Year 1809 (Märkesåret 1809 in Swedish and Merkkivuosi 1809 in Finnish, literally meaning "The Significant Year 1809") was a joint Swedish/Finnish government project about the 2009 bicentennial of the division of Sweden, when Sweden had to cede Finland to Russia. Both Sweden and Finland observed the bicentennial with various activities,[1][2] which showed both the history of the partition and the close connection between the two countries since the mid 13th century.