It borders the regions of Satakunta, Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Uusimaa, and Åland.

In historic times, in the area of the present Southern Finland lived three tribes, which were the Finns proper, the Tavastians and the Karelians.

The southwestern part of the country, the province where the Finns proper lived, was simply called Finland (Finnish: Suomi).

The modern form Egentliga Finland was in official use at the end of the century, and the Finnish term Varsinais-Suomi became established only around the 1850s.

[8] The region of Southwest Finland consists of 27 municipalities, 11 of which have city status (marked in bold).