Various regions may be called Karelia.Finnish Karelia is a historical province of Finland and is now divided between Finland and Russia, often called justKarjala in Finnish. The eastern part of this chieflyLutheran area was ceded to Russia after theWinter War of 1939–40.
The border between Karelia andIngria, the land of the closely relatedIngrian people, had originally been theNeva River itself but later on it was moved northward into the Karelian isthmus to follow theSestra River (Russian:Сестра), today in theSaint Petersburg metropolitan area, but in 1812–1940 the Russo-Finnish border.
On the other side ofLake Ladoga, theRiver Svir is usually thought of as the traditional southern border of Karelian territory whileLake Onega and theWhite Sea mark the Eastern border. TheRiver Kymi marks the historic western border of Karelian territory as it served as the boundary between theHäme Finns and the Karelians during theMiddle Ages.[2] The River Kymi is also said to have formed a boundary between the eastern and western cultural spheres by the beginning of theBronze Age at the latest.[3] In the North lived thenomadicSamis, but there were no natural borders except for large wooded areas (taiga) and thetundra.
In historical texts, Karelia is sometimes divided intoEast Karelia andWest Karelia, which are also calledRussian Karelia andFinnish Karelia respectively. The area to the north of Lake Ladoga which belonged to Finland beforeWorld War II is called Ladoga Karelia, and the parishes on the old pre-war border are sometimes called Border Karelia.White Karelia (sometimes the Finnish or Karelian term "Viena Karelia", or in some English-language sources, "White Sea Karelia", is used) is the northern part ofEast Karelia andOlonets Karelia is the southern part.
View of Lappeenranta, South Karelia.Viipuri Castle on the Gulf of Finland in the city of Vyborg. Viipuri was called the capital of Karelia when it was a part of Finland.
During theEarly Middle Ages, settlers from western Finland mixed with the local population to form theKarelian ethnic group. Possible migration from elsewhere may also have contributed to the Karelian ethnic composition.[4]
Archeological evidence indicates that Karelian inhabitation was highest along the western shore ofLake Ladoga and theKarelian Isthmus, with multiple cemeteries and other archeological discoveries dating from AD 600 to AD 800. InSouth Karelia, the number of archeological discoveries from this time period is lower, though permanent inhabitation was nonetheless present.Lappee, South Karelia has been continuously inhabited for approximately 2,000 years. InNorth Karelia, only one archeological discovery from this time period has been found, dating to the eighth century. The considerably higher number of archeological discoveries in these regions from AD 800 to AD 1050 indicates that the Karelian population grew and expanded rapidly during this time.[5]
Karelia was bitterly fought over by Sweden and theNovgorod Republic for a period starting in the 13th-centurySwedish-Novgorodian Wars. TheTreaty of Nöteborg (Finnish:Pähkinäsaaren rauha) in 1323 divided Karelia between the two. Sweden received the southern portion of the Karelian Isthmus and most of South Karelia. The province of Swedish Karelia would include this territory, plus the region east of theKymi river, withViborg (Finnish:Viipuri) becoming the capital of the province. Novgorod received the northern portion of the Karelian Isthmus. North Karelia, Ladoga Karelia, and the northern portion of South Karelia fell under Novgorodian control.Käkisalmi served as the main population center of this region.
In theTreaty of Stolbovo of 1617, large parts of Russian Karelia were ceded to Sweden. Conflicts between the new Swedish rulers and the indigenous population of these areas led to an exodus: thousands of Karelians, including the ancestors of theTver Karelians, emigrated to Russia.
Historical Finnish Karelia (territory in modern-day Finland shown in dark blue, territory in modern-day Russia shown in lighter blue)
At the beginning of theSecond World War in 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, thus starting theWinter War. The war ended with the signing of theMoscow Peace Treaty in March 1940, which handed a large portion ofFinnish Karelia to the Soviet Union, and over 400,000 people had to be relocated within Finland. During theContinuation War of 1941–1944, Finland took back territory ceded in 1940, and also invaded and occupied much of East Karelia. Finland was forced out of these regions in 1944. After the war, Soviet expansion caused considerable bitterness in Finland, which lost its fourth biggest city,Viipuri, its industrial heartland along theriver Vuoksi, the eastern portion of theSaimaa canal that connected central Finland to theGulf of Finland, and access to the fishing waters ofLake Ladoga (Finnish:Laatokka). One eighth of its citizens became refugees with no chance of return. The whole population from the areas ceded to the Soviet Union was evacuated and resettled in other parts of Finland. The present inhabitants of the former Finnish parts of Russia, including the city of Vyborg/Viipuri and theKarelian Isthmus, are post-war immigrants or their descendants.
The former Karelian ASSR was incorporated into a newKarelo-Finnish SSR from 1941 to 1956, but then it became an ASSR again. Karelia was the only Soviet republic that was "demoted" from an SSR to an ASSR within theRussian SFSR. In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ASSR became theRepublic of Karelia.[citation needed]
The portion ofViipuri Province that remained within Finland following the Second World War was renamedKymi Province, and kept this name from 1945 to 1997. The eastern part of this province is now theregion ofSouth Karelia, while the western portion is part ofKymenlaakso.
There are some small groups of Finns campaigning for closer ties between Finland and Karelia: for instance, in theKarjalan Liitto (Karelian League) andProKarelia.
Map showing the Republic of Karelia and the Finnish regions
On the Finnish side, the area is Finnish-speaking. TheSouth Karelian dialects of theFinnish language (closely related to the Karelian language) are spoken in South Karelia. The easternSavonian dialects are spoken in North Karelia, part of the group of dialects spoken in Eastern and Central Finland.[6]
Ingrian Finnish dialects are spoken in Ingria, an area around St. Petersburg between the Estonian border and Lake Ladoga.Ingrian Finns settled in the region in the 17th century after the Swedish conquest of the area. The settlers spoke Karelian and Savonian dialects of Finnish. The older inhabitants of Ingria, the Ingrians, have their own language which is related to the Karelian language and the south-eastern dialects of Finnish.[7]
Karelians evacuated from the part of Finnish Karelia ceded to Russia were resettled all over Finland. Today about one million people in Finland can trace their roots in the area ceded to the Soviet Union after World War II. In Finland, about 5,000 people speak the Karelian language.
Russian Karelia is a regular destination for international tourism due to its unique architectural, cultural and historical sites such asKizhi andValaam.[8] The region is visited by tourists in both summer and winter when possible activities include riding in a sled behind a dog team and running from thebanya to an ice hole and back. Summer hikers can visit theKivach waterfall or the Demon's Chair plateau.[9]
InSouth Karelia,Lappeenranta is a popular destination for Russian tourists, with 1.5 million visiting annually.[10]Imatrankoski inImatra has been a tourist attraction since the late 18th century, when the Empress of RussiaCatherine the Great visited the site in 1772.
^Uino, Pirjo (1997).Ancient Karelia. Helsinki: Suomen muinaismuistoyhdistyksen aikakausikirja 104. p. 118.
^Uino, Pirjo (1997).Ancient Karelia. Helsinki: Suomen muinaismuistoyhdistyksen aikakausikirja 104. p. 16.
^Paasikivi, Jyrki; Talka, Anu (2018).Rajamaa - Etelä Karjalan Historia I (in Finnish).Keuruu: Otavan Kirjapaino. pp. 186, 188.ISBN978-951-37-7468-4.
^Paasikivi, Jyrki; Talka, Anu (2018).Rajamaa - Etelä Karjalan Historia I (in Finnish).Keuruu: Otavan Kirjapaino. pp. 170–171, 192.ISBN978-951-37-7468-4.
^Savolainen, Erkki (1998)."1.6 Savolaismurteiden alue" [1.6 Savo dialect area].Suomen murteet (in Finnish). Archived fromthe original on 6 October 1999. Retrieved16 March 2016.
^Savolainen, Erkki (1998)."1.7 Kaakkoismurteiden alue" [1.7 South-Eastern dialect area].Suomen murteet (in Finnish). Archived fromthe original on 4 October 1999. Retrieved16 March 2016.
Note: Forms of nationalism based primarily onethnic groups are listed above. This does not imply that all nationalists with a given ethnicity subscribe to that form ofethnic nationalism.
