Märket is a tiny island divided by the Finnish-Swedish border. When the finns inadvertedly built a lighthouse on the wrong side of the border, the swedes agreed to trade it for an equal spot of land on the other side, causing the border to zig-zag.
Finland
Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the only…
Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the only region in the US where Finnish Americans make up a plurality of the population. Even the local English dialect is influenced by Finnish.
Finnish people were believed to be able to control…
Finnish people were believed to be able to control weather. This resulted in reluctance to accept Finnish Sailors aboard ships from the Vikings all the way until the 1900s.
There is a dinosaur heavy metal band…
There is a dinosaur heavy metal band in Finland that is incredibly popular with children.
A Burger King in Finland…
A Burger King in Finland recently opened a sauna in its restaurant.
In Finland they have ‘National Sleepy Head day’, where the…
In Finland they have ‘National Sleepy Head day’, where the last person in a family to wake up is thrown in to a lake or the sea by the rest of the family.
J.R.R. Tolkien taught himself Finnish at 18, just so…
J.R.R. Tolkien taught himself Finnish at 18, just so he could read one book, the Kalevala–which he used as a basis for Middle Earth legendarium.
Finland is a future-obsessed nation. It was the first country in the world to…
Finland is a future-obsessed nation. It was the first country in the world to offer a master’s degree in futures studies, has a special parliamentary committee for the future, and its government is required by law to produce an official review of the future every four years.
A tax auditor in Finland died at his desk, and despite there being 100 staff…
A tax auditor in Finland died at his desk, and despite there being 100 staff on the same floor in the department no-one realized he was dead for 2 days.
Finland has a 20-year plan for its country brand. The 365-page government report includes…
Finland has a 20-year plan for its country brand. The 365-page government report includes plans to become a silicon valley of social innovations, a land where the lakes are drinkable, and a country that has managed to export its unbeatable education.