Nokia, Finland

Nokia (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈnokiɑ]) is a town and a municipality on the banks of the Nokianvirta River (Kokemäenjoki) in the region of Pirkanmaa, some 15 kilometres (9 mi) west of Tampere. As of 30 June 2015 it has a population of 33,121.

History

The origin of the name "Nokia" is obscure. In modern Finnish, noki means soot and nokia is its inflected plural, although this form of the word is rarely if ever used. The most common theory claims the name actually originates from the archaic Finnish word nois (pl. nokia) or nokinäätä ("soot marten"), meaning sable. After sable was hunted to extinction in Finland, the word was applied to any dark-coated fur animal, such as the marten, which are found in the area to this day. The sable is enshrined on the Nokia coat of arms. However, later research has appeared to indicate that sables never inhabited Finland in the first place, and the name nois may actually refer to the beaver.

The first literary reference to Nokia is in a 1505 document in connection with the Nokia Manor.

Finland

Finland (ⁱ/ˈfɪnlənd/; Finnish: Suomi [suomi]; Swedish: Finland [ˈfɪnland]), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, a peninsula with Gulf of Finland to the south and Gulf of Bothnia to the west. It has land borders with Sweden and Norway to the north and Russia to the east. Finland is part of the geographic region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia and parts of Russia.

Finland's population is 5.5 million (2014), staying roughly on the same level with only about 9% increase in 24 years since the last economic depression in 1990. The majority live in the southern regions. The single largest group of foreigners living in Finland are Russians and Estonians, 36% of all of the foreigners (2014). In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 317 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, which produces a third of the country's GDP. Other large cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti, and Kuopio.

Finland (comedy song)

"Finland" is a Monty Python comedy song written and performed by Michael Palin and arranged by John Du Prez with a guitar accompaniment. It features on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album from 1980, is also included on the CD Monty Python Sings, and was incorporated into the musical Spamalot.

It purports to be a celebration of Finland, a country that is overlooked when travelling abroad as "a poor second to Belgium", despite the fact that it "has it all" with lofty mountains and tall trees and pleasures including: pony trekking, camping or "just watching TV". In reality "mountains so lofty" are not characteristic of Finland as the Scandinavian Mountains only just touch the northwesternmost corner of the country.

Palin gave an impromptu rendition of the song while travelling through Finland for the 1992 travel documentary Pole to Pole.

References

Finland (European Parliament constituency)

In European elections, Finland is a constituency of the European Parliament, currently represented by thirteen MEPs. It covers the member state of Finland.

2014 election

The 2014 European election was the eight election to the European Parliament. Finland's representation remained at 13 MEPs.

2009 election

The 2009 European election was the seventh election to the European Parliament. The number of seats was decreased to thirteen.

MEPs 2009-2014

At the end of the Seventh European Parliament:

2004 election

The 2004 European election was the sixth election to the European Parliament.

Both the Finnish Social Democratic Party and the Finnish Centre Party improved their vote at the expense of the conservative National Coalition Party and the Greens.

1999 election

The 1999 European election was the fifth election to the European Parliament.

1996 election

This was the first European election in Finland.

References

External links