Mapping the historical sense of Finland

Abstract

The article looks at the development of cartographic representations of Finland from a social constructionist perspective. The image of Finland, as portrayed on maps, has contributed significantly to the Finnish nation-building process. As a medium for the dissemination of information, maps have enabled the broad popularisation of the idea of Finland as a unified territory and nation. Maps have also helped to build the sense of Finnishness by representing the country in exclusively Finnish terms, e.g., with Finnish place names. Finally, maps build the sense of a continuous national history by situating political and cultural events and portraying these in a timeless manner. In all, maps are powerful representations that should be assessed as agents of change
rather than passive objects.