Finland

VI

History

The earliest traces of human habitation in Finland date from about 8000 bc, when the most recent of the Ice Ages was retreating. These ancient hunters and gatherers probably arrived from the east. Pottery making characterized another type of Stone Age culture (starting 3000? bc) known as the Comb-Ceramic; its practitioners were of a different origin. The succeeding Battle-Ax culture (1800-1600 bc) may have been brought to Finland by an Indo-European people from a more southerly Baltic region. These people were able navigators and also introduced agriculture. A merger of the Battle-Ax people and the previous dwellers resulted in the so-called Kiukainen culture (1600-1200 bc).

The Bronze Age began in Finland about 1300 bc. During the first part of the pre-Christian era and the following centuries, people speaking one of the Finno-Ugric languages migrated in from the east and from Estonia in the south. This period marks the introduction of the Iron Age in Finland.

A

The Viking Age

During the age of the Vikings the Finns became exposed to both eastern and western influences. Vikings from Sweden colonized the Åland Islands (Ahvenanmaa in Finnish) in the 6th century ad as a base for their journeys of pillage and trade into Russia as far south as the Black Sea. Although they did not actually participate in these Viking expeditions, the Finns benefited by the growing contact and the establishment of trading colonies in their country by merchants from Sweden and the island of Gotland. At the end of the 11th century three Finnish tribes had spread as far north as the 62nd parallel: the Finns proper in the southwest, the Tavastians in the interior lake district, and the Karelians to the east. The Saami were also living in the wilderness to the north. No unified government or state existed.

B

The Swedish Conquest

The conversion of the Finnish tribes to Christianity was initiated by both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches of Sweden. It proceeded for more than two centuries, from 1050 to about 1300. The Saami became Christians at an even later date.

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According to tradition, Nicholas Breakspear, an English cardinal who became Pope Adrian IV, encouraged the Swedish king Eric to cross the Baltic with a strong force in 1155. His goal was not only to convert the heathen but also to gain economic and political ends. King Eric defeated the Finnish tribes but was not able to make his conquest permanent. An English clergyman, Henry, who had been bishop of Uppsala in Sweden, remained in Finland. He was slain within the year and subsequently became the patron saint of the city of Åbo (Turku in Finnish) and of all the Finns.

A papal bull of 1172 (or 1171) proposed that the Swedes hold Finland in subjection by building fortresses with permanent garrisons; in time, the Swedes subdued the Finns and the Tavastians, achieved control of Finland’s foreign trade, and established the Christian religion. The church was placed on a firm foundation when an episcopal see was established at Åbo in 1209 (a monastery of the Dominicans was founded there in 1249). In 1216 the pope confirmed Swedish title to those parts of Finland that were already conquered and also to mission territories in the east and north. A solid basis for Swedish rule was laid by the Earl Birger, who dispatched a “crusade” in 1249 and built a fortress in Tavastia in central Finland as a protection against Russian incursions. When the ruler of Novgorod in Russia invaded Tavastia again in 1292, the Swedes sent a force into Karelia as far as the Neva River. A treaty of 1323 divided Karelia between Sweden and Novgorod.

In 1362 the Finnish people were given the same rights within the monarchy as the people of Sweden. When Queen Margaret I established the Kalmar Union in 1397, Finland was drawn into the dynastic politics of the Scandinavian countries. All during the 15th and 16th centuries most of Finland was administered as fiefs by Swedish noblemen, who levied heavy taxes on the people. Numerous Swedish farmers, fishers, and merchants settled in Finland at this time.

C

A Swedish Duchy

King Gustav I Vasa attempted to institute economic and administrative reforms. At the Diet of Västerås in 1527 the Swedes essentially broke with Rome, although they did not formally accept the doctrines of Martin Luther until several years later. During this time much land and property in Finland was taken over by the Crown. During a war (1555-1557) against Ivan of Russia, Finland was made a Swedish duchy and given as a fief to the future John III. In the 25 years between 1570 and 1595 Finland was involved in constant warfare between Sweden and Russia.

Under Charles IX the entire administration of Finland was concentrated in Stockholm, and a basis was laid for further material progress. Under Charles’s successor, Gustav II Adolph, protracted wars were fought against Denmark, Poland, and Russia. War with Russia ended with the Peace of Stolbova (1617), which pushed Finnish boundaries farther east into Ingria.

Great numbers of Finnish soldiers fought for the Swedes in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), which also resulted in heavy taxation on the populace. Another war with Russia (1656-1661) exacted great suffering but ended with a territorial status quo. The “reduction” (reversion to the Crown of lands that had been given to nobles as compensation for services rendered) of Charles XI benefited Finnish farmers to some extent, but crop failures in 1695 through 1697 caused the death of one-fourth of the population. This was followed by the tragic years of the Great Northern War (1700-1721), during which the Russians occupied Finland; at the Peace of Nystadt (1721) it lost large areas in the east. During another war with Russia (1741-1743) more territory was ceded; yet one more conflict in 1788 to 1790 left the situation unchanged. The idea of Finnish independence from Sweden, however, began to take hold.

D

Russian Rule, 1809 to 1917

A year after his agreement with French emperor Napoleon I at Tilsit (see Tilsit, Treaty of) in 1807, Tsar Alexander I attacked and occupied Finland. In March 1809 he proclaimed it a grand duchy of the Russian Empire but granted his new subjects all their old rights and privileges. In the Peace of Hamina (Swedish Fredrikshamn) in September, Sweden formally ceded all Finland and the Åland Islands to Russia; at the same time, however, the Karelian areas ceded to Russia before 1809 were returned to Finland.

The country was henceforth ruled by a Russian governor-general, with a so-called senate, which sat in the new capital of Helsinki, acting as a cabinet. In spite of despotic rule by some governors-general, much economic and cultural progress was made during the middle decades of the century. After 1820 a nationalist awakening took place among the population, centered mainly on a resurgence of the Finnish language. In 1863 the Lantdag (parliament), which had not met since 1809, was reconstituted, and in the same year the Finnish language was granted equal status with Swedish.

Toward the end of the century a shift in Russian policy was manifest. In 1894 the use of the Russian language was introduced in some aspects of government administration, and five years later all legislation was placed in Russian hands. During the following years the citizens of Finland lost many of their constitutional rights. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 slowed the process of Russification somewhat. In 1906 a new parliamentary system was adopted, a one-chamber Eduskunta (parliament) created, and the right to vote given to all men and women over the age of 25. Another wave of Russification swept Finland in 1908, culminating in the Equal Rights Law of 1912, which gave Russians the same rights in Finland as the country’s own population.

Finland was not directly involved in World War I (1914-1918), although Russian troops were garrisoned in the country. During the turmoil of the Russian Revolution in 1917, a newly elected Finnish parliament took advantage of the situation and on November 15 assumed “all powers formerly held by the Tsar-Grand Duke.” Three weeks later, on December 6, it voted in favor of an independent republic. The nascent Soviet government had no choice but to recognize Finnish sovereignty.

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