The Aland Islands
1939; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/141003
ISSN1944-8287
Autores Tópico(s)Arctic and Russian Policy Studies
Resumoknown as the Aland Islands, chiefly because of the romance associated with the Alands' windjammers, of which the story has been spread far and near by radio, newspapers, magazines, and books. Sailing ships, which make up the world's largest fleet of big sailing vessels carrying on long distance grain trade with the antipodes, sail out from Mariehamn, the capital of Aland, to Australia each year for wheat, and make the 12,000 mile return to the home port within the same twelve-month period. Location of the archipelago at the crossroads of the Baltic (Figure 1) has also focused world attention upon it, especially in recent years. Finland, to whom the League of Nations gave the Alands after the World War, and her neighbors, especially her strongest ones, Germany, Russia, and Sweden are all aware of the strategic value of the islands as naval and air bases in case of war. But the geography of the Aland Islands does not end with the study of the grain trade and strategic location alone. Farming and fishing are of far more importance to the inhabitants in making their living than the movement of wheat from Australia or the diplomatic gestures resulting from the strategic position of the archipelago in the Baltic. Recently the tourist industry has shown promise of supplementing the islanders' income, heretofore derived primarily from the harvests of land and sea. It is to bring out a more or less balanced view of the islands' geography that the writer undertakes this study-in short to give a better picture of the farming, fishing, tourism, and location and to lay less emphasis upon the better known wheat trade.
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