Introduction

When I arrived in Finland I was thinking I was going to Europe and I was going to see buildings hundreds of years old. Then I went to the capital of Finland, Helsinki and found the oldest buildings were not much older then in the small town in Nova Scotia I grew up in.  So I decided I should find out the history of this relative new city of Helsinki

History of Helsinki

Early history of Helsinki 1550-1800

Helsinki was founded in 1550 which makes it 200 years older then Halifax the oldest city in Nova Scotia Canada. The town of Helsinki was founded by King Gustavus Vasa of Sweden and was located on the River Vantaa. It was built as a trading post as a competitor to Tallinn in Estonia; but ended up being an important military base for Sweden instead.  

In 1640 the city was moved to Vironniemi headland close to the location of today’s city center. In 1742 Russia occupied Helsinki of 1713-21 and again in 1742. In 1748 Sweden built a sea-fortress of Suomenlinna to protect the city from being attacked (Gibraltar of the North).After the fortress was built Helsinki became a prosperous city.

Helsinki 1800 -1916

In 1808 the sea-fortress of Suomenlinna fell to the Russians without a fight and Helsinki was occupied by the Russians. In 1808 the city was almost completely destroyed by a great fire which explains to me why Helsinki doesn’t look much older then Cities in eastern Canada. After the fire the Helsinki was rebuilt as “well-planned, spacious metropolis” and built like a capital city by Johan Albrecht Ehrenström and German-born architect Carl Ludwig Engel.

In 1809 Finland was annexed to Russia as an Autonomous Grand Duchy. The capital of Finland was changed to Helsinki 1812. The University was moved to Helsinki in 1828.

After the fire the Helsinki was rebuilt as “well-planned, spacious metropolis” and built like a capital city by Johan Albrecht Ehrenström and German-born architect Carl Ludwig Engel. After the capital was moved to Helsinki the city began to grow rapidly.

Helsinki 1917-2004

Finland declared its independence in 1917. Civil war breaks out and the government flees Helsinki in January 1918. In 1919 the government wins and government returns to Helsinki.

Helsinki Olympic Stadium was completed in 1938 but because of war the Olympic Games were not held in Helsinki until 1952.

In WW2 Helsinki was attacked from the air but suffered relatively little damage and was not occupied by foreign forces during the war.

The first U.S.-Soviet summit took place in Helsinki in 1990, when President George Bush met President Mikhail Gorbachev. In the year 2000 Helsinki was 450 years old. Helsinki is now considered the cultural center of Finland.

Below the facts there are photos of building of Helsinki, These are what truly define the city of Helsinki today. The first thing I noticed when I arrived here that there are no office towers or  any tall building in Helsinki which in North America defines most  of the large cities.

Population growth of Helsenki

 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Helsinki ) 

1810: 4,070 inhabitants
1830: 11,100
1850: 20,700
1880: 43,300
1900: 93,600
1925: 209,800
2001: 559,718

Brief facts about Helsinki

Information from http://www.hel.fi/english/info/facts.html

Total area 686 sq.km
Sea 500 sq.km
Land 186 sq.km
Shoreline (mainland) 98 km
Islands 315

Mean temperature (whole year 2004) 6.2°C
Warmest month August, mean temperature 17.3°C
Coldest month January, mean temperature -5.7°C

Total population (2004/2005) 559,046
Men 46,6 %
Women 53,4 %
Finnish-speaking 86,7 %
Swedish-speaking 6,2 %
Population density 2,993 inhabitants per sq.km
Total population in the Helsinki Region (2004/2005)  1,240,48

Bibliography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki

World Facts http://worldfacts.us/Finland-Helsinki.htm

City of  Helsinki http://www.hel.fi/english/

Virtual.Finland http://virtual.finland.fi/

Some Photos from Muuka.Com http://www.muuka.com/