Founding of Helsinki

Date: June 12, 1550 • Location: Helsinki, Finland

The city of Helsinki, Finland (belonging to Sweden at the time) is founded by King Gustav I of Sweden.

Helsinki, until about 1930 known in English by its Swedish name of Helsingfors, is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About 694,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.3 million in the capital region and 1.6 million in the metropolitan area. As the most populous urban area in Finland, it is the country's most significant centre for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages.