The islands of Åland, Ahvenanmaa in Finnish, form an archipelago in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden, which belongs to the Republic of Finland with the status of autonomous province. Åland has a little over 28,000 inhabitants of whom almost half live in the capital Mariehamn, which is the only city in the islands. Some 91% of the population of Åland have Swedish as their mother tongue, which is the only official language, while 5% of its inhabitants are Finnish speakers and about 3% speak other languages.
The Åland archipelago consists of over 6,700 islands, reefs and islets, of which 80 are inhabited. Most of the population lives on the island called Fasta Åland where Mariehamn is located. This complex of islands, which is of volcanic origin, emerged from the sea about 10,000 years ago. The first human population known in Åland was about 2500 BC with the Ware culture, while a thousand years later, in the Bronze Age, the archipelago would be populated entirely by the Sundby culture. The Norsemen, Scandinavians from Sweden, settled the island in the tenth century. In the XVth century Åland would become part of the Grand Duchy of Finland, which at that time belonged to Sweden, and after several occupations over the centuries by Russians, Swedes and Germans, the islands ended up by belonging to Finland on the occasion of its independence from Russia in 1917.
Åland’s location is strategically very important due to its proximity to the archipelago of Stockholm and to the Finnish coast, being the archipelago a passage from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Gulf of Finland. In fact, Åland has been a recurring dispute between Sweden and Finland for decades, since the Ålandic people et the time would have rather belonged to the kingdom of Sweden instead of Finland, because of their cultural and linguistic proximity with the Swedes. Today Åland has autonomy in almost all decisions concerning the islands, and is the only example in Europe to be a demilitarized autonomy. Åland was demilitarized by the end of the Crimean War in 1856.
The most important economic activity in Åland is the maritime trade that provides employment to almost half of the Ålanders, being important industries also tourism, fisheries and agriculture. There are also many Ålanders who work in the issuance of postage stamps.Perhaps the best way to visit Åland is to take a cruise from Helsinki to Stockholm, or vice versa, and make a stop in this beautiful archipelago whose beautiful nature invites to contemplation in winter and to a funny bike tour in summer. And thanks to the autonomic status of the islands, the travelers whose ferry stops in Åland, can enjoy of certain discounts on indirect taxes in their purchases.
