Fennoscandia


Fennoscandia or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical peninsula comprising the Scandinavian and Kola Peninsulas, mainland Finland, and Karelia. Administratively this roughly encompasses the mainlands of Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as Murmansk Oblast, much of the Republic of Karelia, and parts of northern Leningrad Oblast in Russia.
Its name comes from the Latin words Fennia and Scandia. The term was first used by the Finnish geologist Wilhelm Ramsay in 1898.
Geologically, the area is distinct because its bedrock is Archean granite and gneiss with very little limestone, in contrast to adjacent areas in Europe.
The similar term Fenno-Scandinavia is sometimes used as a synonym for Fennoscandia. Both terms are sometimes used in English to refer to a cultural or political grouping of Finland with Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, which is a subset of the Nordic countries.