459 – A map of Finland

Card no 459 – Sini 

A map of Finland 

Country Card Sent From: Finland 

Place that Card Sender Lives: Lahti 

Date Received: 28th March 2013 

Distance Travelled: 1,191 miles 

Time Taken: 5 days 

A direct swap with Sini who lives in Lahti.

Lahti is a city and municipality in Finland and the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of Lake Vesijärvi about 60 miles north-east of the capital Helsinki.  In English, the Finnish word Lahti literally means bay and Vesijärvi means water lake.

The symbol of the city is a train wheel surrounded by sparkling flames.

At the end of 1905, the area that now comprises Lahti accommodated around 8,200 people of whom just under 3,000 lived in the city itself. All essential municipal institutions were built in just ten years, including a hospital and a city hall. At the same time, a rapid increase in brick houses was taking place in the centre of the city.  In the early 1920s the city gained possession of the grounds of the Lahti Manor, an important piece of land previously blocking the city from the lake. Large-scale industrial operations grew rapidly in the 1930s as did the population; Lahti, at the time, was one of Finland’s fastest-growing cities, and before the start of the Winter War with the Soviet Union (1939/1940) its population was approaching 30,000.

Through the addition of new areas in 1924, 1933 and 1956, Lahti grew, both in terms of population and surface area. Especially strong was the growth after the wars, when Lahti accepted about 10,000 immigrants from Karelia, after the region was surrendered to the Soviet Union, and then later in the 1960 and 70's as a result of mass urbanization. The population growth came to a sharp end in 1975.

Lahti is best known for its annually held World Cup winter games - the Lahti Ski Games. Some ski jumping events of the Lahti Ski Games are part of the Nordic Tournament.

Lahti can be seen marked on the map below -

The stamp was this super Easter hen.