Uusimaa, or Nyland (both names mean “new land”) in Swedish, is a region in Finland. It borders the regions Finland Proper, Tavastia Proper, Päijänne Tavastia and Kymenlaakso. Finland’s capital Helsinki and its second largest city Espoo are both located centrally in Uusimaa, making it by far the most populous region.

History

Uusimaa/Nyland was, along with the rest of Southern and Western Finland, held by the Kingdom of Sweden from the 12th or 13th century.

The coastal Uusimaa had earlier been sparsely populated, mostly by Tavastians, but was from the 12th century populated by Swedish settlers, mostly from Hälsingland, and Swedish-speaking villages came up near the mouths of Vantaanjoki and Keravanjoki.

The names ''Uusimaa'' and ''Nyland'' mean “new land” in English. The Swedish-language name ''Nyland'' appears in the documents from the 14th century. The Finnish-language name ''Uusimaa'' appears for the first time in 1548 as ''Wsimaa'' in the first translation of the New Testament to Finnish by Mikael Agricola.

The Finnish provinces were ceded to Imperial Russia in the War of Finland in 1809. After this, Uusimaa became the Province of Uusimaa/Nyland of the old lääni system. From 1997 to 2010, Uusimaa was a part of the Province of Southern Finland. It has been divided in the regions of Uusimaa and Eastern Uusimaa. In 2011, two regions were merged.

Languages

The region, especially coastal areas, is traditionally Swedish-speaking, the traditional regional dialects of Swedish ''(nyländska)'' are currently mostly spoken in Eastern Uusimaa, while in the rest of Uusimaa/Nyland Swedish language became more standardised.

The Finnish-speaking population started to grow when the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland was moved from Turku to Helsinki by Emperor of Russia Alexander I in 1812, and the region attracted settlers from other parts of Finland. Helsinki's stadin slangi of Finnish first evolved in the late 19th century.

7.7% of population of the region speak languages other than Finnish or Swedish as native.

Regional Council

Municipalities

Raseborg Sub-region:

Porvoo Sub-region:

Loviisa Sub-region:

Media

Newspapers

Radio stations

Heraldry

Uusimaa/Nyland received its coat of arms at the end of the 16th century. There is an image of the coat of arms made in 1599. In 1997, the traditional coat of arms became the official coat of arms of the region.

References

External links

Category:Regions of Finland

He left the show in the spring of 2007 in order to run for the Parliament of Finland. Running as a Social Democrat Party candidate, he secured a nomination with 4,972 votes.

Tabermann came from a bilingual Swedish-Finnish family, both languages having been spoken in his childhood home. Despite being bilingual he wrote all his books in Finnish.

In August 2009 Tabermann was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and he died on July 2, 2010. Tabermann was first and foremost known as a love poet, and was actually sometimes referred to as an "apostle of love". His good friend and ''Uutisvuoto'' co-team captain Jari Tervo wrote of his feelings for Tabermann with the following words: "Now I personally know what the price of love is: it is sorrow."

A biography of Tabermann is due to be published in the autumn of 2010.

Bibliography

References

Category:1947 births Category:2010 deaths Category:People from Raseborg Category:Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Category:Finnish poets Category:Swedish-speaking Finns Category:Deaths from brain cancer Category:Cancer deaths in Finland

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984) was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B; charts for seven weeks. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million copies. Three years later, Elvis Presley recorded his version, based on a version performed by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. In a similar occurrence, she wrote and recorded "Ball 'n' Chain," which became a hit for her. Janis Joplin later recorded "Ball and Chain," and was a huge success in the late 1960s.

Biography

Early life

She was also a self-taught drummer and harmonica player, and frequently played each instrument onstage.

Career

Thornton's account was, that Johnny was sitting with girlfriend Olivia on his lap, waving his pistol around, pointing it at Willie Mae. "Don't snap that on me," she told him. Johnny grinned and put the gun to Olivia's head. "Stop that, Johnny, you'll git someone killed," Willie Mae shouted at him. "Nothin' to worry about," Johnny replied, coolly, "ain't but one bullet here and I know exactly where it is." He turned the gun on himself, put it to his temple and pulled the trigger.

Her career began to fade in the late 1950s and early 1960s. She left Houston and relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she mostly played local blues clubs.

In 1966, Thornton recorded ''Big Mama Thornton With The Muddy Waters Blues Band'', with Muddy Waters (guitar), Sammy Lawhorn (guitar), James Cotton (harmonica), Otis Spann (piano), Luther Johnson (bass guitar), and Francis Clay (drums). Songs included "Everything Gonna Be Alright", "Big Mama's Blues", "I'm Feeling Alright", "Big Mama's Bumble Bee Blues", "Looking The World Over", "Big Mama's Shuffle", and "Since I Fell For You", amongst others.

Her ''Ball 'n' Chain'' album in 1968, recorded with Lightnin' Hopkins (guitar) and Larry Williams (vocals), included the songs "Hound Dog", "Wade in the Water", "Little Red Rooster", "Ball 'n' Chain", "Money Taker", and "Prison Blues".

One of Thornton's last albums was ''Jail'' (1975) for Vanguard Records. It captured her performances during a couple of mid 1970s concerts at two northwestern prisons. She became the talented leader of a blues ensemble that featured sustained jams from George "Harmonica" Smith, as well as guitarists Doug Macleod, B. Huston and Steve Wachsman, drummer Todd Nelson, saxophonist Bill Potter, bassist Bruce Sieverson, and pianist J.D. Nicholson.

Thornton performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966 and 1968, and at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1979. In 1965 she performed with the American Folk Blues Festival package in Europe. While in England that year, she recorded ''Big Mama Thornton in Europe'' and followed it up the next year in San Francisco with ''Big Mama Thornton with the Chicago Blues Band''. Both albums came out on the Arhoolie label. Thornton continued to record for Vanguard, Mercury, and other small labels in the 1970s and to work the blues festival circuit until her death in 1984, the same year she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

During her career, she appeared on stages from New York City's Apollo Theater in 1952 to the Newport Jazz Festival in 1980, and was nominated for the Blues Music Awards six times. In addition to "Ball 'n' Chain" and "They Call Me Big Mama," Thornton wrote twenty other blues songs.

In the 1970s years of heavy drinking began to hurt Ms. Thornton's health. She was in a serious auto accident and recovered to perform at the 1983 Newport Jazz Festival with Muddy Waters, B. B. King, and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, a recording of which is called The Blues—A Real Summit Meeting on Buddha Records. Ms. Thornton died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on July 25, 1984, at age 57.

Legacy

Thornton is also the namesake of the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls.

Discography

References

External links

Category:African American female singers Category:1926 births Category:1984 deaths Category:American blues singers Category:American female singers Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Montgomery, Alabama Category:Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery Category:Vanguard Records artists Category:Texas blues musicians Category:West Coast blues musicians

See also