History of Finland
The history of Finland begins around 9,000 BC during the end of the last glacial period. Stone Age cultures were Kunda, Comb Ceramic, Corded Ware, Kiukainen, and Pöljä cultures. The Finnish Bronze Age started in approximately 1,500 BC and the Iron Age started in 500 BC and lasted until 1,300 AD. Finnish Iron Age cultures can be separated into Finnish proper, Tavastian, and Karelian cultures. The earliest written sources mentioning Finland start to appear from the 12th century onwards when the Catholic Church started to gain a foothold in Southwest Finland.
Law of Finland
Due to transfer of sovereignty to Russia, a divergence from Swedish tradition begins from 1809. Important codifications were made during Imperial Russian sovereignty, e.g. the Criminal Code was promulgated by Czar Alexander III in 1889. There was a Finnish parliament, the Diet of Finland, convened in 1809 and dissolved in 1906. The Diet was actually active only from 1863; in 1809-1863 the country was governed by administrative means only. Towards the end of the 19th century, the Imperial Russian government began restricting Finnish autonomy, and often refused to give Royal Assent. The Diet was replaced by the modern Parliament of Finland ("eduskunta") in 1906. After independence in 1917, the Constitution of Finland was promulgated in 1919. The constitution received numerous amendments, scattered over multiple different acts, over the 20th century. In 2000, a rewritten, uniform version was promulgated to replace them.