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Concept
Åland
Summary
Åland (ˈǒːland; Ahvenanmaa) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area (1,580 km2) and population (30,129), constituting 0.51% of Finland's land area and 0.54% of its population. Its only official language is Swedish and the capital city is Mariehamn.
Åland is situated in a Finnish archipelago, called the Åland Islands, at the entrance to the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea. It comprises Fasta Åland, on which 90% of the population resides, and about 6,500 skerries and islands to its east, of which about 60–80 are inhabited. Fasta Åland is separated from the coast of Roslagen in Sweden by of open water to the west. In the east, the Åland archipelago is contiguous with the Finnish archipelago. Åland's only land border is located on the uninhabited skerry of Märket, which it shares with Sweden. From Mariehamn, there is a ferry distance of about to Turku, a coastal city of mainland Finland, and also to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.
Åland's autonomous status means that those provincial powers normally exercised by representatives of the central Finnish Government are largely exercised by its own government. The current demilitarised, neutral position of Åland dates back to the Paris Peace Treaty after the Åland War in the 1850s.
Special member state territories and the European Union
The autonomous status of Åland was affirmed by a decision made by the League of Nations in 1921 following the Åland Islands dispute. It was reaffirmed within the treaty admitting Finland to the European Union. By law, Åland is politically neutral and entirely demilitarised, and residents are exempt from conscription to the Finnish Defence Forces. Åland was granted extensive autonomy by the Parliament of Finland in the Act on the Autonomy of Åland of 1920, which was later replaced by new legislation of the same name in 1951 and 1991. The constitution of Finland defines a "constitution of Åland" by referring to this act.
Official source
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