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The historical provinces (Finnish: maakunnat or provinssit – singular maakunta or provinssi, Swedish: landskap) of Finland is a legacy of the country's joint history with Sweden. The provinces ceased to be an administrative entity already in 1634 when they were superseded by the Counties, a reform which remained in force in Finland until 1997. The provinces remain as a tradition but have no administrative function today. The spread of dialects of Finnish language approximately follow their borders.

Finland was ceased by Sweden to Russia at the Treaty of Hamina in 1809. Finland declared its independence in 1917 following the Russian revolution.

At the funeral of King Gustav Vasa in 1560 the coats of arms for the provinces were displayed together for the first time and several of them had been granted for that particular occasion. After the separation of Finland from Sweden in 1809 the traditions for the provincial arms has somewhat diverged. Finland maintains the distinction between Ducal and Countal dignity shown in the coronets for arms of the historical provinces while all the Swedish provinces carry the Swedish style Dukal coronet since 1884. The division of Lapland also necessitated a distinction between the Finnish and the Swedish coats arms.

During the reign of king Karl IX there was emigration from Savo to the western parts of Sweden and eastern Norway, to the Finnskogen or "Finnish forest." The dialect was preserved in an old form in this areas until the last speakers died in the 1960s.

The coats of arms of the historical provinces has served as a basis for the arms of newer administrative divisions.

First name in the parentheses is the Finnish name and the second is the Swedish.

• Finland Proper (Varsinais-Suomi, Egentliga Finland)
• Laponia (Lappi, Lappland)
• Karelia (Karjala, Karelen)
• Ostrobothnia (Pohjanmaa, Österbotten)
• Satakunta (Satakunta, Satakunda)
• Savonia (Savo, Savolaks)
• Tavastia (Häme, Tavastland)
• Uusimaa (Uusimaa, Nyland)
• Åland (Ahvenanmaa, Åland)

A narrow strip of pre-1809 Westbothnia (which then included what is now considered to be Northbothnia at the border to Finland) stretched across to the eastern side of Torne River and fell within Finland's borders at the Treaty of Hamina. Finnish is spoken on both sides of the current border. The Far Northern Finnish dialect spoken in Sweden is called meänkieli, although linguistically it belongs to the Far Northern dialects.

The spread of dialects of Finnish language approximately follow the borders of the provinces. However, the correlation is not perfect; see, for example, this map [1]. In Satakunta, Southwestern dialects are spoken in the coast and Häme dialects are spoken inland; an intermediate dialect is spoken in the border region. Finnish-speakers in Uusimaa speak Tavastian dialects, but there is a significant proportion of Swedish-speakers. Also, the southern coastal area of Ostrobothnia, the current Pohjanmaa region, is traditionally Swedish-speaking. Far Northern dialects of Finnish are spoken in Lapland. Savo Finnish spread to a larger area than the historical province. Northern parts of Häme are Savo-speaking. There is a peninsula of Savo Finnish, the "Savo-speaker wedge", in Ostroborthnia around Ähtäri. Also, northern Finnish Karelia is Savo-speaking, as is the eastern region of Kainuu in historical Ostrobothnia.

• Lists of unofficial regions by country
• Historical provinces of Sweden and Finland
• Österland
• Norrland
• Provinces of Finland
• Regions of Finland

• Finnish provinces at Flags of the World.