Helsinki, Finland History

According to NEOVIDEOGAMES, Helsinki was founded in 1550, as a “rival” to the Hanseatic city of Reval (today known as Tallinn, the capital of Estonia) by King Gustav I of Sweden. The first town was plagued by poverty, war, and disease. For a long time it remained an unimportant coastal town, overshadowed by the major commercial centers of the Baltic Sea.

The construction of the port fortress of Sveaborg (nowadays known as Suomenlinna, literally Fortress of Finland) increased the status of the city, but it was not until Russia defeated Sweden in the Finnish War and annexed Finland as the Grand Duchy of Finland Helsinki truly began to change.

To help reduce Swedish influence, Tsar Alexander I of Russia moved the Finnish capital from the city of Turku (also known as Åbo) to Helsinki. The Åbo Academy, the only university in the country, was also relocated to Helsinki in 1827 and eventually became the University of Helsinki. These changes consolidated the city into an entirely new role, and the following decades saw unprecedented growth and development in Helsinki, creating the prerequisites for the birth of a world-class capital city in the 20th century.

These transformations can be admired especially in the historic center of Helsinki, which was rebuilt in a neoclassical style to make it look like Saint Petersburg. And as elsewhere, technological advancements such as industrialization and the railroad were a key factor behind the growth.

In the Finnish Civil War of 1918, most of Helsinki fell to the Red Guard along with the rest of southeastern Finland, after a brief period of fighting in January. The Senate was relocated to the city of Vaasa, although some officers and senators remained in hiding in the capital. After the course of the war turned against the Red Guard, German troops, fighting on the side of the Finnish White Guard, recaptured Helsinki in April. Contrary to Tampere Helsinki suffered relatively little damage during the war. After the victory of the White Troops, many soldiers and collaborators of the Red Guard were confined in prisons throughout the country, the largest of them (with capacity for approximately 13,300 prisoners) being the old naval fortress on the island of Suomenlinna in Helsinki. Although the civil war left a considerable mark on society, the quality of life in the country and in the city began to increase during the following decade. Renowned architects such as Eliel Saarinencreated utopian plans for the city, but they were never fully realized.

In the aerial bombardments of the Winter War (1939 – 1940) and the Continuation War (1941 – 1944) Helsinki was attacked by Soviet forces. The biggest attacks took place in the spring of 1944, when more than a thousand Soviet warplanes dropped more than 16,000 bombs in the vicinity of the city. However, thanks to successful air defense, the city was spared a large-scale destruction that other cities in Europe suffered under bombardments of a similar scale. Few bombs reached populated areas.

Although much of the first half of the 20th century was a violent period in Helsinki, the city continued to grow and develop. Modern post-war urbanization in the 1970s, which occurred relatively late within the European context, tripled the population of the metropolitan area, making the Helsinki Metropolitan Area one of the fastest growing in the European Union during the 1990s.

Health

Health centers offer, among other things, consultations with doctors, nurses and health assistants. The health centers also offer psychiatric, internal illness, health care for the elderly, and special health care services for neurology and physiatry.

Guard service

At night and on weekends the health centers are closed. During that time, cases of acute illnesses and accidents are treated at the health center’s on-call service (Monday through Friday from 4 to 10 p.m., on weekends and holidays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.) or at the on-call service at hospital polyclinics (24 hours a day).

For adults, the on-call service of the health center is at the Malmi Hospital (the residents of Helsinki from the East, Southeast, Northeast and North) and at the Haartman Hospital (the residents of Helsinki from the South, West and Center).

Declaration of Helsinki

Adopted by the 18th World Medical Assembly Helsinki, Finland, June 1964 and amended by the 29th World Medical Assembly Tokyo, Japan, October 1975. The World Medical Association has promulgated the Declaration of Helsinki as a proposal for ethical principles that serve to guide physicians and others conducting medical research on human beings.

Illustrious people

• Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1832 – 1901) – Scientist
• Helene Schjerfbeck (1862 – 1946) – Painter
• Artturi Ilmari Virtanen (1895 – 1973) – Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• Paavo Nurmi (1897 – 1973) – Finnish athlete winning 9 gold medals and 3 silver at the Olympics in 1920, 1924 and 1928.
• Ragnar Granit (1900 – 1991) – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Mika Waltari (1908 – 1979) – Writer
• Tarja Halonen (1943 -) – President of the Republic of Finland 2000 – 2012
• Aki Kaurismaki (1957 -) – Internationally recognized filmmaker
• Esa-Pekka Salonen (1958 -) – Conductor and composer
• Linus Torvalds (1969 -) – Linux creator programmer
• Ville Valo (1976 -) – Vocalist and leader of the band HIM
• Lauri Ylönen (1979 -) – Vocalist and leader of the band The Rasmus
• Kimi Räikkönen (1979 -) – Ferrari Formula 1 driver
• Eicca Toppinen (1975 -) – Lead cellist of the band Apocalyptica
• Tuomas Holopainen (1976 -) – Composer, keyboardist, founder and leader of the band Nightwish
• Jari Mäenpää (1977 -) – Composer, guitarist. Former Ensiferum guitarist and vocalist and founder and current leader of Wintersun
• Jyrki Linnankivi (1968 -) – Vocalist and leader of the band The 69 Eyes.