi soga lávlla was written by Norwegian Sámi Isak Saba. He was a Norwegian school teacher and a researcher of Sami folklore, in 1906, he became the first Sami to be elected to the Norwegian Parliament. The poem was first published on April 1,1906 on the Northern Sami in the Norwegian newspaper Sagai Muittalægje. In August 1986, the 13th Sámi Conference, was held in the Swedish village of Åre, the music written for these words were by the Norwegian composer Arne Sørli, was approved in 1992 as the official national anthem at the 15th Sámi Conference in Helsinki. MP3 of Sámi soga lávlla Sagai Muittalægje article on Sámi soga lávlla
3.
National day
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A national day is a designated date on which celebrations mark the nationhood of a nation or non-sovereign country. This nationhood can be symbolized by the date of independence, of becoming a republic or a significant date for a saint or a ruler. Often the day is not called National Day but serves and can be considered as one, the national day will often be a national holiday. Many countries have more than one national day, most countries have a fixed-date national day, but some have movable dates. An example is Jamaica, which up to 1997 celebrated its day on the first Monday in August. This commemorated independence from the United Kingdom which was attained on Monday,6 August 1962, another example is Thailand which celebrates the birthday of the king on 28 July. This date will change on the accession of the heir to the throne, most national days can be categorized in two large blocks, Newer countries that celebrate their national day as the day of their independence. Older countries that use some other event of significance as their national day. Denmark and the United Kingdom are among the few countries that do not have designated national days, importance attached to the national day as well as the degree to which it is celebrated vary greatly from country to country. A military parade is held in Madrid celebrating the occasion, the national day in France is 14 July and known as the Fête nationale commemorating the Storming of the Bastille, which is considered the start of the French Revolution. It is widely celebrated and the French Tricolour is much in evidence, in the United States, the Independence Day celebrations on 4 July are widely celebrated with parades, fireworks, picnics and barbecues. In Ireland, Saint Patricks Day,17 March, is the equivalent of a day and has been a public holiday for many years. However, in the United Kingdom the constituent countries patron saints days are low-key affairs, a National Day for the United Kingdom has also been proposed in recent years. As with the Bastille Day military parade in France, many countries have a National Day Parade. Examples include the Singapore National Day Parade, and the parade for the National Day of the Peoples Republic of China, regions that are not broadly recognized sovereign states are shown in pink. For regions controlled by states, the name of the sovereign state is shown in parentheses
4.
Sami National Day
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The Sami National Day is an ethnic national day for the Sami people that falls on February 6 as this date was when the first Sámi congress was held in 1917 in Trondheim, Norway. This congress was the first time that Norwegian and Swedish Sámi came together across their borders to work together to find solutions for common problems. In 1992, at the 15th Sámi Conference in Helsinki, a resolution was passed that Sámi National Day should be celebrated on February 6 to commemorate the 1st Sámi congress in 1917. Sami National Day is for all Sámi, regardless of where they live and on that day the Sámi flag should be flown and the Sami national anthem is sung in the local Sámi language. The first time Sami National Day was celebrated was in 1993, since then, celebrating the day has become increasingly popular. In Norway it is compulsory for municipal buildings to fly the Norwegian flag. Particularly notable is the celebration in Norways capital Oslo, where the bells in the highest tower of Oslo City Hall play the Sami national anthem as the flags go up, some larger places have taken to arranging festivities also in the week around the Sami National Day. This organ, called the Koladak Sobbar, has dubbed the first Sámi Parliament by the researcher Johan Albert Kalstad
5.
Norwegian language
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Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as extinct languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them, as established by law and governmental policy, the two official forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål and Nynorsk. The official Norwegian Language Council is responsible for regulating the two forms, and recommends the terms Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk in English. Two other written forms without official status also exist, one and it is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy, which translates the name as Standard Norwegian. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, no standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect. Outside Eastern Norway, this variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism, rural versus urban discourse, historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål, Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A2005 poll indicates that 86. 3% use primarily Bokmål as their written language,5. 5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7. 5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, examples are Setesdal, the western part of Telemark county and several municipalities in Hallingdal, Valdres, and Gudbrandsdalen. It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in rural parts of Trøndelag. Today, not only is Nynorsk the official language of four of the 19 Norwegian counties, NRK, the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all publications, and Nynorsk in 8%
6.
Swedish language
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Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken natively by more than 9 million people predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, where it has equal legal standing with Finnish. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish, along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era. It is currently the largest of the North Germanic languages by number of speakers, Standard Swedish, spoken by most Swedes, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from the rural dialects still exist. The standard word order is, as in most Germanic languages, V2, Swedish morphology is similar to English, that is, words have comparatively few inflections. There are two genders, no cases, and a distinction between plural and singular. Older analyses posit the cases nominative and genitive and there are remains of distinct accusative and dative forms as well. Adjectives are compared as in English, and are inflected according to gender, number. The definiteness of nouns is marked primarily through suffixes, complemented with separate definite and indefinite articles, the prosody features both stress and in most dialects tonal qualities. The language has a large vowel inventory. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless velar fricative, a highly variable consonant phoneme. Swedish is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, by many general criteria of mutual intelligibility, the Continental Scandinavian languages could very well be considered dialects of a common Scandinavian language. In the 8th century, the common Germanic language of Scandinavia, Proto-Norse, had some changes. This language began to undergo new changes that did not spread to all of Scandinavia, the dialects of Old East Norse that were spoken in Sweden are called Runic Swedish while the dialects of Denmark are referred to as Runic Danish. The dialects are described as runic because the body of text appears in the runic alphabet. Unlike Proto-Norse, which was written with the Elder Futhark alphabet, Old Norse was written with the Younger Futhark alphabet, from 1200 onwards, the dialects in Denmark began to diverge from those of Sweden. An early change that separated Runic Danish from the dialects of Old East Norse was the change of the diphthong æi to the monophthong é. This is reflected in runic inscriptions where the older read stain, there was also a change of au as in dauðr into a long open ø as in døðr dead
7.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
8.
Russians
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Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in Ukraine, Kazakhstan. A large Russian diaspora exists all over the world, with numbers in the United States, Germany, Israel. Russians are the most numerous group in Europe. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion, the Russian language is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and also spoken as a secondary language in many former Soviet states. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians. One is русские, which most often means ethnic Russians, another is россияне, which means citizens of Russia. The former word refers to ethnic Russians, regardless of what country they live in, under certain circumstances this term may or may not extend to denote members of other Russian-speaking ethnic groups from Russia, or from the former Soviet Union. The latter word refers to all people holding citizenship of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups. The name of the Russians derives from the Rus people, the name Rus would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi. According to other theories the name Rus is derived from Proto-Slavic *roud-s-ь, the modern Russians formed from two groups of East Slavic tribes, Northern and Southern. The tribes involved included the Krivichs, Ilmen Slavs, Radimichs, Vyatiches, genetic studies show that modern Russians do not differ significantly from Belarusians and Ukrainians. Some ethnographers, like Zelenin, affirm that Russians are more similar to Belarusians, such Uralic peoples included the Merya and the Muromians. Outside archaeological remains, little is known about the predecessors to Russians in general prior to 859 AD when the Primary Chronicle starts its records and it is thought that by 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, and eastern branches. Later, both Belarusians and South Russians formed on this ethnic linguistic ground, the same Slavic ethnic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. With the Uralic substratum, they formed the tribes of the Krivichs, in 2010, the worlds Russian population was 129 million people of which 86% were in Russia,11. 5% in the CIS and Baltic countries, with a further 2. 5% living in other countries. Roughly 111 million ethnic Russians live in Russia, 80% of whom live in the European part of Russia, ethnic Russians historically migrated throughout the area of former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, sometimes encouraged to re-settle in borderlands by the Tsarist and later Soviet government. On some occasions ethnic Russian communities, such as Lipovans who settled in the Danube delta or Doukhobors in Canada, after the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War starting in 1917, many Russians were forced to leave their homeland fleeing the Bolshevik regime, and millions became refugees
9.
Norwegians
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Norwegians are a Germanic ethnic group native to Norway. They share a culture and speak the Norwegian language. Towards the end of the 3rd millennium BC, Proto-Indo-European speaking Battle-Axe peoples migrated to Norway bringing domesticated horses, agriculture, cattle, during the Viking age, Harald Fairhair unified the Norse petty kingdoms after being victorious at the Battle of Hafrsfjord in the 880s. Two centuries of Viking expansion tapered off following the decline of Norse paganism with the adoption of Christianity in the 11th century, during The Black Death, approximately 60% of the population died and in 1397 Norway entered a union with Denmark. In 1814, following Denmark-Norways defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, Norway entered a union with Sweden, rising nationalism throughout the 19th century led to a 1905 referendum granting Norway independence. Although Norway remained officially neutral in World War I, the country was allied with the Entente powers. In World War II Norway proclaimed its neutrality, but was occupied for five years by Nazi Germany. In 1949, neutrality was abandoned and Norway became a member of NATO, discovery of oil and gas in adjacent waters in the late 1960s boosted Norways economic fortunes but in referenda held in 1972 and 1994, Norway rejected joining the EU. Key domestic issues include integration of a fast growing immigrant population, maintaining the countrys generous social safety net with an aging population, as with many of the people from European countries, Norwegians are spread throughout the world. There are more than 100,000 Norwegian citizens living abroad permanently, mostly in the U. S, Norwegian Vikings travelled north and west and founded vibrant communities in the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, and northern England. They conducted extensive raids in Ireland and founded the cities of Cork, Dublin, in 947, a new wave of Norwegian Vikings appeared in England when Erik Bloodaxe captured York. Apart from Britain and Ireland, Norwegian Vikings established settlements in largely uninhabited regions, the first known permanent Norwegian settler in Iceland was Ingólfur Arnarson. In the year 874 he settled in Reykjavík, after his expulsion from Iceland Erik the Red discovered Greenland, a name he chose in hope of attracting Icelandic settlers. Viking settlements were established in the fjords of the southern and western coast. Eriks relative Leif Eriksson later discovered North America, during the 17th and 18th centuries, many Norwegians emigrated to the Netherlands, particularly Amsterdam. The Netherlands was the second most popular destination for Norwegian emigrants after Denmark, loosely estimated, some 10% of the population may have emigrated, in a period when the entire Norwegian population consisted of some 800,000 people. The Norwegians left with the Dutch trade ships that when in Norway traded for timber, hides, herring, young women took employment as maids in Amsterdam. Young men took employment as sailors, large parts of the Dutch merchant fleet and navy came to consist of Norwegians and Danes
10.
Swedes
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Swedes are a Germanic ethnic group native to Sweden. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, in particular Finland, with a substantial diaspora in other countries, the English term Swede has been attested in English since the late 16th century and is of Middle Dutch or Middle Low German origin. The term is believed to have derived from the Proto-Indo-European reflexive pronominal root, *se. The word must have meant ones own, the same root and original meaning is found in the ethnonym of the Germanic tribe Suebi, preserved to this day in the name Swabia. Sweden enters proto-history with the Germania of Tacitus in AD98, in Germania 44,45 he mentions the Swedes as a powerful tribe with ships that had a prow in both ends. Which kings ruled these Suiones is unknown, but Norse mythology presents a line of legendary and semi-legendary kings going back to the last centuries BC. In the 6th century Jordanes named two tribes, which he calls the Suehans and the Suetidi, who lived in Scandza and these two names are both considered to refer to the same tribe. The Suehans, he says, has very fine horses just as the Thyringi tribe, the Icelander Snorri Sturluson wrote of the 6th-century Swedish king Adils that he had the finest horses of his days. The Suehans supplied black fox-skins for the Roman market, then Jordanes names the Suetidi which is considered to be the Latin form of Svitjod. He writes that the Suetidi are the tallest of men - together with the Dani, later he mentions other Scandinavian tribes as being of the same height. Originating in semi-legendary Scandza, a Gothic population had crossed the Baltic Sea before the 2nd century AD and they reaching Scythia on the coast of the Black Sea in modern Ukraine, where Goths left their archaeological traces in the Chernyakhov culture. In the 5th and 6th centuries, they divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths. Crimean Gothic communities appear to have survived intact in the Crimea until the late 18th century, the Swedish Viking Age lasted roughly between the 8th and 11th centuries. During this period, it is believed that the Swedes expanded from eastern Sweden and it is believed that Swedish Vikings and Gutar mainly travelled east and south, going to Finland, the Baltic countries, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine the Black Sea and further as far as Baghdad. Their routes passed through the Dnieper down south to Constantinople, on which they did numerous raids, the Byzantine Emperor Theophilos noticed their great skills in war and invited them to serve as his personal bodyguard, known as the varangian guard. The Swedish Vikings, called Rus are also believed to be the fathers of Kievan Rus. The Arabic traveller Ibn Fadlan described these Vikings as following, I have seen the Rus as they came on their merchant journeys, each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife, and keeps each by him at all times. The swords are broad and grooved, of Frankish sort, the adventures of these Swedish Vikings are commemorated on many runestones in Sweden, such as the Greece Runestones and the Varangian Runestones
11.
Sami people
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The Sami people are an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting the Arctic area of Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. The Sami are the indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized and protected under the international conventions of indigenous peoples. Sami ancestral lands are not well-defined and their traditional languages are the Sami languages and are classified as a branch of the Uralic language family. Traditionally, the Sami have pursued a variety of livelihoods, including fishing, fur trapping. Their best-known means of livelihood is semi-nomadic reindeer herding, currently about 10% of the Sami are connected to reindeer herding, providing them with meat, fur, and transportation. 2,800 Sami people are involved in herding on a full-time basis. For traditional, environmental, cultural, and political reasons, reindeer herding is legally reserved only for Sami people in regions of the Nordic countries. The Sámi are often known in other languages by the exonyms Lap, Lapp, some Sami regard these as pejorative terms, while others do not. Finn was the originally used by Norse speakers to refer to the Sami, as attested in the Icelandic Eddas. As Old Norse gradually developed into the separate Scandinavian languages, Swedes apparently took to using Finn exclusively to refer to inhabitants of Finland, Finnish immigrants to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries were referred to as Kvens to distinguish them from the Sami Finns. Ethnic Finns are a group from Sami. In fact, Saxo never explicitly connects the Sami with the two Laplands, there is another suggestion that it originally meant wilds. In Finland and Sweden, Lapp is common in names, such as Lappi, Lappeenranta and Lapinlahti in Finland. As already mentioned, Finn is an element in Norwegian place names. In the North Sámi language, láhppon olmmoš means a person who is lost, Sámi refer to themselves as Sámit or Sápmelaš, the word Sámi being inflected into various grammatical forms. It has been proposed that Sámi, Häme, and perhaps Suomi are of the origin and ultimately borrowed from the Baltic word *žēmē. The Baltic word is cognate with Slavic земля, which means land. The Sámi institutions—notably the parliaments, radio and TV stations, theatres, etc. —all use the term Sámi, including when addressing outsiders in Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, or English
12.
Kvens
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In 1996, the Kvens were granted minority status in Norway, and in 2005 the Kven language was recognized as a minority language in Norway. The origin of the term Kven is disputed, there is no evidence that modern Kvens are descendants of the Kvens mentioned in a few ancient Norwegian and Icelandic sources. There is a theory among some groups that due to the discrimination and suppression by the Norwegian authorities the term Kven became derogatory in the late 19th century. Therefore, many Kvens preferred to be called suomalaiset, but with the revitalization of the Kven culture in the 1970s, Kvens themselves started using the term. However, even in the 1990s there was a debate whether the Norwegian terms finne, finsk, however, today the term Kven is accepted and used, for example, in the name of the Kven organization in Norway. The Kvens were registered as a group in the Norwegian censuses in the period 1845 to 1930. From the 18th century the Kvens started to comprise a significant part of the population in Northern Norway, in 184513. 3% of the population in Finnmark, and 3. 2% in Troms, considered themselves as Kvens. In 1854 the numbers increased to respectively,19. 9% and 7. 0%, the peak was in 1875, with respectively 24. 2% and 7. 7%. The ratios were reduced to respectively 20. 2% and 3. 7%, in 1890, in the 1930 census there were 8,215 registered Kvens in Troms and Finnmark. In 1950,1,439 people reported that they used the Finnish language in Troms, in 2001, the number of Kvens was estimated to be about 10,000 to 15,000 in a parliamentary inquiry on national minorities in Norway. However, estimating the number of Kvens is difficult since there is no definition of a Kven. Therefore, other studies have estimated the number of Kvens to be about 50, 000–60,000, but many of these may consider themselves to be Norwegian or Sami or a combination. Danish/Norwegian tax records from the 16th century already list some Kvens living in North Norway, also, the famous map of Scandinavia by Olaus Magnus from 1539 shows a possible Kven settlement roughly in between todays Tromsø and Lofoten named Berkara Qvenar. Kvens of this time are often connected to the organization in northern Sweden. In some early documents Kvens are also grouped together with the Sami people, the main immigration of Kvens to Norway can be divided into two periods. The second immigration was after 1820 until about 1890 to the areas of eastern Finnmark. In addition, it was easier to get to America from there than from Northern Finland. Migration ended from problems in the industry, population pressure, migration to America and increasing problems for Kven in buying land
13.
Finns
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Finns or Finnish people are a Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland. Also, some of these may be classified as ethnic groups. These include the Kvens and Forest Finns in Norway, the Tornedalians in Sweden, the most notable autochthonous group is the Finnish-speaking population of Sweden, who trace their origin to Second Swedish Crusade after which Finland came under Swedish rule. Finnish, the language spoken by most Finnic people, is related to other Finnic languages. The Finnic languages are a subgroup to the Uralic family of languages and these languages are markedly different from most other languages spoken in Europe, which belong to the Indo-European family of languages. Native Finns can also be divided according to dialect into subgroups sometimes called heimo, the Population Register Centre maintains information on the birthplace, citizenship and mother tongue of the people living in Finland, but does not specifically categorize any as Finns by ethnicity. The majority of living in the Republic of Finland consider Finnish to be their first language. According to Statistics Finland, of the total population of 5,300,484 at the end of 2007,91. 2% considered Finnish to be their native language. It is not known how many of the ethnic Finns living outside Finland speak Finnish as their first language, Finns have been traditionally divided into sub-groups along regional, dialectical or ethnographical lines. These subgroups include the people of Finland Proper, Satakunta, Tavastia, Savo and these sub-groups express regional self-identity with varying frequency and significance. Historically, there were three dialects, the South-Western, Tavastian, and Karelian, the Sweden Finns are either native to Sweden or have emigrated from Finland to Sweden. An estimated 450,000 first- or second-generation immigrants from Finland live in Sweden, the majority moved from Finland to Sweden following the Second World War, taking advantage of the rapidly expanding Swedish economy. This emigration peaked in 1970 and has been declining since, there are also native Finnish-speaking minorities in Sweden, e. g. the Tornedalingar and the Finns of Dalecarlia. The Finnish language has official status as one of five minority languages in Sweden, the term Finns is also used for other Finnic peoples, including Izhorians in Ingria, Karelians in Karelia and Veps in the former Veps National Volost, all in Russia. Among these groups, the Karelians is the most populous one, according to a 2002 census, it was found that Ingrians also indetify with Finnish ethnic identity, referring to themselves as Ingrian Finns. The Finnish term for Finns is suomalaiset and it is a matter of debate how best to designate the Finnish-speakers of Sweden, all of whom have migrated to Sweden from Finland. Historical references to Northern Europe are scarce, and the given to its peoples and geographic regions are obscure, therefore
14.
Coordinated Universal Time
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Coordinated Universal Time, abbreviated to UTC, is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about 1 second of mean time at 0° longitude. It is one of closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. For most purposes, UTC is considered interchangeable with GMT, the first Coordinated Universal Time was informally adopted on 1 January 1960. This change also adopted leap seconds to simplify future adjustments, a number of proposals have been made to replace UTC with a new system that would eliminate leap seconds, but no consensus has yet been reached. Leap seconds are inserted as necessary to keep UTC within 0.9 seconds of universal time, see the Current number of leap seconds section for the number of leap seconds inserted to date. The official abbreviation for Coordinated Universal Time is UTC and this abbreviation arose from a desire by the International Telecommunication Union and the International Astronomical Union to use the same abbreviation in all languages. English speakers originally proposed CUT, while French speakers proposed TUC, the compromise that emerged was UTC, which conforms to the pattern for the abbreviations of the variants of Universal Time. Time zones around the world are expressed using positive or negative offsets from UTC, the westernmost time zone uses UTC−12, being twelve hours behind UTC, the easternmost time zone, theoretically, uses UTC+12, being twelve hours ahead of UTC. In 1995, the nation of Kiribati moved those of its atolls in the Line Islands from UTC-10 to UTC+14 so that the country would all be on the same day. UTC is used in internet and World Wide Web standards. The Network Time Protocol, designed to synchronise the clocks of computers over the internet, computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC as it is more specific than GMT. If only limited precision is needed, clients can obtain the current UTC from a number of official internet UTC servers, for sub-microsecond precision, clients can obtain the time from satellite signals. UTC is also the standard used in aviation, e. g. for flight plans. Weather forecasts and maps all use UTC to avoid confusion about time zones, the International Space Station also uses UTC as a time standard. Amateur radio operators often schedule their radio contacts in UTC, because transmissions on some frequencies can be picked up by many time zones, UTC is also used in digital tachographs used on large goods vehicles under EU and AETR rules. UTC divides time into days, hours, minutes and seconds, days are conventionally identified using the Gregorian calendar, but Julian day numbers can also be used. Each day contains 24 hours and each hour contains 60 minutes, the number of seconds in a minute is usually 60, but with an occasional leap second, it may be 61 or 59 instead
15.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
16.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
17.
Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian
18.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
19.
Northern Sami
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Northern or North Sami, sometimes also simply referred to as Sami, is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. The area where Northern Sami is spoken covers the parts of Norway, Sweden. The number of Northern Sami speakers is estimated to be somewhere between 15,000 and 25,000, about 2,000 of these live in Finland and between 5,000 and 6,000 in Sweden. Among the first printed Sami texts is Svenske och Lappeske ABC Book, written in Swedish and it was published in two editions in 1638 and 1640 and includes 30 pages of prayers and confessions of Protestant faith. It has been described as the first book with a regular Sami language form, Northern Sami was first described by Knud Leem in 1748 and in dictionaries in 1752 and 1768. The majority of his work has disappeared, en omarbejdelse af Prof. Knud Leems Lappiske grammatica in 1832. Rask opted for a phonemic orthographic system, following in the tradition of Rask meant that diacritics were used with some consonants, which caused data-processing problems before Unicode was introduced. Both Stockfleth and J. A. Friis went on to publish grammar books and it can be said that Northern Sami was better described than Norwegian was before Ivar Aasen published his grammar on Norwegian. Northern Sami was and is used in three countries, each of which used its own orthography for years, Friis orthography was used when work on translating the Bible into Northern Sami commenced, in the first Sami newspaper called Saǥai Muittalægje, and in the Finnemisjonens own newspaper Nuorttanaste. The groundwork for Northern Sami lexicography was laid by Konrad Nielsen who used an orthography of his own creation in his dictionary Lappisk ordbok, starting in 1948, the orthographies used in Norway and Sweden were combined into a single Bergsland-Ruong orthography. It was not greatly used in Norway, in addition, the authorities there instituted a policy that prohibited Sami from being used in practice. In Sweden, classes were taught in Sami in the Sami schools, in 1979, an official orthography for Northern Sami was adopted for use in Norway, Sweden and Finland. In Norway, Northern Sami is currently a language of two counties and six municipalities. The consonant inventory of Northern Sami is large, consisting of three different series of plosives/affricates and two series of nasals, in addition, length is contrastive for almost all consonants. /v/ is realised as a fricative in the syllable onset. Although is a fricative, it behaves phonologically like an approximant, all consonants can be geminated, except for /h/. This distinction is phonemically contrastive and widely productive as a grammatical feature, geminated glottalized nasals are realised with the glottalization in between the two consonants. In geminated preaspirated consonants, it is the preaspiration that lengthens rather than the occlusion, except for glottalized or preaspirated consonants, /h/, /j/ or /ʎ/, all consonants also possess a third overlong length
20.
Cultural area
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In anthropology and geography, a cultural region, cultural sphere, cultural area or culture area refers to a geographical area with one relatively homogeneous human activity or complex of activities. These are often associated with a group and the territory it inhabits. Specific cultures often do not limit their geographic coverage to the borders of a nation state, Cultural spheres of influence may also overlap or form concentric structures of macrocultures encompassing smaller local cultures. Different boundaries may also be depending on the particular aspect of interest, such as religion and folklore vs. dress. Cultural areas are not considered equivalent to Kulturkreis, a culture area is a concept in cultural anthropology, in which a geographic region and time sequence is characterized by substantially uniform environment and culture. The concept of culture areas was originated by museum curators and ethnologists during the late 1800s as means of arranging exhibits, clark Wissler and Alfred Kroeber further developed the concept on the premise that they represent long-standing cultural divisions. The concept is criticized by some, who argue that the basis for classification is arbitrary, but other researchers disagree and the organization of human communities into cultural areas remains a common practice throughout the social sciences. The definition of culture areas is enjoying a resurgence of practical and theoretical interest as social scientists conduct research on processes of cultural globalization. A formal culture region is an area inhabited by people who have one or more traits in common, such as language, religion. It is a relatively homogeneous with regard to one or more cultural traits. The geographer who identifies a formal culture region must locate cultural borders, because cultures overlap and mix, such boundaries are rarely sharp even if only a single cultural trait is mapped so there are cultural border zones rather than lines. The zones broaden with each additional cultural trait that is considered because no two traits have the spatial distribution. As a result, instead of having clear borders, formal culture regions reveal a center or core where the traits are all present. Away from the core, the characteristics weaken and disappear. Thus, many formal culture regions display a core-periphery, in this sense, functional regions also possess a core-periphery configuration, in common with formal culture regions. Vernacular, popular or perceptual cultural regions are those perceived to exist by their inhabitants, as is evident by the widespread acceptance, some vernacular regions are based on physical environmental features, others find their basis in economic, political or historical characteristics. Vernacular regions, like most culture regions, generally lack sharp borders, and it grows out of peoples sense of belonging and identification with a particular region. They often lack the necessary for functional regions although they may be centered on a single urban node
21.
Fennoscandia
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Fennoscandia, Fenno-Scandinavia, or the Fennoscandian Peninsula, is the geographical peninsula of the Nordic region comprising the Scandinavian Peninsula, Finland, Karelia, and the Kola Peninsula. It encompasses Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as Murmansk Oblast, much of the Republic of Karelia and its name comes from the Latin words Fennia and Scandia. The term was first used by the Finnish geologist Wilhelm Ramsay in 1898, geologically, the area is distinct because its bedrock is Archaean granite and gneiss with very little limestone, in contrast to adjacent areas in Europe
22.
Barents Sea
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The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters. Known among Russians in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea and it is a rather shallow shelf sea, with an average depth of 230 metres, and is an important site for both fishing and hydrocarbon exploration. Novaya Zemlya, an extension of the part of the Ural Mountains. The southern half of the Barents Sea, including the ports of Murmansk, in September, the entire Barents Sea is more or less completely ice-free. Until the Winter War, Finlands territory also reached to the Barents Sea, with the harbor at Petsamo being Finlands only ice-free winter harbor. There are three types of water masses in the Barents Sea, Warm, salty Atlantic water from the North Atlantic drift, cold Arctic water from the north, and warm. Between the Atlantic and Polar waters, a front called the Polar Front is formed, the lands of Novaya Zemlya attained most of their early Holocene coastal deglaciation approximately 10,000 years before present. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Barentsz Sea as follows, On the west, on the northwest, The eastern shore of West Spitzbergen, Hinlopen Strait up to 80° latitude north, south and east coasts of North-East Land to Cape Leigh Smith. On the north, Cape Leigh Smith across the Islands Bolshoy Ostrov, Gilles and Victoria, on the east, Cape Kohlsaat to Cape Zhelaniya, west and southwest coast of Novaya Zemlya to Cape Kussov Noss and thence to western entrance Cape, Dolgaya Bay on Vaigach Island. Through Vaigach Island to Cape Greben, thence to Cape Belyi Noss on the mainland, on the south, The northern limit of the White Sea. Other islands in the Barents Sea include Chaichy and Timanets, most of its geological history is dominated by extensional tectonics, caused by the collapse of the Caledonian and Uralian orogenic belts and the break-up of Pangaea. These events created the rift basins that dominate the Barents Shelf, along with various platforms. Due to the North Atlantic drift, the Barents Sea has a high biological production compared to other oceans of similar latitude. The spring bloom of phytoplankton can start quite early close to the ice edge, the phytoplankton bloom feeds zooplankton such as Calanus finmarchicus, Calanus glacialis, Calanus hyperboreus, Oithona spp. and krill. The zooplankton feeders include young cod, capelin, polar cod, whales, the capelin is a key food for top predators such as the north-east Arctic cod, harp seals, and seabirds such as common guillemot and Brunnichs guillemot. The fisheries of the Barents Sea, in particular the cod fisheries, are of importance for both Norway and Russia. There is a genetically distinct polar bear population associated with the Barents Sea and its eastern corner, in the region of the Pechora Rivers estuary, has been known as Pechorskoye Morye, that is, Pechora Sea. This sea was given its present name in honor of Willem Barentsz, Barentsz was the leader of early expeditions to the far north, at the end of the sixteenth century
23.
Norwegian Sea
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The Norwegian Sea is a marginal sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, northwest of Norway. It is located between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea and adjoins the North Atlantic Ocean to the west, in the southwest, it is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a submarine ridge running between Iceland and the Faroe Islands. To the North, the Jan Mayen Ridge separates it from the Greenland Sea, unlike many other seas, most of the bottom of the Norwegian Sea is not part of a continental shelf and therefore lies at a great depth of about two kilometres on average. Rich deposits of oil and natural gas are found under the sea bottom and are being explored commercially, the coastal zones are rich in fish that visit the Norwegian Sea from the North Atlantic or from the Barents Sea for spawning. The warm North Atlantic Current ensures relatively stable and high temperatures, so that unlike the Arctic seas. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Norwegian Sea as follows, a line joining the southernmost point of West Spitzbergen to North Cape of Bear Island, through this island to Cape Bull and thence on to North Cape in Norway. The West coast of Norway between North Cape and Cape Stadt, from a point on the West coast of Norway in Latitude 61°00 North along this parallel to Longitude 0°53 West thence a line to the NE extreme of Fuglö and on to the East extreme of Gerpir in Iceland. The Southeastern limit of Greenland Sea, the Norwegian Sea was formed about 250 million years ago, when the Eurasian plate of Norway and the North American Plate, including Greenland, started to move apart. The existing narrow shelf sea between Norway and Greenland began to widen and deepen, the present continental slope in the Norwegian Sea marks the border between Norway and Greenland as it stood approximately 250 million years ago. In the north it extends east from Svalbard and on the southwest between Britain and the Faroes and this continental slope contains rich fishing grounds and numerous coral reefs. Settling of the shelf after the separation of the continents has resulted in landslides, the coasts of the Norwegian Sea were shaped during the last Ice Age. Large glaciers several kilometres high pushed into the land, forming fjords, removing the crust into the sea and this is particularly clear off the Norwegian coast along Helgeland and north to the Lofoten Islands. The Norwegian continental shelf is between 40 and 200 kilometres wide, and has a different shape from the shelves in the North Sea and it contains numerous trenches and irregular peaks, which usually have an amplitude of less than 100 metres, but can reach up to 400 metres. They are covered with a mixture of gravel, sand, and mud, deeper into the sea, there are two deep basins separated by a low ridge between the Vøring Plateau and Jan Mayen island. The southern basin is larger and deeper, with areas between 3,500 and 4,000 metres deep. The northern basin is shallower at 3, 200–3,300 metres, submarine thresholds and continental slopes mark the borders of these basins with the adjacent seas. To the south lies the European continental shelf and the North Sea, to the west, the Scotland-Greenland Ridge separates the Norwegian Sea from the North Atlantic. This ridge is on average only 500 metres deep, only in a few reaching the depth of 850 metres
24.
White Sea
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The White Sea is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, the whole of the White Sea is under Russian sovereignty and considered to be part of the internal waters of Russia. Administratively, it is divided between Arkhangelsk and Murmansk Oblasts and the Republic of Karelia, the major port of Arkhangelsk is located on the White Sea. For much of Russias history this was Russias main centre of maritime trade. In the modern era it became an important Soviet naval and submarine base, the White Sea-Baltic Canal connects the White Sea with the Baltic Sea. The White Sea is one of four seas named in English after common colour terms — the others being the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the northern limit of the White Sea as A line joining Svyatoi Nos and Cape Kanin. There are four main bays or gulfs on the White Sea and these bays connect with the funnel-shaped opening to the Barents Sea via a narrow strait called gorlo. Kandalaksha Gulf lies in the part of the White Sea, it is the deepest part of the sea. On the south, Onega Bay receives the Onega River, to the southeast, the Dvina Bay receives the Northern Dvina River at the major port of Arkhangelsk. On the east side of the gorlo, opposite the Kola peninsula, is Mezen Bay and it receives the Mezen River and the Kuloy River. Other major rivers flowing into the sea are the Vyg, Niva, Umba, Varzuga and Ponoy. The seabed of the part and Dvina Bay is covered in silt and sand, whereas the bottom of the northern part. Ice age deposits often emerge near the sea shores, northwestern coasts are tall and rocky but the slope is much weaker at the southeastern side. The White Sea contains a number of islands, but most of them are small. The main island group is the Solovetsky Islands, located almost in the middle of the sea, kiy Island in Onega Bay is significant due to a historic monastery. Velikiy Island, located close to the shore, is the largest island in the Kandalaksha Gulf, the White Sea is a water-filled depression in the block of a continental shelf known as the Baltic Shield. Its bottom is very uneven and contains the Kandalaksha Hollow in the northwest, also, the Onega Bay has many small underwater elevations. The opening and the gorlo of the sea are rather shallow, in addition, there is an underwater ridge in the northern part of the gorlo, resulting in maximum depths of 40 metres in that part
25.
Tavastia (historical province)
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Tavastia is a historical province in the south of Finland. It borders Finland Proper, Satakunta, Ostrobothnia, Savonia and Uusimaa, from 1997 to 2010 Tavastia was divided between the administrative provinces of Southern Finland and Western Finland. The prehistoric era of Tavastia can be said to end with the Second Swedish Crusade in 1239 or 1249, the construction of the Häme castle began in the 1260s, on the orders of Birger Jarl. It was to be the centre of the three counties, the other two being the castle of Turku in Finland Proper and Viipuri castle in Karelia. After the peace Treaty of Nöteborg in 1323 the castle lost some of its importance as a defence against the East, when Finland was ceded to Russia in 1809, the province ceased to be a part of Sweden. The provinces have no administrative function today but live on as a legacy in both Finland and Sweden. The province has been inhabited since the Stone Age, northern Tavastia was for a long time a wilderness inhabited by Sami hunter-gatherers and frequented also by Finnish hunters. Only during the late Middle Ages was agriculture slowly introduced to the parts of the province. In the 19th century, the growth of the forest industry started to bring new wealth to the area, the waterways of Näsijärvi and Vanajavesi provided easy transport for timber. The most notable centres of the industry were, and still are, Mänttä. The most notable industrial center in historical Tavastia, however, is Tampere, Western Tavastia extends over both sides of the great Kokemäenjoki drainage basin. In Eastern Tavastia, the regions of Päijänne Tavastia and Central Finland are located around the shores of Lake Päijänne, the Southern borders of the province roughly follow the Salpausselkä ridge. The Southern parts of the province consist of plains intermixed with fields, towards the north, the land gradually rises and becomes more hilly. At the same time, the proportion of cultivated land decreases, the northern boundary of Tavastia is in Central Finland. As this area was settled only at the time of the replacement of the old system with the county system. The same applies to the border with Satakunta, which is located in Pirkanmaa. As a result of the pattern of settlement, the inhabited areas are located around the waterways. The lakes are navigable but the rapids of Kymijoki and Kokemäenjoki restrict navigation to the sea, similarly, the lakes form three separate navigable areas
26.
Finnmark
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Finnmark is a county in the extreme northeastern part of Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south, and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, the county was formerly known as Finmarkens amt or Vardøhus amt. Since 2002, it has had two names, Finnmark and Finnmárku. It is part of the Sápmi region, which spans four countries, as well as the Barents Region, Vardø, the easternmost municipality in Norway, is located farther east than the cities of St. Petersburg and Istanbul. The Old Norse form of the name was Finnmǫrk, the first element is finn, the Norse name for the Sámi people. The last element is mǫrk which means woodland or borderland, in Norse times the name referred to any places where Sámi people were living. The coat of arms are black with a castle tower, technically described as Sable. The design is from 1967 and shows the old Vardøhus Fortress on the border with Russia. Finnmark is the northernmost and easternmost county in Norway, by area, Finnmark is Norways largest county, even larger than the neighboring country of Denmark. However, with a population of about 75,000, it is also the least populated of all Norwegian counties, Finnmark has a total coastline of 6,844 kilometres, including 3,155 kilometres of coastline on the islands. Nearly 12,300 people or 16.6 percent of the population in 2000 was living in the 100-meter belt along the coastline. Honningsvåg in Finnmark claims to be the northernmost city of the world, the coast is indented by large fjords, many of which are false fjords, as they are not carved out by glaciers. The highest point is located on the top of the glacier Øksfjordjøkelen, which has an area of 45 square kilometres, both Øksfjordjøkelen and Seilandsjøkelen are located in the western part of Finnmark. The Øksfjord plateau glacier calved directly into the sea until 1900, the central and eastern part of Finnmark is generally less mountainous, and has no glaciers. The land east of Nordkapp is mostly below 300 m, the nature varies from barren coastal areas facing the Barents Sea, to more sheltered fjord areas and river valleys with gullies and tree vegetation. About half of the county is above the line. This valley has the highest density of Brown bears in Norway, lynx and moose are common in large parts of Finnmark, but rare on the coast. The interior parts of the county are part of the great Finnmarksvidda plateau, with an elevation of 300 to 400 m, with numerous lakes, the plateau is famous for its tens of thousands of reindeer owned by the Sami, and swarms of mosquitos in mid-summer
27.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
28.
Lapland (Sweden)
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Lappland, often Anglicized as Lapland, is a province in northernmost Sweden. It borders Jämtland, Ångermanland, Västerbotten, Norrbotten, Norway, about a quarter of Swedens surface area is in Lappland. The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purposes but are cultural and historical entities, administratively, Lappland constitutes the western part of two counties of Sweden, Norrbotten County in the north and Västerbotten County in the south. In contrast to most other areas of Sweden, there is more of an identification with the rather than to provinces. Thus, most people in these counties refer to the county, including the areas in Lappland. Citizens of Sami descent are eligible to stand and vote in elections for the Swedish Sami Parliament, Sami language has an official minority status in Kiruna Municipality, Gällivare Municipality, Jokkmokk Municipality and Arjeplog Municipality. As of January 1,2016, the population of Swedish Lappland is 96,3045, together with the rest of historical Lapland, the sum of the population is approximately 125,000. The largest city is Kiruna with 23,178 inhabitants, blazon Swedish version, Argent, a Wildman statant Gules wrapped with birch leaves Vert on the head and around the waist holding a Club Or in dexter over the shoulder. The wildman used to be depicted with more features, impressively drawn muscles, the wildman wielding a club as heraldic symbol of Lappland first appeared at the coronation of Charles IX of Sweden in 1607, then at the same kings burial in 1611. The colour red of his skin was decided only in 1949, the wildman, though unusual in heraldry, is an old symbol of the uncivilized north and appeared in books and woodcuts of the 16th century. Lapland is known for containing the Vindelfjällen Nature Reserve, one of the largest nature reserves in Sweden, Lappland has an area of 109,702 square km, almost equal to Portugal. The southern parts of the province is significantly milder than the northern, however, since Lappland is all made up of inland areas, maritime moderation is less significant than in the counties coastal areas and in neighbouring Norway, resulting in harsh winters. Southern areas at a lower elevation such as Lycksele also have relatively warm summers, due to the arctic circle, the northern areas of the province experience midnight sun and a moderate polar night with some civil twilight during opposite sides of the year. The history of Lappland is in many ways connected to the history of Norrbotten County and Västerbotten County, during the Middle Ages, Norrbotten/Lappland was considered a no mans land. The area was in fact populated by nomadic Sami people, but the region became increasingly settled by Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian settlers - especially along the coasts and large rivers. From the Middle Ages on, the Swedish kings tried to colonise and Christianise the area using settlers from what is now Finland, today, despite large-scale assimilation into the dominant Swedish culture, Finnish and Sami minorities continue to maintain their cultures and identities. In religion, nonetheless, in the 17th and 18th centuries the Lapplanders generally left their original shamanism, since the 19th century, Lappland has been particularly characterised by Laestadian Lutheranism. During the industrialisation of Sweden, natural resources from Lappland and surrounding provinces played a key role, still, mining, forestry and hydroelectric power are the backbone of the local economy, together with municipal services
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Lapland (Finland)
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Lapland is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council, Lapland borders the region of Northern Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia, Norrbotten County in Sweden, Finnmark County and Troms County in Norway, and Murmansk Oblast and the Republic of Karelia in Russia. The area of Lapland region is 100,367 km², which consists of 92,667 km²of dry land,6,316 km² fresh water and 1,383 km² of sea areas. In south it borders Northern Ostrobothnia region, in west Sweden, in north and west Norway and its borders follow three rivers, Tana, Muonio and Torne. The largest lake is Lake Inari,1,102 km², highest point is on Halti, which reaches 1,324 m on Finnish side of the border. There are eight national parks in Lapland, Bothnian Bay, Lemmenjoki, Oulanka, Pallas-Yllästunturi, Pyhä-Luosto, Riisitunturi, Syöte, the very first snowflakes fall to the ground in late August or early September over the higher peaks. The first ground-covering snow arrives in average in October or late September, permanent snow cover comes between mid-October and end of November, significantly earlier than in southern Finland. The winter is long, approximately seven months, the snow cover is usually thickest in early April. Soon after that the snow starts to melt fast. The thickest snow cover ever was measured in Kilpisjärvi in 19 April 1997, due to the warming effect of the Arctic Sea, the coldest spot is not located in northernmost Lapland but in the north-western corner. The annual mean temperature varies from a couple of degrees below zero in Northwest to a couple of degrees above zero in the southwest, the area of Lapland was split between two counties of the Swedish Realm from 1634 to 1809. The northern and western areas were part of Västerbotten County, while the areas were part of Ostrobothnia County. The northern and western areas were transferred in 1809 to Oulu County, under the royalist constitution of Finland during the first half of 1918, Lapland was to become a Grand Principality and part of the inheritance of the proposed king of Finland. Lapland Province was separated from Oulu Province in 1938, during the Interim Peace and beginning of the Continuation War the government of Finland allowed the Nazi German Army to station itself in Lapland as a part of Operation Barbarossa. After Finland made a peace with the Soviet Union in 1944. The result was the Lapland War, during which almost the whole population of Lapland was evacuated. The Germans used scorched earth tactics in Lapland, before they withdrew to Norway, ninety percent of Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland, was burned to the ground, with only a few pre-war buildings surviving the destruction
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Ostrobothnia (historical province)
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Ostrobothnia, Swedish, Österbotten, Finnish, Pohjanmaa is a historical province comprising a large western and northern part of modern Finland. It is bounded by Karelia, Savonia, Tavastia and Satakunda in the south, the word pohja means either north or bottom, and maa is land. In ancient Scandinavian understanding, the north was the bottom of the world, the word was associated with the cardinal direction because the houses were constructed such that the back of the house faced north, the coldest direction. Ostrobothnia is divided into Regions of Finland, Ostrobothnia, Northern Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, Southern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu, state administration is done by the regional state administrative agencies of Länsi- ja Sisä-Suomi and Pohjois-Suomi, the former includes areas outside Ostrobothnia. Modern humans arrived 9,000 years ago, as soon as the ice sheet disappeared, a complex hunter-gatherer society emerged along the coast. Among the visible remains from this time are the Neolithic stone enclosures unique to Ostrobothnia known locally as Giants Churches and they are a rare example of monumental architecture built by hunter-gatherers in northern Europe. During the early Middle Ages settlers from Sweden inhabited the coastal strip of Southern and Central Ostrobothnia, the Swedish crown established Korsholm as the administrative centre. At the same time, large parts of the inland Ostrobothnia were colonized by Finnish settlers from Savonia, in the 16th century, the Finnish settlement and agriculture had reached the northern part of the east coast of Gulf of Bothnia. This led to clashes with the Orthodox Christian Karelians, who were supported by their suzerain Russia. Throughout the late 16th century, both engaged in constant raid-type warfare against the enemy civilian populations, although formal peace existed for the most time. For example, in winter 1590, men of Ii and Liminka raided the Pechenga Monastery on the Arctic Sea, while the Karelians raided Ii and Liminka, the war slowly ebbed due to the Treaty of Tyavzino in 1595. During the late stages of the war, the Swedish crown had stationed troops in the province to help the population in defence. This was in marked contrast to the practice where the province had been responsible for its own defence. After the war, the Ostrobothnians revolted against the stationing of soldiers to the province, leading to the Cudgel War. The war was a loss to the peasants and marked the definitive end of the province as semi-independent. Katarina Asplund, a Finnish pietist, was a figure within the pietism movement in Ostrobothnia. The Great Northern War was the low point in the history of the province, in Ostrobothnia, the Russian troops engaged in the creation of a wide strip of no-mans land between the occupied Finland and Sweden proper. Especially, the Northern Ostrobothnia suffered heavily, losing a fourth of its due to ravages of war
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Northern Norway
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Northern Norway is the geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway are Mo i Rana, Bodø, Narvik, Harstad, Tromsø, Northern Norway is often described as the land of the midnight sun and the land of the northern lights. Further north, halfway to the North Pole, is the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, the region is multi-cultural, housing not just Norwegians but also the indigenous Sami people, Norwegian Finns and Russian populations. Finnish is spoken in only a few communities in the east of Finnmark, Northern Norway covers about a third of Norway. The southernmost part, roughly the part south of the Arctic Circle, is called Helgeland, the inland is covered with dense spruce forests and mountains near the Swedish border, some of the biggest rivers in the region are the Vefsna and the Ranelva. The highest mountain in Northern Norway is found here in the Okstindan range south of Mo i Rana with Oksskolten reaching 1,915 metres above sea level, the Saltfjellet range, with its Svartisen glacier and intersecting Arctic Circle, divides Helgeland from the next region, called Salten. Notable peaks in Salten are the Børvasstindan south of Bodø, Suliskongen near Fauske, the Steigartindan, between Saltfjellet and eastern Finnmark, Norway spruce trees have originally been planted and are mostly privately owned. The older plantations are now producing lumber,80 years after planted, Lofoten is a chain of peaks that jut out of the ocean. From the mainland side it looks very barren, but behind the violet-black peaks there are also flatlands with good grazing for sheep, the Vesterålen islands consist of smaller and bigger islands with a huge variation in landscape. There are also glaciers, like Frostisen and Blåisen, big islands like Senja, Kvaløya and Ringvassøya have green, forested interiors and a barren, mountainous coastline, with smaller islands offshore. The Lyngen Alps are the highest mountains of the area, rising to 1,833 metres, the 269 metres Mollisfossen waterfall in Nordreisa is the highest waterfall in the north, while Målselvfossen is Norways national waterfall. Finnmark county has fjords and glaciers in the far southwest, the inland is covered by Finnmarksvidda, a relatively barren plateau about 300 to 400 metres high, with many lakes and rivers like Alta-Kautokeino and Tana/Deatnu. Even at this latitude, pine forests grow naturally in lowland areas inland, east of Honningsvåg, there are no islands protecting the barren coasts that rise directly up from the sea. The landscape towards the Russian border is comparatively flat, Finnmark is situated north of northernmost Finland, and to the east Norway has a 196 kilometres border with Russia. The oldest known historical culture in the region is called Komsa, the first people possibly arrived around 12–13,000 years ago, but it is uncertain whether they came from southern Norway or from the Kola Peninsula. Today the rock carvings at Hjemmeluft in Alta or at Leknes in Nordland are among the remainders of the Stone Age cultures, showing reindeer swimming across the fjords. A significant find area is between the river Tana and the fjord of Varanger, where the reindeer probably ran over the isthmus on the way between the winter and summer grazing, metals were introduced around 500 BC. The Sami culture can be traced back at least 2,000 years, there is also some archeological evidence of Bronze Age agricultural settlements about 2,500 years old, as in Steigen and Sømna
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Murmansk Oblast
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Murmansk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia, located in the northwestern part of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Murmansk, as of the 2010 Census, its population was 795,409. Geographically, Murmansk Oblast is located mainly on the Kola Peninsula almost completely north of the Arctic Circle and is a part of the larger Lapland region that spans four countries. Arkhangelsk Oblast of Russia lies across the White Sea, much of the oblasts relief is hilly, with the Khibiny and Lovozero ranges rising as high as 1,200 meters above sea level and stretching from west to east. The north of the oblast is covered by tundra, forest tundra prevails further south. There are over 100,000 lakes and 18,000 rivers in the oblast, the climate is harsh and unstable, due to the proximity of the Gulf Stream on one side and Arctic cold fronts on the other. Sharp temperature changes, high winds, and abundant precipitation are common throughout the year, however, the waters of the Murman Coast in the south remain warm enough to remain ice-free even in winter. The Saami, now a small minority, are the indigenous people of the region. However, Russians started to explore the shores of the White Sea as early as the 12th century, despite these early settlements, the area remained undeveloped for centuries, with the city of Murmansk being founded only in 1916. The oblast was established on May 28,1938 from Murmansk Okrug of Leningrad Oblast, the area of Pechengsky District, which was ceded to Finland by the 1920 Treaty of Tartu and gave Finland access to the Barents Sea, was recaptured by the Soviet Union in 1940. After the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, the local Saami population was given the choice either of staying in Soviet Russia or resettling in Finland, most of them chose the second option. Since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, the Charter of Murmansk Oblast is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Murmansk Oblast is the provinces standing legislative body, the Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The indigenous people of the area, the Saami, are only a minority today. As of the 2002 Census,92. 2% of the population live in urban areas. The most populous city is the Oblasts administrative center, Murmansk, other large cities and towns include Severomorsk, Apatity, Kandalaksha, Monchegorsk, and Kirovsk. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group, according to a 2012 official survey 41. 4% are adherents of Rodnovery and other indigenous folk religions, and 1% are members of the Catholic Church. In addition, 28% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious, 12% is atheist, the Murmansk Oblast is very rich in natural resources and has deposits of over 700 minerals
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Johannes Schefferus
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Johannes Schefferus was one of the most important Swedish humanists of his time. He was also known as Angelus and is remembered for writing hymns, Schefferus was born in Strasbourg, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. Schefferus also spent time on philological and archaeological studies and his De orbibus tribus aureis became the first publication on Swedish archaeology. The story of the Sami people, Lapponia became popular around Europe but was not translated into Swedish until 1956 and his posthumous publication, Suecia literata is a Swedish history of science bibliography. Schefferus was later in life involved in a dispute, particularly with Olof Verelius over the location of the Temple at Uppsala. He argued that the temple should be found near the current location of Helga Trefaldighets kyrka in Uppsala and it is today known that his opponents usually used forgery to meet his argumentation. This was presumably the reason that parts of the largest surviving Gothic text, in 1648, Schefferus married Regina Loccenia, the daughter of a previous professor skytteanus, Johannes Loccenius, and had two sons. German Classics by William Cleaver Wilkinson Published 1900 by Funk & Wagnalls Company in New York, London p.146 Upsalia De re vehiculari veterum Svecia literata Lapponia
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Arctic Circle
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The Arctic Circle is the most northerly of the abstract five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of the Earth. The region north of this circle is known as the Arctic, the position of the Arctic Circle is not fixed, as of 7 April 2017, it runs 66°33′46. 6″ north of the Equator. Its latitude depends on the Earths axial tilt, which fluctuates within a margin of 2° over a 40, 000-year period, consequently, the Arctic Circle is currently drifting northwards at a speed of about 15 m per year. The word arctic comes from the Greek word ἀρκτικός and that from the word ἄρκτος, directly on the Arctic Circle these events occur, in principle, exactly once per year, at the June and December solstices, respectively. That is true at sea level, those limits increase with elevation above sea level, tens of thousands of years ago, waves of people migrated from eastern Siberia across the Bering Strait into North America to settle. Much later, in the period, there has been migration into some Arctic areas by Europeans. The largest communities north of the Arctic Circle are situated in Russia and Norway, Murmansk, Norilsk, Tromsø, rovaniemi in Finland is the largest settlement in the immediate vicinity of the Arctic Circle, lying slightly south of the line. In contrast, the largest North American community north of the Arctic Circle, of the Canadian and United States Arctic communities, Barrow, Alaska is the largest settlement with about 4,000 inhabitants. The Arctic Circle is roughly 16,000 kilometres, the area north of the Circle is about 20,000,000 km2 and covers roughly 4% of Earths surface. The Arctic Circle passes through the Arctic Ocean, the Scandinavian Peninsula, North Asia, Northern America, the land within the Arctic Circle is divided among eight countries, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark, and Iceland. In the interior, summers can be warm, while winters are extremely cold
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Kebnekaise
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See Kebnekajse for the Swedish band. Kebnekaise is the highest mountain in Sweden, the Kebnekaise massif, which is part of the Scandinavian Mountains, has two peaks, of which the southern, glaciated one is highest at 2,097.5 metres above sea level as of August 2014. The northern peak is 2,096.8 metres and free of ice, Kebnekaise lies in Sapmi, about 150 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle and west of Kiruna near the popular Kungsleden hiking trail between Abisko and Nikkaluokta. The glacier which covers the peak has shrunk, and therefore the summit is not as high as earlier. The top is said to be 2,111 metres. If the melting continues at the rate, the south peak will sink below the north peak within a few years time. However, as of July 2015, Tarfala Research Station reports that the glacier has grown by 4. 5m to 2,102 - from its lowest measurement of 2097. 5m the previous year. Kebnekaise mountain lodge is located at the foot of Kebnekaise, ca.19 km and it is the starting point for an ascent via the western route or the eastern route. The western route leads over scree slopes and the intermediate peak Vierranvárri to the glaciated summit, most of this route to the top is pure hiking, but there is a short exposed part that could possibly count as scrambling. The eastern route leads over glaciers and rocks and offers exposure and it is however equipped with fixed steel cables for protection, similar to a via ferrata. Some people, such as those with acrophobia or wanting to summit with heavy backpacks, durlings led eventually merges with the western route close to the summit. About 300 altitude meters below the top, one encounters the peak cabins, after the cabins, the trail continues through a rocky landscape and the slope progressively ceases. The peak glacier is a top, merely tens of meters high. To approach the mountain top on the peak glacier, crampons or other means of enhancing traction might at times be required. The glacier should be walked upon with great caution, fatal accidents have occurred with people sliding off into the void on the eastern side. This danger might not always be apparent, especially not in times of bad weather, due to the harsh subarctic climate at the location, Kebnekaise sees the vast majority of climbers during the summer months. Even so, early in season, snow can sometimes make a summit bid tedious. In Europe there are no higher mountains further north, during clear weather, a vast area can be seen from the summit, according to some sources as much as 10% of Sweden
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Lake Inari
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Lake Inarijärvi is the largest lake in Sápmi and the third-largest lake in Finland. It is located in the part of Lapland, north of the Arctic Circle. The lake is 117–119 meters above sea level and it is regulated at the Kaitakoski power plant in Russia, the freezing period normally extends from November to early June. The most well known islands of the lake are Hautuumaasaari, which served as a cemetery for ancient Sami people and Ukonkivi, there are over 3,000 islands in total. Trout, lake salmon, Arctic char, white fish, grayling, perch, the lake covers 1,040 square kilometres. It empties northwards through the Paatsjoki at the mouth of the Varangerfjord, philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials book series, chose this lake to be the home of the witch Serafina Pekkala. Media related to Inarijärvi at Wikimedia Commons
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Tundra
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In physical geography, tundra is a type of biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr uplands, there are three types of tundra, Arctic tundra, alpine tundra, and Antarctic tundra. In tundra, the vegetation is composed of shrubs, sedges and grasses, mosses. Scattered trees grow in tundra regions. The ecotone between the tundra and the forest is known as the line or timberline. Arctic tundra occurs in the far Northern Hemisphere, north of the taiga belt, the word tundra usually refers only to the areas where the subsoil is permafrost, or permanently frozen soil. Permafrost tundra includes vast areas of northern Russia and Canada, the polar tundra is home to several peoples who are mostly nomadic reindeer herders, such as the Nganasan and Nenets in the permafrost area. Arctic tundra contains areas of landscape and is frozen for much of the year. The soil there is frozen from 25–90 cm down, and it is impossible for trees to grow, instead, bare and sometimes rocky land can only support low growing plants such as moss, heath, and lichen. There are two seasons, winter and summer, in the polar tundra areas. During the winter it is cold and dark, with the average temperature around −28 °C. However, extreme temperatures on the tundra do not drop as low as those experienced in taiga areas further south. During the summer, temperatures rise somewhat, and the top layer of seasonally-frozen soil melts, the tundra is covered in marshes, lakes, bogs and streams during the warm months. Generally daytime temperatures during the rise to about 12 °C. Arctic tundras are sometimes the subject of conservation programs. In Canada and Russia, many of areas are protected through a national Biodiversity Action Plan. Tundra tends to be windy, with winds often blowing upwards of 50–100 km/h, however, in terms of precipitation, it is desert-like, with only about 15–25 cm falling per year. Although precipitation is light, evaporation is also relatively minimal, there is a natural pattern of accumulation of fuel and wildfire which varies depending on the nature of vegetation and terrain
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Permafrost
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In geology, permafrost is ground, including rock or soil, at or below the freezing point of water 0 °C for two or more years. Most permafrost is located in high latitudes, but alpine permafrost may exist at altitudes in much lower latitudes. Ground ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, Permafrost accounts for 0. 022% of total water on earth and exists in 24% of exposed land in the Northern Hemisphere. It also occurs subsea on the shelves of the continents surrounding the Arctic Ocean, portions of which were exposed during the last glacial period. A global temperature rise of 1.5 °C above current levels would be enough to start the thawing of permafrost in Siberia, Permafrost is soil, rock or sediment that is frozen for more than two consecutive years. In areas not overlain by ice, it exists beneath a layer of soil, rock or sediment, in practice, this means that permafrost occurs at an average air temperature of -2 °C or colder. Active layer thickness varies with the season, but is 0.3 to 4 meters thick, in the Northern Hemisphere, 24% of the ice-free land area, equivalent to 19 million square kilometers, is more or less influenced by permafrost. Most of this area is found in Siberia, northern Canada, Alaska, beneath the active layer annual temperature swings of permafrost become smaller with depth. The deepest depth of permafrost occurs where geothermal heat maintains a temperature above freezing, above that bottom limit there may be permafrost, whose temperature doesnt change annually—isothermal permafrost. The extent of permafrost varies with the climate, today, a considerable area of the Arctic is covered by permafrost. Overlying permafrost is an active layer that seasonally thaws during the summer. Plant life can be supported only within the active layer since growth can occur only in soil that is fully thawed for some part of the year, thickness of the active layer varies by year and location, but is typically 0. 6–4 m thick. In areas of continuous permafrost and harsh winters, the depth of the permafrost can exceed 1,400 m, Permafrost can also store carbon, both as peat and as methane. Work investigating the permafrost carbon pool size estimates that 1400–1700 Gt of carbon is stored in the northern circumpolar permafrost region, while a recent study that includes stores of the Tibetan Plateau, estimates total carbon pools in the permafrost of the Northern Hemisphere to be 1832 Gt. This large carbon pool represents more carbon than currently exists in all living things, Permafrost typically forms in any climate where the mean annual air temperature is less than the freezing point of water. Exceptions are found in moist-wintered forest climates, such as in Northern Scandinavia and the North-Eastern part of European Russia west of the Urals, fossil cold anomalies in the Geothermal gradient in areas where deep permafrost developed during the Pleistocene persist down to several hundred metres. This is evident from temperature measurements in boreholes in North America, typically, the below-ground temperature varies less from season to season than the air temperature, with mean annual temperatures tending to increase with depth. Thus, if the annual air temperature is only slightly below 0 °C
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Subarctic
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The subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and the Shetland Islands. Generally, subarctic regions fall between 50°N and 70°N latitude, depending on local climates, monthly temperatures are above 10 °C for at least one and at most three months of the year. Precipitation tends to be low due to the low content of the cold air. Precipitation is typically greater in warmer months, with a summer maximum ranging from moderate in North America to extreme in the Russian Far East, the dominant soil orders are podsols and further north gelisols. Typically, there are only a few species of terrestrial mammals in the subarctic regions, the most important being elk, moose, bears, reindeer. Agriculture is mainly limited to animal husbandry, though in some areas barley can be grown, except for those areas adjacent to warm ocean currents, there is almost always continuous permafrost due to the very cold winters. This means that building in most subarctic regions is difficult and expensive, cities are very few and generally small. Subarctic rail transport exists in Europe and the Norilsk–Dudinka line in northern Siberia. An important consequence is that transportation tends to be restricted to bush planes, helicopters and, in summer, riverboats. Except for a few parts of Europe where the winters are mild due to prevailing wind and ocean current patterns. Even then, the difficulty of transportation ensured that few settlements lasted long—the abandoned, once-thriving cities of the Yukon, Northwest Territories, today, many towns in subarctic Russia are declining precipitously as mines close. In Canada, after the early minerals ran out, development stalled until hydroelectric development occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. Tourism in recent years has become a source of revenue for most countries of the subarctic due to the beautiful, generally glacial. Most areas in the subarctic are among the most expensive places in the world to visit, nonetheless, the great opportunities for outdoor recreation lure an ever-increasing number of travelers. At the same time, the industries of the subarctic are being threatened by both environmental opposition and overfishing leading to depleted stocks of commercially important species. Indigenous peoples of Subarctic America Muskeg Nordicity Northern Canada Subarctic climate Subarctic climate in, Ritter, the Physical Environment, an Introduction to Physical Geography
Works written on the topic Lapland at Wikisource