Southwest Finland or Finland Proper ( fi, Varsinais-Suomi; sv, Egentliga Finland; la, Ducatus Finlandiae Meridionalis) is a historical province in southwestern

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

, administered by its historic capital of

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

( sv, Åbo). It borders Satakunta, Tavastia, and

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, ...

. It is also bounded by the

Baltic sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

facing

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1,580 km2, and a populat ...

. There was also a modern

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

by the name Finland Proper. Southwest Finnish dialects are spoken in Southwest Finland.

Administration

Southwest Finland was within the boundaries of the administrative province of Turku and Pori from 1917 to 1997 and that of

Western Finland Western Finland ( fi, Länsi-Suomen lääni, sv, Västra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Oulu, Eastern Finland and Southern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Bothnia towards Åland. ...

from 1997 to 2009, when the provinces of Finland were abolished.

History

The province, which had been a part 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 13th century, separated when Finland was ceded to the Russian Empire in 1809. The

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

have no administrative function today but live on as a historical legacy in both countries. Originally "Finland" referred only to this region but later replaced the traditional

Österland Österland (''Eastland'') or Österlanden (''Easternlands''), one of the four traditional lands of Sweden, was a medieval term used for the southern part of Finland. The term occurs in documents approximately between 1350–1470 and gradually fe ...

("Eastern land") in meaning.

Heraldry

Arms 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 ('' Riksför ...

in 1560. The arms is crowned by a ducal coronet, though by Finnish tradition this more resembles a Swedish comital coronet. Blazon: "Gules, a crowned jousting helmet in front of two lances in saltire, all Or. On each lance is attached a forked hanging flag azure, charged with a Scandinavian cross Or." {{DEFAULTSORT:Southwest Finland(Historical Province) Historical provinces of Finland

Historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Western Finland Province Metropolitan or continental parts of states