Misplaced Pages

#135864

73-573: Karelia ( Karelian and Finnish : Karjala [ˈkɑrjɑlɑ] ; Russian : Каре́лия , romanized :  Kareliya [kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə] , historically Коре́ла, Korela [ kɐˈrʲelʲə ]; Swedish : Karelen [kɑˈreːlen] ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet era), Finland , and Sweden . It is currently divided between northwestern Russia (the federal subjects of

146-556: A crusade against Karelians at the request of Valdemar , the king of Sweden. The Third Swedish crusade , led by the marshal Torgils Knutsson took place between 1293 and 1295. As a result of the crusade the western parts of Karelia fell under Swedish rule and the building of the Castle of Viborg on the site of a destroyed Karelian fort started. According to the Eric's Chronicle invading Swedes conquered 14 hundreds from Karelians during

219-534: A Shortened Catechism into North Karelian and Olonets (Aunus) dialects in 1804, and the gospel of St. Matthew in South Karelian Tver dialect, in 1820. Karelian literature in 19th century Russia remained limited to a few primers, songbooks and leaflets. In 1921, the first all-Karelian congress under the Soviet regime debated whether Finnish or Karelian should be the official language (next to Russian) of

292-600: A national-cultural autonomy which guarantees the use of the Karelian language in schools and mass media. In Finland , Karelian has official status as a non-regional national minority language within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . The Karelian language has two main varieties, which can be considered as supradialects or separate languages: Karelian Proper , which comprises Northern Karelian and South Karelian (including

365-561: A portion of Finnish Karelia to the Soviet Union after the Winter War of 1939–40. More than 400,000 evacuees from the ceded territories re-settled in various parts of Finland. Finnish Karelians include the present-day inhabitants of South Karelia and North Karelia , as well as the still-surviving evacuees from the ceded territories. Finnish Karelia historically came under western influence, religiously and politically, and

438-623: A portion of Karelia to Russia. The Treaty of Åbo in 1743 between Sweden and Russia then ceded South Karelia to Russia. After Finland had been occupied by Russia in the Finnish War , parts of the ceded provinces ( Old Finland ) were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812. In 1917, Finland became independent and the border was confirmed by the Treaty of Tartu in 1920. Finnish partisans were involved in attempts to overthrow

511-461: A spirit of brotherhood. Karelian is written with orthography similar to Finnish orthography. However, some features of the Karelian language and thus orthography are different from Finnish: /c/ and /č/ have length levels, which is not found in standard Finnish. For example, in Kalevala, Lönnrot 's orthography metsä : metsän hides the fact that the pronunciation of the original material

584-750: A tourist attraction since the late 18th century, when the Empress of Russia Catherine the Great visited the site in 1772. Koli National Park in North Karelia began receiving tourists when Karelianism became a major trend. Koli was a source of inspiration for numerous painters and composers such as Jean Sibelius , Juhani Aho and Eero Järnefelt , who in turn contributed to Karelianism through their work. Koli gained national park status in 1991. 63°N 32°E  /  63°N 32°E  / 63; 32 Karelian language There

657-579: A variety of dialects across Finland — and the Finns saw Karelian simply as additional Finnish dialects. In the end Finnish was established as the official "local" language. An intense program of Finnicization , but called "Karelianization", began and Finnish-language schools were established across Soviet Karelia. Newspapers, literary journals were established and Russian literature was translated into Finnish, while much literature from Soviet Karelia in Finnish

730-781: Is actually /mettšä : metšän/ , with palatalization of the affricate . The exact details depend on the dialect, though. See Yleiskielen ts:n murrevastineet . Karelian actually uses /z/ as a voiced alveolar fricative . (In Finnish, z is a foreign spelling for /ts/ .) The plosives /b/ , /d/ and /ɡ/ may be voiced. (In most Finnish dialects, they are not differentiated from the unvoiced /p/ , /t/ , and /k/ . Furthermore, in Karelian except North Karelian, voiced consonants occur also in native words, not just in loans as in standard Finnish.) The sounds represented by č, š and ž are native to Karelian, but not Finnish. Speakers of Finnish do not distinguish /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ from /s/ , nor /tʃ/ from /ts/ (medial) or /s/ (initial). For example,

803-647: Is 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 the Ingria, the Ingrians, have their own language which is related to the Karelian language and the south-eastern dialects of Finnish. Karelians evacuated from

SECTION 10

#1732765913136

876-505: Is no single standard Karelian language, so the Karelian language is a group of two supradialects . The two supradialects are Karelian Proper (which comprises Northern Karelian and South Karelian (including the Tver enclave dialects )) and Olonets Karelian (Livvi Karelian). Ludic Karelian also appears in writing. All variants are written with the Latin -based Karelian alphabet , though

949-410: Is present before /g/, /k/ and /kk/, and the combination is represented with multigraphs ⟨ng⟩ , ⟨nk⟩ or ⟨nkk⟩ . Karelian Proper does not geminate /ŋ/ in consonant gradation unlike Finnish: kengät 'shoes' pronounces as [ˈkeŋɡæt] instead of Finnish [ˈkeŋŋæt] . Olonets, Ludic, and Tver Karelian have the voiced affricate / dʒ /, represented in writing by

1022-516: Is spoken by about 13,880 people (2020), mainly in the Republic of Karelia , although notable Karelian-speaking communities can also be found in the Tver region ( Tver Oblast ) northwest of Moscow . Previously, it was estimated that there were 5,000 speakers in Finland , mainly belonging to the older generations, but more recent estimates have put the number of people with even slight knowledge of

1095-669: Is today also considered a separate language. Like Finnish, the Karelian language has 8 phonemic vowel qualities , totalling 11 vowel phonemes when vowel length is considered: Only the close vowels /i/ , /y/ and /u/ may occur long. The original Proto-Finnic long mid and open vowels have been diphthongized: * ee, *öö, *oo > /ie/, /yö/, /uo/ (as also in Finnish ); *aa, *ää > /oa/, /eä/ or /ua/, /iä/ (as also in Savonian dialects of Finnish). North Karelian and Olonets Karelian have 21 diphthongs : In addition to

1168-547: Is usually considered a part of the Eastern Finnic subgroup. It has been proposed that Late Proto-Finnic evolved into three dialects: Northern dialect, spoken in western Finland ; Southern dialect, spoken in the area of modern-day Estonia and northern Latvia , and Eastern dialect, spoken in the regions east of the Southern dialect. In the 6th century, Eastern dialect arrived at the western shores of Lake Ladoga, and in

1241-559: Is visited by tourists in both summer and winter when possible activities include riding in a sled behind a dog team and running from the banya to an ice hole and back. Summer hikers can visit the Kivach waterfall or the Demon's Chair plateau. In South Karelia , Lappeenranta is a popular destination for Russian tourists, with 1.5 million visiting annually. Imatrankoski in Imatra has been

1314-731: The Bolsheviks in Russian Karelia ( East Karelia ) in 1918–21, as in the failed Aunus expedition . They also wanted to incorporate the rest of Karelia into Finland and cooperated with the short-lived Republic of Uhtua . These mainly private expeditions ended after the signing of the Treaty of Tartu. After the end of the Russian Civil War and the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, the Russian part of Karelia became

1387-513: The Cyrillic script has been used in the past. Each writer writes in Karelian according to their own dialectal form. Based upon toponymic and historical evidence, a form of Karelian was also spoken among the extinct Bjarmians in the 15th century. Karelian is a Finnic language from the Uralic language family, and is closely related to Finnish . Finnish and Karelian have common ancestry in

1460-473: The Grand Duchy of Finland as a gesture of good will (see Viipuri Province ). A large part of Finnish Karelia was ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union in 1940 after the Soviet aggression known as the Winter War , when the new border was established close to that of 1721. During the Continuation War of 1941–44, most of the ceded area was recaptured by Finland, but in 1944 was taken over again by

1533-574: The Great Purges , also in vast areas east of Finland (in Eastern Karelia, not marked on the map above), where folklore , language and architecture during the 19th century was in the center of the Finns' interest (see Karelianism ), representing a "purer" Finnish culture than that of Southern and Western Finland, which had been for thousands of years in more contact with (or "contaminated by") Germanic and Scandinavian culture, of which

SECTION 20

#1732765913136

1606-476: The Kalevala and Finnish Art Nouveau are expressions. See also List of Karelians Other than Finns, the historical province of Karelia also had Russian speakers living on the territory. The Russian name for the province is Карелия. The arms is crowned by a ducal coronet, though by Finnish tradition this more resembles a Swedish count's coronet. The symbolism of the coat of arms is supposed to represent how

1679-670: The Karjalan Liitto (Karelian League) and ProKarelia . On the Finnish side, the area is Finnish-speaking. The South Karelian dialects of the Finnish language (closely related to the Karelian language) are spoken in South Karelia. The eastern Savonian dialects are spoken in North Karelia, part of the group of dialects spoken in Eastern and Central Finland. Ingrian Finnish dialects are spoken in Ingria, which

1752-418: The Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast ) and Finland (the regions of South Karelia , North Karelia , and the eastern portion of Kymenlaakso ). Various subdivisions may be called Karelia. Finnish Karelia is a historical province of Finland and is now divided between Finland and Russia, often called just Karjala in Finnish. The eastern part of this chiefly Lutheran area was ceded to Russia after

1825-648: The Viborg and Nyslott County . After the Treaty of Nystad in 1721 eastern parts of the Viborg and Nyslott County and the Kexholm County were ceded to Russia. The rest of these counties were incorporated into the Kymmenegård and Nyslott County . The southeastern part of this county was also ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Åbo of 1743. After the conquest in 1809 of the rest of Finland, Russia's 18th century gains, called " Old Finland ", were in 1812 joined to

1898-618: The White Sea coast to the Gulf of Finland . It contains the two largest lakes in Europe, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega . The Karelian Isthmus is located between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga . The highest point of Karelia, the 576 metres (1,890 ft) high Nuorunen , is located on the Russian side of the Maanselka hill region. The border between Karelia and Ingria , the land of

1971-770: The White Sea mark the Eastern border. The River Kymi marks the historic western border of Karelian territory as it served as the boundary between the Häme Finns and the Karelians during the Middle Ages . The River Kymi is also said to have formed a boundary between the eastern and western cultural spheres by the beginning of the Bronze Age at the latest. In the North lived the nomadic Samis , but there were no natural borders except for large wooded areas ( taiga ) and

2044-543: The Winter War of 1939–40. The Republic of Karelia is a Russian federal subject, including East Karelia , with a chiefly Russian Orthodox population. Within present-day Finland, Karjala refers to the regions of South and North Karelia , although parts of historical Karelia also lie within the region of Kymenlaakso (east of the River Kymi ), Northern Savonia ( Kaavi , Rautavaara and Säyneinen ), and Southern Savonia ( Mäntyharju ). Karelia stretches from

2117-400: The tundra . In historical texts, Karelia is sometimes divided into East Karelia and West Karelia, which are also called Russian Karelia and Finnish Karelia respectively. The area to the north of Lake Ladoga which belonged to Finland before World War II is called Ladoga Karelia, and the parishes on the old pre-war border are sometimes called Border Karelia. White Karelia (sometimes

2190-1340: The 19th century used the Cyrillic alphabet . With the establishment of the Soviet Union, Finnish, written with the Latin alphabet, became official. However, from 1938 to 1940 Karelian written in Cyrillic replaced Finnish as an official language of the Karelian ASSR (see "History" below). Example from Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Cyrillic Karelian script, transliteration and translation : Cyrillic : Каи рахвас роиттахeс вäллиннÿ да тазаарвозинну омас арвос да оигeвуксис. Ёгахизeлe хeис он аннeтту миeли да оматундо да хeил вäлтäмäттäх пидäÿ олла кeскeнäх, куи вeллил . Latin : Kai rahvas roittahes vällinny da taza-arvozinnu omas arvos da oigevuksis. Jogahizele heis on annettu mieli da omatundo da heil vältämättäh pidäy olla keskenäh, kui vellil. Translation : All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in

2263-488: The 9th century, Northern dialect reached the same region. These two dialects blended together and formed Old Karelian. By the end of the 13th century, speakers of Old Karelian had reached the Savo region in eastern Finland , increasingly mixing with population from western Finland. In 1323 Karelia was divided between Sweden and Novgorod according to the Treaty of Nöteborg , which started to slowly separate descendants of

Karelia - Misplaced Pages Continue

2336-418: The Cyrillic alphabet. A new form of standardized Karelian was hurriedly introduced in 1938, written in Cyrillic, with only nine grammatical cases, and with a very large and increasing number of words taken directly from Russian but with Karelian grammatical endings. During this period about 200 titles were published, including educational materials, children's books, readers, Party and public affairs documents,

2409-599: The Finnic subgroup also includes Estonian and some minority languages spoken around the Baltic Sea . Karelian is a language in danger of extinction, with 45% of speakers being over 65 years old and with around 1% of speakers being under 15 years of age. The language is also not known or used at all by a majority of the people in the Republic of Karelia, with around 43% of people using the language. In Russia , Karelian

2482-671: The Finnish or Karelian term "Viena Karelia", or in some English-language sources, "White Sea Karelia", is used) is the northern part of East Karelia and Olonets Karelia is the southern part. Tver Karelia denotes the villages in the Tver Oblast that are inhabited by Tver Karelians . During the Early Middle Ages , settlers from western Finland mixed with the local population to form the Karelian ethnic group. Possible migration from elsewhere may also have contributed to

2555-695: The Karelian Autonomous republic of the Soviet Union (ASSR) in 1923. At the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, thus starting the Winter War . The Treaty of Moscow, signed in 1940 , handed a large portion of Finnish Karelia to the Soviet Union, and over 400,000 people had to be relocated within Finland. During the Continuation War of 1941-1944, Finland took back territory ceded in 1940, and also invaded and occupied much of East Karelia. Finland

2628-667: The Karelian ethnic composition. Archeological evidence indicates that Karelian inhabitation was highest along the western shore of Lake Ladoga and the Karelian Isthmus , with multiple cemeteries and other archeological discoveries dating from AD 600 to AD 800. In South 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. In North Karelia , only one archeological discovery from this time period has been found, dating to

2701-629: The Karelian language in Karelia and Finland. In 2007 a standard alphabet was adopted to write all dialects (Tver Karelian adopted it in 2017). In 2008, Joensuu University launched Finland's first Karelian language professorship, in order to save the language. A year later, Finland's first Karelian language nest (pre-school immersion group) was established in the town of Nurmes . Croatian singer Jurica Popović collaborated with Tilna Tolvaneen on lyrics for his 1999 song "H.O.T. Hold On To Your Tradition", which are partly in Karelian. A sample from

2774-533: The Nerev excavation on the left coast side of Novgorod . The language used in the document is thought to be an archaic form of the language spoken in Olonets Karelia , a dialect of the Karelian language. A later manuscript, no. 403 (second half of the 14th century), apparently belonging to a tax collector, includes a short glossary of Karelian words and their translations. In the regions ruled by Novgorod,

2847-474: The Proto-Karelian language from each other. In the areas occupied by Sweden, Old Karelian started to develop into dialects of Finnish: Savonian dialects and Southeastern dialects. Birch bark letter no. 292 is the oldest known document in any Finnic language . The document is dated to the beginning of the 13th century. It was found in 1957 by a Soviet expedition, led by Artemiy Artsikhovskiy in

2920-480: The Proto-Karelian language spoken in the coast of Lake Ladoga in the Iron Age , and Karelian forms a dialect continuum with the Eastern dialects of Finnish. Earlier, some Finnish linguists classified Karelian as a dialect of Finnish, sometimes known in older Finnish literature as Raja-Karjalan murteet ('Border Karelian dialects'), but today Karelian is seen as a distinct language. Besides Karelian and Finnish,

2993-910: The Soviet Union. After the war, the remains of the Province of Viipuri were made into the Province of Kymi . In 1997 the province was incorporated within the Southern Finland Province . Western Karelia, as a historical Province of Sweden , was religiously and politically distinct from the eastern parts that were under the Russian Orthodox Church . Some notable regions within the Region of Finnish Karelia are: Viipuri Province (1812–1944) Kymenlaakso (1917–) South Karelia (1917–) North Karelia (1917–) The inhabitants of Karelian provinces historically belonging to Finland are known as Karelians . Confusingly,

Karelia - Misplaced Pages Continue

3066-493: The Tver enclave dialects); and Olonets Karelian . These varieties constitute a continuum of dialects, the ends of which are no longer mutually intelligible. Varieties can be further divided into individual dialects: The Ludic language , spoken along the easternmost edge of Karelian Republic, is in the Russian research tradition counted as a third main dialect of Karelian, though Ludic shows strong relationship also to Veps , and it

3139-584: The USSR as part of that Republic. Finnish, written in the Latin alphabet, was once again made the official "local" language of Soviet Karelia, alongside Russian. In the 1980s, publishing began again in various adaptations of the Latin alphabet for Olonets Karelian and the White Sea and Tver dialects of Karelian Proper. Since the 1990s the Union of Karelian people started to organize various projects to popularize

3212-402: 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 the Karelian Isthmus – are post-war immigrants or their descendants. The former Karelian ASSR was incorporated into a new Karelo-Finnish SSR from 1941 to 1956, but then it became an ASSR again. Karelia

3285-548: The book Luemma vienankarjalaksi : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights : Finnish Karelia Karelia ( Finnish : Karjala ) is a historical province of Finland , consisting of the modern-day Finnish regions of South Karelia and North Karelia plus the historical regions of Ladoga Karelia and the Karelian isthmus , which are now in Russia . Historical Karelia also extends to

3358-424: The border between Sweden and Novgorod. Sweden got territory around Viborg , the western Karelian Isthmus and South Karelia ; and Novgorod got the eastern Karelian Isthmus , Ingria , Ladoga Karelia , North Karelia and East Karelia . In 1617, Sweden seized Kexholm County (eastern Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia, and North Karelia) from Russia. In 1634 Savonia and old Swedish Karelia were incorporated in

3431-751: The closely related Ingrian people , had originally been the Neva River itself but later on it was moved northward into the Karelian isthmus to follow the Sestra River ( Russian : Сестра ), today in the Saint Petersburg metropolitan area, but in 1812–1940 the Russo-Finnish border. On the other side of Lake Ladoga , the River Svir is usually thought of as the traditional southern border of Karelian territory while Lake Onega and

3504-523: The crusade. Hostilities between Novgorod and the kingdom of Sweden continued in 1300 when a Swedish force attacked the mouth of the River Neva and built a fort near the current location of Saint Petersburg . The fort was destroyed the following year by the Novgorodians. Indecisive fighting in 1321 and 1322 led to negotiations and peace by the Treaty of Nöteborg which for the first time decided

3577-409: The digraph ⟨dž⟩ . Karelian is today written using a Latin alphabet consisting of 29 characters. It extends the ISO basic Latin alphabet with the additional letters Č, Š, Ž, Ä, Ö and ' and excludes the letters Q, W and X. This unified alphabet is used to write all Karelian varieties including Tver Karelian. The very few texts that were published in Karelian from medieval times through

3650-804: The diphthongs North Karelian has a variety of triphthongs : Olonets Karelian has only the triphthongs ieu, iey, iäy, uau, uou and yöy . There are 20 non-palatalized consonants in Karelian with their own single grapheme, and 2 are represented with multigraphs: Some palatalized consonants exist: /lʲ nʲ sʲ tʲ/ in Karelian Proper (North), /dʲ lʲ nʲ rʲ sʲ tʲ/ (/zʲ/ also exists, but only in loanwords) in Olonets Karelian, /dʲ lʲ nʲ rʲ sʲ tʲ zʲ/ in Ludic and Tver Karelian. Palatalized labials are also present in some loanwords: North Karelian b'urokratti 'bureaucrat', Livvi b'urokruattu 'bureaucrat', kip'atku 'boiling water', sv'oklu 'beet', Tver Karelian kip'atka 'boiling water', s'v'okla 'beet' (from Russian бюрократ, кипяток, свёкла). Voiced velar nasal / ŋ / (eng)

3723-530: 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. At least 50 sites of Iron Age settlements and 40 hillforts are known from Karelia. According to archeological record and historical data most of the hillforts in Karelia were erected between 1100 and 1323. Particular Karelian culture including axes, brooches and ornamental culture flourished approximately between

SECTION 50

#1732765913136

3796-433: 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. Karelia was bitterly fought over by Sweden and the Novgorod Republic for a period starting in the 13th-century Swedish-Novgorodian Wars . The Treaty of Nöteborg (Finnish: Pähkinäsaaren rauha) in 1323 divided Karelia between

3869-470: The language at 30,000. Due to post-World War II mobility and internal migration, Karelians now live scattered throughout Finland, and Karelian is no longer spoken as a local community language. In the Republic of Karelia , Karelian has official status as a minority language, and since the late 1990s there have been moves to pass special language legislation, which would give Karelian an official status on par with Russian . Karelians in Tver Oblast have

3942-446: The literary journal Karelia . The newspaper Karjalan Sanomat was written in this new Karelian Cyrillic, rather than in Finnish. Karelians who did not speak Russian could not understand this new official language due to the amount of Russian words, for example, the phrase "Which party led the revolution" in this form of Karelian was given as "Миттўйне партиуя руководи революциюа?" ( Mittujne partiuja rukovodi revoljutsijua? ) where

4015-440: The main population center of this region. In the Treaty 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 the Tver Karelians , emigrated to Russia. The Treaty of Nystad (Finnish: Uudenkaupungin rauha) in 1721 between Imperial Russia and Sweden ceded

4088-492: The meeting point of the borders between the Häme Finns, Savonians , and Karelians. During the 12th and 13th century, Karelians fought against Swedes and other Finnic tribes situated in western Finland, such as Tavastians and Finns proper . Karelians were listed as Novgorodian allies in the mid-12th century in Russian Chronicles. Historical records describe Karelians pillaging Sigtuna in Sweden in 1187 and making another expedition in 1257 which lead Pope Alexander IV to call out

4161-467: The native Karelian words kiza, šoma, liedžu and seičemen are kisa, soma, lietsu and seitsemän in standard Finnish. As all other Finnic languages, Karelian descends from Proto-Finnic , which in turn ultimately descends from Proto-Uralic . The most recent ancestor of the Karelian dialects is the language variety spoken in the 9th century at the western shores of Lake Ladoga , known as Old Karelian (Finnish: muinaiskarjala ). Karelian

4234-471: The new "Karelian Labour Commune" ( Karjalan Työkommuuni , Карялан тыöкоммууни in Cyrillic Karelian), which two years later would become the Karelian ASSR . Finnish communists as well as ethnic Finns from North America, who came to live in Soviet Karelia, dominated the political discourse, as they were in general far better educated than local Karelians. They favored the use of Finnish, which had just been through an 80-year period of standardization based on

4307-431: 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 as Kizhi and Valaam . The region

4380-450: The protolanguage started to evolve into Karelian language. In 1617 Novgorod lost parts of Karelia to Sweden in the Treaty of Stolbovo , which led the Karelian-speaking population of the occupied areas to flee from their homes. This gave rise to the Karelian speaking population in the Tver and Valday regions. In the 19th century, a few books were published in Karelian using the Cyrillic script , notably A Translation of some Prayers and

4453-445: The regions of Kymenlaakso (east of the River Kymi ), Northern Savonia ( Kaavi , Rautavaara and Säyneinen ) and Southern Savonia ( Mäntyharju ). Karelia may also refer to the region as a whole, including the portion of Karelia within Russia . The term "Finnish Karelia" refers specifically to the historical Finnish province, while East Karelia or "Russian Karelia" refers to the portion of Karelia within Russia. Finland ceded

SECTION 60

#1732765913136

4526-433: The same name is used also of a closely related but distinct ethnic group living mostly in East Karelia , earlier also in some of the territories Finland ceded to the Soviet Union in 1944. The traditional culture of "Ladoga-Karelia", or Finnish Karelia according to the pre- Winter War borders, was by and large similar to that of Eastern Karelia, or Russian Karelia. Karelians live, and did even more so before Stalinism and

4599-462: 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 the Kymi river , with Viborg (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

4672-495: The western portion is part of Kymenlaakso . Karelia is politically divided between Finland and Russia. The Republic of Karelia is a federal subject of Russia formed in 1991 from the Karelian ASSR . The Karelian Isthmus belongs to the Leningrad Oblast . The Finnish side consists of parts of the regions ( maakunta ) of South Karelia , North Karelia and Kymenlaakso . There are some small groups of Finns campaigning for closer ties between Finland and Karelia: for instance, in

4745-488: The western shore of Lake Ladoga and the Karelian Isthmus , with multiple cemeteries and other archeological discoveries dating from AD 600 to AD 800. In South 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. In North Karelia , only one archeological discovery from this time period has been found, dating to

4818-400: The word for party, led, and revolution are all Russian words with Karelian grammatical endings, whereas the Finnish equivalent words have completely different roots: "Mikä puolue johti vallankumousta?" After the Winter War , in April 1940, political considerations changed again. The USSR established the Karelo-Finnish SSR with the idea that Finland proper would eventually be annexed to

4891-437: The years 1000–1400. The River Kymi formed a boundary between the eastern and western cultural spheres by the beginning of the Bronze Age at the latest and is also said to be the boundary between the Tavastians and the Karelians during the Middle Ages . The 15th and 16th centuries saw the River Kymi become a more official border between the Tavastians and the Karelians, with Naulasaari (located in Mäntyharju ) serving as

4964-401: The years 400–800. From the Merovingian period onwards finds from Karelia display a distinct features of West Finnish influences which has been interpreted to result at least partly from a colonisation. The mixing of western Finnish settlers with the local population led to the creation of the Karelian ethnic group. Archeological evidence indicates that Karelian inhabitation was highest along

5037-432: Was branded a language of the bourgeois Finnish society in Finland proper, and was later regarded as a "fascist" language of the Finnish enemy. From early 1938 to April 1940, the Soviet authorities ceased publication in Finnish, all Finnish-language schools were closed and the children were prohibited from speaking Finnish even during recess. The Soviet government replaced Finnish in the Karelian ASSR with Karelian written in

5110-478: 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 the river Vuoksi , the eastern portion of the Saimaa canal that connected central Finland to the Gulf of Finland , and access to the fishing waters of Lake Ladoga (Finnish: Laatokka). One eighth of its citizens became refugees with no chance of return. The whole population from

5183-435: Was published. While this was happening in Soviet Karelia, in 1931–33, a Karelian literary language using the Latin alphabet was standardized for the Tver Karelian community of about 127,000 people, hundreds of kilometers to the south. Between 1935 and 1938 the Finnish-dominated leadership of Soviet Karelia including leader Edvard Gylling , was removed from power, killed or sent to concentration camps . The Finnish language

5256-657: Was separate from East Karelia , which was dominated by the Novgorod Republic and its many successor states from the Middle Ages onwards. First indications of human settlement in Karelia are from the Mesolithic period . The oldest find from the area is the over 9000 years old Antrea Net which is a fishing net of willow bast. The number of finds from the area is lower towards the end of the Stone Age . Archeological finds from Karelia are relatively rare between

5329-609: Was the only Soviet republic that was "demoted" from an SSR to an ASSR within the Russian SFSR . In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ASSR became the Republic of Karelia . The portion of Viipuri Province that remained within Finland following the Second World War was renamed Kymi Province , and kept this name from 1945 to 1997. The eastern part of this province is now the region of South Karelia , while

#135864