1865–1967 Edit

Rolls of toilet paper produced by Nokia in the 1960s, Museum Centre Vapriikki, Tampere

Nokia's history dates to 1865, when Finnish-Swede mining engineer Fredrik Idestam established a pulp
mill near the town of Tampere, Finland (then in the Russian Empire). A second pulp mill was opened in
1868 near the neighboring town of Nokia, offering better hydropower resources. In 1871, Idestam,
together with friend Leo Mechelin, formed a shared company from it and called it Nokia Ab (in Swedish,
Nokia Company being the English equivalent), after the site of the second pulp mill.

Idestam retired in 1896, making Mechelin the company's chairman. Mechelin expanded into electricity
generation by 1902 which Idestam had opposed. In 1904 Suomen Gummitehdas (Finnish Rubber
Works), a rubber business founded by Eduard Polón, established a factory near the town of Nokia and
used its name.

In 1922, Nokia Ab entered into a partnership with Finnish Rubber Works and Kaapelitehdas (the Cable
Factory), all now jointly under the leadership of Polón. Finnish Rubber Works company grew rapidly
when it moved to the Nokia region in the 1930s to take advantage of the electrical power supply, and
the cable company soon did too.

Nokia at the time also made respirators for both civilian and military use, from the 1930s well into the
early 1990s.[23]

1967–1990 Edit

LV 317M military radio in the Hämeenlinna artillery museum

In 1967, the three companies – Nokia, Kaapelitehdas and Finnish Rubber Works – merged and created a
new Nokia Corporation, restructured into four major businesses: forestry, cable, rubber and electronics.
In the early 1970s, it entered the networking and radio industry. Nokia also started making military
equipment for Finland's defence forces (Puolustusvoimat), such as the Sanomalaite M/90 communicator
in 1983, and the M61 gas mask first developed in the 1960s. Nokia was now also making professional
mobile radios, telephone switches, capacitors and chemicals.
After Finland's trade agreement with the Soviet Union in the 1960s, Nokia expanded into the Soviet
market. It soon widened trade, ranging from automatic telephone exchanges to robotics among others;
by the late 1970s the Soviet Union became a major market for Nokia, helping to yield high profits. Nokia
also co-operated on scientific technology with the Soviet Union. The U.S. government became
increasingly suspicious of that co-operation after the end of the Cold War détente in the early 1980s.
Nokia imported many US-made components and used them for the Soviets, and according to U.S.
Deputy Minister of Defence, Richard Perle, Nokia had a secret co-operation with The Pentagon that
allowed the U.S. to keep track of technology developments in the Soviet Union through trading with
Nokia.[24] This was a demonstration of Finland trading with both sides, as it was neutral during the Cold
War.

In 1977, Kari Kairamo became CEO and he transformed the company's businesses. By this time, Finland
was becoming what has been called "Nordic Japan". Under his leadership Nokia acquired many
companies including television maker Salora in 1984, followed by Swedish electronics and computer
maker Luxor AB in 1985, and French television maker Oceanic in 1987. This made Nokia the third-largest
television manufacturer of Europe (behind Philips and Thomson). The existing brands continued to be
used until the end of the television business in 1996.