It appears that the ancestors of the Sami were present in Finland by about 7000 BC. As other groups began to enter the area some 3,000 years later, the proto-Sami probably retreated northward. Archaeological remains suggest that this second wave of settlers came from or had contact with what was to become Russia and also Scandinavia and central Europe. Peoples of Uralic (specifically Finno-Ugric) stock dominated two settlement areas. Those who entered southwestern Finland across the Gulf of Finland were the ancestors of the Tavastlanders, the people of southern and western Finland; those who entered from the southeast were the Karelians. Scandinavian peoples occupied the western coast and archipelagoes and also the Aland Islands.

Finland has two national languages, Finnish and Swedish. The Swedish-speaking population, found mainly in the coastal area in the south, southwest, and west and in the Åland Islands (where Swedish is the sole official language), is slowly declining and constitutes roughly 5 percent of the total. Nearly all of the remainder speaks Finnish; the language is an important nationalist feature, although it is spoken in strong regional dialects. The Sami-speaking minority in the extreme north numbers some 6,000.