Uusimaa

Uusimaa (Nyland ; both lit. "new land") is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland (Varsinais-Suomi), Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland’s capital and largest city, Helsinki, along with the surrounding Greater Helsinki area, are both contained in the region, which makes Uusimaa Finland's most populous region. The population of Uusimaa is 1,638,469.

History
In ancient times, coastal Uusimaa was populated by Sami people. The place name of Nuuksio derives from Sami word njukča which means Swan. Later Finns proper and Tavastians inhabited the area. Some place names have traces of Tavastian village names, like Konala which likely derives from older Tavastian village name Konhola. Estonians inhabited the region to a smaller extent, specifically for seasonal fishing.

Swedish colonisation of coastal Uusimaa started after the second crusade to Finland in the 13th century. The colonisation was part of converting pagan areas to Catholicism. Eastern Uusimaa had its first Christian Swedish colonialists earlier than the western part, which got its colonialists in one mass transfer of people to Porvoo in the 14th century. The colonisation was supported by the Swedish kingdom and the immigrants were provided with grain seeds and cattle. They also got a four-year tax exemption from the crown. All the Swedish placenames of Uusimaa date back to this period.

The names Uusimaa and Nyland meaning “new land” in English derives from the Swedish colonisation era. The Swedish-language name Nyland appears in the documents from the 14th century. The Finnish-language name Uusimaa appears for the first time in 1548 as Wsimaa in the first translation of the New Testament to Finnish by Mikael Agricola.

The Finnish provinces were ceded to Imperial Russia in the War of Finland in 1809. After this, Uusimaa became the Province of Uusimaa of the old lääni system. From 1997 to 2010, Uusimaa was a part of the Province of Southern Finland. It has been divided in the regions of Uusimaa and Eastern Uusimaa. In 2011, the two regions were merged.

Languages
Uusimaa is a bilingual region, with municipalities both bilingual in Finnish and Swedish, and monolingual in Finnish. Uusimaa's coastal areas tend to be Swedish-speaking. The traditional regional dialects of Swedish (nyländska) are currently mostly spoken in Eastern Uusimaa, while in the rest of the Uusimaa Swedish dialect has become more standardised.

The Finnish-speaking population started to grow when the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland was moved from Turku to Helsinki by Emperor of Russia Alexander I in 1812, and the region attracted settlers from other parts of Finland. Helsinki's slang first evolved in the late 19th century. 8,5% of population of the region speak the Swedish language natively.

Regional council
The regional council is the main governing body for region and focuses primarily on urban planning. Like all regional councils, it is mandated by law.

Municipalities
The region of Uusimaa is made up of 26 municipalities, of which 13 have city status (marked in bold).

Helsinki Sub-region:
 * Espoo.vaakuna.svg Espoo (Esbo)
 * Helsinki.vaakuna.svg Helsinki (Helsingfors)
 * Hyvinkaa.vaakuna.svg Hyvinkää (Hyvinge)
 * Jarvenpaa.vaakuna.svg Järvenpää (Träskända)
 * Kauniainen.vaakuna.svg Kauniainen (Grankulla)
 * Kerava.vaakuna.svg Kerava (Kervo)
 * Kirkkonummi.vaakuna.svg Kirkkonummi (Kyrkslätt)
 * Mäntsälä.vaakuna.svg Mäntsälä
 * Nurmijarvi.vaakuna.svg Nurmijärvi
 * Pornainen.vaakuna.svg Pornainen (Borgnäs)
 * Sipoo.vaakuna.svg Sipoo (Sibbo)
 * Siuntio.vaakuna.svg Siuntio (Sjundeå)
 * Tuusula.vaakuna.svg Tuusula (Tusby)
 * Vantaa.vaakuna.svg Vantaa (Vanda)
 * Karkkila.vaakuna.svg Karkkila (Högfors)
 * Lohja.vaakuna.svg Lohja (Lojo)
 * Vihti.vaakuna.svg Vihti (Vichtis)

Raseborg Sub-region: Loviisa Sub-region: Porvoo Sub-region:
 * Hanko.vaakuna.svg Hanko (Hangö)
 * Inkoo.vaakuna.svg Ingå (Inkoo)
 * Raasepori.vaakuna.svg Raseborg (Raasepori)
 * Lapinjärvi.vaakuna.svg Lapinjärvi (Lappträsk)
 * Loviisa.vaakuna.svg Loviisa (Lovisa)
 * Askola.vaakuna.svg Askola
 * Myrskylä.vaakuna.svg Myrskylä (Mörskom)
 * Pukkila.vaakuna.svg Pukkila
 * Porvoo.vaakuna.svg Porvoo (Borgå)

Newspapers
The largest subscription newspapers published in the region are Helsingin Sanomat and Hufvudstadsbladet in Helsinki, Aamuposti in Hyvinkää, Länsi-Uusimaa in Lohja, Loviisan Sanomat and Östra Nyland in Loviisa, Uusimaa and Borgåbladet in Porvoo, Västra Nyland in Raseborg, and Keski-Uusimaa in Tuusula. Also two popular tabloid newspapers, Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat, are published there.

Radio stations
Yle's local radio stations in the western part of the region are Finnish-language Ylen läntinen and Swedish-language Yle Vega Västnyland, in the Capital Region Finnish-language Yle Radio Suomi Helsinki and Swedish-language Yle Vega Huvudstadsregionen, and in the eastern part Finnish-language Yle Radio Itä-Uusimaa and Swedish-language Yle Vega Östnyland.

Heraldry


The coat of arms of the region shows a yellow boat which is a symbol for the coastal areas, and two silver streams which are the symbol for rivers.

Uusimaa received its coat of arms at the end of the 16th century. There is an image of the coat of arms made in 1599. In 1997, the traditional coat of arms became the official coat of arms of the region.