20% of the population in Upplands Väsby is Swedenfinnish. This means they are Finns living in Sweden. This series of caches introduce you to Finnish activities, some more crazy than others!
About 74 % of Finland is covered with forest. This makes Finland Europe´s most heavily forested country. Finland has over sixteen times more forest per capita than in European countries on average. Finnish people have lived with the forest and from the forest throughout history.
Somewhere around 1580 so called Forest Finns (Skogsfinnarna) moved to Sweden. They used the ancient forestry technique of Slash and burn to gain land to grow crops on. It was all simple. A group of Finns went far into the woods. There they burnt areas of forest and started to grow crops. They were very successful. The Finns were welcomed and encouraged by the kings to inhabit the areas where Swedes did not live. Finns got 7, nice, tax free years so they could settle well.
However in 1647 slash and burn technique was forbidden in law and the Finns were forced to supply Swedish iron industry with cheap charcoal instead. Finnish language was forbidden and the Forest Finns were forced to assimilate in the Swedish culture. Today the Forest Finns language is extinct, but the culture lives on, especially in Finnmarkerna in Dalecarlia (Dalarna) and Värmland. Swedenfinns today are very proud of the Forest Finns.