Finland



General data
  • ID card
Area: 338,145 km²
Population: 5.3 millions
Density: 17 inhab./km²
Capital: Helsinki
Languages: Finnish, Swedish
Origin: Finnish (87%) Swedish (12 %), small Russian and Same (Lappish) minorities
Religion: Lutherans (93%), Orthodox
GNP per capita: USD 37,471 (13th rank)
Reproduction rate: NK
Life expectansy: 77 years
Currency: Euro
  • History (to be translated)
Les populations finnoises venues de l’est se sont installées au cours du premier millénaire.
Ensuite, de tout temps, la Finlande a été un objet de convoitise de ses voisins suédois et russes.
Les suédois ont conquis le pays sans jamais l’asservir. L’église locale a des évêques finnois. Le pays est un duché autonome de la Suède.
Lorsque la Suède atteint son apogée contre Ivan le Terrible, la Finlande est très prospère au 17ème siècle.
Mais la défaite de Charles XII à Poltava contre Pierre le Grand en 1709 marque le recul. Peu à peu, la Finlande est « grignotée » par la Russie jusqu’en 1808 où Alexandre 1er se proclame grand-duc de Finlande.
Le pays est doté d’une grande autonomie, plus grande encore que dans la période suédoise. La langue revit avec la publication de l’épopée du Kalevala. Le Parlement est libre, et en 1896, le suffrage universel et égalitaire y est proclamé !
Mais ces temps heureux font place aux tentatives de russification.
Partagés lors de la défaite de 1917, les Finlandais optent, le 6 décembre, pour l’indépendance.
Une période très confuse de lutte entre l’Allemagne et l’URSS naissante aboutit à la victoire de Mannerheim et à la vraie indépendance, et la république se met en place en juillet 1919.
Entre les deux guerres, la Finlande vivra sous un régime parlementaire et se développera.
Le drame de la seconde guerre mondiale : la Finlande est placée sous influence soviétique par le pacte germano-soviétique ; résistant héroïquement, les Finlandais (avec le retour du vieux Mannerheim) se trouvent de fait alliés de l’Allemagne nazie lors du renversement des alliances.
A la fin de la guerre, l’URSS annexe les régions de Carélie proches de Léningrad, mais la Finlande échappe au sort des républiques baltes, et même des pays du Pacte de Varsovie.
Cette indépendance intérieure se paie du prix d’un alignement systématique sur les positions de politique étrangère de l’URSS ; cela a reçu un nom : la finlandisation…
Mais aussi permis à ce pays de se développer pour intégrer l’UE et adopter l’Euro !
La Finlande entre dans la CEE en 1995.
  • Les langues de la Finlande :

Le nom du pays est Suomi en finnois, et Finland en suédois.



Finland and the Euro

Despite of its recent adhesion to the EU, and its difficult political past, Finland fulfilled without any difficulty the criteria of Maastricht, for a qualification and an introduction on January 1, 2002.

  • The minting workshop and the mintmarks
The minting workshop is a private firm, Rahapaja OY, founded in 1860, which manufactures as well circulating coins and commemorative coins as jewels and medals. The striking quality is very good and the FDC state can receive a quotation. Depending on the language, the name of the city where the workshop is located is Vantaa or Vanda. The workshop also provided part of the €1 and €2 coins of Greece dated 2002, which can be identified by an S in the 6 o'clock star. The mark of the Master, Raimo Makkonen, is one and of the mark . The name of the country is not written on the circulating euro coins, except on the edge of the €2 coin. The symbol used on the coins, the crowned lion on a sword is very old and goes back to the numerous wars that the Finns had to carry out: the sword on which the Finnish lion walks is a Russian one… Since 2005, the Finnish workshop mints also the circulation coins of Luxemburg; one then finds on the coins from Luxemburg the marks from the workshop of Vanda: the (for Suomi, Finland in Finnish) and the mark of the workshop. And since 2007, Finland also strikes the Slovenian coins. The characteristic mark is then the mark “FI”.
  • The coins
The Minting of Finland produces very beautiful coins, and it is probably for this reason that it was seen awarded new contracts. The quality of the issues, on the aesthetic level, is rather remarkable. The usual series are in that the illustration:
- 1 to 50 cent: the heraldic lion which illustrates the pride of finally conquered independence
- €1: swans flying over the landscape of the lakes; one will think of the myth of Kalevala (national epopee), or of the swan of Tuonela, symphonic poem of the most famous Finnish, Sibelius
- €2: the mulberry tree which evokes the love of the Finnish people for nature
From 1999 to 2006
1 cent2 cent5 cent10 cent
20 cent50 cent1 euro2 euro
Until 2007
1 cent2 cent5 cent10 cent
20 cent50 cent1 euro2 euro
Starting from year 2007, Finland modified its national sides in order to respect the recommendations appearing in Official Journal of the European Commission n°2005/491/CE which stipulates that one must find on the coins a clear identification of the country (either complete name of the country or its initial). Finland thus chose to add the initial FI, and at the same time the mark of Rahapaja Oy. It also seized the opportunity to adopt the new common side which was mandatory only from 2008 on. Oddly, the initial M of the Master Raimo Makkonen, under the hilt of the sword disappeared. Small anecdote, the mark of Rahapaja Oy which appeared between the star of 8h and that of 9h in 2007 was moved under the hilt of the sword as from 2008.
€2 new type

€2 commemorative coins

Each year since 2004, very beautiful commemorative coins were issued:

€2 commemorative coins
2004Enlargement of the EU (it evokes the flower of the usual coins, and the 10 petals for the 10 new members)
200550th anniversary of Finland’s membership in UN
2006100th anniversary of universal and equal suffrage in Finland. The profiles man/woman are reversed to evoke the egalitarian vote of 1906. Let us recall that the Frenchwomen could vote only in… 1946 !
2007

50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome

(Common issue of the 13 countries)

90th anniversary of Finland’s independence
200860th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of  Human Rights
2009

10th anniversary of EMU

(Common issue of the 16 countries)


Finland issues two BU boxed sets each year, one including the commemorative coin. Moreover, a significant production of not circulating coins is issued.
  • The banknotes

The country letter of the Finnish banknotes is the L.

One can find the "L" of Finland on the €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500 banknotes this for the two signatures: Wim Duisenberg and Jean-Claude Trichet.

For the part of the production of which it is in charge, Finland made participate the Finnish printer (D), the English printer (H), the French printer (E), the Dutch printer (G) and the German printer (P).

Contact

E-mail: pays@amisdeleuro.org

Links

- Website of the Rahapaja Oy : http://www.mint.fi/



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Last update the 29/09/2010
by Olivier Fournier