The Finn first migrated to what now is Finland during the first millennium B.C., and the first inhabitants in the country were the Sami, the Lapp people who were driven to far north into the Arctic regions, where they are now traditionally resident. Alexander I of Russia conquered Finland in the year 1809 and during 1809 to 1914, ended the Finn political power and Russian became the official language of Finland. Finland declared independence on December 6, 1917 after Russia was engulfed by the March Revolution in the year 1917.

Finland was attacked by USSR in November, 1939, since Finland refused to give in to USSR's territorial demands. The Finns were forced to cede about 16,000 square miles to USSR, after putting up a brave defense for three long months. Finland joined the Nazis under pressure from the Germans in the year 1941 and they lost the war against the Russians and ceded the Petsamo area to the USSR. A friendship and mutual assistance was signed by Finland and USSR in the year 1948. Finland continued to support their foreign policy of non-alignment throughout the cold-war era.

The culture in Finland has always been influenced by the Sweden and Russia. Though Finland has been influenced highly by the western culture, being part of Sweden long time back, none-the-less it has been a meeting point between the west and the east and has received the influences from both sides. Finland likes to retain an individual identity in their culture, which was born into the Finns from the 19th century. This culminated in the famous words, "we are not Swedes, and we do not wish to become Russian, so let us be Finns".

Finland has risen from relative poverty, which it was in during the early 20th century to the present day modern prosperous democracy. Equality is maintained in the culture of the Finns and any attempt to distinguish oneself to be better than the others, is viewed with hostility. Finns possess a greater stamina, will power and tenacity and face adverse situations in that manner.

Helsinki is the capital and the largest city of Finland. It lies on the the shore of the Gulf of Finland and located in the southern part of Finland. It has a population of 562,570, as per the census held in the year 2006 and contains the neighbouring cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen and together they form the capital region of Finland. Statistics show that Helsinki is one of the fastest growing city in the European Union and within the last decade it is estimated that 100,000 inhabitants have moved into greater Helsinki and the government statistics reveal that over 1.3 million people will be living within the region.

The city of Helsinki came into existence after Finland gained independence from Russia in 1917. The new Finland boomed during 1920's and 1930's, when modernisation and functionalism set in, fathered by one of the renowned and internationally acclaimed architect Alvar Aalto. The Olympic stadium, which was completed in 1938, brought Helsinki on to the world stage, though the games were postponed due to the war and were finally held there in 1952. The city still holds the record as being the smallest city in the world to host Olympic Games.

Pohjoisesplanadi, Aleksanterinkatu and Fredrikinkatu are the main shopping streets in Helsinki. You can find the best design stores if you take a walk at the Esplanadi, including Alvar Aalto's store, jewellery stores, cutting-edge furniture and accessory design stores, etc. If you take a trip in the Metro, a short ride from the city center will bring you to Itäkeskus, the largest shopping center in Finland. Helsinki has its big name stores in the New Kamp Gallery, adjacent to the hotel of the same name. You can get handicrafts and souvenir good in Kisaleff Bazaar where you will find specialised items of your choice.

The revival of the old style of buildings in Helsinki dates back to the first half of the 19th century, and was built by a native of Berlin. He was the main architect and was responsible for St Petersburg's architecture. The square is bordered by buildings and includes the white-domed Tuomiokirkko, a Lutheran cathedral, consecrated in 1852, the Government Palace and the University Library. In the centre of the square stands a statue of Tsar Alexander II, cast in 1894.

Located along Mannerheimintie in Helsinki, Kiasma, which was built during 1993-1998, is a contemporary art museum. When you visit the museum, you will find a display of contemporary art collection of the Finnish National Gallery, which was founded in 1990. Kiasma was designed by an American architect Steven Holl, who was selected from the 516 participants of a An architectural design competition, held to design a contemporary arts museum in Helsinki.

Mobile telephony has become a part of every one's life these days. Where-ever we go we have our cell phone with us. When you visit Finland you would be taking your cell phone with you. You have been on such visits in your past, even during the time when mobile telephony was not there. How did you communicate on phone at that time?

You had used the telephone in your hotel room to be in touch with your associates and your friends, abroad and locally and also with your family back home. You had no other option, but to use the telephone in your hotel room. The bill that you paid for your calls was exorbitant and way out of your budget that you had set for the purpose.

When mobile telephony was commercially made available, you had taken your phone on roaming, when you visited abroad. You had paid for your outgoing and incoming calls more than usual, since you were on roaming. In providing you with the roaming facility, your service provider has entered into a service agreement with the concerned service provider of the country that you are visiting. This is a contract which stipulates some financial aspects also. Very briefly, your service provider would need to pay the provider of the country that you are in, each time you make or receive a call. Therefore, the calls that you make and receive are charged more than usual when you are using your phone somewhere abroad and you are on roaming. All the charges reflect on your bill which you receive at the end of the month. Taking your cell phone on roaming is expensive, may be more than your calls from your hotel room.

A pre-paid SIM card for Finland saves you up to 80% of your phone call expenses. You get a local Finland number and you pay for your calls as the Finns do. All your incoming calls are free of charge, no matter where they generate from. You do not pay for roaming and you do not have to enter into any contract what-so-ever. You do not receive any bill at the end of the month. When you buy a pre-paid SIM card for Finland, you get a small talk time credit along with it, so that you can start making and receiving calls. As you finish your credit, you may replenish it by buying recharge coupons, which are available in practically any shop in cities of Finland. These vouchers are available in many denominations and you may choose the value of the talk time credit that you would want. Since you pre-pay for your calls, you remain aware of the expenses that you are incurring for the calls that you are making. For more information on pre-paid SIM card for Finland, visit www.planetomni.com/FAQ_sim.shtml

A Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card is of a size little smaller than a postage stamp and is the intelligent module in your cell phone, which lets you make and receive calls and provides you with other mobile facilities. It is a printed board circuit, consisting of a microprocessor and memory. The SIM card holds unique information about you and your phone, like, your SIM card number, your subscription information, the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of your mobile phone and other security details. When you switch on your phone, the information is transmitted to the nearest tower in the city that you are in. The network validates the information, completes the security checks and then logs you in. You are now ready to use your pre-paid SIM card for Finland and you can make or receive calls. The SIM card also holds your address book, where you keep the names of the people and their telephone numbers, who you call frequently. It also logs the incoming and outgoing calls and also the ones that you fail to answer. These numbers are logged by the SIM card along with the respective call time and dates.

For your visit to Finland, you would need a GSM cell phone, since the Networks in Finland operate on GSM frequency bands. If you have a GSM cell phone, it is highly unlikely that it would work in Finland, because North America, Canada and few other neighbouring countries work entirely on different frequency bands. These bandwidths are - 850MHZ and 1900MHZ frequency bands as compared to Finland which uses 900MHz and 1800MHz bandwidth. The world over, use different GSM frequency bands compared to the ones used in North America, Canada and few of the neighbouring countries, and in effect this what sets a part these countries from the rest of the world.

Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) is the first open architecture digital second generation (2G) mobile telephony technology, replacing the old first generation (1G) system. It was first developed in Europe and is now used over 214 countries with 80% subscribers amongst the mobile users in the world. GSM has four set of frequency bands - 850 MHz, 900 MHz, and 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz - which are distributed to different regions using GSM technology. Some of these bandwidths are commonly used by some of the countries. Cell phones are available in multi-frequency bands. The Quad-band is compatible with all the GSM bandwidths and can operate in any part of the world, in countries operating on GSM network. The Tri-band operates on 800MHz, 900MHz and 1800MHz frequency bands and is compatible with most of the GSM regions. The Dual-band responds to two frequency bands - 800MHz and 1900 MHz.

The GSM phone that you are taking along with your pre-paid SIM card for Finland, needs to be SIM unlocked, as otherwise you will not be able to operate your cell phone with the pre-paid SIM card or any other SIM card for that matter. A SIM locked phone is only meant for a particular SIM card and it would work only with that SIM card and none else. Just to site an example, suppose you sign a contract with your service provider and that contract has a clause which stipulates that you should be using the service for a definite period of time, which is usually one year. After you have completed the formalities, you would receive a cell phone, absolutely free of cost to you, and the SIM card. This cell phone is SIM locked. It is done so by the service provider, ensuring that you do not use the phone with any other SIM card till you have completed your contract period. After your contract period is over, your service provider helps you to unlock the cell phone, after which you can use your pre-paid SIM card for Finland or any other SIM card of your choice.

Therefore, when you visit Finland, you need to ensure two things. One that you have a compatible GSM phone to operate in the country and, two, that your phone is not SIM locked. If you are a frequent traveller abroad, visiting many countries, you would be better off in buying a cell phone which is bandwidth-wise compatible to the ones that you usually visit. If you do not travel frequently, it is economical for you to rent such a phone.

A pre-paid SIM card for Finland is not only affordable but a great savings too. With all your outgoing calls being charged at the local rate and with no charges for incoming calls, your savings can go up to 80% of the expenses that you would have incurred otherwise. Further you do not pay any roaming charges. Since you pre-pay for your calls, you can keep a track of the expenditure which helps you to remain within the budget that you have set for the purpose.

Cell phone use overseas. In 99% of the world the local cellular service standard is called GSM. We use this in the states as well. When combined with a SIM CARD (which usually goes under the battery of the phone) the phone is able to communicate and the SIM CARD also holds the telephone number and memory for pre-paid credit. Rates can be extremely low using this system. For example in 99% of all SIM CARDS incoming calls are free and calls to the states can cost a trifle. Such as, from the UK to the USA 7 cents/minute, from Israel 22 cents, from Australia 27 cents. Yes, USA Dollar cents! There are today even prepaid service providers in the USA offering rates of 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in the US to any type of phone. No contracts, no credit card checks, no bills. Pre-paid always means no minimums no contracts, no obligations. You only pay for the calls made. You'll need an unlocked GSM tri-band or quadband UNLOCKED phone. You can buy factory unlocked phones and sim cards for more than 170 of the 193 countries on earth from http://www.planetomni.com Tel. # 800-514-2984