Bjarmaland (also spelledBjarmland andBjarmia)[a] was a territory mentioned insagas from theViking Age and in geographical accounts until the 16th century. The term is usually understood to have referred to the southern shores of theWhite Sea and the basin of theNorthern Dvina (Finnish:Vienanjoki) as well as, presumably, to some of the surrounding areas. Today, those territories comprise a part of theArkhangelsk Oblast ofRussia, as well as theKola Peninsula.
According to theVoyage of Ohthere (c. 890 CE), theNorwegian merchantOttar (Ohthere) reported to kingAlfred the Great that he had sailed for 15 days along the northern coast and then southwards, finally arriving at a great river, probably theNorthern Dvina.[1] At the estuary of the river dwelt theBeormas, who unlike thenomadicSami peoples were sedentary, and their land was rich and populous. Ohthere did not know their language but he said that it resembled the language of theSami people. The Bjarmians told Ohthere about their country and other countries that bordered it.
Later, several expeditions were undertaken from Norway to Bjarmaland. In 920,Eric Bloodaxe made a Viking expedition, as well asHarald II of Norway andHaakon Magnusson of Norway, in 1090.[citation needed]
The best known expedition was that ofTore Hund, who, together with some friends, arrived in Bjarmaland in 1026. They started to trade with the inhabitants and bought a great many pelts, whereupon they pretended to leave. Later, they made shore in secret, and plundered the burial site, where the Bjarmians had erected an idol of their godJómali. This god had a bowl containing silver on his knees, and a valuable chain around his neck. Tore and his men managed to escape from the pursuing Bjarmians with their rich bounty.
The name Bjarmaland appears inOld Norse literature, possibly referring to the area whereArkhangelsk is presently situated,[2] and where it was preceded by a Bjarmian settlement. The first appearance of the name occurs in an account of the travels ofOhthere of Hålogaland, which was written in about 890.[3]
The namePermians is already found in the oldest document of theRus', theNestor's Chronicle (1000–1100). The names of other Uralic tribes are also listed including someSamoyedic peoples as well as theVeps,Cheremis,Mordvin, andChudes.[4]
The place-name Bjarmaland was also used later both by the German historianAdam of Bremen (11th century) and the IcelanderSnorri Sturluson (1179–1241) inBósa saga ok Herrauðs, reporting about its rivers flowing out toGandvik. It is not clear if they reference the same Bjarmaland as was mentioned in theVoyage of Ohthere, however. The name of the Bjarmian godJómali is so close to the word for "god" in most Finnic languages that Bjarmians were likely a Finnic group. In fact, languages belonging to other language groups have never been suggested within serious research.[1]
TheSwedish cartographerOlaus Magnus located Bjarmaland in theKola Peninsula in hisCarta marina et descriptio septentrionalium terrarum (1539), while Swedish humanistJohannes Schefferus (1621–1679) identified it withLappland.
Bjarmians cannot be connected directly to any existing group of people living today, but it is likely that they were a separate group ofFinnic speakers in theWhite Sea area.[1]Toponyms and loan words in dialects in northern Russia indicate thatFinnic speaking populations used to live in the area. Also Russian chronicles mention groups of people in the area associated withFinno-Ugric languages.[1]
Accordingly, many historians assume the termsbeorm andbjarm to derive from theUralic wordperm, which refers to "travelling merchants" and represents theOld Permic culture.[5] However, some linguists consider this theory to be speculative.[6]
Recent research on the Uralic substrate in northern Russian dialects suggests that several other Uralic groups besides the Permians, lived in Bjarmaland, assumed to have included theViena Karelians, Sami andKvens.[7] According to Helimski, the language spokenc. 1000 AD in the northern Archangel region, which he termsLop', was closely related to but distinct from theSami languages proper.[8] That would fit Ottar's account perfectly.
Bjarmian trade reached southeast toBolghar, by theVolga River, where the Bjarmians also interacted withScandinavians andFennoscandians, who had ventured southbound from theBaltic Sea area.[5]
Modern historians suppose that the wealth of theBjarmians was due to their profitable trade along theNorthern Dvina, theKama River and the Volga toBolghar and other trading settlements in the south. Along this route, silver coins and other merchandise were exchanged for pelts and walrus tusks brought by the Bjarmians. In fact, burial sites in modernPerm Krai are the richest source ofSasanian andSogdian silverware fromIran.[9][10] Further north, the Bjarmians traded with the Sami.
It seems that the Scandinavians made some use of the Dvina trade route, in addition to theVolga trade route andDnieper trade route.[citation needed] In 1217, two Norwegian traders arrived in Bjarmaland to buy pelts; one of the traders continued further south to pass toRussia in order to arrive in theHoly Land, where he intended to take part in theCrusades. The second trader who remained was killed by the Bjarmians. This causedNorwegian officials to undertake a campaign of retribution into Bjarmaland which they pillaged in 1222.[citation needed]
The 13th century seems to have seen the decline of the Bjarmians, who became tributaries of theNovgorod Republic. While many Slavs fled theMongol invasion northward, toBeloozero and Bjarmaland, the displaced Bjarmians sought refuge inNorway, where they were given land around theMalangen fjord byHaakon IV of Norway in 1240. More important for the decline was probably that, with the onset of theCrusades, the trade routes had found a more westerly orientation or shifted considerably to the south.[citation needed]
When the Novgorodians foundedVelikiy Ustiug, in the beginning of the 13th century, the Bjarmians had a serious competitor for the trade. More and morePomors arrived in the area during the 14th and 15th centuries, which led to the final assimilation of the Bjarmians by theSlavs.
ThecollaborationistQuisling regime planned to build Norwegian colonies in Northern Russia, following a future success ofOperation Barbarossa, and which were to be namedBjarmaland; but these plans never came to be.[11][failed verification]
This article contains content from theOwl Edition ofNordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904 and 1926, now in thepublic domain.Names initalics are settlements whoseNorse names are not recorded | ||
| Volkhov-Volga trade route |  | |
| Dvina-Dnieper trade route | ||
| Other locations | ||
