摘要:This article is an introduction to the Fennia volume dedicated to scientific, physical and biogeographical studies concerning two adjoining National Parks on both sides of the Fenno-Russian border: Oulanka and Paanajärvi. The articles in the volume are meant to afford a background to the importance of the Paanajärvi – Oulanka region as an immigration route for biota across the vast barrens of the northern taiga. A short vocabulary of some important Finnish geographical terms is presented.