Uusimaa (Swedish: ''Nyland''), is a historical province in the south of Finland. It borders

Finland Proper Southwest Finland, calqued as Finland Proper ( fi, Varsinais-Suomi ; sv, Egentliga Finland), is a region in the southwest of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Uusimaa, and Åland. The regi ...

, Tavastia, Savonia, and

Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...

. The English translation would be "new land". From the Middle Ages to 1809, most of the present-day Finland was a part of Sweden. Uusimaa (Nyland) was thus included also among the historical Swedish provinces.

History

Along with the rest of Southern and Western Finland, Uusimaa was ruled by the

Kingdom of Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

from the 12th or 13th century onwards. Coastal Uusimaa had earlier been semi-deserted, but was soon populated by Swedish settlers. All the provinces of Finland were

ceded The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdictio ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in September 1809, after the 1808-1809

Finnish War The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic ...

. Uusimaa became

Uudenmaan lääni The Province of Uusimaa ( fi, Uudenmaan lääni, sv, Nylands län) was a province of Finland from 1831 to 1997. It was established in 1831, when the County of Nyland and Tavastehus was divided into the Häme Province and Uusimaa Province. In ...

in the old lääni (province) system until 1997, when it was merged into the new administrative province of

Southern Finland Southern Finland ( fi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, sv, Södra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia. History O ...

. In 2010 the administrative provinces were abolished and Uusimaa was divided between two new

regions of Finland Finland is divided into 19 regions ( fi, maakunta; sv, landskap)., smn, eennâmkodde, and sms, mäddkåʹdd. The regions are governed by regional councils that serve as forums of cooperation for the Municipalities of Finland, municipalities ...

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, He ...

and

Eastern Uusimaa Eastern Uusimaa or, officially, Itä-Uusimaa ( fi, Itä-Uusimaa; sv, Östra Nyland; literally "Eastern New Land") was one of the 19 regions of Finland, until it consolidated with the region of Uusimaa on January 1, 2011. It bordered the regions o ...

. However, this arrangement lasted for only one year, and in 2011 Eastern Uusimaa was merged into Uusimaa, which now forms a single administrative unit once again.

Culture

Historically, coastal Uusimaa was a Swedish-speaking area. However, the capital of Finland,

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, and most of the other towns in Uusimaa now have Finnish-speaking majorities.

Heraldry

The arms of Uusimaa were granted at the burial of

Gustav I of Sweden Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföre ...

in 1560. The arms are crowned by a count's coronet, though by Finnish tradition this more resembles a Swedish baronial coronet. Blazon: "Azure, between two bars wavy argent, a boat with rudder, or."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uusimaa (Historical Province) Historical provinces of Finland