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81-490: The revival was predated by a short period of the early 19th century known as the " Samogitian revival" led by students of Vilnius University , including Simonas Daukantas and Simonas Stanevičius . The most recent Lithuanian national revival may be linked to the late 20th century developments also known as the Singing Revolution . Due to a long period of common Polish-Lithuanian statehood and nationality, and

162-647: A Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland . Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these countries as well as those who have resettled. Some of these may be classified as separate ethnic groups, rather than subgroups of Finns. These include the Kvens and Forest Finns in Norway , the Tornedalians in Sweden , and

243-639: A ban on the Lithuanian press continued. Yet even with a press ban, the literacy of Lithuanians continued to rise significantly and was one of the greatest among the nations in the Russian Empire, behind only Finns , Estonians and Latvians . The political Lithuanian nation had already been formed by the end of the 19th century. Political claims were voiced in the Great Seimas of Vilnius , and political and cultural activity continued to grow after

324-569: A broken intonation ("laužtinė priegaidė", a variant of a start-firm accent ) similar to that of the Latvian language . In 2010, the Samogitian language was assigned with an ISO 639-3 standard language code ("sgs"), as some languages, that were considered by ISO 639-2 to be dialects of one language, are now in ISO 639-3 in certain contexts considered to be individual languages themselves. Žemaitija

405-802: A central role in Lithuania's wars against the crusading order of the Teutonic Knights (Knights of the Cross and Knights of the Sword). Invasions started in Lithuania in 1229. Combined military forces undertook numerous campaigns against Samogitians and Lithuanians. Saule (1236), Skuodas (1259), Durbe (1260), Lievarde (1261) are just a few of the battles that took place. Since Žemaitija was the last pagan region in Europe left to be invaded and christened,

486-599: A distinct Samogitian language . Famous landmarks include Tauragė Castle , Plungė Manor and Hill of Crosses . Ruthenian sources mentioned the region as жемотьская земля, Žemot'skaja zemlja ; this gave rise to its Polish form, Żmudź , and probably to the Middle High German Sameiten, Samaythen . In Latin texts, the name is usually written as Samogitia, Samogetia , etc. The area has long been known to its residents and to other Lithuanians exclusively as Žemaitija (the name Samogitia

567-572: A fellow Balto-Finnic group. Finns and Karelians form a cluster with another Balto-Finnic people, the Veps . They show relative affinity to Northern Russians as well, who are known to be at least partially descended from Finno-Ugric-speakers who inhabited Northwestern Russia before the Slavs. When not compared to these groups, Finns have been found to cluster apart from their neighboring populations, forming outlier clusters. They are shifted away from

648-547: A fine-scale analysis contain more precise clusters that are consistent with traditional dialect areas. When looking at the fixation index (F ST ) values, the distance within Finns from different parts of the same country is exceptional in Europe. The distance between Western and Eastern Finns is higher than the distance between many European groups from different countries, such as the British people and Northern Germans. This

729-725: A higher frequency of the Y-haplogroup N1c (71.6%). While N1c is the most common haplogroup in Western Finland as well (53.8%), the haplogroup I1a is found more often there (30.9%) than it is in Eastern and Northern Finland (19%). This suggests that there is an additional Western component in the Western Finnish gene pool. Despite the differences, the IBS analysis points out that Western and Eastern Finns share overall

810-454: A higher land. Also, the people of Samogitia have long called themselves as Lithuanians and never as Samogitians, and because of such identity ( sic ) we do not write about Samogitia in our letter, because everything is one: one country and the same inhabitants." — Vytautas the Great , excerpt from his 11 March 1420 Latin letter sent to Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor , in which he described

891-461: A large number of words (about one-third) without a known etymology, hinting at the existence of a disappeared Paleo-European language ; these include toponyms such as niemi , 'peninsula'. Because the Finnish language itself reached a written form only in the 16th century, little primary data remains of early Finnish life. For example, the origins of such cultural icons as the sauna , and

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972-484: A largely similar genetic foundation. In the 19th century, the Finnish researcher Matthias Castrén prevailed with the theory that "the original home of Finns" was in west-central Siberia . Until the 1970s, most linguists believed that Finns arrived in Finland as late as the first century AD. However, accumulating archaeological data suggests that the area of contemporary Finland had been inhabited continuously since

1053-516: A low frequency, but seems to be found in significantly higher levels among Finns, Estonians and the Sami people . The older population of European hunter-gatherers that lived across large parts of Europe before the early farmers appeared are outside the genetic variation of modern populations, but most similar to Finns. With regard to the Y-chromosome, the most common haplogroups of the Finns

1134-689: A minor employer (see Economy of Finland ). Christianity spread to Finland from the Medieval times onward and original native traditions of Finnish paganism have become extinct. Finnish paganism combined various layers of Finnic, Norse, Germanic and Baltic paganism. Finnic Jumala was some sort of sky-god and is shared with Estonia. Belief of a thunder-god, Ukko or Perkele , may have Baltic origins. Elements had their own protectors, such as Ahti for waterways and Tapio for forests. Local animistic deities, haltija , which resemble Scandinavian tomte , were also given offerings to, and bear worship

1215-442: A more toponymical approach. Yet another theory postulates that the words Finn and Kven are cognates . The Icelandic Eddas and Norse sagas (11th to 14th centuries), some of the oldest written sources probably originating from the closest proximity, use words like finnr and Finnas inconsistently. However, most of the time they seem to mean northern dwellers with a mobile life style. Current linguistic research supports

1296-504: A northern part of Europe, but the real meaning of these terms is debatable. It has been suggested that this non- Uralic ethnonym is of Germanic language origin and related to such words as Old High German : finthan , lit.   'find, notice'; Old English : fanthian , lit.   'check, try'; and fendo ( Middle High German : vende ) ' pedestrian, wanderer ' . Another etymological interpretation associates this ethnonym with fen in

1377-468: A way that distinguished it from its neighbors. Finnish material culture became independent of the wider Baltic Finnic culture in the 6th and 7th centuries, and by the turn of the 8th century the culture of metal objects that had prevailed in Finland had developed in its own way. The same era can be considered to be broadly the date of the birth of the independent Finnish language, although its prehistory, like other Baltic Finnic languages, extends far into

1458-506: Is N1c , as it is carried by 58–64 percent of Finnish men. N1c, which is found mainly in a few countries in Europe (Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia), is a subgroup of the haplogroup N distributed across northern Eurasia and suggested to have entered Europe from Siberia. The haplogroup N is typical for Uralic-speaking peoples. Other Y-DNA haplogroups among Finns include I1a (25 %), R1a (4.3 %), and R1b (3.5 %). Finns are genetically closest to Karelians ,

1539-584: Is a matter of debate how best to designate the Finnish-speakers of Sweden, all of whom have migrated to Sweden from Finland. Terms used include Sweden Finns and Finnish Swedes , with a distinction almost always made between more recent Finnish immigrants, most of whom have arrived after World War II , and Tornedalians , who have lived along what is now the Swedish-Finnish border since the 15th century. The term "Finn" occasionally also has

1620-470: Is also Meänkieli , a language developed in partial isolation from standard Finnish, spoken by three minorities, Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaiset , in the border area of northern Sweden. The Finnish language as well as Meänkieli are recognized as official minority languages in Sweden . The use of mitochondrial "mtDNA" (female lineage) and Y-chromosomal "Y-DNA" (male lineage) DNA-markers in tracing back

1701-527: Is also noticeable in the distances of Finns from other Europeans, as the isolation is even more profound in Eastern Finns than in Western Finns. The division is related to the later settlement of Eastern Finland by a small number of Finns, who then experienced separate founder and bottleneck effects and genetic drift. Eastern Finns also have a higher portion of autosomal Siberian admixture and

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1782-709: Is how the Celtic , Germanic , Slavic , and Baltic languages were formed. The linguistic ancestors of modern Finns did not switch their language due to their isolated location. The main supporters of Wiik's theory are Professor Ago Künnap of the University of Tartu , Professor Kyösti Julku of the University of Oulu and Associate Professor Angela Marcantonio of the University of Rome . Wiik has not presented his theories in peer-reviewed scientific publications. Many scholars in Finno-Ugrian studies have strongly criticized

1863-461: Is no longer in use within Lithuania and has not been used for at least two centuries); Žemaitija means "lowlands" in Lithuanian. The region is also known in English as Lower Lithuania or, in reference to its Yiddish names, זאַמעט Zamet or זאַמוט Zamut . The largest city is Šiauliai ( Šiaulē ). Telšiai ( Telšē ) is the capital , although Medininkai (now Varniai ; Varnē )

1944-466: Is not known how, why, and when this occurred. Petri Kallio had suggested that the name Suomi may bear even earlier Indo-European echoes with the original meaning of either "land" or "human", but he has since disproved his hypothesis. The first known mention of Finns is in the Old English poem Widsith which was compiled in the 10th century, though its contents are believed to be older. Among

2025-570: Is now considered Aukštaitija and Suvalkija as well. The Duchy of Samogitia was an autonomous administrative unit in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with some similarities to a voivodeship . In contrast to some other aristocrats of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Lithuanian language was intensively used in the Duchy of Samogitia and its nobility throughout the early modern period . This

2106-490: Is one of the five cultural regions of Lithuania and formerly one of the two core administrative divisions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania alongside Lithuania proper . Žemaitija is located in northwestern Lithuania . Its capital city is Telšiai and the largest city is Šiauliai (located on the border between Samogitia and Aukštaitija ). Throughout centuries, Samogitia developed a separate culture featuring diverse architecture, folk costumes, dances, songs, traditions, and

2187-420: Is one of the most ethnically homogeneous regions of the country, with an ethnic Lithuanian population exceeding 99.5% in some districts . During the first part of the 19th century, Žemaitija was a major center of Lithuanian culture (Žemaičiai traditionally tended to oppose any anti-Lithuanian restrictions). The local religion is predominantly Roman Catholic , although there are significant Lutheran minorities in

2268-575: Is one of two dialects, the other being the Aukštaitian dialect and that both of these dialects have subdialects each). Samogitian has northern and southern dialects, which are further subdivided. A western dialect once existed in the Klaipėda region , but it became extinct after World War II after its inhabitants fled the region as a result of being expelled or persecuted by the Soviet authorities. During

2349-535: Is proven by the letter of Stanisław Radziwiłł to his brother Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł immediately after becoming the Elder of Samogitia that: "While learning various languages, I forgot Lithuanian , and now I see, I have to go to school again, because that language, as I see, God willing, will be needed." After the partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century, Samogitia

2430-464: Is represented by the Samogitian cultural society , a group interested in preserving Samogitian culture and language. The coat of arms depicts a black bear with silver claws and a collar on a red shield topped with a crown. The greater arms are supported by a knight with a sword and a woman with an anchor and has the motto Patria Una ( Latin : One Fatherland). The current emblazonment of the arms

2511-488: The heimos have been constructed according to dialect during the rise of nationalism in the 19th century. The historical provinces of Finland can be seen to approximate some of these divisions. The regions of Finland , another remnant of a past governing system, can be seen to reflect a further manifestation of a local identity. Journalist Ilkka Malmberg  [ fi ] toured Finland in 1984 and looked into people's traditional and contemporary understanding of

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2592-402: The heimos , listing them as follows: Tavastians ( hämäläiset ), Ostrobothnians ( pohjalaiset ), Lapland Finns ( lappilaiset ), Finns proper ( varsinaissuomalaiset ), Savonians ( savolaiset ), Kainuu Finns ( kainuulaiset ), and Finnish Karelians ( karjalaiset ). Today the importance of the tribal ( heimo ) identity generally depends on the region. It is strongest among

2673-497: The Duchy of Samogitia . These are the oldest symbols of the Lithuanian ethnographic regions. On 21 July 1994, these symbols were recognized by the government of Lithuania. Because Žemaitija (Samogitia) does not correspond to any current administrative division of Lithuania, these symbols are not officially used anymore. However, the Samogitian bear was used in the coats of arms of Šiauliai County and Telšiai County . It also appears on

2754-518: The Ice age ended. They populated central and northern Europe, while Basque speakers populated western Europe. As agriculture spread from the southeast into Europe, the Indo-European languages spread among the hunter-gatherers. In this process, both the hunter-gatherers speaking Finno-Ugric and those speaking Basque learned how to cultivate land and became Indo-Europeanized. According to Wiik, this

2835-896: The Ingrian Finns in Russia. Finnish , the language spoken by Finns, is closely related to other Balto-Finnic languages , e.g. Estonian and Karelian . The Finnic languages are a subgroup of the larger Uralic family of languages , which also includes Hungarian . These languages are markedly different from most other languages spoken in Europe, which belong to the Indo-European family of languages . Native Finns can also be divided according to dialect into subgroups sometimes called heimo ( lit.   ' tribe ' ), although such divisions have become less important due to internal migration. Today, there are approximately 6–7 million ethnic Finns and their descendants worldwide, with

2916-559: The Russian Empire 's policy of Russification , many of the Lithuanian nobles in the 19th century had become Polonized and the language was generally used only by the poor and by the middle classes; some of the latter tended to use Polish as a status symbol for social advancement. Lithuanian was generally a spoken language and was not considered prestigious enough for written usage; it was, however, retained by some members of

2997-543: The United Kingdom , Germany and Russia . Žemaičių Kalvarija (or New Jerusalem as it used to be called) is visited by pilgrims from all around the world, due to its annual The Great Žemaičių Kalvarija Church Festival (usually in June or July). Samogitia historically was an autonomous region in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , although it lost this status once Lithuania was annexed by the Russian Empire following

3078-521: The Uralic languages were first spoken in the area of contemporary Finland is debated. It is thought that Proto-Finnic (the proto-language of the Finnic languages ) was not spoken in modern Finland, because the maximum divergence of the daughter languages occurs in modern-day Estonia. Therefore, Finnish was already a separate language when arriving in Finland. Furthermore, the traditional Finnish lexicon has

3159-664: The Volga , Oka , and Kama rivers in what is now Russia. The genetic basis of future Finns also emerged in this area. There have been at least two noticeable waves of migration to the west by the ancestors of Finns. They began to move upstream of the Dnieper and from there to the upper reaches of the Daugava , from where they eventually moved along the river towards the Baltic Sea in 1250–1000 BC. The second wave of migration brought

3240-692: The kantele (an instrument of the zither family) have remained rather obscure. Agriculture supplemented by fishing and hunting has been the traditional livelihood among Finns. Slash-and-burn agriculture was practiced in the forest-covered east by Eastern Finns up to the 19th century. Agriculture, along with the language, distinguishes Finns from the Sámi , who retained the hunter-gatherer lifestyle longer and moved to coastal fishing and reindeer herding . Following industrialization and modernization of Finland, most Finns were urbanized and employed in modern service and manufacturing occupations, with agriculture becoming

3321-637: The 15th and 16th centuries, the Samogitians of the Klaipėda region called themselves " Lietuvininkai ", whereas at the end of the 19th century when the area, known in German as the Memelland , was part of Prussia (Germany), they were known as "Prūsai". After World War II , the territory of the western subdialect was resettled mainly by northern and southern Žemaičiai and by other Lithuanians. Samogitian has

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3402-741: The 18th century. When Finland became independent, it was overwhelmingly Lutheran Protestant . A small number of Eastern Orthodox Finns were also included, thus the Finnish government recognized both religions as "national religions". In 2017 70.9% of the population of Finland belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland , 1.1% to the Finnish Orthodox Church , 1.6% to other religious groups and 26.3% had no religious affiliation . Whereas, in Russian Ingria, there were both Lutheran and Orthodox Finns;

3483-925: The Finns and the Sami. While their genome is still mostly European, they also have some additional East Eurasian ancestry (varies from 5 up to 10 –13  % in Finns). This component is most likely Siberian -related, best represented by the north Siberian Nganasans . The specific Siberian-like ancestry is suggested to have arrived in Northern Europe during the early Iron Age , linked to the arrival of Uralic languages . Finns have high steppe or Corded Ware culture -like admixture, and they have less farmer-related and more hunter-gatherer-related admixture than Scandinavians and West and Central Europeans. Finns share more identity-by-descent (IBD) segments with several other Uralic-speaking peoples, including groups like Estonians,

3564-448: The Finns, are also closer to Finns than most European populations. Finns being an outlier population has to do with their gene pool having reduced diversity and differences in admixture, including Asian influence, compared to most Europeans. In general, Europeans can be modelled to have three ancestral components (hunter-gatherer, farmer and steppe), but this model does not work as such for some northeastern European populations, like

3645-619: The Karelians, Savonians and South Ostrobothnians. The Sweden Finns are either native to Sweden or have emigrated from Finland to Sweden. An estimated 450,000 first- or second-generation immigrants from Finland live in Sweden, of which approximately half speak Finnish . The majority moved from Finland to Sweden following the Second World War, contributing and taking advantage of the rapidly expanding Swedish economy . This emigration peaked in 1970 and has been declining since. There

3726-495: The Sami and the geographically distant Komis and Nganasans, than with their Indo-European-speaking neighbours. This is consistent with the idea that the Uralic peoples share common roots to some degree. Finnish genes being often described as homogeneous does not mean that there is no regional variation within Finns. Finns can be roughly divided into Western and Eastern (or Southwestern and Northeastern) Finnish sub-clusters, which in

3807-835: The Samogitians (Lithuanians) ). After World War I , Samogitia became a part of the newly re-established Lithuanian state. The Žemaičiai resisted the Bolsheviks and the Bermontians . During World War II, Lithuania was first occupied by the Stalinist Soviet Union in 1940, then in 1941 by Nazi Germany, and in 1944 again by the USSR. The Soviet Union recognized the independence of Lithuania on 6 September 1991. The last Soviet troops withdrew in August 1993. In 1945,

3888-606: The Soviets denied the existence of the Lithuania Minor ethnographic region, out of political advantage, and declared the Klaipėda region a part of Samogitia. Tourist destinations in Samogitia include Palanga , Kretinga and Žemaičių Kalvarija . The majority of tourists come from Latvia , Poland , Belarus , Russia , Germany , Spain , Finland and Sweden . Palanga is a tourist destination among tourists from

3969-480: The Teutonic Order and ended their crusading era. "We do not know on whose merits or guilt such a decision was made, or with what we have offended Your Lordship so much that Your Lordship has deservedly been directed against us, creating hardship for us everywhere. First of all, you made and announced a decision about the land of Samogitia, which is our inheritance and our homeland from the legal succession of

4050-678: The Teutonic Order set their sights on this last mission. Between 1345 and 1382, the Knights of the Cross attacked from Prussia some 70 times, while the Livonian Knights of the Sword made 30 military forays. Year after year, fortresses were attacked, farms and crops were put to the torch, women and children enslaved and men killed. Despite all their effort, the Žemaičiai managed to defend their lands until 1410 decisive Battle of Grunwald or Žalgiris, where united Polish-Lithuanian forces defeated

4131-824: The Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795 as a part of the Vilnius Governorate . In 1843, Samogitia was incorporated into the Kaunas Governorate , with a minor part attached to the Courland Governorate . Since then, Samogitia has not had a separate political status, but there were attempts to create a separate state during the uprising in February 1831 . Currently, Samogitia

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4212-428: The ancestors and elders. We still own it, it is and has always been the same Lithuanian land, because there is one language and the same inhabitants . But since the land of Samogitia is located lower than the land of Lithuania , it is called as Samogitia, because in Lithuanian it is called lower land [ Žemaitija ]. And the Samogitians call Lithuania as Aukštaitija , that is, from the Samogitian point of view,

4293-699: The arms of the city of Šiauliai . The emblem of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Motorized Infantry Brigade Žemaitija (Samogitia) is the griffin with a sword in his right hand and a shield, which features the Samogitian bear, in his left hand. Finns No official statistics are kept on ethnicity. However, statistics of the Finnish population according to first language and citizenship are documented and available. Finnish born population resident in Sweden. This figure likely includes all Finnish-born (regardless of ethnic background) and as such might be misleading. Finns or Finnish people ( Finnish : suomalaiset , IPA: [ˈsuo̯mɑlɑi̯set] ) are

4374-410: The beginning of the 19th century, the use of the Lithuanian language was largely limited to Lithuanian rural areas; the only area where Lithuanian was considered suitable for literature was German-controlled Lithuania Minor in East Prussia . Even here, an influx of German immigrants threatened the native language and Prussian Lithuanian culture. Several factors contributed to its subsequent revival:

4455-448: The cline that most Europeans belong to towards geographically distant Uralic-speakers like the Udmurts and Mari (while remaining genetically distant from them as well). Their distance from Western Europeans is about the same as their distance from Komis . The Balto-Finnic Estonians are among the genetically closest populations of Finns, but they are less isolated from the European cluster than Finns. Swedes , while being distinct from

4536-405: The core of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , composed from Žemaitija (lowlands) and Aukštaitija (highlands). Term Aukštaitija has been known since the 13th century. In the 15th century, Samogitia was the last region in Core Europe to be converted to Christianity . During the 15–18th centuries, it was known as the Duchy or Eldership of Samogitia , which included some territories of what

4617-427: The end of the ice age , contrary to the earlier idea that the area had experienced long uninhabited intervals. The hunter-gatherer Sámi were pushed into the more remote northern regions. A hugely controversial theory is so-called refugia . This was proposed in the 1990s by Kalevi Wiik , a professor emeritus of phonetics at the University of Turku . According to this theory, Finno-Ugric speakers spread north as

4698-426: The expense of Žemaitija. Because during the 13th through 16th centuries the Teutonic Order and the Livonian Order bordered Žemaitija, it was long threatened by their expansionist aims. As such, the Samogitian territory was offered to these orders, or exchanged in peace treaties, a number of times. Lithuania would then regain Žemaitija during subsequent conflicts. For more than two hundred years, old Samogitia played

4779-413: The first written sources possibly designating western Finland as the land of Finns are also two rune stones . One of these is in Söderby, Sweden, with the inscription finlont ( U 582 ), and the other is in Gotland , a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea , with the inscription finlandi ( G 319 M ) dating from the 11th century. As other Western Uralic and Baltic Finnic peoples, Finns originated between

4860-481: The former were identified as Ingrian Finns while the latter were considered Izhorians or Karelians . Finns are traditionally assumed to originate from two different populations speaking different dialects of Proto-Finnic ( kantasuomi ). Thus, a division into Western Finnish and Eastern Finnish is made. Further, there are subgroups, traditionally called heimo , according to dialects and local culture. Although ostensibly based on late Iron Age settlement patterns,

4941-419: The history of human populations has been gaining ground in ethnographic studies of Finnish people (e.g. the National Geographic Genographic Project and the Suomi DNA-projekti.) The most common maternal haplogroup among Finns is H , as 41.5% of Finnish women belong to it. One in four carry the haplogroup U5 . It is estimated to be the oldest major mtDNA haplogroup in Europe and is found in the whole of Europe at

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5022-466: The hypothesis of an etymological link between the Finnish and the Sami languages and other modern Uralic languages . It also supports the hypothesis of a common etymological origin of the toponyms Sápmi ( Northern Sami for 'Lapland') and Suomi ( Finnish for 'Finland') and the Finnish and Sami names for the Finnish and Sami languages ( suomi and saame ). Current research has disproved older hypotheses about connections with

5103-440: The language drew attention from scholars of the emerging science of comparative linguistics ; after the abolition of serfdom in the Russian Empire in 1861 , social mobility increased, and Lithuanian intellectuals arose from the ranks of the rural populace; and language became associated with identity in Lithuania, as elsewhere across Europe. Within the Catholic Church, the barriers that had earlier prevented commoners from entering

5184-411: The main group of ancestors of Finns from the Baltic Sea to the southwest coast of Finland in the 8th century BC. During the 80–100 generations of the migration, Finnish language changed its form, although it retained its Finno-Ugric roots. Material culture also changed during the transition, although the Baltic Finnic culture that formed on the shores of the Baltic Sea constantly retained its roots in

5265-438: The majority of them living in their native Finland and the surrounding countries, namely Sweden , Russia and Norway. An overseas Finnish diaspora has long been established in the countries of the Americas and Oceania, with the population of primarily immigrant background, namely Australia , Canada , New Zealand , Brazil, and the United States . The Finnish term for Finns is suomalaiset ( sing. suomalainen ). It

5346-462: The meaning "a member of a people speaking Finnish or a Finnic language". Historical references to Northern Europe are scarce, and the names given to its peoples and geographic regions are obscure; therefore, the etymologies of the names are questionable. Such names as Fenni , Phinnoi , Finnum , and Skrithfinni / Scridefinnum appear in a few written texts starting from about two millennia ago in association with peoples located in

5427-501: The minor nobility, especially in the Samogitian region. The language was not yet standardized; its grammar varied greatly from region to region in form of Aukštaitijan and Samogitian dialects and their sub-dialects. There were even expectations that the Lithuanian language would become extinct, as the eastern territories within what is modern-day Lithuania and northwestern Belarus became increasingly Slavicized , and many people used Polish or Belarusian in their daily lives. At

5508-408: The names Häme (Finnish for ' Tavastia ') and Proto-Baltic *žeme / Slavic землꙗ (zemlja) meaning ' land ' . This research also supports the earlier hypothesis that the designation Suomi started out as the designation for Southwest Finland ( Finland Proper , Varsinais-Suomi ) and later for their language and later for the whole area of modern Finland. But it

5589-424: The past. Just as uncertain are the possible mediators and the timelines for the development of the Uralic majority language of the Finns. On the basis of comparative linguistics, it has been suggested that the separation of the Finnic and the Sami languages took place during the 2nd millennium BC, and that the Proto-Uralic roots of the entire language group date from about the 6th to the 8th millennium BC. When

5670-596: The peasant class was least affected by Polonisation. The movement resulted in the publication of the Lithuanian newspapers Aušra and Varpas , followed by the publication of poems and books in Lithuanian. These writings romanticized the past of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , depicting the nation as formerly a great power with many heroes. The revival spearheaded the independence movement , with various organizations opposing Russification and Russian influence. Russian policy became harsher in response, and there were known instances of attacks on Catholic churches ; meanwhile,

5751-458: The press ban was finally lifted in 1904. The first important study on the Lithuanian national revival was written by Michał Pius Römer in 1908 - Lietuva. Studija apie lietuvių tautos atgimimą ( Litwa. Studyum o odrodzeniu narodu litewskiego , Lithuania: Study of national revival ). Samogitia Samogitia , often known by its Lithuanian name Žemaitija ( Samogitian : Žemaitėjė ; see below for alternative and historical names)

5832-486: The priesthood were eased. A closer relationship developed between the educated clergy, who were increasingly of ethnic Lithuanian stock, and their parishioners, including empathy for their wish to use the Lithuanian language. The emerging national movement sought to distance itself from both Polish and Russian influences, and the use of the Lithuanian language was seen as an important aspect of this movement. The development of Lithuanian national culture and national identity

5913-484: The south. The use of the Samogitian language is decreasing as more people tend to use Lithuanian, although there have been some minor attempts by local councils, especially in Telšiai , to write certain roadside information in Samogitian as well some schools teach children Samogitian in schools. The modern concept of " dialectological " Žemaitija appeared only by the end of the 19th century. The territory of ancient Samogitia

5994-450: The theory. Professor Raimo Anttila, Petri Kallio and brothers Ante and Aslak Aikio have rejected Wiik's theory with strong words, hinting strongly to pseudoscience , and even alt-right political biases among Wiik's supporters. Moreover, some dismissed the entire idea of refugia, due to the existence even today of arctic and subarctic peoples. The most heated debate took place in the Finnish journal Kaltio during autumn 2002. Since then,

6075-504: Was also known. Finnish neopaganism , or suomenusko , attempts to revive these traditions. Christianity was introduced to Finns from both the west and the east. Swedish kings conquered western parts of Finland in the late 13th century, imposing Roman Catholicism . Reformation in Sweden had the important effect that bishop Mikael Agricola , a student of Martin Luther 's, introduced written Finnish, and literacy became common during

6156-438: Was created by artist Algis Kliševičius. The flag of Samogitia depicts the coat of arms on a white background. It is a swallowtail flag . A variant of the flag charged with the greater coat of arms additionally has a red border around the flag. Both symbols are assumed to have been used for centuries, especially the coat of arms (differing claims assert it was first used in the 14th or 16th centuries). The symbols were used by

6237-412: Was further burdened by the Lithuanian press ban , one of the repressive measures that followed the 1863 uprising . After the uprising, serfdom was finally abandoned. The revival began among young educated people of Lithuanian extraction who attended higher education studies at the universities of the Russian Empire and foreign states. Many were sons of wealthy farmers in origin and thus, having come from

6318-446: Was incorporated into the Russian Empire along with the rest of Lithuania. Samogitia was the main source of the Lithuanian cultural revival during the 19th century and was a focal point for the smuggling of books printed in the Lithuanian language, which was banned by the occupying Russians. In 1883, Edmund Veckenstedt published a book Die Mythen, Sagen und Legenden der Zamaiten (Litauer) (English: The myths, sagas and legends of

6399-584: Was inhabited by southern Semigallians and southern Curonians ) became ethnically Lithuanian between the 13th and 16th centuries. The primal eastern boundary of historical Samogitia was the Šventoji River (a tributary of the Neris River ); in 1387, the Lithuanian ruler (regent of Lithuania for Jogaila) Skirgaila had expanded the territory of Grand Duke's domain in Aukštaitija along the Nevėžis River at

6480-552: Was much larger than current ethnographic or "dialectological" Žemaitija and embraced all of central and western Lithuania. The very term "Samogitians" is a Latinized form of the ancient Lithuanian name for the region's lowlanders, who dwelt in Central Lithuania's lowlands. The original subethnic Samogitia, i.e. Central Lithuania's flat burial grounds culture, was formed as early as the 5th-6th centuries. The western part of historical Žemaitija (before 12th–13th centuries it

6561-409: Was once the capital of the Duchy of Samogitia . The major cities are: Samogitia is bordered by Lithuania Minor in the south-west, Suvalkija in the south-east, Aukštaitija in the east, and Semigallia and Courland in the north. The people of Žemaitija speak Samogitian, a variety of Lithuanian that was previously considered one of three main dialects (modern linguists have determined that it

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