Ahvenanmaa

Ahvenanmaa or Åland Islands, province of Finland, composed of the Åland Islands, situated at the northern end of the Baltic Sea, at the mouth of the Gulf of Bothnia, between Sweden and Finland. A Swedish-speaking Finnish territory, it is known as Åland to Swedish speakers and as Ahvenanmaa to Finnish speakers. Of the approximately 6,500 granite islands and rocky reefs, 80 are inhabited. Mariehamn, the administrative center and chief port, is located on Åland, the largest island, which is linked by daily ferry service to the Swedish and Finnish mainlands and by air service from Mariehamn Airport. The islands are connected by interisland ferry and by bridges between the larger islands. Fishing, shipping, and tourism are the chief industries, and Ahvenanmaa controls much of the Finnish merchant fleet. Farming produces grains, fruits, vegetables, cattle, and dairy products.

The islands have been inhabited since prehistoric times, and Åland has many Viking settlement sites and graveyards. The islands were Christianized by Sweden in the 12th century; in 1809 Ahvenanmaa and all of Finland were ceded to Russia. The position of the islands made them strategically important during the Crimean War (1853-1856), after which they were demilitarized. At the end of World War I (1914-1918), Finland granted the islands autonomy to quiet a strong, pro-Swedish secessionist movement. Although Finnish sovereignty over the islands was confirmed by a 1921 decision of the League of Nations, Ahvenanmaa retained a substantial degree of autonomy, and its Swedish linguistic and cultural heritage was protected by law. The Autonomy Act, passed by the Finnish Parliament in 1951 and amended in 1993, preserved Ahvenanmaa's semiautonomous state. The province has its own internal parliament in addition to sending an elected representative to the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki. Ahvenanmaa joined the European Union (EU) along with the rest of Finland in 1994. Area, 1,552 sq km (599 sq mi); population 25,766 (2001).