The origin of the Finns: a brief historical sketch. Finno-Ugric ethnic groups in Russia

Ancient times

The history of Finland has its roots in the Mesolithic era. After the retreat of the glacier, when the surface of the earth had not yet fully assumed its modern form, the territory modern Finland, which was a cold tundra, was inhabited by people of the Stone Age who came from the southeast. They led a nomadic lifestyle, hunting and fishing. These ancient cultures left their mark on the banks of Ladoga and Neva, Vuoksa and the Gulf of Bothnia. In the III millennium BC. The Baltic coast was settled by immigrants from the Urals, Finno-Ugric tribes, forming new culture pit-comb ceramics, and strongly displacing the former inhabitants.
By the beginning of our era, the Finno-Ugric tribes occupied vast territories from the Ural Mountains to the coast Baltic Sea. On the banks of the Kama and Vyatka rivers, in the Urals and in the Volga-Oka interfluve, peoples united by one language group and a similar culture lived.
To what extent are they all related to each other? The answer to this question is extremely difficult. The term "Finno-Ugric" is more linguistic than racial-ethnic. He notes only the linguistic features of nations. Naturally, at such a great distance, the ethno-massif cannot remain homogeneous for a long time, and the paths of development of the majority of the Finno-Ugric peoples diverged thousands of years ago. Each nation was formed under the strong influence neighboring nations: Turks, Slavs, Balts, Germans, etc., and therefore it is possible to "relate" modern Hungarians and Finns with the same success as Russians and Iranians, although both of them linguistically belong to the Indo-Europeans!

Finnish tribes

The culture of pit-comb ceramics became the mother of the future Baltic-Finnish peoples. During excavations of their sites, fragments of ceramic dishes with a characteristic pattern, the simplest stone and bone products, and figures made of baked clay and amber are found.
TO 8th century AD Finnish tribes began to move from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle, although northern nature had little to do with this - numerous swamps, dense taiga, rocks and stones left after the glacier disappeared, made the local land practically unsuitable for cultivation. The land was freed from the taiga by slash-and-burn: the forest was burned, stumps were uprooted, thousands of stones were removed.

At the beginning of our era, the Baltic and Ladoga regions were the first to be settled by the Saami or Lapp tribes, who, with the advent of a new wave of Finno-Ugric migrants, were gradually driven north to Lapland. The theme of the confrontation between the Saami and Karelian peoples was reflected in the oral folk tradition through the images of fairy tale characters: Väinämöinen and Eukahainen. Later it will be recorded and published under the general name "Kalevala".
The Saami were not familiar with the processing of iron ore. Having a more primitive economy, they could not compete with a strong neighbor - the Karelians, and under their onslaught they retreated farther north, following the herds of reindeer to the coast of the Arctic Ocean. For some time, the Karelian land stretched far on all four sides of Lake Ladoga, but later, under the onslaught of neighboring peoples, it was significantly reduced.

While the Karelians settled on the shores of Lake Ladoga and the Karelian Isthmus, southern Finland and Pribotnia were settled by their kindred tribes: Suomi and Häme, who moved to these lands from the southern coast of the Baltic - present-day Estonia and Latvia. There are many hypotheses about the origin of the name of the people "Suomi", but it is most likely that the name of the tribe comes from the Finnish word "Suo" - a swamp. Thus, "suomi" - "swamp people", inhabitants of dense swampy forests.
There have always been connections between the southern and northern shores of the Baltic. By the time known to us, the tribes of the Estonians and Livs, related to the Finns, lived on the southern coast, engaged in agriculture and fishing, as well as processing amber.

Finns and Eastern Slavs

In the VI century AD. the lands where the Finno-Ugric peoples had previously dominated began to be intensively settled by Slavic tribes. There is no consensus on the reasons for such a large-scale migration of the Slavs to the north. Most likely, they retreated under the onslaught of the more warlike Germanic or Turkic tribes. The Russian chronicle - "The Tale of Bygone Years" has preserved for us the names of the tribes of the Eastern Slavs, which formed the Russian people. Ilmen Slovenes lived in the district of Novgorod and Staraya Ladoga, Pskov, Izborsk, Polotsk and Smolensk were in the land of the Krivichi. Northerners lived in the district of Chernigov and Belgorod. On the site of present-day Moscow and in the Volga-Oka interfluve lived a warlike tribe of Vyatichi. In the region of Gomel and Bryansk - radimichi. The possessions of the Dregoviches stretched from Minsk to Brest. In today's Western Ukraine, there were lands of Volnians, Buzhans and Dulebs. In the lower reaches of the Dnieper and the Southern Bug, in the interfluve of the Dniester and Prut, as well as the Danube, the streets and Tivertsy lived. And, finally, the Kievan land belonged to the Glade tribe.

trade routes

A large number of rivers that cut through the North-West of present-day Russia allowed the Eastern Slavs to quickly move over long distances on small ships, which certainly stimulated the development of trade. In the east, Russia was bordered by the mighty Volga Bulgaria, where the furs of northern fur-bearing animals were at a great price; from the west, Scandinavian ships entered the Gulf of Finland and Ladoga. Permanent trade relations between East and West and convenient water communication between them led to the formation in the VIII century of a busy Volga trade route. International trade has always been the most powerful cultural catalyst. Trading settlements, where residents exchanged goods with visiting merchants, required the protection of fortress walls, behind which one could hide in case of an attack from the sea and land, as well as the presence of a permanent squad to repel the attack.

Wooden citadel

Unlike the countries of Western Europe, Russian lands were not rich in natural stone, so the first fortresses were built from wood and earth. The advantage of such fortresses was a very short period of their construction and reconstruction. In frequent wars, the fortresses proved their effectiveness, they withstood many attacks. However, such a fortress was easy to burn, and subsequently the wooden walls had to be abandoned. In those areas that received the main blow, defensive structures were later built of stone or brick.

The development of agriculture and the expansion of the possessions of rural communities required more tools, which gave an undoubted surge in handicraft production. This played a significant role in the formation of the first Russian cities, whose population, unlike the villages, for the most part consisted of craftsmen, and not of peasants. And trade routes contributed to the further development of cities. In these towns, sea merchants repaired their ships, replenished water and provisions, and exchanged goods with the local population. Along the entire trade route, archaeologists find metal tools, iron tools, as well as rich decorations with Finnish, Baltic, Slavic and Scandinavian motifs.

Roerich - "Overseas guests"

The remains of ancient Russian settlements, whose names, unfortunately, have not reached us, have been repeatedly discovered by archaeologists in Russia. As a rule, a high place on the bank of the river was chosen for the construction of the city, where the necessary fortifications were erected: a high log fence, observation towers, and sometimes a moat. The first known city in the north of Rus' was Ladoga, founded by settlers from Scandinavia no later than 753 AD. next to the more ancient Finnish settlement. The Slavs appeared in these parts a little later. Having taken the settlement by storm, they captured the city and remained in it to live. Ladoga is called the "first capital of Rus'", but the ethnic composition of these places was very diverse: not only the Slavs, Finno-Ugric peoples and Scandinavians settled here, but also the Balts.

The protection of the city from Viking raids was carried out by a regular squad - the Varangians, whose maintenance was paid by local residents. It is with this Varangian garrison that the ancient Novgorod legend is associated about the calling of the Varangians for protection and "attire" - collecting tribute from passing merchants. Initially, the prince was only the commander of the military garrison, whose task was to protect the city. Later, judicial functions were transferred to him. However, for a very long time harsh North the real power was in the hands of the people's veche - it was it that called and expelled the princes, helped to collect people and funds to support military campaigns, and made all the fateful decisions. Tradition brought us the name of the first princes of Rus': Rurik, called by the Slovenes and Krivichs to Ladoga, Truvor - called by a miracle to Izborsk and Sineus, who went to the lands of the Veps - to White Lake.

Country of cities

By the middle of the 9th century, the population of Ladoga reached 1000 people, thus, Ladoga was even larger than its contemporary - the famous city of Birka in Southern Sweden, founded around 800, where in its best years the population barely reached 700!

Remains of the Swedish city of Birka

At the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century, another fortified center appeared - Veliky Novgorod, originally a small settlement built at the source of the Volkhov River. In 903, Pleskov (now Pskov) was founded on a sharp cape at the intersection of the Pleskova and Velikaya rivers, which became the western shield of Ancient Rus'. From the annals, other ancient cities of the north of Rus' are also known: Polotsk, Smolensk, Rostov, Murom, and the last two cities were in the lands of the Volga Finno-Ugric tribes: Mary and Murom.
From the end of the 9th century, the center of Rus' shifted to the south - to Kyiv. There and along the entire trade route, foreign merchants could see numerous cities with large ports and harbors. Impressive Scandinavians nicknamed Rus' "Gardariki" - the country of "guards" or fortresses.

There were also ports in the Finnish lands. Karelians were the most active in trade, because the way from Scandinavia to Ladoga passed directly through their lands. By the 11th century, they had their own port towns: one on the site of the future Vyborg at the confluence of the Vuoksa River into the Gulf of Finland, Kyakisalmi at the source of the Vuoksa from Lake Ladoga, and Koivisto on Ravitsa Island, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bmodern Primorsk. By the 13th century, the Karelians were a rich and strong people with their own fleet, tribal rulers, valites and squads.

Velikiy Novgorod

Unfortunately, Russian chronicles practically cannot help us in studying the early history of the Finnish tribes, their development and formation. Until the 12th century, all the Baltic Finno-Ugric peoples were called by the chroniclers with one common name "chud", under which both Karelians and Suomi, as well as Estonians, Izhorians, Vozhane and other tribes close to them could be referred to.

Baltic Finns

In the 7th-12th centuries, Finnish tribes settled almost the entire coast of the Gulf of Finland. The most western Finno-Ugric peoples lived in modern Estonia and Latvia: Livs and Ests, as well as Curonians, a tribe that arose on the border of the Baltic and Finnish ethnic groups. To the east of them, the coast was inhabited by Vozhane and Izhorians. The latter also owned the territory of modern St. Petersburg. Veps lived in the south of Ladoga and further to the east, and to the north, starting from the Karelian Isthmus - Karelians, Khyame and Suomi. In even more northern latitudes, having almost no contact with the outside world, the Lapps or Saami lived. Together they form a separate Baltic branch of the Finno-Ugric peoples. The time when these tribes stood out among a single ethnic group is difficult to name today. In Russian chronicles, the names of the tribes "Izhora", "Korela", "Em" appear only in the 11th century, in contrast to the Vepsians, Meri, Meshchera and Murom, who were called by their names initially).

Trade relations of Novgorodians

Due to their geographical position, the tribes that inhabited the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland and the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia were much closer to the Scandinavians than to the Slavs. In the Norwegian and Swedish sagas there are many references to the Finns and Laplanders, as well as the mysterious Bjarmia, inhabited by a people close in dialect to the Finns. Almost always, the Finns in the sagas are represented as a wild people, living in dugouts, but at the same time wise, possessing witchcraft, able to control the forces of nature.

Collection of tribute to the Russian prince

The Novgorodians had long-standing trade relations with the Finns. Russian boats entered the cozy harbors of the Gulf of Finland, where they were met by local residents, bringing the skins of fur-bearing animals and products of local artisans to the market in exchange for weapons. The trade was so profitable that gradually small towns arose in the Finnish lands, in which Novgorod merchants lived all year round, preparing furs and other goods for shipment to Novgorod. Many of them exist to this day, having turned into cities.
Enterprising Novgorodians on their boats reached the skerries of the Gulf of Bothnia (which they called "Kayano-Sea"). They also went to the Swedish port of Birku, a trading city on the shores of Lake Mälaren, and later Russian courts were opened in Sigtuna and Stockholm.

Vyborg Bay

In the Joachim Chronicle, there is news of the construction by the son of the Novgorod posadnik Gostomysl of the trading settlement Vybor at the beginning of the 9th century, which later became the city of Vyborg. In the annals, the city of Vyborg is indeed called Vybor, and it is possible that the Swedish Viborg became only a derivative of an earlier Russian name. Later sources also say that, allegedly, the Novgorod prince Rurik died in Korel (probably in the city of Korela - Kyakisalmi), "go fight the lop." Believe it or not - you decide.
In the 13th century, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bmodern Primorsk, there was a Novgorod settlement Beryozovoe. The news of him is first found in 1268. In southern Finland, on the Aura River, the Novgorodians founded the coastal settlement of Torg, which later became the town of Turku, ancient city Finland and its first capital!

Gulf of Bothnia

Slavic culture could not but influence the Finns. Many places in Finland still have Russian roots. So, for example, the former "merchant" part of the city of Turku is still called Kupittaa (from the word "buy" or "merchant"). However, it was difficult to maintain its influence over such large distances, so much more attention was paid to neighboring Karelia.

Rus' and Hungary

Numerous Finno-Ugric tribes that surrounded Rus' lived according to the ancient laws of tribal relations, without having built their own states. Such a penchant for a solitary lifestyle, without delving into the political feuds of neighbors, apparently, is feature many nations of the Finno-Ugric family. Some exception, however, are the Hungarians (in the annals "Ugrians"), whose roots, like the Finns, come from the Urals. It is difficult to name the reason why the Ugric people left their homes today, but several tribes left their homes at once, dividing the Ugric ethno-massif into two parts. The first went to the north, laying the foundation for the modern peoples of the Khanty and Mansi, the second went to the southwest, becoming the ancestors of the current Hungarians.

Prince Arpad crossing the Carpathians

Having made a long and difficult journey through arid and hostile steppes, the Ugrians found themselves in the lands of a strong and powerful eastern state - the Khazar Khaganate. For many years, the Ugrians continued to roam the steppes, taking part in local wars along with the Turkic tribes, from whom they adopted a lot. When the Pechenegs pushed the Ugrians out, they went even further to the West, settling among the Slavs, in the former Roman province of Pannonia. The Germans often used the Hungarians in the fight against the Slavic neighbors. On the banks of the Danube, the Ugrians gradually switched to a settled way of life, building well-fortified cities, thus separating the southern Slavs from the western ones. Over time, the Hungarians adopted European culture, adopted Christianity, forming the first state of the Finno-Ugric peoples, which became a full-fledged Eastern European kingdom.

Transition of the Magyars through the Carpathians (Chronicon Pictum, 1360)

For a long time Rus' maintained good neighborly relations with the Hungarians. According to the Joachim Chronicle, the wife of Prince Svyatoslav Igorevich (her name is not mentioned in the chronicles) was a Magyar princess who received the name Predslava in Rus'. According to the historian Tatishchev, she could be the daughter of the Hungarian king Rox. A hundred years later (about 1038), the daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, Anastasia, became the wife of the Hungarian prince Andras, who, fleeing persecution, fled to Kiev and lived in Rus' for a long time.

A few years later, Andras and his wife returned home, becoming the new king of Hungary, and from 1046 to 1061. Queen Anastasia Yaroslavna ruled the country. However mixed marriages between the Hungarian and Russian dynasties were later. The daughter of the Kyiv prince Mstislav Vladimirovich - Euphrosyne became the wife of the Hungarian king Geza II. The Galician princes were also willingly related to the Hungarians, who were separated from their neighbors only Carpathian mountains. The Magyar kings repeatedly gave shelter to the exiled Russian princes, actively participated in princely civil strife (the Hungarian cavalry was famous throughout Europe!) and only through the efforts of the Roman Church, Rus' and Hungary found themselves on opposite sides of religious and political strife ... With the weakening of Rus' in the XII-XIII centuries. Hungary, Poland and Lithuania, with the active support of the popes, repeatedly tried to win back the border southwestern lands.
Often the boyars of the Ukrainian lands of Rus', having vast land holdings, not wanting to endure autocratic Russian princes, asked the Hungarians for a governor for themselves. However, hopes that the foreign king would be "kinder" than his princes turned out to be a mistake. The Hungarian army, which came with the king, invariably began to loot in peaceful villages, inflicting terrible harm on their inhabitants, and Catholic bishops began to zealously spread the Latin faith. Under the new king Andras (he occupied the Galician table in 1227-1233), the boyars not only did not receive new privileges, but also lost their former ones (the retinue arrived with the king, who also needed possessions), and very soon the dream of surrendering to someone else's crown had to be abandoned.

Development of Christianity in Sweden

With the adoption of Christianity, Rus' and Scandinavia rose to a higher level of social development than the Finnish tribes surrounding them, who continued to live in a tribal system, and therefore, over time, both the Swedes and the Russians began to inevitably have ideas of conquering the Finns and taxing them with tribute.
Scandinavia in its cultural and social development lagged behind Kievan Rus for many years. The proximity of Kyiv to rich Byzantium, lively trade with the Arab world and Volga Bulgaria, which were centers of trade and crafts in those days, led to a significant cultural growth of the "Country of Cities". After the Baptism of Rus' by Prince Vladimir in 988, the country became a full-fledged Christian European power. Sweden at that time was still suffering from cruel internecine wars which prevented the formation of a unified state. Only at the end of the 11th century, under King Inga the Elder, the "Court of the Gods" was burned in Uppsala, 100 years later than the temples of Perun in Kyiv or Novgorod were defeated!

Thor, god of thunder and lightning Scandinavian mythology

The Scandinavians actively participated in Russian history at first. It can be said that the Varangian princes (Rurik, Oleg, Igor, Olga) and their squads accelerated the transition of Rus' from the tribal to the feudal system. However, at such great distances, they would not be able to convey to the people either their language or their culture. Already the grandson of Rurik Svyatoslav Igorevich bears a Slavic name. Rus' owes its unique culture, as well as the formation of a single state, of course, to Byzantium. The adoption of Christianity united the scattered tribes of the Slavs, Finns, Balts and other peoples who lived on a vast territory. The local cults were replaced by a single faith, and with it a single language. With the Greeks, who were the first bishops and metropolitans, invaluable knowledge and crafts came to Rus' from Byzantium: stone construction and painting, mosaic work and icon painting. There is a writing based on the alphabet of Cyril and Methodius - Cyrillic and, as a result, chronicle writing. Just as in Europe, monasteries are becoming centers of science and art.

Viking Sea Battle: King Olaf aboard the Long Serpent defends himself against Eric Hakonson's warriors.

The path of Christianity to Scandinavia was thorny. Rome advanced, spreading the influence of its church farther and farther north. Preventing him, the Vikings often raided new monasteries in Britain and Ireland, Germany and France, brutally cracking down on clerics and monks. In 829, Saint Ansgar visited Sweden on a mission, but the ancient pagan traditions were in no hurry to give way to new, not yet taken root ideas, and the missionary had to return with nothing.

Armament of the Scandinavian warriors

Christianization in Scandinavia was long and painful. The old foundations were broken. Wealthy jarls, who lived a solitary life in their fjords and had a significant retinue, opposed the new faith with weapons in their hands. However, times have changed, and hundreds of men, not accustomed to hold in their hands nothing but a sword and an ax, in Peaceful time posed a serious threat to civilians - bonds, who demanded that the kings put an end to the bandits once and for all. In the later Icelandic sagas, Vikings and berserkers are no longer the heroic warriors we see them in. modern films, but clumsy and unfortunate robbers who could not find a job in peacetime, and who have no choice but to rob and kill their own tribesmen.

The new kings, who had already converted to Christianity, declared a real war on the Vikings. Hundreds of brave warriors left their native shores, leaving for a foreign land, replenishing the squads of Russian princes and kings of Byzantium.
The period of the formation of Christianity in Sweden becomes the twilight of paganism, from faith it is reborn into folk myths, majestic, severe northern poetry - sagas and skalds, similar to the Anglo-Saxon poem "Beowulf", recorded in the XI century. Gradually, a church diocese is being established in the country. Following Europe, the clergy accept celibacy. The Latinization of the country begins, followed by its Germanization (the first bishops in the country were the British and Germans). One of the last Sweden submitted to the power of the Roman Church. The Christianization of Scandinavia helped eradicate many bad pagan customs (the slave trade, human sacrifice, etc.) and greatly contributed to the mitigation of the former cruel customs. The state system also changed, gradually moving away from the clan system to a feudal society. Gradually, such concepts as "right", "state border", "war" came into use. With the beginning of the era of the Crusades, the Scandinavians were among the first to pick up the idea of ​​returning the Holy Sepulcher...

Rus' and Scandinavia

Until the 12th century, Scandinavia, despite its formidable disposition, was rather the "little sister" of Rus'. The harsh northern climate and rocky non-fertile land drove the inhabitants of the north into the sea - to rob merchants and coastal villages, ruin castles and monasteries. In a foreign land, the Scandinavians became much more famous than in their unkind homeland. A huge number of former Vikings, fearless and cruel warriors, served in the squads of Russian princes: Igor, Svyatoslav, Vladimir, Yaroslav and others, guarding the peace of Russian cities. Since the 11th century, Scandinavian mercenaries have also appeared in Byzantium, where they are called "varangs" (hence the distorted Russian "Varangians" found in The Tale of Bygone Years).

The calling of the Varangians

From the moment the capital of Rus' "moved" to the banks of the Dnieper, the prince of Kiev was considered at the same time Novgorodian, but in fact, power in Novgorod was in the hands of the people's council. Veche decided trade and military issues, could judge or pardon. Probably only the need to protect the Novgorod lands and the growing danger from the north forced the freedom-loving Novgorodians to turn to the Grand Duke Svyatoslav Igorevich with a request to send one of his sons to reign.
“And if you don’t send us, then we’ll find ourselves a prince ourselves,” the Novgorodians threatened him. “Whom would you send? Someone else would come to you,” Svyatoslav said thoughtfully. But the voivode Dobrynya persuaded the ambassadors in advance to ask for Vladimir, and very soon the satisfied Novgorodians sailed north with their own prince, even if he was very young ...
After the death of his father, in a troubled time of princely civil strife, for three whole years Prince Vladimir lived in Norway, gathering an army against his brother Yaropolk, who reigned in Kyiv. A huge detachment of Scandinavian mercenaries who arrived with him "from across the sea" helped Vladimir capture Polotsk, capturing the local princess Rogneda, a representative of the local Varangian dynasty, as well as other cities of Rus'. True, as often happens, having won a final victory, the Vikings began to behave like conquerors, causing damage to the local population and demanding a large tribute from the people of Kiev, and Vladimir sent them to Byzantium.

Ancient Kyiv

His son, Yaroslav, who received the nickname "Wise" from his descendants, had to go through something similar. After the death of his father, being a prince of Novgorod, he feared a war with his brother Svyatopolk and turned to his neighbors for help. And again, upon arrival in Novgorod, the Varzh detachment, seeing the weakness of the local authorities, decided to take it into their own hands. Instead of defending the prince, the Varangians came to grips with looting and robbery of the civilian population, for which one night they were completely massacred by the rebellious Novgorodians. Terrified that he would have to fight alone, Yaroslav executed the instigators of the popular uprising. However, soon the prince had to confess and ask for forgiveness from the inhabitants of the "Northern Capital". The Novgorodians forgave the prince and even promised to assemble the local militia for the war against his brother in exchange for a promise of freedom to their city, to which Yaroslav happily agreed. .

Varangians arrive in Novgorod (Kivshenko A.)

In 1019, Yaroslav married the Swedish princess Ingigerda (baptized Irina), the daughter of King Olaf Schötkonung, the first Christian monarch of Sweden. This marriage sealed Rus' and Sweden with peace, established between the countries for many years. As a gift to his young wife, or, as they said then, "for feeding", Yaroslav presented the city of Ladoga. From Ladoga and the surrounding Russian and Finnish villages, Ingegerda now collected tribute, appointing Jarl Western Gotaland Ragnvald Ulvsson as her mayor in the city. In the language of the local Izhorian tribe, the name of Ingegerd sounded somewhat different, and they began to call their territories subject to Ingegerda - "Ingermanland" Inkerin maa, that is, "Ingegerda's land". In the Russian version, the traditional ending "iya" was added to this name, which led to the formation of the Finnish-Swedish-Russian name: "Ingermanlandia" or abbreviated "Ingria". According to another version, Inkeri (Inkere) is the local deity of the Izhora.

In their dialect, the Izuri or Izhors are closest to the Karelians, which suggests that they once formed a single ethnomass. Individual representatives of this nationality are still alive. Their villages can be found in the Lomonosovsky district of the Leningrad region. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer representatives of this once mighty tribe. According to statistics, in 1995 there were only 450 Izhora people. And in those days The western borders of Ingria were quite long. Its western part passed along the Narova River, where the Izhoryans coexisted with another Finnish tribe - Vodya,eastern - along the river. Lave, southern - along the river. Luga, and, finally, from the north, Ingria was limited to the Sestra River. Behind her began Karelia.

Karelian village - Albert Chetverikov

On Ingegerd, dynastic marriages of Russians with Scandinavians do not end there. The daughter of Yaroslav the Wise - Elizabeth will become the wife of the King of Norway - Harald III the Severe, who served in her father's squad in his youth, and then in Byzantium. In his homeland and in a foreign land, Harald became famous as a brave and invincible warrior, besides, he was a skald and composed romantic ballads in the spirit of his knightly time. He also founded the small trading settlement of Oslo, which later became the capital of Norway. After the death of her husband off the coast of Britain in the famous Battle of Hastings, the widowed Elizabeth became the wife of King Sven II of Denmark. History is silent about her further fate ...
The Battle of Hastings is considered the official end point of the Viking Age.

Battle of Hastings - Bayeux tapestry detail

At the end of the 11th century, the son of Vladimir Monomakh and the English princess Gita of Wessex, Prince Mstislav, married Christina, the daughter of the Swedish king Ing Steinkelson, who bore him children, many of whom also entered European royal families: eldest daughter Ingeborg of Kiev married the Danish king Knud Lavard, another daughter of Malfried Mstislavna married King Sigurd of Norway, and after his death, Eric II of Denmark. Their son became King Eric III of Denmark. After the death of Christina, Mstislav Vladimirovich was remarried, and the daughter from the second marriage, Euphrosyne, married King Geza II of Hungary from the Arpad dynasty. Their eldest son will become the king of Hungary and Croatia, Istvan III, whose godfather was the king of France, Louis VII himself ...

It seemed that in the 12th century, Rus' was expecting true greatness and the future of a great Eurasian power. However, after the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich (1132), who was in everything the successor of his father's deeds, Kievan Rus was orphaned, disintegrating again. The sons of Mstislav became the rulers of independent principalities, and later opposed their uncles Monomakhovichi. None of Mstislav's immediate successors possessed his military and political talents and could not stop the collapse of the state. The vast majority of specific princes put their personal ambitions above the interests of the entire state. Very soon, with Russia, until recently rich and strong, its neighbors - Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Sweden and other states will cease to be considered. An endless series of internal internecine wars awaited the country, a fierce struggle for power of small specific principalities, often attracting steppe nomads to their side, ruthlessly exterminating the civilian population of Russian villages and enduring everything that could be taken away. The country was weakening.

On the northern borders of the possessions of Rus', Slavic villages gradually ended, turning into Finnish ones. From the west, Finnish lands bordered on Sweden. If the contacts of the Slavs with the Finns were rather commercial (Novgorod merchants bought precious furs from them), then Sweden begins the military colonization of Finnish lands. In those days when the pagans were declared enemies of the holy throne, any expansion of the possessions of the Christian state at the expense of pagan lands was supported in every possible way. catholic church, after all, thereby, and the possessions of the Roman Curia expanded.
The rivalry for influence in Finland, as well as belonging to two warring churches in Europe, made implacable enemies from the former allies. Rome tried with all its might to quarrel Rus' and its neighbors in order to destroy a strong enemy, which, unlike other countries, did not want to recognize the primacy of the pope. The Roman Church could not influence Rus', it was still a strong and powerful state, but Rus' also did not miss chances to weaken Russia.
As a result, the entire subsequent history of relations between Russia and Sweden is an endless series of wars for Finnish lands. Years passed, rulers changed, the defense power of both powers grew, but again and again the countries returned to the "Finnish question", constantly moving the border in one direction or another.

The first clashes between the Russians and the Swedes in the 9th-11th centuries. were not political in nature. Since the time of the Vikings, the Sveons have raided Russian lands, landing from their Drakkar ships in coastal villages. Such was the raid on Ladoga in 997 by the Norwegian jarl Eirik Hakonarsson in retaliation for the fact that Olaf Tryggvasson, who seized power in his country, found refuge in the city. Eirik set fire to the wooden houses around the fortress, captured the detinets himself, walked through the surrounding villages, burning everything to the ground and killing civilians. However, the jarl could not cross the Volkhov rapids, therefore, he did not go to Novgorod. When he learned that Prince Vladimir sent his squad to punish the daring invader, he fled back to Norway.
However, times changed, both countries adopted Christianity, and the conflicts received a new, religious ground, which became a very successful justification for new robberies.

In general, conflicts with the Scandinavians were not so tangible for Rus', which, on its southern borders, was subjected to much greater ruin from the Pechenegs and Polovtsians. Minor clashes were often not even noted in the annals of both countries, since neither Rus' nor Sweden simply considered them as wars. As a rule, 150-200 people participated in the battle, and they were fought in a relatively small area - for example, a coastal village. The Novgorodians invariably responded to the robberies of their northern neighbors with punitive landings deep in the rear of the enemy. These landings were made, as a rule, in the summer, on small sailing and rowing boats, spruces or augers. Sometimes Novgorodians managed to enter quite remote points of Sweden, more than 1000 kilometers away from Russian land!

At the same time, trade between countries, beneficial to both parties, continued invariably. How hundreds of Swedish goods come to Russia today, which can be found, for example, in Ikea stores, in the 10th-12th centuries. Swedish goods were also in demand among the Slavs. Honey, wax, hemp and servants, traditional for Rus', found their demand among the Swedes. The slave trade did not subside for a long time in Europe, even after the adoption of Christianity. Probably, in those years, many Finns captured by the Swedes fell into slavery in rich southern countries ...
TO middle of XII V. the lands of modern Finland were well populated, but life was in full swing mainly along the coastal strip, which made it possible to feed on the sea. The rest part of the country, covered dense forests with many thickets and swamps, remained deserted. Due to their favorable position in the very center of the trade routes, the Estonians, Livs, Izhorians, Karelians, Suomi, etc. actively traded with both the Slavs and the Germans and Scandinavians, which undoubtedly spurred the development of crafts and the cultural growth of the Finnish tribes. As a result of active trade, the tribes had their own small ships and weapons, which also allowed them to engage in piracy and robbery of merchant ships. With the departure of the Vikings from the Baltic, Finnish pirates appeared in it. The Finns either sold the captured people for ransom or made them slaves. So, after the assassination of King Tryggvi of Norway, his wife Astrid and son Olaf fled to Novgorod, where Astrid's brother Sigurd served in the squad of the local prince. Their ship was captured by Estonian pirates along the way, who took them prisoner.. And only the accidental appearance in the lands of the Chud Sigurd, who collected tribute from the Estonians for Prince Vladimir, made it possible to redeem Olaf from captivity.
In 1105, the militant tribe tried to capture the fortress of Ladoga, but was repulsed. (Apparently, the Novgorod chronicles called the Finno-Ugric tribe Khyame, who lived in the neighborhood of the Suomi, "Emu" in the Novgorod chronicles).

The reason for the Yemi attack on Ladoga could be not only a banal "thirst for profit", as we see it today, but, most likely, dissatisfaction with the obligation to pay tribute to the Novgorodians, which this warlike tribe was obliged to pay by the son of Yaroslav the Wise and Ingegerda - Vladimir in 1042.
In the spring of 1123, another punitive expedition to the lands of Emi was led by Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich, the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh. It ended with a complete victory for the Novgorodians. However, 20 years later, in 1142 and 1149, they came to Ladoga again, and again failed, and for the second time the entire detachment was destroyed (“I beat 400 Ladoga residents and did not let my husband go”). The Ladojans and Novgorodians repeatedly undertook campaigns "to him" (sometimes together with the Karelians, as in 1191) in order to teach their neighbors a lesson, however, unlike Sweden, the Slavs never subjugated and exterminated entire tribes, did not sell them into slavery, did not convert them to Christianity by force, did not take away land.
From the point of view of Europeans, such a policy seemed short-sighted. In the 1220s, Henry of Latvia wrote: "There is a custom among Russian kings, having conquered a nation, to take care not of converting it to the Christian faith, but of collecting [from it] tribute and money." But in relation to the local peoples, this was much more humane, and Novgorod, thereby, was spared the need to "feed" the outskirts of its principality at the expense of the center, build fortresses on foreign land and support a huge army to pacify the recalcitrant.

First Encounter

The first serious clash between the Swedes and Novgorodians happened under King Sverker I, who organized a crusade to "the lands of the Balts and Slavs." In his country, Sverker pursued an active policy of Christianization. It was he who founded the Swedish monasteries of Alvastra, Nyudala and Varheim. Under him, a period of terrible civil strife ended in Sweden for a while - being originally the king of Östergötland, Sverker defeated Magnus the Strong in 1130, capturing Västergötland as well, as a result of which all of Sweden came under his rule. The royal power has taken strong positions, and now it was a high time to think of new territories. In Rus', civil strife was in full swing. Knowing about the continuous wars that the Russian princes waged among themselves, and how often the Novgorod princes were replaced, the Swedes understood that such an enemy would not be able to give a serious rebuff.
It was no longer an ordinary skirmish, it was a real war. Its initiators were no longer merchants or military men, who are usually driven by a thirst for profit, but the clergy, whose goals, as you know, were completely different. For the first time, the number of troops participating in clashes between the sides has reached 1,000.

In 1142, on 60 augers, led by a bishop (probably to convert sinners-Slavs to the "true faith"), the Swedes appeared at the walls of Ladoga ("come a swiss prince with a squeak of 60 augers per guest, and the essence of the overseas went in 55 boats"). However, rebuilt in 1116 under the leadership of the mayor Pavel, the fortress was very well fortified. The Swedes were met by impregnable stone walls, and the Ladoga residents managed to defend the city, giving the enemy a strong rebuff ("and weaned them 3 boats, beaten a hundred and fifty of them"). Two years later, the Swedes reappeared in the Ladoga lands, but they did not dare to storm the fortress, limiting themselves to looting peaceful villages. Having learned about the approach of the Novgorod army, they prudently withdrew to Estonia.
In 1156, King Sverker was killed by one of his people on the morning before Christmas. After him, his cousin-nephew Erik, the lord of Upland, who later received the name Eric the Holy, becomes king.

Finnish baptism

In the same year, 1156, Eric IX organized a new crusade. He was more fortunate than his predecessor. The soldiers were accompanied by Bishop Henry of Uppsala, an Englishman by birth. The Swedes landed at the mouth of the Aura River, where the Finnish city of Turku would later stand. The locals were defeated and forcibly baptized. The southwestern part of Finland was proclaimed the Swedish colony of Nyland ("New Land"), after which Eric IX retired back to Sweden, and Henry remained in Finland, having received the post of Bishop of Nyland. Both met a difficult fate. Erik was killed on May 18, 1160 in Uppsala by an assassin Emund Ulvbanne, commissioned by the Danish prince Magnus Henriksen. The king, as an "innocently murdered" henchman of the development of Christianity, was posthumously canonized as a saint.

Eric IX Saint

Finnish historians take the position that there was no crusade, and the Suomi tribe at the mouth of the Aura was Christian long before 1156. The campaign, they say, was invented specifically for the canonization of Eric IX. One way or another, in 1172, Pope Alexander III banned the cult of St. Eric on the grounds that he was drunk at the time of the murder. However, the Swedish kings liked to have a saint in their family, and the ban was simply ignored. To this day, Eric continues to be a local Swedish saint, being, by the way, the heavenly patron of Stockholm. His symbolic portrait adorns the coat of arms of the Swedish capital.

Flag of Stockholm - left Eric IX

The next king is the Danish prince Magnus Henriksen. For a while he subjugated all of Sweden, until he was defeated by Carl Sverkerson, Jarl of Götland. Having received power, he proclaimed himself the new king - Charles VII. It is curious that history is silent about the previous six Karls. Probably, we are talking about some legendary kings, about which nothing is known today. However, it is possible that these Karls never existed and were invented to extend the lineage of the ruling dynasty (in the same way, King Eric IX actually had to be VI).
The death of Eric was followed by the death of Bishop Henry, who also was not destined to grow old as the Bishop of Finland. In 1158, he was brutally murdered on the ice of the lake by the Finnish peasant Lally. Henry managed to spread the Christian doctrine only 150 km to the north. In Sweden, he was also canonized as a saint.
The forced Christianization of the Baltic Finns lasted for a century. If the Suomi as a whole accepted the new faith obediently, their neighbors, the warlike hyame, fiercely resisted the alien creed. They burned new wooden churches, ruthlessly cracking down on the clergy. For almost 90 years, the Tavasts (as the Swedes called this hostile tribe) fought for their freedom and the right to worship the former gods.

swedish knights

In the following 13th century, the pope wrote an angry bull that all who rebel against Christianity should be ruthlessly exterminated, and the new truly bloody crusade of Jarl Birger completed the baptism of Nyland.
The methods of converting the pagans, who had their ancient cults based on fairy tales and myths, were eradicated cruelly and ruthlessly. In the pre-Christian era, the Suomi worshiped forest gods and stones, living in peace with nature and in fear of it. The Roman Church called for ruthless treatment of the recalcitrant, and in the spirit of that cruel time, everyone who did not accept was ruthlessly exterminated. The new creed became a real nightmare for the Finns: divine services were held in an incomprehensible Latin language, the church imposed heavy requisitions on the Finns, mercilessly punishing all the disobedient. Catholicism was a rude, certainly violent interference in their way of life and traditions. So gradually resigned Finns found a new faith, which, ironically, taught love and forgiveness.

Karelian baptism

Taking advantage of the confusion that reigned in Sweden due to the struggle for power, as well as the open opposition of the local population to the Swedish invasion, the Novgorodians moved to Karelia. From the Valaam, Solovetsky, Konevsky and Svirsky monasteries went to the west Orthodox bishops to baptize Karelians. The methods of conversion to Christianity in the Orthodox Church were far from being as cruel as those of the Catholics. The “most terrible” thing that awaited the former pagans was the tribute that they were now obliged to pay to the Novgorod prince for their protection. The Orthodox Church has repeatedly made attempts to extend its influence to the Finnish lands. In 1227, Prince Yaroslav (father of Alexander Nevsky) made the first military campaign against Karelia, with the aim of baptizing local residents: "Yaroslav Vsevolodovich sent, baptized many Korels, not all people." By 1278, the entire Karelian land was annexed to Veliky Novgorod. Karelians, leaders, Izhorians, Vepsians and Chud entered the Vodskaya Pyatina - so, after the name of the Finnish tribe that lived in the area of ​​​​the Narova River, a new area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe principality, inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes, was called. It also included the territory of present-day St. Petersburg and the entire south, west and east of the Leningrad region.

Koporye - the western border of the Vodskaya Pyatina

From the end of the 12th century, the Karelians became military allies of the Novgorodians. Having united in joint squads, the Novgorodians, together with the Karelians, make trips to em, which often disturbed the Karelians with their raids. Em was levied with tribute, which, of course, the tavasts were not happy about. In order to get rid of the guests from Novgorod, the Häme nevertheless decided to submit to the Swedes, with whom they had previously fought quite successfully. The result was even greater requisitions in favor of Sweden, the loss of independence, the obligation to maintain the Swedish garrisons, the loss of rather large territories that were occupied by fortresses, monasteries and estates of feudal lords. The Tavasts have disappeared over the centuries, mixing with the Suomi into a single Finnish nation, which took its name from the inhabitants of the swamps. Nevertheless, the memory of Häme has been preserved by local place names, for example, the Finnish city of Hämenlinna (Tavastgus in Swedish).

Crusade - fresco in a Swedish temple

In 1164, Sweden, finally, having earned the trust of Rome, receives its own bishop. Bishop Stefan from the monastery of Alvastra became them. He again indicated Scandinavian warriors goal, and in the same year the Swedes undertake another crusade against Finland. Ladoga is besieged by a detachment of 1000 Swedes and Finns, but the Ladoga residents managed to send messengers to Novgorod for help, from where a strong squad rushed, and again the Swedes were defeated. The detachment was completely defeated, several hundred Swedes were captured, 43 out of 55 ships were captured by Ladoga. In honor of the resounding victory over the Swedes in 1164, the Church of St. George was built in Ladoga. Inside the church before today frescoes have survived. On them you can see St. George galloping on a stately horse and an angel leading a dragon pacified by the word of God, which probably symbolizes Sweden.

Defeat of Sigtuna

With the spread of Swedish influence deep into the Finnish lands, the Novgorodians gradually lost their influence there. In Rus', the final and most difficult period of the princely internecine struggle was going on, the Mongol invasion was just around the corner, as a result, it became increasingly difficult to repel the raids of the Swedes.
Meanwhile, having conquered the Suomi and Häme, the Swedes demanded tribute from the Karelians as well. Angry at the need to pay tribute to two neighbors at once, the Karelians decided to fight back. In 1187, a huge Karelian army moved to Sweden on boats. Burning and devastating the Swedish villages, lost in skerries, they reached the city of Sigtuna - the then capital of the kingdom, located on the shores of Lake Mälaren, connected by a strait with the Baltic Sea. Here is how this event was reflected in the Chronicle of Eric, written in the 1320s:

"Sweden had many troubles
from Karelians and many misfortunes.
They sailed from the sea and up to Melar
and in calm, and in bad weather, and in a storm,

secretly sailing inside the Swedish skerries,
and very often committed robberies here.
One day they had such a desire,
that they burned Sigtuna,
and burned everything to the ground,

that this city has not risen.
Ion the Archbishop was killed there,
many pagans rejoiced at this,
that the Christians had it so badly
this made the land of Karelians and Russ happy.”

It could be assumed that the Karelians were guided by Rus, however, in this and later sources, the defeat of Sigtuna was attributed precisely to the Karelians, the Rus are mentioned only in passing. Other authors even attribute the victory to some "pagans". Nevertheless, after the victory, the gates from the city of Sigtuna were brought to Novgorod as a military trophy. Later they were installed as the Korsun gates in the St. Sophia Cathedral of the Novgorod Kremlin. It is curious that Sigtuna is not the birthplace of these gates. Images of Bishop Wichmann of Magdeburg and Bishop Alexander of Plotsk on the gates tell us that the gates were most likely made in Magdeburg, which was a major center of artistic crafts in medieval Germany. The Swedes themselves probably stole this gate earlier and installed it in the Sigtuna Cathedral. However, they were not destined to stand there for long ...

Gate from Sigtuna

The complexity of the task itself speaks in favor of the fact that the Russians participated in the campaign.Sigtuna was located in the depths of Lake Melaren, 60 km from the seashore. The lake itself is covered with many islands, with narrow winding straits. Only Novgorodians could know these routes, because they had long-term trade relations with the Swedes. Once the central position of Sigtuna turned the city into the main port of the country. Ancient trade routes laid by the Vikings connected Sigtuna with Finland, Karelia, Estonia, the Baltic and Novgorod Rus. The city served as a trade intermediary between Novgorod and Western European countries. There was a large Russian community in it, there was a Russian trading court (just as there were Swedish, Goth and German courts in Novgorod), with merchants constantly staying there. It even had its own Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, the ruins of which are still there today.
As for the Karelians, they traded with the Swedes only on their own territory, and they could hardly even find Sigtuna among the skerries. The city was well protected not only by the lake. From the north, an impenetrable swamp adjoined it, from the east it protected two impregnable castles, from the land the city was surrounded by a wall. Thus, the attack on Sigtuna could not have been a spontaneous raid by "half-savage pagans", as Swedish historians describe it. It was a carefully planned naval operation, which is why it was crowned with a quick victory!

Ruins of Sigtuna, Sweden

Most likely, the goal of the campaign was different for Novgorodians and Karelians. If the Novgorodians fought against a rapidly advancing enemy, then the Karelians probably had more pragmatic goals, for example, revenge for the bandit landings of the Swedes, as well as the desire to get new fishing grounds in Pribotnia and in the Kymijoki River. With pagan cruelty, the Karelians burned Sigtuna, destroying it all to the ground, so that it was not possible to restore the city. In his own residence, Archbishop Jonah was burned alive. The once formidable Normans were put to shame and defeated by their eastern neighbor!
A similar alliance with the Finnish tribes was practiced by both the Swedes and the Germans. Taking men in the conquered settlements, they formed a huge army, attacking the Novgorod lands with it. Later, in the story about the victory of Alexander Nevsky in the battle on Lake Peipsi, the chronicler will name the exact number of knights killed, adding "and the Chud died without counting." The conquered Finns traditionally became free human resource, which the conquerors could dispose of at their discretion.

After the defeat of Sigtuna, the Swedes took retaliatory measures: the arrest of Russian merchants on the island of Gotland and in other Swedish cities. Despite the fact that Sigtuna was destroyed by the Karelians, the Swedes also saw the "hand of Novgorod" in this. Thus, even if the personal participation of the Novgorodians in the campaign was insignificant (for example, as pilots or governors), it was they who were the ideological inspirers.
This case of cooperation between Rus' and Karelia was not isolated. 11 years later, in 1198 Karelians, together with the Novgorodians, captured and plundered the city of Turku (Abo), the first stronghold of Sweden in Finland, and later the center of Christianity.
In 1220, the Swedes founded an episcopal see in Finland. The first Finnish bishop was Bishop Thomas (Thomas), an Englishman and missionary. In 1300, Turku was chosen as the residence of the Finnish archbishop, and in 1318 it was again devastated by the Novgorodians.

Swedish castle in Turku, 1280s

The capture of Sigtuna had an extremely negative impact on relations between the two countries. Following the arrest of the Novgorod merchants, the Novgorodians refused to trade in Sweden for as much as 13 years. For Sweden itself, the consequences were also very serious - the loss of the main trading and religious center caused severe damage to the state. There was a need for a new capital, which was moved to Uppsala.
After almost 100 years, the construction of a new city was begun, which would protect the coast of Lake Mälaren from an invasion from the Baltic. According to legend, the choice of a place for the construction of the fortress took place according to pagan tradition: a log was lowered into the water, and where it was nailed by waves, they laid the city. And nailed it to a small island located in the strait connecting the Baltic Sea with Lake Mälaren. This custom gave the name to the city - Stockholm. After all, "Stock" is translated as "log" or "pile", and "holme" - as "island". According to Eric's Chronicle, Jarl Birger is considered the founder of the city, who built the first wooden fortifications on the island in 1252. Already by 1270, Stockholm becomes the largest settlement in Sweden.

- (self-name suomalayset) nation, the main population of Finland (4.65 million people), the total number of 5.43 million people (1992), including in Russian Federation 47.1 thousand people (1989). Finnish language. Believing Protestants (Lutherans) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

FINNS- FINNS, Finns, unit. finn, finna, husband 1. The people of the Finno-Ugric group, inhabiting the Karelian Finnish SSR and Finland. 2. The common name of the peoples of the Finnish branch of the Finno-Ugric peoples. Dictionary Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

FINNS- FINNS, ov, units. finn, a, husband. The people that make up the main population of Finland. | female finca, i. | adj. Finnish, oh, oh. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

FINNS- (self-name suomalay set), people. There are 47.1 thousand people in the Russian Federation living in Karelia, the Leningrad Region, and others. The main population of Finland. Finnish is a Baltic-Finnish branch of the Finno-Ugric family of languages. Believers ... ... Russian history

FINNS- The people living in the northwestern region of Evropeysk. Russia and mainly in Finland. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

FINNS- FINNS, see Cysticercosis. FISTULA, see Fistula ... Big Medical Encyclopedia

Finns- residents of the state in Northern Europe, Finland. However, they themselves do not call their country that. This is a foreign name for them of Germanic origin. IN Finnish there is not even the sound f. For them, their country is Suomi, and they themselves are suoma layset (people ... ... Ethnopsychological dictionary

Finns- ov; pl. Nation, the main population of Finland; representatives of this nation. ◁ Finn, a; m. Finca, and; pl. genus. nok, date nkam; and. Finnish, oh, oh. F. epic. F. language. F. knife (a short knife with a thick blade, carried in a sheath). Fie sleigh, sledge (sleigh, ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

FINNS- in a broad sense, a number of Ural Altai peoples. They were divided into four groups: a) Finnish in the close sense (Finns, Ests, Livs, Korelas, Lopari); b) Ugric (Magyars, Ostyaks, Voguls); c) the Volga (Meshcherya, Merya, Murom, Mordva, Cheremisy, Chuvash) and ... ... Cossack dictionary-reference book

Books

• Finns in the Service of the SS Troops during the Second World War, V. N. Baryshnikov. The monograph, based on Russian, Finnish and German sources, examines key events relating to Finland's relations with Germany in the 1920-1930s, as well as the period of the so-called ... Buy for 884 UAH (Ukraine only)
• Finns in the service of the SS troops during the Second World War. The second edition, corrected and enlarged, V. Baryshnikov. Based on Russian, Finnish and German sources, the monograph discusses key events relating to Finland's relations with Germany in the 1920-1930s, as well as the period of the so-called ...

Faces of Russia. "Living Together, Being Different"

The multimedia project "Faces of Russia" exists since 2006, talking about Russian civilization, the most important feature of which is the ability to live together, remaining different - such a motto is especially relevant for the countries of the entire post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, as part of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of various Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs "Music and songs of the peoples of Russia" were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs have been released to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a picture that will allow the inhabitants of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a picture of what they were like for posterity.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Faces of Russia". Ingrians. 2011

General information

F'INN-INGERMANL'ANDS, Petersburg Finns, a people in the Russian Federation, a sub-ethnic group of Finns. The number in the Russian Federation is 47.1 thousand people, including 18.4 thousand people in Karelia, about 11.8 thousand people in the Leningrad region (mainly Gatchinsky and Vsevolozhsky districts), and 5.5 thousand people in St. Petersburg. They also live in Estonia (about 16.6 thousand people). The total number is about 67 thousand people. According to the 2002 population census, the number of Ingrian Finns living in Russia is 300 people.

The language (a number of slightly different dialects) belongs to the eastern dialects of the Finnish language. The literary Finnish language is also widespread. Self-name - Finns (suomalayset), inkerilaiset, i.e. residents of Inkeri (Finnish name for the Izhora land, or Ingria - the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland and the Karelian Isthmus, the Germanized name is Ingria).

The faithful Finns-Ingrian are Lutherans. In the past, there was a small group of Orthodox among the Evrimeiset. Sectarianism (including the "jumpers"), as well as various pietistic currents (Laestadianism) were widespread among the Savakos.

The mass resettlement of Finns to the territory of Ingria began after 1617, when these lands, under the terms of the Stolbovsky Peace, were ceded to Sweden, which at that time included Finland. The main influx of Finnish colonists occurred in the middle of the 17th century, when the Swedish government began to force the conversion of local residents to Lutheranism and close Orthodox churches. This caused a mass exodus of the Orthodox (Izhora, Votic, Russian and Karelian) population to the southern lands that belonged to Russia. The empty lands were quickly occupied by Finns-settlers. Settlers from the nearest regions of Finland, in particular from the parish of Euryapää and neighboring parishes in the north-west of the Karelian Isthmus, were called Evrimeiset, i.e. people from Euräpää. Ethnographic group savakot, formed by settlers from Eastern Finland (the historical lands of Savo), was more numerous: in the middle of the 18th century, out of 72 thousand Ingrian Finns, almost 44 thousand were savakot. The influx of Finns to the territory of Ingria also occurred in the 19th century. Ingrian Finns had little contact with the indigenous population of this region.

In the late 1920s and 30s, many Ingrian Finns were deported to other regions of the country. During the Great Patriotic War, about 2/3 of the Ingrian Finns ended up in the occupied territories and were evacuated to Finland (about 60 thousand people). After the conclusion of a peace treaty between the USSR and Finland, the evacuated population was returned to the USSR, but did not receive the right to settle in former places residence. Since the late 1980s, there has been a movement among Ingrian Finns to restore cultural autonomy and return to their old habitats.

N.V. Shlygin

F'INNS, suomalayset (self-name), people, the main population of Finland (4650 thousand people). They also live in the USA (305 thousand people), Canada (53 thousand people), Sweden (310 thousand people), Norway (22 thousand people), Russia (47.1 thousand people, see Ingrian Finns) and others. The total number is 5430 thousand people. According to the 2002 Population Census, the number of Finns living in Russia is 34 thousand people.

They speak the Finnish language of the Baltic-Finnish subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group of the Ural family. Dialects are divided into Western and eastern group. Modern literary language based on Western dialects with the inclusion of Eastern vocabulary. Writing based on Latin graphics.

Believers are mostly Lutherans. Various pietist movements are widespread: the Hernguters (since the 1730s), the Prayers (since the 1750s), the Awakened (since the 1830s), the Laestadians (since the 1840s), the Evangelicals (since the 1840s), the Free Church, Methodists, Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and etc. There is a small number (1.5%) of the Orthodox in the southeastern regions (and immigrants from there).

The ancestors of the Finns - the Baltic-Finnish tribes - penetrated the territory of modern Finland in the 3rd millennium BC and settled most of it by the 8th century, pushing the Sami population to the north and partially assimilating it. The Finnish people was formed in the process of merging the southwestern Suomi tribes (in ancient Russian chronicles- sum), hyame (Old Russian em), who lived in the central part of Finland, the eastern Savo tribe, as well as the western (Vyborg and Saima) groups of Karelians (see Karelians). The eastern regions of the country were characterized by contacts with the Ladoga region and the Upper Volga region, and the southwestern regions - with Scandinavia and the Baltic states.

In the 12th-13th centuries, the Finnish lands were conquered by the Swedes. The long Swedish domination left a noticeable imprint on the culture of the Finns ( agricultural relations, public institutions, etc.). The Swedish conquest was accompanied by the forced Christianization of the Finns. During the Reformation period (16th century), Finnish writing was created. Nevertheless, the Finnish language remained only the language of worship and everyday communication until the 2nd half of the 19th century, when it received formal equality with the Swedish language. In reality, it began to be carried out already in independent Finland. Swedish remains the second official language of Finland.

In 1809 - 1917 Finland with the status of an autonomous Grand Duchy was part of the Russian Empire. In December 1917 the independence of Finland was proclaimed; in July 1919 it became a republic.

The folk culture of the Finns shows differences between Western and Eastern Finland. The ethnographic border between them runs along the line of the modern cities of Kotka, Jyväskylä, further between Oulu and Raahe. In the west, the influence of Swedish culture is more noticeable. Until the end of the 19th century, farming dominated agriculture. In the east, in the Middle Ages, slash-and-burn agriculture was the main form; in the southwest, a fallow arable system developed early; since the end of the 19th century, multi-field crop rotation began to take root. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, dairy farming became the leading one. Traditional crafts are marine (fishing, seal hunting, sailing), forestry (tar smoking), woodworking (including the manufacture of wooden utensils). More than 33% of modern Finns are employed in industry, in agriculture and forestry - about 9%.

Peasant settlements in the south-west of the country until the 16th-17th centuries were cumulus villages, since the 18th century, with the spread of farm land use, the scattered planning of villages began to prevail. In the east, in connection with the slash-and-burn system of agriculture, small settlements predominated, often single-yard, villages arose only where there were large areas of land suitable for permanent cultivation. The traditional dwelling is a log house of elongated proportions with a gable roof covered with shingles. The south of Pohjanmaa has been characterized by a two-storey house since the 18th century. The most important outbuildings are a shed, a bathhouse (sauna), cages (in the southwest they are often two-story, the top floor was used for sleeping in summer). In the south-west of Finland, a residential building and outbuildings formed a closed quadrangular yard, in the east the yards have a free layout. Dwellings in the west and east of the country differed in the design of the oven: the west is characterized by the combination of a heating and bread oven and an open hearth for cooking food, the early appearance of chimneys; in the East, an oven is common, close to the so-called Russian oven. The interior of a western peasant house is characterized by bunk and sliding beds, cradles on bent runners, and a variety of cabinet shapes. Polychrome painting and carving covering furniture and utensils (spinning wheels, rakes, clamp tongs, etc.) are widespread. The living quarters were decorated with woven products (blankets, festive bedspreads, curtains for bunk beds), and ruyu pile carpets. In the East, archaic forms of furniture were preserved for a long time - wall benches, fixed beds, hanging cradles, wall shelves, cabinets. traditional architecture and the decor of the east of the country had a great influence on the architecture and art of the Finns during the period of the so-called "national romanticism" of the late 19th century.

Traditional women's clothing- a shirt, blouses of various cuts, a skirt (mostly striped), a woolen sleeveless bodice or jacket, an apron, for married women - a linen or silk headdress on a hard basis with lace trim; girls wore open headdresses in the form of a crown or bandage. Men's clothing- shirt, knee-length pants, vests, jackets, caftans. In the east, a women's shirt with embroidery and an oblique cut on the chest, a white homespun or linen semi-long sundress (viita), a towel headdress, and caps were preserved for a long time. The embroidery ornaments reflected the Karelian and Northern Russian influence. Folk forms of clothing disappear early, especially in the west of the country. Their revival and the formation of the so-called national costume takes place at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, during the period of the national movement. This costume retains its festive and symbolic role even today.

There were differences in the traditional food of the Western and Eastern Finns: in the east, high soft bread was regularly baked, in the west, bread was baked 2 times a year in the form of round flat dry cakes with a hole in the middle and stored on poles under the ceiling. In the east they made lumpy yogurt, in the west they made stretchy forms of sour milk, they also made homemade cheese. Only in the east were baked closed pies (including rybniki) and pies like "gates", only in the extreme southeast was daily consumption of tea accepted. In the western regions it is traditional to make beer, in the east - malt or bread kvass.

The family is small. Large families, both paternal and fraternal, survived until the 19th century in the northwest of the country in Pohjanmaa, in the northeast - in Kainuu, in the southeast - in Karjala, where they existed until the 20th century.

The wedding ritual in Western Finland was distinguished by Swedish influences and borrowings from the church rite: wedding at home, "gate of honor", "wedding pole" in the yard, wedding under the canopy ("himmeli"), wedding crown of the bride, etc. wedding-hyat in his house. Many rituals were aimed at protecting the bride from evil spirits (when moving to the groom's house, they covered her face with a veil, took a knife into the wagon, etc.) and ensured the fertility of the marriage.

Of the calendar holidays, the most important are Christmas and Midsummer Day (Juhannus, Mittumaarya). During their conduct, various pre-Christian rites were preserved, for example, making fires on Ivan's Day. There was a belief in guardian spirits, troll witches, various protective actions, etc.

In folklore, epic songs of runic size occupy a special place. On the basis of the runes collected in Karelia, Eastern Finland and Ingermanland, E. Lennrot compiled the Kalevala epic (1835), which became a symbol of the Finnish national movement.

N.V. Shlygin

Essays

Own land - strawberries, foreign land - blueberries / Oma maa mansikka; muu maa mustikka

Finland is called the Land of a Thousand Lakes. In fact, there are many more: about 190 thousand! Lakes occupy almost 9% of the entire territory of the country.

What happened to the lakes? To the forests? Before when there was no land at all?

Initially, there was only an endless ocean. A lone bird flew over it looking for a nest. Which one exactly is unknown. Ancient runes differ on this issue. It could be a duck, a goose, an eagle and even a swallow. In a word, a bird.

It was the bird that saw the knee of the first human being that stuck out of the water. It was the tribe of the wise old man Väinämöinen or (in another rune) of his mother, the heavenly maiden Ilmatar.

The bird laid an egg right on its knee... From this primary material, the creator bird created the world. In some runes, the world is created by the first man Väinämöinen, and the firmament is forged by the blacksmith Ilmarinen.

The sky was created from the top half of the egg. From the bottom - the earth, from the yolk - the sun. From the protein - the moon, from the shell - the stars.

So, with the creation of the universe, it is more or less clear, but how did it happen that the Finns became exactly the way they are at the present time?

Finn counts only on himself

The question is difficult, but it can be answered. The national character of the Finn, so to speak, was forged from the confrontation with nature. This is where the primary characterization of Finnish consciousness begins. Everything in it is determined by the desire to conquer nature. And what is most interesting (causing respect): in the fight against the natural elements, the Finn relies only on himself. Therefore, he attaches such importance to himself, convincing himself of his abilities. In the Finn's view, a person is a truly powerful being, designed to conquer the elements. We see this in the Kalevala epic.

In fairy tales, this theme of knowing the secret codes of nature is also reflected, sometimes even slightly in a comical form. Here, for example, is the "Peasant's Prediction".

There once lived a king and a peasant, and the peasant meadows and fields were so close to the royal palace that the owner had to pass through the courtyard of the royal castle each time on the way to his lands. Once a peasant went on a horse for a vein. When he was returning from the meadows through the royal court, the king happened to be in the courtyard of his castle, and he began to scold the peasant.

How dare you, you idiot, drive your hay through my yard, aren't you ashamed?!

Sorry, gracious king, - the peasant answered. - But the fact is that soon there will be a thunderstorm, a downpour will begin, and if I drove along the long ring road, I would not have time before the rain poured down, and my hay would get wet. That's why I hurried straight with the hay.

Well, said the king, how do you know that?

Great sovereign! replied the peasant. - I know by the tail of my mare. See how the gadflies crawl under the tail. And this is a sure sign that there will be bad weather.

That's how ... - said the king and allowed the peasant to pass.

After that, the king went to the tower of the palace astrologer and asked the soothsayer if it would rain today. The stargazer took a telescope, looked at the sky and said:

No, sir, there will be neither today, nor tomorrow, nor even the day after tomorrow, not a single tear, not a single drop, but then, maybe, there will be.

I understand, - said the king and descended from the tower to head to his chambers. But on the way to the palace, such heavy rain and a terrible thunderstorm overtook the king that the king was soaked to the skin. Finally, he reached his palace, all soiled, and immediately called the soothsayer to him.

You, unfortunate astrologer, will have to make room, since you do not understand anything about the weather, while a stupid and uncouth peasant, looking at the tail of his mare, sees - when it will rain, and when it will be a bucket, - the king told him and dismissed him from his post, sending manure to the stable to clean up.

And the king summoned the peasant to himself and gave him the tower of the astrologer and the proper title, putting him in the same salary as the former soothsayer received. So the peasant became a friend of the king thanks to horseflies and a gadfly, to the envy of all the courtiers.

Finns love themselves

The Finns love themselves in a way that few nations love themselves. In general, there are few peoples who love themselves, and the Finns are just one of them. In the minds of most peoples there is a certain perfect image, or related to the golden age in the past, and one's own inadequacy to this image is acutely felt.

The Finns have almost no such dissatisfaction. Finn, in essence, does not need the highest sanction, he achieved his exclusive position in the world himself. This explains the emphasized respect of the Finns for themselves, which surprised many researchers. Finn behaves with dignity, never begs for tea, even avoids a hint of it, although he will not refuse to take an increase on occasion, but he will not hint at it, and whether they add something to him in the calculation or not, he will equally thank, having received the agreed payment.

Finn is extremely little dependent on the team. A Finnish peasant lives on a farm. He does not often communicate with his neighbors, is closed in the family circle and does not see a special need to open this circle. After Sunday lunch the owner will not visit. And why would he run away from home? His wife is his best friend, his children respect him. Finn is almost entirely focused on himself. His eyes, sometimes beautiful and expressive, look somehow into the depths of himself, he is closed and silent. Finn goes to fight nature one on one.

At the end of the 18th century, Finland was called the country of sorcerers. The sorcerers themselves firmly believed in their art and, as a rule, passed it on to their children, which is why it was considered the property of entire families.

Enchant nature to conquer

Since ancient times, the Finns have considered the knowledge of the hidden forces of nature to be the greatest wisdom, believing that the word can make nature act as a person wants. The wiser a person, the stronger the influence of his word on the surrounding nature, the more it is subject to him. Since ancient times, the Finns have been more famous than others for their sorcerers. The Finns tried to enchant nature and thus conquer it. This is one of the adequate expressions of the content embedded in the mind of a Finn. The sorcerer is like a superman. He is lonely and proud. He is closed in and on himself. He can go out to duel with nature. His goal is to force the alien forces of nature to obey his word, his desire.

Finns have an almost contractual relationship with God. They are streamlined and extremely rationalized. Lutheranism is a purely individual religion. There is no catholicity in it, each for himself. There is no mysticism in it either. Its rules are strict and simple. Strict and simple liturgical rite. Man must work. Must be a respectable family man, raise children, help the poor. All this the Finn does with the greatest zeal. But in this very correctness and moderation passion shines through. This rationality itself acquires magical traits.

The focus on conquering nature has been and remains the main content of the Finn's consciousness. Even today, Finn continues to recognize himself as a lone fighter, who owes everything to himself and counts on his own strength or God, but not on God's mercy and pity, but on God as a reliable employee with whom the Finn enters into a contract, pledging to lead a virtuous life in return for His patronage.

Finn honors the contract to the smallest detail. His religious life is very regular and orderly. It was considered an unforgivable crime for a Finn to miss a church service. Even at the post station there was a sign with the rule: “No one, except in extreme need, has the right to demand a horse and set off on a journey during worship on Sundays.”

As a religious duty, the Finns consider the ability to read. After all, every Lutheran should know the text of Holy Scripture and be able to interpret it. Therefore, literacy in Finland already in the twentieth century was one hundred percent.

Finns read everywhere: in cafes and on trains. It is the Finnish character that can explain the Finns' love for the harsh and uncompromising poetry of Joseph Brodsky. It is this poet who enjoys incredible success in the Land of Blue Lakes.

Laugh at yourself

This is another feature of the Finnish character. It turns out that Finns love jokes about themselves. And they are willing to compose them themselves. And when they meet, they exchange novelties. And this, too, can be seen as a healthy start. People who can laugh at themselves are really capable of a lot. Finns can even joke about their favorite sauna. "The sauna can be used by anyone who is able to walk to it."

And here are a few anecdotal stories that have become a kind of classic of the genre.

Three Finn brothers are sitting on a fishing trip in the Gulf of Finland. Morning, the sun begins to rise, the younger brother says: - Nee kluyett.

Well, it's already daytime, the sun is high...

The middle brother says: -Taa, it doesn't peck at the bite.

Well, it's already evening here, the sun has already set, well, the elder brother says:

Chatting a lot of votts and pecking at her ..

Raaime, are you married?

Natt, I'm not married.

But tippya has a kaaltso on the floor!

ABOUT! Already married! Like a latitt framing!

Toivo means hope

Finnish names... do they mean something? Finnish names adopted in the Lutheran Finnish calendar are heterogeneous in origin. A significant place is occupied by ancient, pagan names. These are names that still retain a connection with the words from which they came.

For example: Ainikki (the only one), Armas (beloved), Arvo (dignity, honor), Ilma (air), Into (inspiration), Kauko (far), Lempi (love), Onni (happiness), Orvokki (violet), Rauha (peace), Sikka (grasshopper), Sulo (charm), Taimi (sprout), Taisto (struggle), Tarmo (energy, strength), Toivo (hope), Uljas (brave), Urho (hero, hero), Vuokko (snowdrop).

Another part of the names is borrowed from the Germanic and some other peoples. But these borrowed names have undergone such significant language processing on Finnish soil that they are now perceived as native Finnish, although they are not associated with any meaning.

With Finnish surnames, the situation is different. All Finnish surnames are formed from original Finnish significant words. Surnames of foreign origin are perceived by native speakers as foreign.

Finnish names are placed before the family name. Very often a child is given two or even three names at birth. The names before the surname are not declined - only the surname changes. For example: Toivo Letinen (Toivo Lehtinen) - Toivo Lehtiselle (Toivo Lehtinen). The stress in names, as in general in Finnish, falls on the first syllable.

It is interesting to find out which Finnish names correspond to Russian ones. In fact, there are not so many of them. For example, such names as Ahti or Aimo have no correspondences in Russian. But the name Antti corresponds to the Russian name Andrei.

Let's list a few more Finnish names along with Russian counterparts: Juhani - Ivan, Marty - Martin, Matti - Matvey, Mikko - Mikhail, Niilo - Nikolai, Paavo - Pavel, Pauli - Pavel, Pekka - Peter, Pietari - Peter, Santeri - Alexander, Simo - Semyon, Vihtori - Victor. The women's list will be as follows: Annie - Anna, Helena - Elena. Irene - Irina, Katri - Ekaterina, Leena - Elena, Liisa - Elizabeth, Marta - Martha.

The Russian language has close ties with Finnish, or rather, with a group of Finno-Ugric languages. It just so happened historically that the lands of northern Rus' (and then Muscovy) were practically surrounded by peoples who spoke Finno-Ugric languages. This is the Baltic region, and the northeastern forests, near the Arctic Circle, and the Urals, and many nomadic tribes that lived in the southern steppes.

Until now, linguists are arguing which words passed from whom to whom. For example, there is a version that the word "tundra", which has passed into Russian, comes from the Finnish word "tunturi". But with the rest of the words, everything is far from being so simple. Did the Russian word "boots" come from the Finnish word "saappaat" or vice versa?

Aphoristic boom in Finland

Proverbs and sayings, of course, are in Finland. Books are also published in which these proverbs are collected.

The sauna is a pharmacy for the poor. Sauna öä apteekki.

Own land - strawberries, foreign land - blueberries. Oma maa mansikka; muu maa mustikka.

Finns honor not only folk wisdom, but also modern, that is, aphorisms. In Finland there is an association that brings together authors working in the genre of aphorism. They publish books and anthologies. They have their own website on the Internet (.aforismi.vuodatus.).

The 2011 anthology "Tiheiden ajatusten kirja" (Closely Thoughts on Paper) collected aphorisms from 107 authors. Every year in Finland there is a competition for best author aphorisms (competition named after Samuli Paronen). Not only writers, poets, journalists, but also people of other professions take part in this competition. It can be said without any exaggeration that the whole of Finland is passionate about both reading aphorisms and composing them. It is with great pleasure that we introduce the works contemporary authors aphorisms.

Each person is the smith of his own happiness. And if someone wants to forge eternal chains for himself, then this is his personal right. Paavo Haavikko

The most common type of classification: me and the rest. Torsti Lehtinen

When you get very old, you are not afraid to be young. Helena Anhava

Slowness (slowness) is the soul of pleasure. Markku Envall

Don't confuse God's sycophants with angels. Eero Suvilehto

It may very well be that some modern Finnish aphorisms will go to the people and become proverbs.

Statistics

Where did the Finns come from

Where did the Finns come from? The following information is taken from a Finnish school history textbook.
The Finns belong to the Fino-Ugric group of peoples, which now makes up about 1 percent of the inhabitants of the earth. Now the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group are settled over a large territory: in central, eastern and western Europe, as well as in northern Asia.

The Finno-Ugric language group includes Hungarians, Vods, Vepsians, Ingrian, Izhorians, Karelians, Komi, Komi-Permyaks, Livs, Mari, Mansi, Mordovians, Saami, Udmurts, Finns, Khanty, Estonians. There is no reliable data on the ancestors of these peoples, but researchers believe that about 4,000 years ago they lived between the Ural Range and the middle course of the Volga.

It was the stone age. People lived in huts and dugouts and dressed in animal skins. They hunted, fished and gathered fruits and roots. Even then, merchants from the Mediterranean reached these places and brought goods and information. Gradually, the ancestors of the modern peoples of the Finno-Ugric language group began to move to new places of residence. The ancestors of modern Hungarians were the first to move to the southwest. Approximately 500 years before the birth of Christ, part of the tribes moved west. Later they settled on the shores of the Baltic Sea, in the area of ​​Lake Ladoga and Onega.

About 2,000 years ago, the ancestors of today's Finns crossed the Baltic Sea in search of new hunting grounds. Permanent settlements began to appear in the region of present-day Helsinki. Gradually, people moved north and east along the rivers and the coast of the sea. The ancestors of Estonians and Veps remained in their former places.

On the shores of Lake Ladoga, between the Vuoksa River and the territory modern city About 1000 years ago, Karelians settled in Sortavala. Karelians settled on the territory of the Karelian Isthmus, in the north and east of Lake Ladoga. The trade routes passing through these places brought certain benefits to the local residents. But at the same time, this territory turned out to be in the zone of interests of two powerful countries - Sweden and Russia.

According to the terms of the peace treaty of 1323, Karelians were divided into two parts. The eastern Karelians passed to Novgorod, the western - to Sweden. (Later, in 1940, they had to leave the Karelian Isthmus forever.)
Mikael Agrikola played a significant role in the formation of the Finnish people. In 1542 he created the first Finnish alphabet. Since that time, literary works (primarily religious ones) began to be translated into Finnish.

From the works of V.O. Klyuchevsky.

Finnish tribes settled among the forests and swamps of central and northern Russia even at a time when there were no traces of the presence of the Slavs here ... The Finns, when they first appeared in European historiography, were marked by one characteristic feature - peacefulness, even timidity, downtroddenness.

According to the historian Klyuchevsky, traces of the presence of the Finns on the territory of modern Russia are present in geographical names. In his opinion, even the original Russian word Moscow is of Finnish origin.

Finns are one of the largest Ural peoples. Their number currently totals 6-7 million people (the exact figure does not exist due to the lack of reliable statistics on the fairly large Finnish emigration). Finns live mainly in Finland (5.3 million people). as well as in the USA (about 700 thousand people), in Canada (120 thousand), in Russia (34 thousand), Scandinavian countries, in Australia, etc. The language is Finnish or Swedish (about 300 thousand people in Finland). Finns self-name - suomalainen(singular), Russian folk name - chukhna, chukhons, and the official name is Finns- borrowed by Russians from Germanic languages. For the first time, the ethnonym Finns (Swedish finnar, German Finnen) is first encountered by the Roman historian Tacitus (I AD) in the form Fenni. Apparently, in its origin it is connected with the Germanic verbs in the meaning of ‘find, seek’ (Goth. fin?an, Swedish finna, German finden). Initially, this ethnonym served in the Germanic languages, from where it eventually came to Tacitus, to refer to the population of Fennoscandia and (according to Tacitus, in any case) the Eastern Baltic, leading a mostly mobile lifestyle and unfamiliar with agriculture (living by hunting, that is, “searching”), most likely the ancestors of the modern Saami, whose border of settlement at that time passed significantly south of the present (and the very name of the country is Finnland , Finland - originally meant, in fact, ‘the country of the Saami, Sami’). Back in the 18th century, finnar Norwegians and Swedes called not only the Finns, but also the Sami (Norwegian finne means 'Sami' today). The Finnish name for Finland is Suomi, thus, literally means ‘inhabitant of the country of Suomi, Suomets’) is first recorded on the pages of Russian chronicles in the form of Sum (from the beginning of the 12th century). Initially, this was the name of the territory of present-day southwestern Finland (coastal areas), the so-called. Varsinais Suomi‘real Finland’. This word itself is also of Germanic origin, going back to the Old Swedish word meaning ‘detachment, group, gathering’, which in itself should not be surprising - Finnish culture and language throughout its history have constantly experienced a powerful Germanic influence. The word Suomi did not immediately come to mean the whole country. Simultaneously with the name Sum, another group appears in the Russian chronicles - eat(Fin. h?me), and the distinction between the dialects of both these groups persists to this day. The Suomi dialect in a number of ways approaches the Estonian, Votic, Liv dialects (the southern (western) group of Baltic-Finnish dialects) and opposes the Häme dialect, Karelian and Vepsian languages. This indicates the origin of the Suomi group from the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. The question of the time of the appearance of Suomi in the territory of southwestern Finland remains debatable, from an archaeological point of view, the most likely assumption is that this happened in the so-called "early Roman time" (the turn of the eras - the first centuries AD), when the territory of Varsinais Suomi and the entire coast of Finland up to the area of ​​\u200b\u200btoday's city of Vasa were subjected to expansion by carriers of the culture of stone burials with fences, which occurred, in particular, from the territory of modern Estonia and Latvia. In turn, the Häme settled the territories directly to the east and northeast of Varsinais Suomi, displacing the ancient Sami population from them. was a complex process of consolidation of several Baltic-Finnish tribes. In addition to the Suomi Finns and Häme, the Karelians played a significant role in this process. As a result of the mixing of the Suomi dialects (to a small extent), the Häme and Karelians, the Savo dialect (f. Savo - possibly from the Orthodox personal names Savva, Savvaty) developed in eastern Finland, and the Ladoga Finnish dialects in the southeast, which in fact are closer to the Karelian language than to the language of the Finns-Suomi . It was these groups that in the 17th century formed the basis of the Finns who moved to the lands of Ingermanland (mainly the modern Leningrad region), which had passed through the Stolbovsk peace under the rule of Sweden, by the end of the 17th century, there were already more than 30 thousand people in this territory (more than half of the population of the region). The Ingrian Finns, who called themselves yyrmviset (pl.; probably from f. yyrs "steep coast; slope") and savakot (pl.; from Savo - see above), at the beginning of the 20th century were the most numerous national minority on the territory of the modern Leningrad region (about 125 thousand people) and lived not only in rural areas, but also in St. Petersburg, where a Finnish newspaper was founded back in 1870. The schools taught in Finnish, published literature, and from 1899 to 1918 All-Ingrian song festivals were regularly held. In the first decades Soviet power The national and cultural development of the Ingrian Finns continued successfully: the number of Finnish schools grew, office work was translated into Finnish in several village councils of the region, and a Finnish book publishing house was created. However, in the mid-1930s, relations between Finland and Soviet Union began to deteriorate rapidly, and this is the most in a sad way affected the fate of the Finns in Russia: about 50 thousand people were forcibly deported from their homeland, since 1937 all Finnish publications, teaching in Finnish, and the activities of national cultural organizations were completely banned. During the war, more than 50 thousand Ingrian people were deported to Finland, then returned to the USSR, but they were forbidden to settle in their native places. The Finns from the territory of the Leningrad region and from the besieged Leningrad were almost completely taken to Siberia, and only in 1956 the Finns were again allowed to settle in the Leningrad region. The 2002 census recorded 4,000 Finns in St. Petersburg, and another approx. 8 thousand. In addition to the Baltic-Finnish tribes, immigrants from Scandinavia (ancient Germans - ancient Scandinavians - Swedes) who settled on the coast of western, southwestern and southern Finland from the end of the Bronze Age played a significant role in the composition of the Finns. Their influx to the territory of Finland has increased significantly since about the 3rd century AD. - since that time, the population of Varsinais Suomi has been drawn into a single sphere of trade relations with Scandinavia, in contrast to the more eastern regions, where old ties with Eastern Europe remain. As a result of the mixing of the Baltic-Finnish and Scandinavian populations in the Middle Ages, a group of Kvens (Russian Kayans, Finnish kainuu, Norwegian kv?n) was formed, settling along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia to the north. The name Kveny is recorded in Old Norse (Kv?nir) and Old English (Cwenas) sources starting from the 9th century, and denoted the mixed Finnish-Scandinavian population of the coast of Bothnia (cf. the later Russian (Pomeranian) Kayane ‘Norwegians’). Approximately at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennium AD. the Baltic-Finnish tribes occupied only the west, southwest and south of modern Finland, and central Finland and the lake region, not to mention the north of the country, were inhabited by the Sami, as toponymy, archeology, folklore and historical sources. The Baltic-Finnish population appeared as early as the 1st millennium AD. drawn into the circle of trade relations of the Baltic and - more broadly - Europe as a whole and showed particular activity in the northern direction. In the first centuries of the II millennium AD. the ancestors of the Finns begin to expand into the Sami lands, which was originally of a trading nature. IN XVI-XVII centuries The process of agricultural colonization of the Sami lands of the Lake District (central Finland) by Finnish peasants (mainly Savosians) is already actively underway, who produce massive forest burning, thereby eliminating the ecological basis for preserving the Sami hunting and fishing economy here. This led to the gradual displacement of the Sami population further north or to its assimilation by the Finns. The advance of the Finnish-Sami border to the north continued throughout the 17th-19th centuries, until almost the entire territory of modern Finland, except for a small Sami enclave in the far north near the lake. Inari and R. Utsjoki did not become Finnish. However, the promotion of practitioners of slash-and-burn agriculture Finnish bands in search of new lands for clearing to the north, this did not stop there: they penetrated the territory of northern Sweden and especially Norway, where they were called forest Finns. After the official prohibition of slash-and-burn agriculture in Sweden in the middle of the 19th century and the implementation of an active state assimilation policy, the “forest Finns” switched to the Swedish and Norwegian languages ​​by the middle of the 20th century. with the founding of a new diocese in Finland. In the course of the struggle between Sweden and Novgorod, by the middle of the 14th century, the border of their possessions was established, close to modern border Russia and Finland, and the Baltic-Finnish tribes were divided politically and confessionally: their western part was subordinated to Sweden (the Duchy of Finland from 1284 to 1563, when the status of the duchy was temporarily abolished after the victory of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa over his rebellious son, the Duke of Finland Johan) and converted to Catholicism (in the era of the Reformation associated with Finland, first of all, with the activities of the educator Mikael Agricola in the 16th century, which was replaced by Lutheranism), and the eastern one is subordinated to Novgorod and converted to Orthodoxy. This circumstance led, in the main, to the consolidation of the Finnish in the west and the Karelian in the east of the peoples and the establishment of a border between them. Already under the conditions of Swedish domination, enlightenment and the rise of the national self-consciousness of the Finns begin. In the middle of the 16th century, the already mentioned Mikael Agricola published the first books in Finnish. In 1581, Finland again received the status of the Grand Duchy within the Kingdom of Sweden. After the Russo-Swedish War of 1808–1809 Finland became part of the Russian Empire as an autonomous Grand Duchy, later - the Grand Duchy (the conditions for Finland to join the Empire were approved by a meeting of representatives of the country's estates - the Borgo Seim in 1809; since 1863, the Seim - the Parliament of Finland - has been operating again). To consolidate its positions on the new lands and the struggle with Swedish influence, the Russian government used the Finnish factor - the autonomies granted autonomies unprecedented in terms of the latitude of law (since 1863 it was officially announced the equal rights of the Swedish and Finnish languages ​​in the territory of the Great Duchy, since 1866, training in schools in the Finnish language has been introduced), annexed to the lands of the Great Duchy of the Earth, which were part of the composition in the composition of the composition in the composition of Russia, not Sweden (Vyborg region). All this created objectively favorable conditions for the national development of the Finnish people. The most significant, fateful for the Finnish cultural history an event in this regard was the transfer of the university from Abo (Turku) to the city of Helsingfors (Helsinki) in 1827. Being under the personal patronage of Tsar Alexander I, the University of Helsingfors was the only university in the Empire that received for its library a control copy of every publication printed in Russia, and became the center of Finnish culture and science. All this ensured a sharp rise in the national movement, in which, in addition to politicians, scientists played an outstanding role: the collector of Karelian-Finnish epic songs and the creator of Kalevala Elias Lönnrot, academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences Antti Johan Sjogren, traveler, linguist and ethnologist Matthias Aleksanteri Kastren and others. In the first half of the 19th century, the modern Finnish literary language was formed. Russophobic sentiments in society, and the attempts of the government of Nicholas II to smooth out the disproportion between the freedoms enjoyed by the Grand Duchy and the status of other regions of the empire only added fuel to the fire. The growing national movement achieved its main goal during the revolution of 1917: in July the Finnish Diet passed the "Law on Power", proclaiming itself the bearer of supreme power, in December the newly elected parliament adopted the Declaration of Independence, and Republic of Finland was recognized by Soviet Russia.