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Savo | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
 Historical province of Savo in dark blue (modern regions bordered in yellow) | |
| Country |  Finland Sweden (before 1809) |
| Regions | Major parts of: North Savo South Savo Minor parts of: North Karelia |
Savo, orSavonia (Finnish:Savo;Swedish:Savolax), is ahistorical province in the east ofFinland. It bordersTavastia,Ostrobothnia andKarelia. Savo is now divided into two provinces:North Savo andSouth Savo.[1] The largest cities in Savo by population areKuopio,Mikkeli,Savonlinna,Varkaus andIisalmi.
In the 19th century, Savo was divided betweenKuopio Province andMikkeli Province. From 1997 to 2010, it lay within the administrative province of Eastern Finland. The provinces have no administrative function today but survive as ceremonial units. Since 2010, Savo has been divided between the regions ofNorth Savo andSouth Savo.
The province of Savo represents the original homeland of theSavonians, one of the subgroups that later became assimilated to form theFinns. It was the heartland of the east Finnish orSavo dialects.
The people of Savo traditionally pursuedslash-and-burn agriculture, which settlers successfully imported intoOstrobothnia andKainuu,Värmland in southwestern Sweden, and eastern Norway. Settlers from Savo also migrated to Finnish Karelia,Ingria (see:Ingrian Finns) and to southern Sweden, parts of northernSweden, andNorway (see:Forest Finns).
Savo, which had been a part ofSweden from the late-13th century, was separated from Sweden when Finland wasceded toRussia in September 1809.
Traditionally, the Savo people have often been considered as "sneaky" by other people in Finland. Recent research has shown that this reputation is largely due to misunderstandings caused by Savonians' traditional lack of social directness.[2]
The coat of arms of Savo has remained largely unchanged since the 1560s. It was first publicly displayed at the funeral of KingGustav Vasa in 1560, as part of a procession of 24 provincial banners. The design was likely created by a court artist under the direction of KingErik XIV. The earliest known depiction is found in theArmorial suédois, a 1562 manuscript discovered in the 1930s in the National Library of France.[3]
Blazon: "Sable, a drawn hand bow in and arrow aimed toward the dexter chief, or; bow string, arrowhead and feathered tail, argent." The traditional colors of the province are black and gold.[4] Initially, the arrow pointed heraldically to the left, but was later changed to the right, which is considered the standard forward-facing direction in heraldry. Today, theSouth Savo region uses the original left-pointing version, whileNorth Savo uses the right-facing version. The shield can be topped with a comital crown.[3][5]
The bow symbol has been interpreted as representing Savo's historical role as Sweden’s easternmost border province prior to the 1617Treaty of Stolbovo. The modern form of the arms was officially confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior in 1962, based on a design by heraldistAhti Hammar. The blazons of the historical provinces were confirmed in 1963.[3][6]
The bow motif also appears in many municipal coats of arms in the region.[6]
Finland Proper |
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|---|---|
Karelia |
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Lapland | |
Ostrobothnia | |
Satakunta | |
| Savo |
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Tavastia |
|
Uusimaa |
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Åland | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
62°35′00″N27°49′00″E / 62.5833°N 27.8167°E /62.5833; 27.8167
