| Description : The Åland Islands were part of the Swedish Empire
founded in the High Middle Ages ‐ at the same time as the Christianisation of Sweden. As a result of the Great
Northern War, the strategically important Åland came under Russian occupation in 1714, which led to the flight of a
large part of the Åland population to Sweden. The Russo‐Swedish War resulted in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn in
1809, in which Sweden ceded Finland, the Åland Islands and parts of Lapland and Västerbotten to Russia, which
formed the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland with its own administration under the rule of the Russian Tsar. After the
Russian February Revolution in 1917, the Finnish Civil War broke out at the end of January 1918 and efforts were made to
annex Åland to Sweden. The League of Nations decided on the 24th of June 1921 that the islands would remain
part of Finland, but that various guarantees would have to be given to safeguard the nationality, language and culture of
the Swedish‐speaking population of the islands: Åland became an autonomous region of Finland with Swedish as
the only official language. On the 20th of October 1921, an agreement on the demilitarisation and neutrality of
Åland was concluded in Geneva, signed by all the countries bordering the Baltic Sea except the Soviet Union. On the
3rd of April 1954, Åland received its own flag, and since 1984 it has had its own postage stamps. The
Åland government officially introduced AX as a nationality marker on the 19th of March 2010. The
commemorative coin, designed by Ulrika Kjeldsen, shows the calm surface of the southern Gulf of Bothnia between
Sweden and the Finnish mainland with archipelagos and cumulus clouds on the horizon. In the foreground is the bow of a
wooden boat and a hand holding a compass. Three stick‐shaped buoys bobbing in the water in the direction of travel
warn of shoals. Two lozenges ‐ symbolising cone‐shaped buoys ‐ separate the circular designation of the
issue occasion on the left and right: "ÅLANDS SJÄLVSTYRELSE 100 ÅR" at the top in Swedish,
"AHVENANMAAN ITSEHALLINTO 100 VUOTTA" (Åland self‐government 100 years) at the bottom in Finnish. On the
right is the year of issue "2021" and next to it the country abbreviation "FI" (Finland), on the left a lion (the heraldic
animal of Finland) the mint mark of the Finnish mint Suomen Rahapaja OY in Vantaa. |
