untitled Mapping the historical sense of Finland JOUNI HÄKLI Häkli, Jouni (2002). Mapping the historical sense of Finland. Fennia 180: 1–2, pp. 75–81. Helsinki. ISSN 0015-0010. The article looks at the development of cartographic representations of Fin- land from a social constructionist perspective. The image of Finland, as por- trayed on maps, has contributed significantly to the Finnish nation-building process. As a medium for the dissemination of information, maps have ena- bled the broad popularisation of the idea of Finland as a unified territory and nation. Maps have also helped to build the sense of Finnishness by represent- ing the country in exclusively Finnish terms, e.g., with Finnish place names. Finally, maps build the sense of a continuous national history by situating po- litical and cultural events and portraying these in a timeless manner. In all, maps are powerful representations that should be assessed as agents of change rather than passive objects. Keywords: cartography, history, national identity, Finland Jouni Häkli, Department of Regional Studies and Environmental Policy, FIN- 33014 University of Tampere, Finland. E-mail: jouni.hakli@uta.fi Maps as story-tellers Maps that describe the European North have por- trayed the area long before the Finnish territory was established culturally and politically. The best-known examples of these early cartographic images include such masterpieces as Jacob Zie- gler’s (published in 1532), Olaus Magnus’ (1539), and Gerardus Mercator’s maps (1595), as well as the one published by Andreas Bureus in 1626. These maps portray Finland as a separate penin- sula, but inaccurately in today’s standards (Fig. 1). Accuracy in depicting the coastline, the surface area, and the spatial dimensions of the Finnish peninsula only reached the modern level by the end of the eighteenth century, with the advance- ment of cartographic methodology. Progress in cartographic accuracy is an impor- tant, but certainly noò:the only interesting facet in the history of Finland on the map. Maps have always portrayed the physical world, but, more- over, communicated about cultural realms and political events. Maps of kingdoms and states tell stories about history seen in a particular light, one that often considers the national community as the unquestioned starting point (Häkli 2001). Maps of nation-states, therefore, tend to insert a nationalist tone in the interpretation of history. The history of Finland makes no exception in this re- spect. The image of Finland as portrayed on maps has functioned as a symbol that has united the national community and told particular stories about the Finns as one people. The rhetorical power of maps originates both in cultural and political imagery. The Finnish iden- tity derives from certain lands and landscapes and their cultural representations. In territorial terms maps are significant not only in that they portray a land that the ordinary people can identify with, but also in the sense that they help in disseminat- ing the idea of Finland as a unified country and nation. This has been vital to the Finnish nation- building process that took place in newspapers, books, and school education, as well as through various social practices that ranged from volun- tary associations to military training (Alapuro 1988; Paasi 1996). Maps have also been instrumental to the way in which ideas and their discourses have been linked with particular locations. The concept of discursive landscape captures well this interlink- age. The concept points at the symbolic fabric that links the self-understanding of a people with a particular territory, concrete places, everyday practices, and imagination (Häkli 1999: 124). The Finnish place names, for example, are one con- 76 FENNIA 180: 1–2 (2002)Jouni Häkli crete historical testimony to the cultural presence of the Finns on the Finnish peninsula. Written on maps these names take on a particular aura of fix- ity, an almost self-proclaimed physical presence that does not require further proof or justification. As hybrids of textual and pictorial representation maps help in fortifying the idea of a territorially definable ‘Finnish’ culture. In addition to their role as cultural signifiers, maps are concrete and visible traces of power politics (Häkli 1998b: 134). Cartographic repre- sentations created in different times illustrate well the history of an emerging state system and chang- ing political power relations in the European North. Also the developments that led to Finland’s independence have been stored in the form of a series of maps telling the story of the nation as a part of Sweden (13th century–1809), then of Rus- sia (1809–1917), and, later, as an independent state (since 1917). The shaping of Finland on the map Finland took shape on the map first as a geograph- ical region and only after that as a political-cul- tural entity. The mapping of the Finnish lands in- creased significantly during the seventeenth cen- tury when the Swedish State begun to centralise and consolidate its government and the land sur- vey was institutionalised. In the Kingdom of Swe- den, which consisted of centrally governed prov- inces, the Finns represented a linguistic and cul- turally distinctive people (Fig. 2). During the Swedish rule the concept of ‘Fin- land’ was generally associated with the south- western corner of contemporary Finland, that is, the region of Varsinais-Suomi (‘Finland Proper’), or sometimes with the entire collection of Swe- den’s ‘Eastern provinces’. The ambiguous use of the concept shows well that Finland did not yet form a political-administrative unity, but rather served as a geographical designation of the east- ern parts of the Swedish Kingdom. Interpretations that seek to portray Finland as a nation and a state before the nineteenth century modernise history by viewing the past through later events. The situation changed in 1809 when Finland became the autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia. Disconnection from the association with, and de- pendence of, Sweden allowed the formation of separate governmental structures, as well as the Fig. 1. Olaus Magnus: Carta Marina et Descriptio Septentrionalium Terra- rum. Venice 1539. The map is unu- sually detailed and it has influenced the conceptions and images of the European North significantly. (Repro- duced from Fredrikson 1993: 24–25, with permission) FENNIA 180: 1–2 (2002) 77Mapping the historical sense of Finland territorial shaping of Finland as a political-admin- istrative whole for the first time. Seen from the outside, however, the association of Finland with Russia signified the relaxation of the Scandinavi- an connection. This was quickly recognised in some maps showing the North of Europe (Fig. 3). Finnish nationalism and the strive for an inde- pendent state expanded gradually during the nine- teenth century. At this juncture the image of the territory of autonomous Finland became a nation- al symbol with a politics of its own. The politics of cartography The map is graphic and effective as a narrator of political history. This has made maps subject to various political uses, from a tool in territorial demarcation to downright vehicles of propagan- da. The maps’ enduring status as highly objective representations of space increases their political significance (Häkli 1998). It has become abun- dantly clear, however, that cartographic represen- tation of reality always occurs in a specific soci- etal context and that this affects the selection and interpretation of whatever is mapped (Wood 1992; Edney 1997). Hence, for example, a map that portrays some aspects of the physical envi- ronment in a seemingly neutral way may in fact be very politically laden if these aspects are in- terpreted as belonging to a particular state terri- tory or national landscape (Harley 1988, 1989). A major increase in the political significance of maps occurred when national self-determina- tion was adopted as the ruling principle in inter- national justice in early twentieth-century Europe. The ideal of “one nation, one state” was both pro- moted and realised with the aid of maps (Herb 1997: 17). From the perspective of congruence between national groups and territorial home- lands, however, the ethnic patterns of Europe turned out to be tragically confused and mixed. Finland is among the countries that were dra- matically affected by the geopolitical turmoil of World War I. Political history research has identi- fied Finland as one of the smaller European poli- ties with a history of economic and political de- pendency on metropolitan centres. Finland also belongs to a group of countries called successor states (e.g., Hroch 1985; Smith 1991). The term was widely used between the World Wars to de- note those polities, with similar state structures Fig. 2. Johann Baptist Homann: Regni Sueciae in omnes suas Subjacentes Provincias accurate divisi Tabula Generalis. Nürnberg 1737. The map from the period of Sweden as a Great Power portrays the kingdom as com- posed of provinces. Finland figures on the map in a form that could to- day be interpreted as a political-ad- ministrative unity. Recent historical research does not lend support to such an interpretation, however. (Re- produced from Fredrikson 1993: 72, with permission) 78 FENNIA 180: 1–2 (2002)Jouni Häkli and internal conflicts, that formed a geographi- cally contiguous area between Russia and the oth- er major European powers (Alapuro 1988: 2–3). Born out of the aftermath of World War I, the successor states became the axiomatic test ground for the principle of national self-determination. The task of recreating the political map of Europe was carried out largely according to Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points Address, which stressed in several occasions that self-determination was a solution to the problems of war-ridden Europe. It soon became clear for those who were in charge of defining new national territories that maps on ‘peoples’, ‘nationalities’, ‘languages’, or ‘races’ were absolutely necessary for the task. In the sit- uation where the number of nationalities far ex- ceeded that of existing state territories, maps soon became tools of persuasion and propaganda (Herb 1997: 33). All successor states were more or less created by the then-existing ones, but Finland is an ex- ceptional case because it gained its independence on a territory that had already been established in the imperial period (Engman 1989: 108). When Finland became the autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia in 1809 and the province of Vyborg was attached to its territory three years later, the Finn- ish nation-building assumed a territorial frame- work that would remain virtually intact until 1940. Therefore, maps did not play a great role in the establishment of the sovereign state of Fin- land, but were of much importance in the proc- ess that rooted the sense of Finnishness in the population. Awareness of Finland and Finnishness can hard- ly be imagined without reference to the territori- ally defined Finnish space. Hence, as Finland had already assumed its territorial shape during the metropolitan rule, nation-building in Finland took place as a process of national and territorial uni- fication. The national elite faced the task of pro- ducing ‘Finland’ as a symbolic landscape in the Fig. 3. Alexandre Delamarche: Atlas Delamarche, Géographie Moderne, Suède, Norvège, Danemark. Paris 1851. The Grand Duchy of Finland was portrayed as a lost territory that did not merit detailed description. (Reproduced from Fredrikson 1993: 106, with permission) FENNIA 180: 1–2 (2002) 79Mapping the historical sense of Finland popular realm in order to foster the self-under- standing of a coherent ethnic nation. Maps were instrumental in this task. Maps became the privileged images of the Finn- ish national territory through a process that had two aspects, which only can be distinguished an- alytically. On one hand, representations of the Finnish lands made the Finnish territory visible in a popularly appealing manner. For example, the cartographic image of the Finnish territory por- trays the contours of the ‘Maiden of Finland’, which personified and embodied the idea of a unified nation and the belonging of the Finns to the Finnish lands. The rhetorical power of anthro- pomorphic images is well known (Olwig 1987). On the other hand, to point at a more concrete aspect of cartographic communication, maps were increasingly available to the masses. Vari- ous atlases became common items both in home and at school by the early twentieth century. Car- tographic images, produced mostly by the edu- cated elite for governmental, academic, and ed- ucational purposes, were disseminated over the Finnish territory via books, newspapers, educa- tion, and such institutions as museums and pub- lic offices. In consequence, the sense of Finnish- ness as rooted in a particular soil gradually emerged as an image of the Finnish territory and cultural sphere (Paasi 1992: 94). Finland had become well captured on maps by the end of the inter-war period. They were availa- ble practically everywhere. This contributed sig- nificantly to the establishment of national identi- ty among the Finnish people. Yet, it cannot be as- sumed that the Finnish identity had somehow reached its final form at that time. Quite the con- trary, a continuous search for national identity has been characteristic to Finland throughout its in- dependence (e.g., Räsänen 1989). For instance, the traumatic experience of World War II and its aftermath affected both the Finnish territory and the self-image of the Finns. The myth- ic lands of Karelia, which had figured strongly in the Finnish nation-building as the source of the original Finnish vernacular culture, had to be ced- ed to the Soviet Union (Kärkkäinen 1987). The fact that Karelia region had been the centre of aspira- tions toward ”Greater Finland” before and during World War II further strengthened the feeling of loss (Paasi 1990). The attempt to justify the annexation of Eastern Karelian areas to the territory of Finland represents perhaps the most explicit case of the use of maps for propaganda in Finland (Kosonen 2000). In 1941, a special issue of the geographical journal Terra was dedicated to the mapping of “future Fin- land.” Such features as the rock bed, forests, agri- culture, and industries were shown on maps por- traying areas that extended east from the Finnish- Russian state border (e.g., Eskola 1941; Auer 1941). Other features, such as the flora and the fauna, language groups, and cultural characteris- tics, were described textually and photographical- ly (e.g., Linkola 1941). Conclusion: Finland re-joins the Nordic countries and Europe During the Cold War era that followed World War II, Finland was imagined as part of the Scandina- vian family of nations, largely for the official neu- trality policy reasons. More recently the Baltic Sea region and the European Union have again be- come the foci of identity-building on a wider scale. While the concomitant urbanisation, cul- tural changes, and increasing globalisation of the post-war era have changed the expressions of Finnish identity, the map image of Finland con- tinues to convey and inform the national sense of history of the Finns. Changes in the image of Finland communicate historical events: times of war and peace, the drawing of boundaries, and the shifting cultural influences caused by territorial changes. The Finns who went to school in the early twentieth centu- ry were familiarised with a map that included the Petsamo and Karelia regions in the northeast and east. The generations born after World War II have come to know Finland in its current shape. Hence, throughout the history of Finland the country’s cartographic image has reflected not only domestic events, but also Finland’s interna- tional relations. The separation of Finland from Russia was internationally recognised by portray- ing the country among its Nordic neighbours on the Scandinavian map (Fig. 4). The straddle be- tween East and West after World War II is a Finn- ish episode in the Cold War history. And, of course, a more recent event of importance is the joining of Finland in the European Union (1995), which has set Finland firmly on the political map of Europe. More than ever before, maps are a natural part of our everyday visual environments through the media, books, advertisement, and the Internet. 80 FENNIA 180: 1–2 (2002)Jouni Häkli The nature of maps as representations therefore tends to go unnoticed, while the messages they help to mediate are everywhere. Still, maps are much more than mere pictures of the world. They are what Latour (1986: 7–11) calls “immutable mobiles,” that is, standardised representations of territory that are movable across distance. The fact that maps are fixed and conventional images that are easily transportable makes them useful for the dissemination of information and ideas. Moreover, maps are important constituents of people’s sense of national history, as the case of Finland well il- lustrates. While the stories that maps tell are in- teresting, they should be listened with due cau- tion. REFERENCES Alapuro R (1988). State and revolution in Finland. University of California Press, Berkeley. Auer V (1941). Tuleva Suomi talousmaantieteellisenä kokonaisuutena. Terra 53, 206–215. Edney M (1997). Mapping an empire: the geograph- ical construction of British India, 1765–1843. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Engman M (1989). Finland as a successor-state. In Engman M & D Kirby (eds). Finland: people, na- tion, state, 102–127. Hurst & Co, London. Eskola P (1941). Itä-Karjalan kallioperästä. Terra 53, 171–189. Fredrikson E (1993). Finland defined. A nation takes place on the map. Gummerus, Jyväskylä. Häkli J (1998a). Discourse in the production of polit- ical space: decolonizing the symbolism of prov- inces in Finland. Political Geography 17, 331–363. Häkli J (1998b). Manufacturing provinces: theoriz- ing the encounters between governmental and popular geographs in Finland. In Dalby S & G Ó Tuathail (eds). Rethinking geopolitics, 131–151. Routledge, London. Häkli J (1999). Cultures of demarcation: territory and national identity in Finland. In Herb, GH & D Kaplan (eds). Nested identities: identity, territory, and scale, 123–149. Rowman & Littlefield, Lan- ham. Fig. 4. Ernst Ambrosius: Velhagen & Klasings Kleiner Handatlas, Skandi- navien und Finnland, Übersicht. Bielefeld & Leipzig 1930. The terri- tory of Finland was the most exten- sive between the World Wars when the Petsamo area had been annexed by Finland in the peace treaty of Tartu in 1920. Finland returned to the family of Nordic countries in Eu- ropean atlases gradually during this period. (Reproduced from Fredrikson 1993: 114, with permission) FENNIA 180: 1–2 (2002) 81Mapping the historical sense of Finland Häkli J (2001). In the territory of knowledge: state- centered discourses and the construction of so- ciety. Progress in Human Geography 25, 403– 422. Harley B (1988). Maps, knowledge, and power. In Cosgrove D & S Daniels (eds). The iconography of landscape: essays on the symbolic representa- tion, design and use of past environments, 277– 312. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Harley B (1989). Deconstructing the map. Carto- graphica 26, 1–20. Herb G (1997). Under the map of Germany: nation- alism and propaganda 1918–1945. Routledge, London. Hroch M (1985). Social preconditions of national revival in Europe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Kärkkäinen L (1987). Suomen valtakunnan vanhat rajat ja itärajan käynti 1934. Maanmittaushal- lituksen julkaisu 59. Helsinki. Kosonen K (2000). Kartta ja kansakunta. Suomalai- nen lehdistökartografia sortovuosien protesteista Suur-Suomen kuviin 1899–1942. SKS, Helsinki. Latour B (1986). Visualization and cognition: think- ing with eyes and hands. Knowledge and Socie- ty 6, 1–40. Linkola K (1941). Suomalainen kasvimaailma jatkuu kauas itään. Terra 53, 194–203. Olwig KR (1987). Den forsvundne region. Kultur- geografiske haefter 35, 17–24. Paasi A (1990). The rise and fall of Finnish geopoli- tics. Political Geography Quarterly 9, 53–65. Paasi A (1992). The construction of socio-spatial con- sciousness. Geographical perspectives on the his- tory and contexts of Finnish nationalism. Nord- isk Samhällsgeografisk Tidskrift 15, 79–100. Paasi A (1996). Territories, boundaries and con- sciousness. John Wiley, Chichester. Räsänen M (1989). Kansankulttuuri kansakunnan identiteetin rakennuspuuna. In Korhonen T & M Räsänen (eds). Kansa kuvastimessa: etnisyys ja identiteetti, 10–28. SKS, Helsinki. Smith AD (1991). National identity. University of Nevada Press, Reno. Wood D (1992). The power of maps. Guilford, New York.