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Åland, or the Åland Islands (Swedish: Landskapet Åland; Åland; or ) or Ahvenanmaan maakunta/Ahvenanmaa (Finnish: "Perch's Land"), is an archipelago in the Baltic Sea situated at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia. It forms an autonomous, demilitarised, monolingually Swedish-speaking administrative province of Finland. The islands consist of a main island Fasta Åland (where 90% of the population resides) and an archipelago to the east of over 6,500 skerries and islands . Fasta Åland is separated from the coast of Sweden by forty kilometres (twenty-five miles) of open water to the west. In the east, the Åland archipelago is virtually contiguous with the Finnish Archipelago Sea. By reason of Åland's autonomous status, the powers exercised at provincial level by representatives of the central state administration in the rest of Finland are here largely in the remit of the Government of Åland (Ålands landskapsregering).
Autonomy of Åland The autonomous status of the islands was affirmed by a decision made by the League of Nations in 1921, and in a somewhat different context, reaffirmed in the treaty on Finland's admission to the European Union. By law, Åland is politically neutral and entirely demilitarised. The islands were granted extensive autonomy by the Parliament of Finland in an Act on the Autonomy of Åland of 1920, last revised in 1991. In connection with Finland's admission to the European Union a protocol on the Åland Islands provides, among other things, that provisions of the European Community Treaty shall not force a change of the existing restrictions for foreigners (i.e. persons who do not enjoy "home region right" (hembygdsrätt) in Åland) to acquire and hold real property or to provide certain services, implying a recognition of a separate nationality. See also: Special member state territories and their relations with the EU. History The Åland Islands were among the territory ceded to Russia by Sweden under the treaty of Fredrikshamn in September 1809; they became part of the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. When the islands were ceded to Russia, the Swedes were unable to secure a provision that the islands should not be fortified. The issue was important not only for Sweden but for the United Kingdom, which was concerned that a military presence on the islands could threaten their security and commercial interests. In 1832 the Russians started to fortify the islands with the great fortress of Bomarsund. This was captured and destroyed by a combined British and French force of warships and marines in 1854 as part of the campaign in the Baltic during the Crimean War. In the Treaty of Paris (1856), the entire Åland Islands were demilitarized. During the Finnish Civil War, 1918, Swedish troops intervened namely as a peacekeeping force between the Russian troops stationed on the islands, and White and Red troops arriving over the ice from Finland. Historians point out that in reality Sweden may have planned occupation of the islands. Within weeks the Swedes gave way to the German troops which occupied Åland by request of the Finnish conservatist Senate. From 1917 the residents of the islands aimed at having the islands ceded back to their mother country, Sweden. A petition for secession from Finland was signed by 96.2% of Åland's native adults (those working or living abroad excluded), although serious questions were later raised regarding this extraordinarily high figure. Swedish nationalist sentiments had grown strong particularly in the face of anti-Swedish tendencies in Finland, Finnish nationalism fuelled by Finland's struggle to retain its autonomy, and the Finnish resistance against Russification. Also the conflict between the Swedish speaking minority and the Finnish speaking majority, which since the 1840s had been prominent in Finland's political life, contributed to the Åland population's fear for its future in Finland. However, as Finland was not willing to cede the islands, they were offered an autonomous status instead of reannexation. Nevertheless the residents did not approve the offer, and the dispute over the islands was submitted to the League of Nations. The latter decided that Finland should retain the sovereignty over the province, but the Åland Islands should be made an autonomous territory. Thus Finland was under an obligation to ensure the residents of the Åland Islands a right to maintain the Swedish language, as well as their own culture and local traditions. At the same time, an international treaty was concluded on the neutral status of Åland, under which it was prohibited to place military headquarters or forces on the islands. In the course of the 20th century, the Finnish sovereignty has been perceived as benevolent, and even beneficial, by increasing numbers of the islanders. Together with disappointment over insufficient support from Sweden in the League of Nations, Swedish disrespect for Åland's demilitarised status in the 1930s, and to some degree a feeling of shared destiny with Finland during and after World War II, this has resulted in a changed perception of Åland's relation to Finland: from "a Swedish province in Finnish possession" to "an autonomous part of Finland". Politics
Administration The State Provincial Office on the Åland Islands has a somewhat different function from the other Provinces of Finland, due to its . Generally, a State Provincial Office is a joint regional authority of seven different ministries of the Government of Finland. In Åland, the State Provincial Office also represents a set of other authorities of the central government, which in Mainland Finland has separate bureaucracies. On the other hand, duties which in Mainland Finland are handled by the provincial offices, are transferred to the autonomous government of Åland. Åland has its own post office but uses the Finnish five-digit postal code system, in which postal codes beginning with 22XXX are reservated for it. The smallest postal code is for the capital Mariehamn, 22100, and the highest 22950 for Jurmo. Municipalities Geography The Åland Islands occupy a position of great strategic importance, as they command one of the entrances to the port of Stockholm, as well as the approaches to the Gulf of Bothnia, in addition to being situated near the Gulf of Finland. The Åland archipelago consists of nearly three hundred inhabitable islands, of which about eighty are inhabited; the remainder are merely some 6,000 skerries and desolate rocks. The archipelago is connected to Turkuland archipelago in the east (Finnish: Turunmaan saaristo, Swedish: Åbolands skärgård) — the archipelago adjacent to the southwest coast of Finland. Together they form the Archipelago Sea. The surface of the islands is generally rocky, the soil thin, and the climate keen. There are several excellent harbours, most notably at Ytternäs. The islands' landmass occupies a total area of 1,512 square kilometres (583 sq. mi). Ninety per cent of the population live on Fasta Åland (the Main Island), also the site of the capital town of Mariehamn. Fasta Åland is the largest island in the archipelago, extending over 1,010 square kilometres, more than 70% of the province's land area, and stretching 50 kilometres (31 mi) from north to south and 45 kilometres (28 mi) from east to west. During the Åland crisis, the parties sought support from different maps of the islands. On the Swedish map, the most densely populated main island dominated, and many skerries were left out. On the Finnish map, a lot of smaller islands or skerries were, for technical reasons, given a slightly exaggerated size. The Swedish map made the islands appear to be closer to the mainland of Sweden than to Finland; the Finnish map stressed the continuity of the archipelago between the main island and mainland Finland, while a greater gap appeared between the islands and the archipelago on the Swedish side. Although both Finns and Swedes of course argued for their respective interpretations, in retrospect it is hard to say that one is more correct than the other. One consequence is the oft-repeated number of "over 6,000" skerries, that was given authority by the outcome of the arbitration. Economy
Demographics Most inhabitants have Swedish (the sole official language) as their mother tongue: 92.4% in 2004, and 5.0% speak Finnish. The language of instruction in publicly financed schools is Swedish, but an Ålandic municipality is free to provide teaching of Finnish. (In the rest of Finland, both Finnish and Swedish are official languages.) 0.3% (77 people) are English speakers. Regional citizenship or the right of domicile (hembygdsrätt/ kotiseutuoikeus) is a prerequisite for the right to vote or stand as a candidate in elections to the Legislative Assembly, to own and hold real estate in Åland or to exercise without restriction a trade or profession in Åland. The vast majority of the population, 94.8%, belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The issue of the ethnicity of the Ålanders, and the correct linguistic classification of their language, remains somewhat sensitive and controversial. They may be considered either ethnic Swedes or Swedish-speaking Finns, but their language is closer to the adjacent dialects in Sweden than to adjacent dialects of Finland Swedish. See also: List of Ålanders Culture Communications Radio Åland Holidays Gallery Image:ALAND003 copy.jpg|Cruiseferries offer transport from Åland to both mainland Finland and Sweden. Image:Aaland_1.jpg|Östra Hamnen - The Eastern Port of Mariehamn, sailing ship Linden in the center Image:Aaland_2.jpg|Sjökvarteret in Mariehamn Image:Aaland_3.jpg|Sailing ship Pommern and a racing boat Image:Aaland_4.jpg|Knutsbodaberget in Lemland, with 4 wind power generators Image:Aaland_5.jpg|The Lemströms canal Image:Schooner Linden.jpg|Schooner Linden in the waters south of Mariehamn Image:MSSiljaFestival.jpg|Ferry in Åland archipelago. See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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