The Geo-Ecological Finland: Natural History Defining the Boundaries of a Nation

Abstract

When Finland in 1809 was separated from the Swedish Kingdom and became an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire, research on national flora and fauna and consequently on geology was intensified in the country’s only university, the Academia Aboensis, which in 1828, became the University of Helsinki. Already in 1837, the area to be studied as ‘Finland’ was considered to comprise not only the Grand Duchy but also the East Karelian territory and Kola Peninsula in the east of Finnish Lapland. During the 19th century, applying botanical and geological criteria, several attempts were made to deter-mine the boundaries of this ‘Geo-Ecological Finland’, especially in its SE corner. Although from 1917, with the Russian Revolution and independence of Finland, research was no more possible for Finnish naturalists and geologists in East Karelia and Kola, the concept remained in handbooks and maps for several decades even after 1944 when a great part of Finnish Karelia was ceded to the Soviet Union as a result of the war. Nowadays, the concept has gained new impact as collaboration of Finnish researchers with colleagues from Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Karelian Republic (earlier East Karelia), has again become possible.  Article in English