History

Åland flag between Finnish and Swedish flags

davidx

The odd position of Åland constitutionally takes a bit of history to start explaining it. Whereas Ålanders saw themselves as Swedish over many centuries, actual control switched between Sweden and Russia as their fortunes in was altered. Russia gained control for the last time in 1809 and this lasted until Finland declared independence from Russia in 1917 when the new state saw Åland as a part.

As Ålanders still wanted to revert to integration into Sweden and were not unduly beguiled by Finnish offers of autonomy, the question was referred to the League of Nations who determined that Finland should retain sovereignty but that Åland should be autonomous, monolingual [Swedish only, unlike the mainland of Finland which is bilingual, both Finnish and Swedish being official languages] and completely demilitarised..

Since 1920 there have been further Autonomy Acts which have strengthened Åland's position and the Province now has its own flag, stamps and radio/TV provision.