Uusimaa

Uusimaa
Nyland
Region
Region of Uusimaa
Uudenmaan maakunta (Finnish)
Landskapet Nyland (Swedish)
Flag of Uusimaa
Flag
Coat of arms of Uusimaa
Coat of arms
Anthem: Uusmaalaisten laulu
Uusimaa in red on a map of Finland
Uusimaa in red on a map of Finland
Coordinates: 60°15′N 24°30′E / 60.250°N 24.500°E / 60.250; 24.500
CountryFinland
Historical provinceUusimaa
CapitalHelsinki
Other cities and townsEspoo, Hanko, Hyvinkää, Järvenpää, Karkkila, Kauniainen, Kerava, Lohja, Loviisa, Porvoo, Raseborg and Vantaa
Government
 • Regional MayorOssi Savolainen
 • President of the CouncilEero Heinäluoma
Area
 • Total
9,568 km2 (3,694 sq mi)
Population
 (December 31, 2022)
 • Total
1,734,000[1]
 • Density181/km2 (470/sq mi)
Demonym(s)uusmaalainen (Finnish)
nylänning (Swedish)
GDP
[2]
 • Total€105.831 billion (2022)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
ISO 3166 codeFI-18
NUTS181
– HDI (2021)0.960[3]
very high
Regional birdBlackbird
Regional fishZander
Regional flowerWindflower
Regional animalEuropean hedgehog
Regional stoneHornblende
Regional lakeLake Tuusula
Websiteuudenmaanliitto.fi

Uusimaa (Finnish: [ˈuːsimɑː]; Swedish: Nyland, Finland Swedish: [ˈnyːlɑnd]; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, along with the surrounding metropolitan area, 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 in the 8th century, an eastern road ran along the Gulf of Finland. The first inhabitants were nomads.[4] The place name of Nuuksio derives from the Sami word njukča which means 'swan'.[5] 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.[6] Estonians inhabited the region to a smaller extent, specifically for seasonal fishing.[7]

Swedish colonisation of coastal Uusimaa started after the second crusade to Finland in the 13th century.[8][9] The colonisation was part of converting pagan areas to Catholicism. 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 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.[7] All the Swedish place names of Uusimaa date back to this period.[10]

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 to Finnish by Mikael Agricola.[11] Much of Uusimaa is literally new – it has risen off the Baltic Sea due to post-glacial rebound.

The Finnish provinces were ceded to Imperial Russia in the War of Finland in 1809. After this, Uusimaa became the Province of Uusimaa in the old lääni system of the newly established Grand Duchy of Finland. From 1997 to 2010, Uusimaa was a part of the Province of Southern Finland. In 1994 it was divided into the regions of Uusimaa and Eastern Uusimaa, but in 2011 the two regions were merged as Uusimaa.[12]

Heraldry

The coat of arms of the province is Azure, a boat Or between two fesses wavy Argent (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, 13 of which have city status (marked in bold).[13]

Municipalities on the map

Cities and municipalities of the Uusimaa region
Espoo
Espoo
 Helsinki
 Helsinki
Hyvinkää
Hyvinkää
Järvenpää
Järvenpää
Karkkila
Karkkila
Kauniainen
Kauniainen
Kerava
Kerava
Kirkko-nummi
Kirkko-
nummi
Lohja
Lohja
Mäntsälä
Mäntsälä
Nurmijärvi
Nurmijärvi
Pornainen
Pornainen
Sipoo
Sipoo
Siuntio
Siuntio
Tuusula
Tuusula
Vantaa 
Vantaa 
Vihti
Lapinjärvi
Lapinjärvi
Loviisa
Loviisa
Askola
Myrskylä
Myrskylä
Porvoo
Porvoo
Pukkila
Pukkila
Hanko
Hanko
Ingå
Ingå
Raseborg
Raseborg
Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland
SouthwestFinland
Southwest
Finland
Kanta-Häme
Kanta-
Häme
Päijät-Häme
Päijät-
Häme
Kymen-laakso
Kymen-
laakso
Municipalities
Municipalities
  > 100 000 inhabitants
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 > 30 000 inhabitants
 > 30 000 inhabitants
 > 10 000 inhabitants
 > 10 000 inhabitants
 > 3 000 inhabitants
 > 3 000 inhabitants
 < 3 000 inhabitants
 < 3 000 inhabitants
Cities and municipalities of Uusimaa.

Sub-regions

Helsinki sub-region

  • Espoo (Esbo)
  • Helsinki (Helsingfors)
  • Hyvinkää (Hyvinge)
  • Järvenpää (Träskända)
  • Karkkila (Högfors)
  • Kauniainen (Grankulla)
  • Kerava (Kervo)
  • Kirkkonummi (Kyrkslätt)
  • Lohja (Lojo)
  • Mäntsälä
  • Nurmijärvi
  • Pornainen (Borgnäs)
  • Sipoo (Sibbo)
  • Siuntio (Sjundeå)
  • Tuusula (Tusby)
  • Vantaa (Vanda)
  • Vihti (Vichtis)

Loviisa sub-region

  • Lapinjärvi (Lappträsk)
  • Loviisa (Lovisa)

Raseborg sub-region

  • Hanko (Hangö)
  • Ingå (Inkoo)
  • Raseborg (Raasepori)

Porvoo sub-region

  • Askola
  • Myrskylä (Mörskom)
  • Porvoo (Borgå)
  • Pukkila

Municipalities listed

Herring Casserole
Coat of
arms		 Municipality Population Land area
(km2)		 Density
(/km2)		 Finnish
speakers		 Swedish
speakers		 Other
speakers
coat of arms of AskolaAskola4,67821222 92 %4 %4 %
coat of arms of EspooEspoo322,1803121,031 68 %6 %25 %
coat of arms of HankoHanko7,68911765 52 %41 %6 %
coat of arms of HelsinkiHelsinki686,5952143,202 74 %5 %20 %
coat of arms of HyvinkääHyvinkää47,077323146 90 %1 %9 %
coat of arms of IngåIngå5,40135115 44 %51 %5 %
coat of arms of JärvenpääJärvenpää46,933381,250 89 %1 %10 %
coat of arms of KarkkilaKarkkila8,43424235 90 %1 %9 %
coat of arms of KauniainenKauniainen10,17661,728 59 %31 %11 %
coat of arms of KeravaKerava38,461311,256 82 %1 %17 %
coat of arms of KirkkonummiKirkkonummi41,720367114 72 %15 %13 %
coat of arms of LapinjärviLapinjärvi2,4213307 63 %30 %8 %
coat of arms of LohjaLohja45,64894049 90 %3 %7 %
coat of arms LoviisaLoviisa14,33482017 55 %39 %6 %
coat of arms of MyrskyläMyrskylä1,6832008 86 %9 %4 %
coat of arms of MäntsäläMäntsälä20,91458136 93 %1 %6 %
coat of arms of NurmijärviNurmijärvi45,177362125 90 %1 %8 %
coat of arms of PornainenPornainen4,94814734 94 %2 %4 %
coat of arms of PorvooPorvoo51,75865579 63 %27 %9 %
coat of arms of PukkilaPukkila1,73914512 96 %1 %4 %
coat of arms of RaseborgRaseborg26,9821,14923 30 %64 %6 %
coat of arms of SipooSipoo22,88934067 65 %27 %8 %
coat of arms of SiuntioSiuntio6,19924126 65 %26 %9 %
coat of arms of TuusulaTuusula42,373220193 90 %1 %9 %
coat of arms of VantaaVantaa251,9362381,057 69 %2 %29 %
coat of arms of VihtiVihti28,76552255 91 %2 %7 %
Total1,787,1109,103196 71 % 7 % 19 %

Places of interest

A historical old town of Porvoo

Uusimaa, the region surrounding Finland’s capital Helsinki, offers many sights and attractions, from historical landmarks to natural wonders.[4]

  • Amusement parks: Linnanmäki, Serena Waterpark
  • Castles and fortresses: Suomenlinna, Raseborg Castle, Svartholm fortress, Musto Castle
  • Churches and cathedrals: Helsinki Cathedral, Porvoo Cathedral, Espoo Cathedral, Temppeliaukio Church, Sipoo Old Church, Church of St. Lawrence, Vantaa
  • Harbour: Hanko and Hauensuoli
  • Historical houses: Seurasaari, Parliament House, Helsinki, Paikkari croft, Glims, Hvitträsk, Alikartano, Malmgård Mansion
  • Ironworks: Fiskars Bruk, Billnäs Bruk, Fagervik Brik, Strömfors
  • Libraries: Helsinki Central Library Oodi, National Library of Finland, Helsinki University Library
  • Museums: Ainola, Ateneum, Espoo Car Museum, Finnish Aviation Museum, Finnish Railway Museum, Gallen-Kallela Museum, Helsinki City Museum, Heureka, Home of Runeberg, Kiasma, Mannerheim Museum, National Museum of Finland, Taaborinvuori, WeeGee house
  • Natural attractions: Nuuksio National Park, Karkali Strict Nature Reserve, Sipoonkorpi National Park, Porvoo Linnamäki
  • 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.[14] 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.[15]

Languages

Languages in Uusimaa[16]
Languages percent
Finnish
 
 74.7%
Swedish
 
 7.3%
Russian
 
 2.8%
Estonian
 
 1.9%
Arabic
 
 1.4%
Somali
 
 1.2%
English
 
 1.2%
Other
 
 9.5%

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 (nyländska) 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 was moved from Turku to Helsinki 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[note 1] 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 (23.6%), Helsinki (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 (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, Hindi, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Italian, Polish, Tamil, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Swahili, Amharic, Serbo-Croatian, Latvian, Japanese, Dutch, Sinhalese, Tigrinya, Uzbek, Greek, Punjabi, Pashto and Telugu, all with over 1,000 speakers.[17]

Health

In late March 2020, the region of Uusimaa went into lockdown to be isolated from the rest of Finland due to the global COVID-19 pandemic (2020/21).[18]

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

Hufvudstadsbladet's building, Mannerheimintie, Helsinki

Newspapers

The largest subscription newspapers published in the region are Helsingin Sanomat and Hufvudstadsbladet in Helsinki, Aamuposti in Hyvinkää, Länsi-Uusimaa in Lohja, Loviisan Sanomat and Östra Nyland in Loviisa, Uusimaa and Borgåbladet in Porvoo, Västra Nyland in Raseborg, and Keski-Uusimaa in Tuusula. 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 Ylen läntinen and Swedish-language Yle Vega Västnyland, in the Helsinki metropolitan area the Finnish-language Yle Radio Suomi Helsinki and Swedish-language Yle Vega Huvudstadsregionen, and in the eastern part the Finnish-language Yle Radio Itä-Uusimaa (discontinued) and Swedish-language Yle Vega Östnyland.

Elections

The results of the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election in the Uusimaa constituency are:[19]

  • National Coalition Party: 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:[20]

  • National Coalition Party: 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
  • Eastern Uusimaa – former region of Finland, now part of Uusimaa

Notes

  1. ↑ A language other than Finnish, Swedish or one of the Sami languages.

References

  1. ↑ "Preliminary population structure by Month, Area, Sex, Age and Information". StatFin. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  2. ↑ "EU regions by GDP, Eurostat". www.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Sub-national HDI – Area Database – Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Paavola, Arja-Leena; Selén, Otto; Pekkanen, Risto (2009). Matkalla maakunnissa - tietoa maakunnista ja nähtävyyksistä [Traveling in the regions - information about the regions and attractions] (in Finnish). Saarijärvi: AtlasArt. ISBN 978-952-5671-19-3., pp. 5-7
  5. ↑ Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa (in Finnish). Helsinki: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. p. 120.
  6. ↑ Ainiala, Terhi; Saarelma, Minna; Sjöblom, Paula (2008). Nimistötutkimuksen perusteet (in Finnish). Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. p. 66.
  7. 1 2 Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa (in Finnish). Helsinki: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. pp. 119–136.
  8. ↑ V.-P. Suhonen and Janne Heinonen (2011). "Helsingin keskiaikaiset ja uuden ajan alun kylänpaikat 2011, Inventointiraportti 2011. Museovirasto" (PDF).
  9. ↑ Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa. Porvoo: Svenska litteratussällskapet i Finland. pp. 122–125. ISBN 9789515832122.
  10. ↑ Ainiala, Terhi; Saarelma, Minna; Sjöblom, Paula (2008). Nimistötutkimuksen perusteet (in Finnish). Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. p. 68.
  11. ↑ Uusimaa Regional Council (May 12, 2010). "Nytt Land, Nylands historia" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Valtioneuvosto päätti Uudenmaan ja Itä-Uudenmaan maakuntien yhdistämisestä" (in Finnish). Finnish Ministry of Finance. October 22, 2009. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Regional Council – Uudenmaan liitto". www.uudenmaanliitto.fi. March 5, 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Regional GDP per capita ranged from 30% to 263% of the EU average in 2018". Eurostat.
  15. ↑ "Työllisyystilastot". Uudenmaan liitto (in Finnish). Retrieved December 5, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Väestö". Stat.fi: Statistics – Population structure. Statistics Finland. 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Language according to age and sex by region, 1990-2021". Statistics Finland. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
  18. ↑ "Checkpoints ready: Parliament approves government plans to isolate Uusimaa". News Now Finland. Archived from the original on April 9, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Electoral district of Uusimaa, results 2023". Ministry of Justice - Information and Result Service. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Electoral district of Helsinki, results 2023". Ministry of Justice - Information and Result Service. Retrieved April 4, 2023.

Further reading

Media related to Uusimaa at Wikimedia Commons Uusimaa travel guide from Wikivoyage

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