Background

It was some 9 000 years ago, as the most recent Ice Age was receding that hunters and fishers began to spread into what is now known as Finland. Game, firewood and construction timber and wood for implements and weapons were obtained from the forests, as also were berries and material for making clothing and footwear. Furs were traded in exchange for salt and jewellery. Hunting and fishing were the principal sources of livelihood for thousands of years.

Farming in the region now known as Finland began about 4 000 years ago, in the form of swidden cultivation, and evolved into permanent field cultivation in south-western Finland during the Bronze Age, about 3 500 years ago. Swidden cultivation nevertheless persisted in eastern Finland and in the southern parts of northern Finland up to the early 1900s.

Finns lives together with the nature.