Stalin, who was the leader of the Soviet Union, did not like having a capitalist country as its neighbour. Stalin wanted Finland to become a communist state and be a part of the Soviet Union. The leaders of Finland refused: they wanted to stay independent. The Soviet Union sent many troops across the eastern border of Finland to try to make Finland join them, which resulted in the Winter War. The Soviet Union eventually won, and took most of Karelia and other parts of Finland.
Adolf Hitler was the dictator of Germany, and he wanted to invade the Soviet Union. Finland wanted to retrieve the areas that it had lost, so they joined the German invasion, which started with Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The Finnish part of the Second World War is called the Continuation War in Finland. However, Finland was not a fascist or an antisemitic country. Finns were interested in freedom rather than dictatorship.
While Germany was losing the war, Finland had already progressed into the Soviet Union in order to regain the areas lost in the previous peace. Finland wanted to end the war with the Soviet Union, which resulted in peace. Once again Finland had to give up the areas they had conquered. This time, the peace with the Soviet Union made Finland and Germany enemies. Finns fought the Germans, and Germans retreated to Norway, burning down all of Lapland behind them. This is called the Lapland War. Finland remained independent.
After the war, many factories were built in Finland. Many people moved from farms to cities. At that time, big factories manufactured products like paper and steel. More and more people worked in more advanced jobs, like high technology. Also, many people went to universities to get a good education. Finland was one of the first countries where most people had Internet connections and mobile phones. A well-known company that makes mobile phones, Nokia, is from Finland.
Finland joined the European Union in 1995. The Finnish currency was changed to the euro in 2002.
Finland has a mixed economy. Free market controls most of production and sales of goods, but public sector is involved in services. In 2013, taxes were 44% of gross national product. This is 4th largest in Europe, after Denmark, France and Belgium.
In 2014 services were 70% of the gross national product.
The largest company in 2014 was oil refinery Neste Oil. The second largest was Nokia. Two forest industries Stora Enso and UPM-Kymmene, were numbers three and four. Number five was Kesko which sells everyday goods in K-supermarkets.
Elections are organized to select 200 members to the Parliament of Finland. Also selected are the president of Finland, members of town and city councils and Finnish members to the European Parliament. The elections are secret and direct. People vote directly for the person they want to be elected. In presidential elections votes are only cast for a person, not for a political party. All the other elections are proportional. The system is a combination of voting for individuals and parties. The right to vote is universal and equal. In general elections everybody has one vote.
Fruit
In botany, a fruit is a plant structure that contains the plant's seeds. To a botanist, the word "fruit" is used only if it comes from the part of the flower which was an ovary. It is an extra layer round the seeds, which may or may not be fleshy. However, even in the field of botany, there is no general agreement on how fruits should be classified. Many do have extra layers from other parts of the flower.
In general speech, and especially in cooking, fruits are a sweet product, and many botanical fruits are known as vegetables. This is how ordinary people use the words. On this page, we describe what botanists call a fruit.
The fleshy part of a fruit is called the mesocarp. It is between the fruit's skin (exocarp) and the seeds. The white part of an apple, for example, is the "fleshy" part of the apple. Usually, when we eat a fruit, we eat the "fleshy" part.
If the entire fruit is fleshy, except for maybe a thin skin, we call the fruit a berry. A berry might contain one seed or many. Grapes, avocados, and blueberries are berries. They all have a thin skin, but most of the fruit is fleshy. Though don't get confused by the name of fruits like Strawberries, when actually, are actually "not" berries, because the seeds are on the outside: on a real berry, the seed or seeds must be inside.
A pepo (pronounced "pee' po") is a modified berry. Its skin is hard and thick and is usually called a "rind". Pumpkins and watermelons, for instance, are pepos.
A hesperidium is another modified berry. It has a leathery skin that is not as hard as the skin of a pepo. All citrus fruit like oranges and lemon are hesperidiums.
A pome (pohm) is a fruit that has a core surrounded by fleshy tissue that we can eat. The core is usually not eaten. Berries are different - the seeds are "inside" the fleshy part, not separated from it by a core. apples and pears are pomes.
Drupes are also called stone fruit. A drupe is a fleshy fruit with a hard stone around the seed. We usually call this 'stone' the 'pit' of the fruit. Peaches and olives are drupes. Actually, the almond fruit is a drupe, too, though we eat the seed that is inside the 'pit' of the almond fruit.
Since fruits are produced from fertilised ovaries in flowers, only flowering plants produce fruits. Fruits are an evolutionary 'invention' which help seeds get dispersed by animals.
The botanical term includes many that are not 'fruits' in the common sense of the term. such as the vegetables squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, tomato, peas, beans, corn, eggplant, and sweet pepper and some spices, such as allspice and chillies.
An accessory fruit or false fruit (pseudocarp) is a fruit in which some of the flesh is derived not from the ovary but from some adjacent tissue.
A fig is a type of accessory fruit called a syconium. Pomes, such as apples and pears, are also accessory fruits: the core is the true fruit.
Strictly speaking, these are not botanical fruits:
These are fruits which you can buy in shops, and which are also acceptable as botanical fruits:
Many fruits come from trees or bushes. For plants, fruits are a means of dispersal, usually by animals. When the fruit is eaten, the seed(s) are not digested, and get excreted. Where fruits have big stones, just the soft parts are eaten.
Most fruits we eat contain a lot of water and natural sugars, and many are high in Vitamin C. They have a large amount of dietary fibre. Fruits are usually low in protein and fat content, but avocados and some nuts are exceptions to this. Not only humans, but our closest living relatives (primates) are keen fruit-eaters. So are many other groups of herbivorous mammals and many birds.
Seedlessness is an important feature of some fruits of commerce. Commercial bananas, pineapple, and watermelons are examples of seedless fruits. Some citrus fruits, especially oranges, satsumas, mandarin oranges, and grapefruit are valued for their seedlessness.
Seedless bananas and grapes are triploids, and seedlessness results from the abortion of the embryonic plant which is produced by fertilisation. The method requires normal pollination and fertilisation.
Farm
A farm is a piece of land used to grow crops and/or raise animals.
People who grow these plants or raise these animals are called farmers. This work is called farming.
Land that is used to grow plants is called farmland. Land that is used to feed animals with its grass is called pasture. Land that can be used to grow plants for food is called arable land.