Finland - Helsinki

listen (help·info)), or Helsingfors (in Swedish; listen (help·info)) is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 565,186 (30 April 2007)[1], making it the most populous municipality in Finland by a wide margin.

Helsinki is Finland's administrative center and the center of Finnish cultural life and business activity. There is a large and varied collection of museums, galleries, and performance spaces in the city. Many major company headquarters are in Helsinki.

Helsinki, along with the neighbouring cities of Vantaa, Espoo, and Kauniainen, constitutes what is known as the capital region, with over 1,000,000 inhabitants. The Greater Helsinki area contains several additional municipalities and has a population of 1,293,093.

Names and etymology

The Swedish name Helsingfors is the original name of the city of Helsinki, and is still the official Swedish name for the city. The Finnish name, Helsinki (pronounced with the stress on the first syllable: ['helsiŋki]), has been dominant in other languages for decades. The Swedish name Helsingfors comes from the name of the surrounding parish, Helsinge (source for Finnish Helsinki) and the rapids (in Swedish: fors), which flowed through the original town. It is often thought that the name Helsinge was given by the Swedish immigrants who came from the Swedish province of Hälsingland [1].

In Helsinki slang the town is also called Stadi (from the Swedish word stad, meaning city) and Hesa in colloquial Finnish. Helsset is the North Sami name of Helsinki.