Uusimaa (; , ; both lit. 'new land') is a
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
of
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
. It borders the regions of
Southwest Finland,
Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme),
Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and
Kymenlaakso
Kymenlaakso (; ; "Kymi River, Kymi/Kymmene Valley") is a Regions of Finland, region in Finland. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Päijät-Häme, Southern Savonia, South Savo and South Karelia and Russia (Leningrad Oblast). Its name means lit ...
. Finland's capital and largest city,
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
, along with the surrounding
metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
, are both contained in the region, and Uusimaa is Finland's most populous region. The population of Uusimaa is 1,734,000.
While predominantly
Finnish-speaking, Uusimaa has the highest total number of
native speakers of
Swedish in Finland even at a much lower share than two other regions.
History
From the time of the
Vikings
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
in the 8th century, an eastern road ran along the
Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland (; ; ; ) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and Estonia to the south, to Saint Petersburg—the second largest city of Russia—to the east, where the river Neva drains into it. ...
. The first inhabitants were
nomad
Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...
s.
[, pp. 5-7] The place name of
Nuuksio derives from the
Sami
Acronyms
* SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft
* Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company
* South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ne ...
word which means '
swan
Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...
.'' Later
Finns proper and
Tavastians inhabited the area. Some place names have traces of Tavastian village names, like
Konala, which likely derives from the older Tavastian village name ''Konhola''.
Estonians
Estonians or Estonian people () are a Finnic ethnic group native to the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, primarily their nation state of Estonia.
Estonians primarily speak the Estonian language, a language closely related to other Finni ...
inhabited the region to a smaller extent, specifically for seasonal fishing.
Swedish colonisation of coastal Uusimaa started after the
second crusade to Finland in the 13th century. The colonisation was part of converting pagan areas to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. Eastern Uusimaa had its first Christian Swedish colonialists earlier than the western part, which got its colonialists in one mass transfer of people to
Porvoo
Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the Porvoo sub-region, sub-re ...
in the 14th century. The colonisation was supported by the Swedish kingdom and the immigrants were provided with grain seeds and cattle. They also got a four-year tax exemption from the crown.
All the Swedish place names of Uusimaa date back to this period.
The names ''Uusimaa'' and ''Nyland'', meaning 'new land' in English, derived from the Swedish colonisation era. The Swedish-language name ''Nyland'' appears in documents from the 14th century. The Finnish-language name ''Uusimaa'' appears for the first time in 1548 as ''Wsimaa'' in
the first translation of the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
to Finnish by
Mikael Agricola. Much of Uusimaa is literally new – it has risen off the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
due to
post-glacial rebound
Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound an ...
.
The Finnish provinces were ceded to
Imperial Russia
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* ...
in the
War of Finland in 1809. After this, Uusimaa became the
Province of Uusimaa in the old system of the newly established
Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire.
Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...
. From 1997 to 2010, Uusimaa was a part of the
Province of Southern Finland. In 1994 it was divided into the
regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
of Uusimaa and
Eastern Uusimaa, but in 2011 the two regions were merged as Uusimaa.
Heraldry
The coat of arms of the province is (a golden boat which is a symbol for the coastal areas, and two silver wavy
fesses which are the symbol for rivers.)
Uusimaa received its coat of arms at the end of the 16th century. There is an image of the coat of arms made in 1599. In 1997, the traditional coat of arms became the official coat of arms of the region.
Municipalities
The region of Uusimaa consists of 26
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
, 13 of which have city status (marked in bold).
Municipalities on the map
Sub-regions
Helsinki sub-region
*
Espoo
Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...
(''Esbo'')
*
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
(''Helsingfors'')
*
Hyvinkää (''Hyvinge'')
*
Järvenpää (''Träskända'')
*
Karkkila (''Högfors'')
*
Kauniainen
Kauniainen (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Kauniainen is situated in the southern part of the Uusimaa region, and it is Enclave and exclave, enclaved by the City of Espoo. The population of Kauniainen ...
(''Grankulla'')
*
Kerava (''Kervo'')
*
Kirkkonummi
Kirkkonummi (; , , Sweden ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern coast of the country. Kirkkonummi is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Kirkkonummi is approximately . It is the most populous Mu ...
(Kyrkslätt)
*
Lohja (''Lojo'')
*
Mäntsälä
*
Nurmijärvi
*
Pornainen
Pornainen (; ) is a small municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa regions of Finland, region. The neighboring municipalities are Askola ...
(''Borgnäs'')
*
Sipoo
Sipoo (; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The municipality has a population of
() and covers an area of of
which
is water. The population density is
. The administrative center of the municipality i ...
(''Sibbo'')
*
Siuntio (''Sjundeå'')
*
Tuusula
Tuusula (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Tuusula is situated in the centre of the Uusimaa region. The population of Tuusula is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, ...
(''Tusby'')
*
Vantaa (Vanda)
*
Vihti
Vihti (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Vihti is situated in the Uusimaa region. The population of Vihti is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Fin ...
(''Vichtis'')
Loviisa sub-region
*
Lapinjärvi (''Lappträsk'')
*
Loviisa
Loviisa (; ; formerly Degerby) is a town in Finland, located on the southern coast of the country. Loviisa is situated in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Loviisa is approximately , while the Loviisa sub-region, sub-regi ...
(''Lovisa'')
Raseborg sub-region
*
Hanko (''Hangö'')
*
Ingå (''Inkoo'')
*
Raseborg
Raseborg (; , ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern coast of the country. Raseborg is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Raseborg is approximately , while the Raseborg sub-region, sub-region has a popul ...
(''Raasepori'')
Porvoo sub-region
*
Askola
*
Myrskylä (''Mörskom'')
*
Porvoo
Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the Porvoo sub-region, sub-re ...
(''Borgå'')
*
Pukkila
Municipalities listed
Places of interest
Uusimaa, the region surrounding Finland’s capital Helsinki, offers many sights and attractions, from historical landmarks to natural wonders.
* Amusement parks:
Linnanmäki
Linnanmäki (, colloquially ''Lintsi'', ) is an amusement park in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened on 27 May 1950 and is owned by the non-profit (, ), which operates the park to raise funds for Finnish child welfare work. In 2023, the foundatio ...
,
Serena Waterpark
* Castles and fortresses:
Suomenlinna,
Raseborg Castle,
Svartholm fortress,
* Churches and cathedrals:
Helsinki Cathedral,
Porvoo Cathedral,
Espoo Cathedral,
Temppeliaukio Church, ,
Church of St. Lawrence, Vantaa
* Harbour:
Hanko and
* Historical houses:
Seurasaari,
Parliament House, Helsinki, ,
Glims,
Hvitträsk, ,
* Ironworks: , , ,
Strömfors
* Libraries:
Helsinki Central Library Oodi,
National Library of Finland,
Helsinki University Library
* Museums:
Ainola,
Ateneum, ,
Finnish Aviation Museum,
Finnish Railway Museum,
Gallen-Kallela Museum
The Gallen-Kallela Museum, located in Tarvaspää, Espoo, Finland, and built between 1911 and 1913 was a home and studio for Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The atelier building has been a museum since 1961.
Gallery
References
External ...
,
Helsinki City Museum,
Heureka, ,
Kiasma,
Mannerheim Museum,
National Museum of Finland,
Taaborinvuori,
WeeGee house
* Natural attractions:
Nuuksio National Park,
Karkali Strict Nature Reserve,
Sipoonkorpi National Park,
* Sport venues:
Helsinki Olympic Stadium,
Töölö Stadium
* Squares:
Senate Square, Helsinki,
Market Square, Helsinki
* Zoo:
Korkeasaari
Economy
The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was €91.2 billion in 2018, accounting for 38.9% of Finnish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €43,500 or 144% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 120% of the EU average. The employment rate is 76% as of 2022, second highest in Finland. There were 836,000 workplaces in Uusimaa in 2021, over 35% of the workplaces in Finland. The most common sectors were health and social services, wholesale and retail trade as well as professional, scientific and technical activities.
Languages
Uusimaa is a bilingual region, with municipalities both bilingual in
Finnish and
Swedish, and monolingual in Finnish. Uusimaa's coastal areas tend to be Swedish-speaking. The traditional regional dialects of Swedish () are currently mostly spoken in
Eastern Uusimaa, while in the rest of the Uusimaa Swedish dialect has become more standardised.
The Finnish-speaking population started to grow when the capital of the
Grand Duchy of Finland
The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed from 1809 to 1917 as an Autonomous region, autonomous state within the Russian Empire.
Originating in the 16th century as a titular grand duchy held by the Monarc ...
was moved from
Turku
Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...
to
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
by the Emperor of Russia
Alexander I in 1812, and the region attracted settlers from other parts of Finland.
Helsinki's slang first evolved in the late 19th century. 7.6% of the population of the region speaks the Swedish language natively.
Due to immigration, many foreign languages are spoken in Uusimaa. 18% speak a foreign language as their mother tongue, the highest proportion in Finland and 58% of all foreign-language speakers in Finland. The figure was 1.1% in 1990, 3.9% in 2000, 8.0% in 2010 and 14.7% in 2020. Meanwhile, the proportion of Finnish and Swedish speakers has decreased from 87.6% and 11.3% in 1990 to 75.9% and 7.5% in 2021 respectively. On a municipal level, the highest shares of foreign speakers are in
Vantaa (26.9%),
Espoo
Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...
(23.6%),
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
(19.6%) and
Kerava (16.2%). The lowest share is in
Pukkila (3.4%).
The most spoken foreign languages are
Russian (2.8%),
Estonian (1.9%),
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
(1.4%),
Somali (1.2%) and
English (1.2%). Other languages include
Albanian,
Chinese,
Persian,
Kurdish,
Vietnamese,
Spanish,
Turkish,
Thai,
Tagalog,
German,
Nepali,
Bengali,
French,
Romanian,
Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
,
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
,
Portuguese,
Ukrainian,
Italian,
Polish,
Tamil,
Bulgarian,
Hungarian,
Swahili,
Amharic
Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...
,
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
,
Latvian,
Japanese,
Dutch,
Sinhalese,
Tigrinya,
Uzbek,
Greek,
Punjabi,
Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
and
Telugu, all with over 1,000 speakers.
Health
In late March 2020, the region of Uusimaa went into lockdown to be isolated from the rest of
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
due to the global
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
(2020/21).
Regional council
The regional council is the main governing body for the region and focuses primarily on urban planning. Like all regional councils, it is mandated by law.
Media
Newspapers
The largest
subscription newspapers published in the region are and ''
Hufvudstadsbladet
''Hufvudstadsbladet'' (abbr. ''HBL'') is the highest-circulation Swedish language, Swedish-language newspaper in Finland. Its headquarters is located in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name of the newspaper translates approximately into "Jo ...
'' in
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
, ''
Aamuposti'' in
Hyvinkää, ' in
Lohja, ' and ''
Östra Nyland'' in
Loviisa
Loviisa (; ; formerly Degerby) is a town in Finland, located on the southern coast of the country. Loviisa is situated in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Loviisa is approximately , while the Loviisa sub-region, sub-regi ...
, ''
Uusimaa'' and ''
Borgåbladet'' in
Porvoo
Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the Porvoo sub-region, sub-re ...
, ''
Västra Nyland'' in
Raseborg
Raseborg (; , ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern coast of the country. Raseborg is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Raseborg is approximately , while the Raseborg sub-region, sub-region has a popul ...
, and ' in
Tuusula
Tuusula (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Tuusula is situated in the centre of the Uusimaa region. The population of Tuusula is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, ...
. Also two popular
tabloid newspapers, ''
Iltalehti'' and ''
Ilta-Sanomat'', are published there.
Radio stations
Yle's local radio stations in the western part of the region are the
Finnish-language and
Swedish-language Yle Vega Västnyland, in the
Helsinki metropolitan area
Helsinki metropolitan area (, ) or Greater Helsinki (, ) is the metropolitan area around Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It also includes the smaller Helsinki capital region, capital region. The terms Helsinki metropolitan area, Greater H ...
the
Finnish-language and
Swedish-language Yle Vega Huvudstadsregionen, and in the eastern part the
Finnish-language (discontinued) and
Swedish-language Yle Vega Östnyland.
Elections
The results of the
2023 Finnish parliamentary election in the
Uusimaa constituency are:
*
National Coalition Party
The National Coalition Party (NCP; , Kok; , Saml) is a liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland. It is the current governing political party of Finland.
Founded in 1918, the ...
: 26.2%
*
Social Democratic Party: 19.2%
*
Finns Party: 18.2%
*
Swedish People's Party: 8.7%
*
Green League: 7.6%
*
Centre Party: 4.8%
*
Left Alliance: 4.6%
*
Movement Now: 3.7%
*
Christian Democrats: 3.5%
The results of the
2023 Finnish parliamentary election in the
Helsinki constituency are:
*
National Coalition Party
The National Coalition Party (NCP; , Kok; , Saml) is a liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland. It is the current governing political party of Finland.
Founded in 1918, the ...
: 26.5%
*
Social Democratic Party: 20.8%
*
Green League: 15.3%
*
Left Alliance: 11.8%
*
Finns Party: 11.3%
*
Swedish People's Party: 5.1%
*
Movement Now: 2.3%
*
Christian Democrats: 1.9%
*
Centre Party: 1.6%
See also
*
List of European regions by GDP
*
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
* ¨
*
*
*
External links
Uusimaa Regional Council
{{Authority control
Southern Finland Province