The Åland Islands Question: Irredentism and Autonomism in the ‘Archipelago of Peace’

Abstract Lying in the Baltic sea, at the entrance of the Gulf of Bothnia, 70km from the Finnish coast and 36 km from that of Sweden, the archipelago of Aland is an autonomous Finnish province. What distinguishes the archipelago is its Swedish monolingualism, autonomous government recognized by international treaties, and demilitarization. This article proposes some reflections on the concept of sovereignty in Aland in the 20th century particularly on two key elements the island’s strategic position and its autonomy. After a historical overview of Aland in the 1800s, emphasizing their strategic relevance in the Baltic, I will focus on the irredentist period, in which emerged secessionist movement that called for the island’s anexation to Sweden.