Helsinki

Helsinki (pronounced with the stress on the first syllable in Finnish: {{IPA|}}), or Helsingfors in Swedish {{Audio|sv-Helsingfors.ogg|listen}}, is the capital of Finland. It is located in the southern part of Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, at {{coor dm|60|10|N|24|56|E|}}. Helsinki forms a conurbation with three other cities, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, which are together called the capital area. This area has about 975,000 citizens. The Greater Helsinki area contains a lot more municipalities and has a total population of 1,232,741 million (2004).

History

Main article: History of Helsinki

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Founded in 1550 as a rival to the Hanseatic city of Tallinn by the King Gustav I of Sweden, Helsinki struggled in its infancy. The fledging settlement was plagued by poverty, wars and diseases. For a long time it remained as a small low-key coastal town, overshadowed by the more thriving trade centers in the Baltic region. Construction of the Suomenlinna sea fortress helped to improve its status, but it was not until Russia defeated Sweden in the Finnish War and annexed Finland as autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 that Helsinki began to truly change.

Related Topics:
Tallinn - Gustav I of Sweden - Suomenlinna - Finnish War - Grand Duchy of Finland

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To help reduce the Swedish influence, tsar Alexander I of Russia had the capital moved from Turku to Helsinki. Academy of Åbo, the only university in the country, was also relocated to Helsinki in 1827, eventually becoming the University of Helsinki. This move consolidated the city's new role and the following decades saw unprecedented growth and development for the city, creating the prerequisites for the birth of a modern world class capital in the 20th century. This transformation is highly apparent in the downtown core, which was rebuilt in neoclassical style to resemble St. Petersburg. Like elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and industrialization were a key factor behind the growth.

Related Topics:
Alexander I of Russia - Turku - Academy of Åbo - University of Helsinki - Neoclassical - St. Petersburg - Industrialization

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Although much of the first half of the 20th century was a violent period for Helsinki, it continued to steadily develop. Modern postwar urbanization of the 1970s, which occurred relatively late in European context, tripled the population in the metropolitan area, making the Helsinki metropolitan area one of the fastest growing urban centers in the European Union in 1990s.

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