Finnish Lakeland

Finnish Lakeland or Finnish lake district (Finnish: Järvi-Suomi, "Lake Finland", Swedish: Insjöfinland) is the largest of the four landscape regions into which the geography of Finland is divided.

The hilly, forest-covered landscape of the lake plateau is dominated by drumlins and by long sinuous eskers. Both are glacial remnants after the continental glaciers that scoured and gouged the country's surface receded about 10,000 years ago.

The district occupies most of the central and East Finland and is bounded to the south by the Salpausselkä Ridges. These ridges are terminal moraines, which trap networks of thousands of lakes separated by hilly forested countryside.

The lake district turns into the Coastal Finland district to the West and Northwest, and is bounded by the Upland Finland to the North.

The lake landscape continues to the East and extends into Russia (Karelian Isthmus and Republic of Karelia). As a consequence, there is no natural border between the two countries.

Lakes occupy about 25 percent of the Lakeland. Much of the territory is forested and has a low population density. The cities in the region are Lappeenranta, Imatra, Jyväskylä, Mikkeli, Pieksämäki, Varkaus, Joensuu, Savonlinna and Kuopio. Since lakes formed the main transport route in earlier times, urban areas are often located on lakeshore, occasionally even on isthmuses or peninsulas, e.g. Varkaus, Savonlinna and Kuopio. The lakes often have extremely convoluted coastlines and consists of several nearly separate stretches of open water (selkä) connected by narrow sounds. Thus, they can connect large areas along shores and their hinterlands.

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