In the height of the Finnish War in the little town of Fredrikshamn, representatives from Sweden and Imperial Russia met to sign an important treaty and end the bloodshed caused by the conflict. After relinquishing the territory of Finland, their culture was challenged by a period of strong Russification.
On this day September 17th, in 1809 The Treaty of Fredrikshamn relinquishes the territory of what will become Finland to Russia. Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire until the end of 1917 when they declared independence. Like many cultures, Russia desired to impress its culture onto Finland, yet the Finnish managed to retain their own.
Modern day Finland is ranked 2nd in Gross National Happiness and has the lowest still births out of any other country. As one of the wealthiest countries in the world, they have the most free press available to the public in the world with over 200 newspapers and 2,100 professional magazines.