Helsinki

**Helsinki** (Swadish:**') is the caipital an lairgest ceety in [[Finland]]. It is in the soothren pairt o Finland, in the region o [[Uusimaa|Uusimaa/Nyland]], on the shore o the [[Guwf o Finland]], bi the [[Baltic Sea]]. The population o the [[municipalities o Finland|ceety]] o Helsinki is  (), an urban population o 1,176,976 (31 December 2012) an a [[Greater Helsinki|metropolitan]] population o 1,361,506, makin it the maist populous municipality an [[Leet o urban auries in Finland bi population|urban aurie]] in Finland. Helsinki is locatit some 400&nbsp;km (250&nbsp;mi) east o [[Stockholm]], [[Swaden]], 300&nbsp;km (190&nbsp;mi) wast o [[Saunt Petersburg]], [[Roushie]] an 80&nbsp;km (50&nbsp;mi) north o [[Tallinn]], [[Estonie]]. Helsinki haes [[History o Helsinki|close connections]] wi thir three ceeties.

The municipality o Helsinki forms the hert o the Helsinki metropolitan aurie an [[Greater Helsinki]] aurie. Ower ane million fowk live in the Helsinki metropolitan aurie, which includes the ceety o Helsinki an three ither ceeties. Twa o thir ceeties, [[Espoo]] an [[Vantaa]], immediately mairch Helsinki tae the wast an north. [[Kauniainen]], the third ceety, is a [[enclave]] athin the ceety o Espoo. The Helsinki metropolitan aurie is the [[Leet o northmaist items#Ceeties an dounsets|northmaist urban aurie]] on Yird wi a population o ower 1 million fowk, an the ceety is the northmaist caipital o a [[Member states o the European Union|EU member state]]. Aathegither 1.3 million fowk live in the Greater Helsinki aurie, which includes the aforementioned ceeties an [[Greater Helsinki#Statistics|9 suburban]] [[satellite toun]]s. Approximately 1 in 4 Finns live in the Greater Helsinki aurie.

Helsinki is Finland's major poleetical, eddicational, feenancial, cultural an research centre. Helsinki is a important regional ceety on the Easter Seas an northren Europe an aw. Approximately 70% o foreign companies operatin in Finland hae settled in the Helsinki region.

==The etymologie o the name Helsinki ==
Accordin tae [[oral tradeetion]] recordit in the 17t century, the early settlers in the modren Helsinki aurie came in the middle o the 13t century frae the province o [[Hälsingland]] in central [[Swaden]]. The [[Vantaa River]] wis accordingly kent locally as ''Helsingå'' (‘Helsinge River’), an the pairish foondit in the 14t century wis cried the ''[[Helsinge Parish]]''.

When the plans tae foond a toun in the vicinity o the modren destrict o [[Koskela]] or Forsby (‘veelage o the rapids’) stairtit tae materialise in 1548, the new toun-tae-be began tae be cried ''Helsinge fors'', ‘the Helsinge rapids’. This name then evolvit intae Helsingfors, which is the day the name o the ceety in Swadish. The ordinar fowk cried the place ''Helsinge'' or ''Helsing'', which evolvit intae the current Finnish name Helsinki.

The name Helsinki haes been uised in Finnish offeecial documents an in Finnish leid newspapers syne 1819, whan the [[Senate o Finland]] muivit tae the toun an the decrees issued thare wur datit wi Helsinki as the place o issue. This is hou the furm Helsinki came tae be uised in the Finnish [[leeterar leid]].

== History ==


=== Early history ===


Helsinki wis established as a tradin toun bi Keeng [[Gustav I o Swaden]] in 1550 as the toun o Helsingfors, which he intendit tae be a rival tae the Hanseatic ceety o [[Tallinn|Reval]] (the day: ''[[Tallinn]]''). Little came o the plans as Helsinki remained a tiny toun plagued bi poverty, wars, an diseases. The [[plague (disease)|plague]] o 1710 killed the greater pairt o the indwallers o Helsinki. The construction o the naval fortress [[Suomenlinna|Sveaborg]] (In Finnish ''Viapori'', the day an aa ''Suomenlinna'') in the 18t century helped impruive Helsinki's status, but it wis no till Roushie defeatit Swaden in the [[Finnish War]] an annexed Finland as the autonomous [[Grand Duchy o Finland]] in 1809 that the toun began tae develop intae a substantial ceety.

Czar [[Alexander I o Roushie]] muivit the Finnish caipital frae [[Turku]] tae Helsinki tae reduce Swadish influence in Finland. [[The Ryal Academy o Turku]], back then the kintra's anerlie varsity, wis relocatit tae Helsinki in 1827 an eventually became the modren [[Varsity o Helsinki]]. The muive consolidatit the ceety's new role an helpit set it on the path o continuous growthe. This transformation is heichlie apparent in the dountoun core, which wis rebuilt in [[neoclessicism|neoclessical]] style tae resemble [[Saunt Petersburg]]. As elsewhaur, technological advancements sic as railroads an [[industrialization]] wur key factors ahint the ceety's growthe.

=== Twintiet century ===
Despite the tumultuousness o Finnish history durin the first hauf o the 20t century, Helsinki continued its steady development. A laundmerk event wis the XV Olympiad ([[1952 Simmer Olympics|1952 Olympic Gemmes]]) held in Helsinki. Finland's rapid urbanization in the 1970s, occurrin late relative tae the rest o Europe, tripled the population in the metropolitan aurie, an the [[Helsinki Metro]] subwey seestem wis biggit. The relatively spairse population density o Helsinki an its peculiar structur hae aften been attributit tae the lateness o its growthe.

== Name ==
The [[Swadish leid|Swadish]] name **' ( or ) is the oreeginal offeecial name o the ceety o Helsinki (in the vera beginnin, spelled *Hellssingeforss*). The Finnish leid form o the name probably oreeginates frae *Helsinga* an seemilar names uised for the river that is currently kent as the Vantaa River as documentit awready in the 14t century. *Helsinki* (pronoonced wi the stress on the first syllab: ), is uised tae refer tae the ceety in aw leids except Swadish, Norse an Dens. *Helsingfors* comes frae the name o the surroondin parish, *Helsinge* (soorce for Finnish *Helsinki*) an the rapids (), which flowed throu the oreeginal veelage. The name *Helsinge* mey hae oreeginatit wi medieval Swadish settlers who came frae Hälsingland in Swaden. Ithers hae proposed that the name derives frae the Swadish wird *hals* (neck), referrin tae the nairaest pairt o the river, i.e. the rapids.

In Helsinki slang the ceety is kent as *Stadi* (frae the Swadish wird *stad*, meanin "ceety"). Elsewhaur in Finland, in colloquial Finnish its nickname is *Hesa*. **' is the [[Northern Sami]] name o Helsinki. Wi ''Stadi'' bein uised tae assert that the speaker is native tae the ceety. **' is the Northren Saami name o Helsinki.

## Geografie

Helsinki is spread athort a nummer o bays an peninsulaes an ower a nummer o islands. The inner ceety aurie occupees a soothren peninsulae, which is rarely referred tae bi its actual name Vironniemi. Population densitie in certaint pairts o Helsinki's inner ceety aurie is vera heich, reachin  in the destrict o Kallio, but as a whole Helsinki's population densitie o  ranks it as quite spairsely populatit in comparison tae ither European caipital ceeties. Hintle o Helsinki ootside the inner ceety aurie consists o postwar suburbs separatit frae ilk ither bi patches o forest. A narrae, ten-kilometre-lang (6&nbsp;mi) Helsinki Central Pairk that stretches frae the inner ceety tae the northren mairch o Helsinki is an important recreational aurie for residents.

Major islands in Helsinki include Seurasaari, Lauttasaari an Korkeasaari – the lattermaist bein the steid o the kintra's biggest zoo. Ither significant islands are the fortress island o Suomenlinna (Sveaborg) an the militar island o Santahamina. Pihlajasaari island is a favourite simmer spot for gay men an naturists, vera hintle comparable tae Fire Island aff New York Ceety.

### Urban aurie

Helsinki urban aurie spreads tae 10 different municipalities an
is considered tae be the anly metropolis in Finland. It haes population o 1 159 211, land aurie o 631,11&nbsp;km2 an population density o 1 836,8 per square kilometre It is bi far the biggest an maist densely populatit aurie o Finland, 3,7 times bigger nor subsequent Tampere.

The Helsinki Metropolitan Aurie consists o the ceeties o Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa an Kauniainen. The Metropolitan Aurie covers  an contains a tot population o approximately ane million. Wi aboot 19 per cent o the kintra’s population in juist 0.2 per cent o its surface aurie, the hoosin density o the aurie is heich bi Finnish standards. The Metropolitan Aurie an aa haes a heich concentration o employment: approximately 580,000 jobs. Despite the intensity o land uise, the region an aa haes lairge recreational auries an green spaces.

The Helsinki metropolitan aurie is the warld's northrenmaist urban aurie amang those wi a population o ower ane million fowk, an the ceety is the northrenmaist caipital o an EU member state. Althegither 1.3 million fowk, approximately ane in fower Finns, live in the Greater Helsinki aurie.

### Climate
Helsinki haes a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb). Awin tae the mitigatin influence o the Easter Seas an Gulf Stream, temperaturs in winter are heicher than the northren location micht suggest, wi the average in Januar an Februar aroond . Temperaturs belaw  occur normally a week or twa in a year. Housomeivver, acause o the latitude, days last 5 oors an 48 minutes aroond the winter solstice wi vera law Sun rays, an the cloudy wather at this time o year accentuates the darkness. Conversely, Helsinki enjoys lang days in simmer, durin the simmer solstice days last 18 oors an 57 minutes . The average maximum temperatur frae Juin tae August is aroond . Due tae the marine effect, especially in simmer daily temperaturs are ceuler an nicht temperaturs are heicher than further awa in the mainland. The heichest temperatur iver recordit in the ceety centre wis  on 18 Julie 1945 an the lawest wis  on 10 Januar 1987. Helsinki Airport recordit a temperatur o  on 29 Julie 2010 an a law o  on 9 Januar 1987.

## Ceetyscape

Carl Ludvig Engel (1778–1840) wis appointit tae design a new ceety centre aw on his awn. He designed several neoclassical biggins in Helsinki. The focal pynt o Engel's ceety plan is the Senate Square. It is surroondit bi the Govrenment Palace (tae the east), the main biggin o Helsinki University (tae the wast), an (tae the north) the enormous Cathedral, which wis feenished in 1852, twal years efter C. L. Engel's daith. Subsequently, Engel's neoclassical plan stimulatit the epithet, *The White Ceety O The North*. Helsinki is, hooiver, aiblins even mair famous for its numerous Art Nouveau (Jugend in Finnish) influencit biggins o the romantic naitionalism, designed in the early 1900s an strangly influencit bi the Kalevala, which is a vera popular theme in the naitional romantic airt o that era. Helsinki's Art Nouveau style is featurt in lairge residential auries sic as Katajanokka an Ullanlinna an aw. The maister o the Finnish Art Nouveau wis Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950), whose airchitectural maisterpiece wis the Helsinki central railwey station.

Helsinki featurs several biggings bi the warld-renouned Finnish airchitect Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) an aw, recognisit as ane o the pioneers o airchitectural functionalism. Housomeivver, some o his woirks, sic as the heidquairters o the paper company Stora Enso an the concert venue, Finlandia Hall, hae been subject tae dividit opinions frae the ceetizens.

Renouned functionalist biggins in Helsinki bi ither airchitects include the Olympic Stadium, the Tennis Palace, the Rowing Stadium, the Swimming Stadium, the Velodrome, the Glass Palace, the Exhibition Hall (nou Töölö Sports Hall) an Helsinki-Malmi Airport. The sports venues wur biggit tae serve the 1940 Helsinki Olympic Gemmes; the gemmes wur initially cancelled due tae the Seicont Warld War, but the venues eventually got tae fulfill thair purpose in the 1952 Olympic Gemmes. Mony o thaim are leetit bi DoCoMoMo as significant ensaumples o modren airchitectur.

As a historical fuitnote, Helsinki's neoclassical biggins wur aften uised as a backdrop for scenes set tae tak place in the Soviet Union in mony Cauld War era Hollywood movies, whan filmin in the USSR wis no possible. Some o the mair notable anes are *[[The Kremlin Letter]]* (1970), *[[Reds (film)|Reds]]* (1981) an *[[Gorky Park (film)|Gorky Park]]* (1983). Acause some streetscapes wur reminiscent o Leningrad's an Moscow's auld biggins, thay wur uised in movie productions—much tae some residents' dismay an aw. At the same time the govrenment secretly instructit Finnish offeecials no tae extend assistance tae sic film projects.

## Govrenment

The ceety cooncil o Helsinki consists o aichty-five members. Follaein the maist recent municipal election in 2012, the three lairgest pairties are Naitional Coalition (23), Greens (19), an Social Democrats (15). The mayor, Jussi Pajunen, is a member o the Naitional Coalition Pairty.

Lik in aw Finnish municipalities, the **Ceety Cooncil o Helsinki** is the main deceesion-makin organ in local politics, dealin wi issues sic as ceety plannin, schuils, heal care, an public transport. The 85-member cooncil is elected every fowert year bi municipal elections.

Tradeetionally, the conservative Naitional Coalition Pairty (*kokoomus*) haes been the biggest pairty in Helsinki's local politics, wi the Social Democrats bein the seicont biggest. In the 2000 election the Green League, for which Helsinki is the strangest aurie o support naitionally, gained the poseetion o the seicont maist popular pairty. In 2004 houiver, the Social Democrats regained that poseetion. In 2008 election, the Green League again acame the seicont biggest pairty, an thay remained sae in the 2012 election.

The Left Alliance is the fowert lairgest pairty, while the True Finns hae increased thair support steadily tae acome the fift lairgest pairty. The Swedish Fowk's Pairty's support haes been steadily declinin ower the years, maist likely acause o the diminishin proportion o Swadish speakers in Helsinki. The Centre Pairty o Finland, despite bein ane o the major pairties in naitionwide politics, anly haes little support in Helsinki lik it daes in maist ither big ceeties.

## Demografics

Helsinki haes a heicher proportion o weemen (53.4%) than elsewhaur in Finland (51.1%). Helsinki's current population densitie o 2,739.36 fowk per square kilometre is bi far the heichest in Finland. Life expectancy for baith genders is slichtly belaw the naitional averages: 75.1 year for men as compared tae 75.7 year, 81.7 year for weemen as compared tae 82.5 year.

Helsinki haes experienced strang growthe syne the 1810s, whan it replacit Turku as the caipital o the Grand Duchy o Finland, which later became the sovereign Republic o Finland. The ceety continued tae shaw strang growt frae that time onwards, wi the exception durin the Finnish Ceevil War period. Frae the end o Warld War II up till the 1970s thare wis a massive exodus o fowk frae the kintraside tae the ceeties o Finland, in pairticular Helsinki. Atween 1944 an 1969 the population o the ceety nearly doubled frae 275,000. tae 525,600.

In the 1960s, the population growthe o Helsinki proper began tae ebb mainly due tae lack o hoosin.  Mony residents began tae muive tae neebourin Espoo an Vantaa, whare population growt haes syne soared. Espoo's population increased ninefauld in saxty years, frae 22,874 fowk in 1950 tae 244,353 in 2009. Neebourin Vantaa haes seen even mair dramatic chynge in the same time span: frae 14,976 in 1950 tae 197,663 in 2009, a thirteenfauld increase. Thir dramatic increases pushed the municipalities o greater Helsinki intae mair intense cooperation in sic auries as public transportation an waste management. The increasin scarcity o hoosin an the heicher costs o livin in the Helsinki metropolitan aurie hae pushed mony daily commuters tae fynd hoosin in umwhile vera rural auries, an even further, tae sic ceeties as Lohja (50 kilometres or 30 mile northwast frae the ceety centre), Hämeenlinna an Lahti (baith 100 kilometres or 60 mile frae Helsinki, an Porvoo (50 kilometres tae the east).

### Leid
Finnish an Swadish are the offeecial leids o the municipality o Helsinki. The majority, or 82.5% o the population, speak Finnish as thair native leid. A minority, at 6.0%, speak Swadish. Aroond 11.5% o the population speak a native leid ither nor Finnish or Swadish. Helsinki slang combines influences frae the Finnish, Swadish an Roushie leids. Finnish the day is the common leid o communication atween Finnish speakers, Swadish speakers an speakers o ither leids (New Finns) in day-tae-day affairs in the public sphere atween unkent persons. In case a speaker's knawledge o Finnish is nae kent, Inglis is uisually spoken. Swadish is commonly spoken in ceety or naitional agencies specifically aimed at Finland-Swadish speakers, sic as the Social Services Depairtment on Hämeentie or the Luckan Cultural centre in Kamppi. Knawledge o Finnish is an aa essential in business an is uisually a basic requirement in the employment mercat.

Finnish speakers surpassed Swadish speakers in 1890 tae acome the majority o the ceety's population. At the time, Helsinki's population wis 61,530.

### Immigration
Helsinki is the global gateway o Finland. The ceety haes Finland's lairgest immigrant population in baith absolute an relative terms. Thare are ower 130 naitionalities representit in Helsinki. The lairgest groups are frae Roushie, Estonie, Swaden, Somalie, Serbie, Cheenae, Iraq, Germany an Turkey.

Foreign ceetizens mak up 8.0% o the population, while foreign born mak up 11.1%. In 2012, 68,375 residents spoke a native leid ither nor Finnish, Swadish or ane o the three Sami leids spoken in Finland. The lairgest groups o residents wi a non-Finnish background come frae Roushie (14,532), Estonie (9,065) an Somalie (6,845). Hauf o the immigrant population in Finland lives in greater Helsinki, an ane third in the ceety o Helsinki.

## Economy

The Helsinki metropolitan aurie generates approximately ane third o Finland's GDP. GDP per caipita is roughly 1.3 times the naitional average.

The metropolitan aurie's gross value addit per caipita is 200% o the mean o 27 European metropolitan auries, equallin those o Stockholm or Paris. The gross value addit annual growthe haes been aroond 4%.

83 o the 100 lairgest Finnish companies are heidquartered in Greater Helsinki. Twa-thirds o the 200 heichest-peyed Finnish executives live in Greater Helsinki an 42% in Helsinki. The average income o the tap 50 earners wis 1.65 million euro.

The tap water is o excellent quality an it is suppleed bi 120&nbsp;km (75&nbsp;mi) lang Päijänne Water Tunnel, ane o the warld's langest continuous rock tunnels. Bottled Helsinki tap water is even sauld tae kintras sic as Saudi Arabie.

## Eddication

Helsinki haes 190 comprehensive schuils, 41 upper seicontar schuils an 15 vocational institutes. Hauf o the 41 upper seicondar schuils are private or state-awned, the ither hauf municipal. heicher level eddication is gien in aicht varsities (see the section "Varsities" belaw) an fower polytechnics.

### Varsities

*Varsity o Helsinki
*Aalto Varsity
*Hanken Schuil o Economics
*Varsity o the Airts Helsinki
*Naitional Defence Varsity

### Varsity o Applied Sciences

*Haaga-Helia Varsity O Applied Sciences
*Helsinki Metropolia Varsity o Applied Sciences
*Arcada Varsity o Applied Sciences

Helsinki is ane o the co-location centres o the Knawledge an Innovation Commonty (Futur information an communication society) o The European Institute o Innovation an Technology (EIT).

The eddicational depairtment taks pairt in Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013 in Finland.

## Cultur

### Museums

The biggest historical museum in Helsinki is the Naitional Museum o Finland, which displays a vast historical collection frae prehistoric times tae the 21st century. The museum biggin itself, a naitional romantic style neomedieval castle, is a tourist attraction. Ither major historical museum is the Helsinki Ceety Museum, which introduces veesitors tae Helsinki's 500-year history. The Varsity o Helsinki an aa haes mony signeeficant museums, includin the Varsity Museum an the Naitural History Museum.

The Finnish Naitional Gallery consists o three museums: Ateneum Airt Museum for classical Finnish art, Sinebrychoff Airt Museum for classical European airt, an Kiasma Airt Museum for modren airt. The auld Ateneum, a neo-Renaissance palace frae 19t century, is ane o the ceety's major historical biggins. Aw three museum biggins are state-ained throu Senate Properties.

The Design Museum is devotit tae the exhibeetion o baith Finnish an foreign design, includin industrial design, fashion, an graphic design.

### Theatres

Helsinki haes three major theatres: The Finnish Naitional Theatre, the Helsinki Ceety Theatre, an the Finland Swadish Svenska Teatern. The ceety's main muisical venues are the Finnish Naitional Opera, the Finlandia concert haw an the Helsinki Muisic Centre. The Muisic Centre an aa hooses a pairt o the Sibelius Academy. Bigger concerts an events are uisually held at ane o the ceety's twa big ice hockey arenas: the Hartwall Areena or the Helsinki Ice Hall. Helsinki haes Finland's lairgest fairgrounds.

### Muisic

Helsinki is home tae twa full-size symphony orchestras, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra an the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, baith o which perform at the Helsinki Muisic Centre concert haw. Acclaimed contemporary componers Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg, Esa-Pekka Salonen an Einojuhani Rautavaara, amang ithers, wur born an raised in Helsinki, an studied at the Sibelius Academy. The Finnish Naitional Opera, the anly full-time, professional opera company in Finland, is locatit in Helsinki.

Mony widely renowned an acclaimed baunds hae originated in Helsinki, includin Hanoi Rocks, HIM, Stratovarius, The 69 Eyes, Norther, Wintersun, Finntroll, Moonsorrow, Ensiferum, The Rasmus an Apocalyptica.

### Airt
*The Helsinki Festival is an annual airts an cultur festival, which takes place ivery August (includin the Nicht o the Airts).
*Valon Voimat "Forces o Licht" is an annual winter airts festival.
*Vappu "Vappu" is an annual carnival for students an wirkers.

Helsinki Arena hostit the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, the first iver Eurovision Song Contest arranged in Finland, follaein Lordi's win in 2006.

At the Senate Square in September / October 2010, the lairgest open-air airt exhibition iver in Finland teuk place: Aboot 1.4 million fowk saw the internaitional exhibition o *[[United Buddy Bears]]*.

Helsinki is the 2012 Warld Design Caipital, in recognition o the uise o design as an effective tuil for social, cultural an economic development in the ceety. In chuisin Helsinki, the Warld Design Caipital selection jury heichlichtit Helsinki's uise o 'Embedded Design', which haes tee'd design in the ceety tae innovation, "creatin global brents, such as Nokia, Kone an Marimekko, popular events, like the annual Helsinki Design Week, ootstaundin education an research institutions, such as the University o Airt an Design Helsinki, an exemplary airchitects an designers such as Eliel Saarinen an Alvar Aalto".

### Media

Each year, aroond 12,000 beuk titles are published an 12 million records are sauld.

Sanoma publishes the newspaper *[[Helsingin Sanomat]]* (its circulation o 412,000 makin it the lairgest), the tabloid *[[Ilta-Sanomat]]*, the commerce-orientit *[[Taloussanomat]]* an the telly channel Nelonen. The ither major publisher Alma Media publishes ower thirty magazines, includin the newspaper *[[Aamulehti]]*, tabloid *[[Iltalehti]]* an commerce-orientit *[[Kauppalehti]]*. Warldwide, Finns, alang wi ither Nordic fowks an the Japanese, spend the maist time readin newspapers.

YLE, Finland's public broadcastin station, operates five telly channels an thirteen radio channels in baith naitional leids. YLE is fundit throu a mandatory telly license an fees for private broadcasters. Aw TV channels are broadcast deegitally, baith terrestrially an on cable. The commercial telly channel MTV3 an commercial radio channel Radio Nova are ained bi Nordic Broadcasting (Bonnier an Proventus Industrier).

Aroond 79% o the population uise the Internet. Finland haed aroond 1.52 million broadband Internet connections bi the end o Juin 2007 or aroond 287 per 1,000 indwallers. Aw Finnish schuils an public libraries hae Internet connections an computers an maist residents hae a mobile phone. Value-addit services are rare. In October 2009, Finland's Meenistry o Transport an Communications committit tae ensurin that every person in Finland wad be able tae access the Internet at a minimum speed o ane megabit-per-seicont beginnin Julie 2010.

### Sports

Helsinki haes a lang tradeetion o sports: the ceety gained muckle o its initial internaitional recognition durin the 1952 Simmer Olympics, an the ceety haes syne then been vera open tae arrangin sportin events, for ensaumple the first Warld Championships in Athletics 1983 an 2005, an European Championships in Athletics 1971, 1994 an 2012 etc. Helsinki hosts fairly successfu local teams in baith o the maist popular team sports in Finland, fitbaa, ice hockey an synchronized skatin. Helsinki hooses Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (HJK), Finland's lairgest an maist successfu fitbaa club. Helsinki's track an field club Helsingin Kisa-Veikot is an' a' pretty dominant in Finland. Ice Hockey is a sport o passion for mony Helsinki residents, who uisually tak a stance for aither o the local clubs IFK Helsingfors (HIFK) or Jokerit. HIFK, wi 14 Finnish championships titles, an aa plays in the heichest bandy diveesion, alang wi Botnia -69. The Olympic stadium hostit the 1st iver Bandy Warld Championships in 1957.

## Transportation

### Roads
Helsinki haes several ring roads: Ring I, Ring II, an Ring III. Frae central ceety tae east an wast, thare are Itäväylä an Länsiväylä. Frae the central ceety tae north, thare are several routes. Thare is a proposal tae big a Stockholm-lik tunnel unner central Helsinki tae hide caurs frae streets. Central Helsinki haes popular unnergrund pairkin facilities.

Helsinki haes some 390 caurs per 1000 indwallers. This is less nor in ceeties o seemilar density, for instance, Brussels' 483 per 1000 an Stockholm's 401, an Oslo's 413.

### Rail transport an buses

Public transportation is generally a hotly debatit subject in the local politics o Helsinki. In Helsinki metropolitan aurie, public transportation is managit unner Helsinki Region Transport, the metropolitan aurie transportation authority. The diverse public transport seestem consists o trams, commuter rail, the subwey, bus lines an twa ferry lines.

The day, Helsinki is the anerlie ceety in Finland tae hae trams or subwey trains. Thare uised tae be twa ither ceeties in Finland wi trams: Turku an Viipuri (Vyborg, nou in Roushie), but baith hae syne abandoned trams. The Helsinki Metro, opened in the year 1982, is the anerlie subway seestem in Finland. In 2006, the construction o the lang debatit extension o the subwey seestem wast intae Espoo wis appruivit, an serious debate aboot an eastren extension intae Sipoo haes taken place.

The possibility o a Helsinki tae Tallinn Tunnel is currently bein researched. The rail tunnel wad connect Helsinki tae the Estonie caipital Tallinn, further linkin Helsinki tae the rest o continental Europe bi Rail Baltica.

### Aviation
Air traffeck is handled primarily frae the internaitional Helsinki Airport, locatit approximately 19 kilometres (12&nbsp;mi) north o Helsinki's dountoun aurie, in the neighbourin ceety o Vantaa. Helsinki's seicont airport, Malmi Airport, is mainly uised for general an private aviation.  Copterline haes providit fast (18 min.) helicopter flichts tae Tallinn, but discontinued the regular service in December 2008 on grunds o unprofitability.

### Sea transport
Ferry connections tae Tallinn an Stockholm are serviced bi various companies. Finnlines passenger-freight ferries tae Gdynia, Poland an Travemünde, Germany are an' a' available, while Tallink began service tae Rostock, Germany in 2007. St. Peter Line affers passenger ferry service tae Saunt Petersburg several times a week.

## Internaitional relations

### Special pairtnership ceeties
Helsinki haes a special pairtnership relation wi:
* Beijing, Cheenae *(syne 2006)*
* Copenhagen, Denmark
* Moscow, Roushie

## See an aw
* Mariehamn
* Tampere
* Turku

## References

## Freemit airtins

*
*Hel.fi – Offeecial wabsteid  (in Inglis; ither leids available)
*Visithelsinki.fi – Offeecial Ceety o Helsinki Tourism Website
*Helsinki.mobi – Offeecial mobile wabsteid 
*Helsinki.fi – Ceety Portal
*World Design Capital 2012 Helsinki Offeecial steid