When the continental glacier melted at the end of the last Ice Age, almost all of Finland except for Eastern and Northern Finland was covered by water.

When the ice gave way to bare soil, plants began to spread from the east to take over the rocky till. The ground was first dominated by mosses and lichens. After a while, other plants such as grasses and heathers began to spread into Finland, making the soil suitable for tree growth.

The coniferous taiga forests found in Finland today have developed only after the Ice Age. Birch was among the first tree species to spread into Finland, arriving approximately 11 500 years ago. Pine spread to the peninsula a thousand years later. Spruce was the last of our native tree species to spread to Finland, arriving only approximately 5 000 years ago.

The Finnish climate has experienced significant changes even after the Ice Age. The warmest period in Finnish history after the Ice Age was experienced during the comb ceramic period (approximately 4 000 BCE), during which Finland was home to various broadleaf tree species, and the climatic conditions were similar to those found in modern Central Europe. However, the climate began to cool down a couple of thousand years ago, resulting in changes in the Finnish forests. The climate has began to warm once again recently, as a result of human-caused climate change.


Spruce trees spread to Finland only a few thousand years ago.