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Slavery in Finland is little known in history. Whilechattel slavery likely existed inFinland, as it did in most cultures around the world at some point, there is little documentation of slavery ever having existed in Finland.
However, Finland did play a considerable role in thehistory of slavery as a source of slaves. In Finland's case, the history of slavery has therefore focused on the country as a supplier of slaves, with Finnish people being trafficked to other parts of the world.
For many centuries, Finland was a religious border zone. Initially, it was one of the few remaining pagan areas inEurope, situated between ChristianSweden andRussia. Afterits Christianization, Finland became a frontier betweenRoman Catholic (and laterProtestant) Europe to the West andRussian Orthodoxy to the East. Additionally, aspart of the Swedish realm, Finland served for centuries as a military borderland betweenSweden and Russia, often becoming a battleground intheir frequent conflicts.
Finland's status as a religious and political border zone made it vulnerable toslave raids for centuries. These raids typically came from Russia, where Finnish captives were either enslaved locally or trafficked further south to theBlack Sea region,Central Asia and theMiddle East. This trade is known to have continued until the 18th century, reaching its most intense phase during the Russian occupation of Finland in theGreat Northern War—a period known as theGreat Wrath.
Slavery likely existed in Finland, as it did in most societies during antiquity, whenchattel slavery was regarded as a normal institution in many cultures.However, there is little documentation of Finnish society prior to Finland becoming part of Sweden in the 12th and 13th centuries, and there are no direct mentions of slavery in Finland. Nevertheless, interpretations ofsaga literature andFinnish folklore suggest that the Finnish elite owned slaves during theViking Age (800–1050).[1]
Between 1150 and 1250, Finland gradually becamepart of Sweden, alongsideits Christianization. The Swedish period also marks the beginning of Finland's documented history. There is no mention of slavery in Finland during this time. In theMiddle Ages, chattel slavery was phased out in Europe due to the Christian doctrine that Christians should not enslave other Christians. As Europe became increasingly Christian, pagan slaves could no longer be acquired.Finland was under Swedish rule and influenced by Swedish policy.In Sweden, slavery was gradually phased out during the 13th century and officially banned in 1335.[2]While it is theoretically possible that slavery existed in Finland before that date, the law made it legally impossible for slavery to continue after 1335.
Finland did not conduct any known slave trade itself. However, for centuries, it was subjected to slave raids, primarily from the east—particularly from what later became Russia. As a vulnerable border region betweenSweden and Russia, Finland often became a battleground duringtheir frequent wars.
As a religious border zone—first between the Christian and Pagan worlds, and later betweenCatholic andProtestant Europe and theOrthodox East—Finnish people were often viewed as religiously legitimate targets for enslavement. Their typicallyblonde features were considered exotic and desirable in the southern slave markets.
Finnish people were trafficked for enslavement in Russia or further south along river routes to theBlack Sea slave markets, as well as to Central Asia and the Middle East.
During the Middle Ages, the coasts of the Baltic Sea were a source of slaves for theBlack Sea slave trade, transported down river routes to the southeast. The region was also a center of first the Viking slave trade and later theBaltic slave trade.
Since both Christians and Muslims banned the enslavement of people of their own faith but viewed pagans as legitimate targets for slavery, the pagans of northeastern Europe became prime targets for slave traders after the rest of Europe had become Christian by the 12th century. The paganLithuanians,Latvians,Estonians,Livonians, andLatgallians raided each other, as well asIngria andNovgorod, during the 12th and 13th centuries, selling war captives south to the Black Sea slave trade.[3]
ChristianRus' merchants fromKievan Rus' raided pagan Estonians to capture and sell them inthe slave trade, as they were considered legitimate targets due to their pagan faith.[3]
When the Norse Vikings converted to Christianity and ended their piracy in the 11th century, they were succeeded by paganpirates from the Baltics, who raided the coasts of the Baltic Sea—including the newly Christianized Sweden and Finland—to capture slaves.[4] The island ofSaaremaa served as a base for Baltic pirates, who were known for selling captive women in the slave trade.[5] In 1226, pagan Baltic pirates from Saaremaa conducted a slave raid against the newly Christianized Sweden, capturing many Swedish women and girls with the purpose of selling them as slaves.[4]
When the Viking slave trade ended in the mid-11th century, the old slave trade route between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea and Central Asia—via the Russian rivers—was maintained by pagan Baltic slave traders. They sold slaves through theDaugava River to the Black Sea and beyond. This became the only remaining slave trade route in Europe after the Western European slave markets died out in the 12th century.[6]
During this period, religious conviction played an important role in determining who could be legitimately enslaved. Christians could not enslave other Christians, and Muslims could not enslave other Muslims.[7] However, since both Christians and Muslims regarded pagans as legitimate targets for slavery, the remaining pagans of northeastern Europe became an economical choice for slave traders.[8]
By the 13th century, all of Europe had become Christian except for the Baltics, Eastern Finland andKarelia. These regions served as supply zones—viathe Baltic andKievan Rus' slave trades—for slaves destined for the Black Sea slave trade. From there, Italian slave traders trafficked them to Southern Europe and the Islamic Middle East.[9]
In the late Middle Ages (13th–15th centuries), the Black Sea was the center of theGenoese slave trade and theVenetian slave trade, which exported slaves from Eastern Europe via their controlled cities in Crimea to Spain and Italy and to the Islamic Middle East.[10][11]
Slave raids carried out by private Russian traders across the border into Eastern Finland—capturing Finns and trafficking them south to the Black Sea—began in the Middle Ages and are estimated to have continued throughout the 17th century.[12]
During theGreat Northern War (1700–1721), Russia invaded the eastern provinces of the Swedish Empire in Finland, Estonia andLivonia in the Baltics. Since the 15th century, the Russian army had permitted private soldiers to capture and sell war captives. During the Great Northern War, many Russian soldiers captured Livonians, Finns, and Baltic civilians—particularly children—from the Swedish provinces and sold them, with some ending up in the Black Sea slave trade and Persia.[13]
One notable event wasthe fall of Narva, whereLovisa von Burghausen became a well-known victim, captured by Russian soldiers with the intent to sell her into slavery.[14] Another case involvedAnnika Svahn andAfrosinya. Lovisa, along with two other female slaves—one from Finland and one fromNarva—was sold on the Russian slave market in Moscow. The Finnish woman was sold to an Armenian, the woman from Narva to a Russian clerk, and Lovisa to a Turkish-Ottoman merchant.[15][16]
The Swedish province of Finland endured severe oppression during the Russian invasion and occupation known as theGreat Wrath (1714–1721). Among the atrocities were the abductions and enslavement of people by the Russian military, some of whom were trafficked through Russia and theCrimean slave trade to Persia and the Middle East, whereblonde people were considered exotic. It is estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 people were abducted,[17] and about a quarter of Finnish farmhouses were reportedly empty by the end of the occupation.[18] Finnish historianTeemu Keskisarja has suggested that during the Great Northern War, more slaves were taken from Finland to Russia in proportion to the population than from many regions ofAfrica to the Americas.[19]
Between 10,000 and 20,000 people were taken to serve as slave labourers during the building ofSaint Petersburg.[20] Approximately 2,000 men were forcibly enlisted in the Russian army,[21] but many women and children were also abducted asserfs orsex slaves by Russian officers, some of whom sold them into the Crimean slave trade. About 4,600 people—most of them children—were abducted fromOstrobothnia and Eastern Finland.[22]Annika Svahn,Kustaa Lillbäck and (likely)Afrosinya are examples of Finnish people abducted by the Russians during the Great Wrath.
Many Swedish Empire citizens captured and sold by Russian soldiers were trafficked through the Crimean slave trade to the slave market inConstantinople, where the Swedish ambassador managed to secure the freedom of some—many of whom were women.[23]From June 1710, the Swedish ambassador Thomas Funck made trips to the slave market in Constantinople to buy Swedish Empire citizens. These trips were documented by his legation priest, Sven Agrell. Agrell recorded, for example, the purchase of a "carpenter's daughter from Narva" for $82, a "Captain's wife" for $240, Catharina Pereswetoff-Morath, age 18, for $275, and an entire Livonian family—Anders Jonsson with his wife and children.[13] Those who were bought free with Swedish funds were probably escorted to KingCharles XII's war camp inBender and returned to Sweden with him. However, it was noted that although many Swedish Empire citizens were freed by the Swedish ambassador, limited wartime finances made it impossible to buy everyone. Many young women and children were far too expensive, and as a result, many were purchased by private buyers and remained in theOttoman Empire.[13]
On 3 September 2022, inMuhos, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland, a memorial calledOrjaleiripatsas, designed byAntero Kassinen, was inaugurated in memory of the Finnish victims of the slave trade during the Russian occupation known as theGreat Wrath.[24]