Turku/Åbo stay the capital of Finland.

yourworstnightmare

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The Russians wanted the Finnish capital to be closer to St. Petersburg, and further from Sweden, and they were in charge. Of course it was the Great Fire of Turku in 1827 that really killed Turku's chances, but by then the Russians had moved most of the administration to Helsinki anyways.

So with the Russians in charge Turku won't be the capital, however if you butterfly away the Great Fire of 1827 some government offices that hadn't already moved could have remained in Turku, as well as the University, which only moved to Helsinki after the fire.
 
I agree with yourworstnightmare.

One key to this discussion is the context. Is this Finland independent, or part of Sweden, Russia or some other nation? What are the borders, frex does this Finland have Karelia and how much of it?

If Finland stayed with Sweden, and eventually became independent, say around 1910-1950, Turku (Åbo) would be the natural national capital. Especially if this *Finland doesn't have "Old Finland" and Viipuri.

Like I remember arguing here before, this would mean that Finnish internal geography would be seriously different today. There would be a capital region around a Greater Turku, likely with satellite cities/towns like Espoo and Vantaa around Helsinki IOTL. This would be by and far the most developed part of the country, in terms of industry, communications etc. Because of no centre like Helsinki on the southern coast, Finland would in the 19th century develop around and along the Turku-Tampere (Tammerfors) axis: this would likely be the first railway line built in Finland (OTL: Helsinki - Hämeenlinna). The southern coast would have a few bigger ports, definitely, and maybe even at Helsingfors, called that because it could well have a Swedish-speaking majority. H-fors population in 2011: something like 60K. Think the OTL port town of Kotka.

This would be a more Swedish and West-oriented Finland. The coastal areas would be richer than IOTL, but the interior less developed: the Eastern part might be even more poor than it is/was IOTL, even though that East could be more West, especially in the South (think 1743 borders).
 
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