| Finland | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Sweden | |||||||||
| 1150s–1809 | |||||||||
 Map of Sweden (1747) | |||||||||
| Government | |||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||
• 1250–1275 | Valdemar | ||||||||
• 1792–1809 | Gustav IV Adolf (Last) | ||||||||
| Regent | |||||||||
• 1438–1440 | Karl Knutsson Bonde | ||||||||
• 1512–1520 | Sten Sture the Younger | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages to Napoleonic Wars | ||||||||
| 1150s | |||||||||
• Established | 10 November | ||||||||
| 1397–1523 | |||||||||
| 1611–1721 | |||||||||
| 1808–1809 | |||||||||
| 1809 | |||||||||
| 17 September 1809 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Finland | ||||||||
In Swedish and Finnish history, Finland under Swedish rule is the historical period when the bulk of the area that later came to constitute Finland was an integral part of Sweden. The starting point of Swedish rule is uncertain and controversial. Historical evidence of the establishment of Swedish rule in Finland exists from the middle of the 13th century onwards.
Swedish rule ended in most of so-called Old Finland, the south-eastern part of the Finnish territories, in 1721 as a result of the Great Northern War. Sweden ceded the remainder of Old Finland in 1743 following the Hats' War. On 17 September 1809, the period of Swedish rule over the rest of Finland came to an end when the Treaty of Hamina was signed, ending the Finnish War. As a result, the eastern third of Sweden was ceded to the Russian Empire and became established as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland.
Swedish rule in the area of modern-day Finland started as a result of the Northern Crusades. The Finnish upper class lost its position and lands to new Swedish and German nobility and to the Catholic Church.[1] The Swedish colonisation of some coastal areas of Finland with Christian population was a way to retain power in former pagan areas that had been conquered. It has been estimated that there were thousands of colonists.[2] Colonisation led to several conflicts between the colonists and local population which have been recorded in the 14th century. In colonised coastal areas the Finnish population, remaining as a minority, principally lost its fishing and cultivation rights to the colonists.[3][4] Though the Finnish provinces were an integral part of the Kingdom of Sweden with the same legal rights and duties as the rest of the realm, Finnish-speaking Swedish subjects faced comparative challenges in dealing with the authorities as Swedish was established as the sole official language of government. In fact, it remained a widely accepted view in Sweden proper that the Finns were in principle a separate and conquered people and therefore not necessarily entitled to be treated equitably with Swedes. Swedish kings visited Finland rarely and in Swedish contemporary texts Finns were often portrayed as primitive and their language inferior.[5] Approximately half of the taxes collected in Finland was used in the country, while the other half was transferred to Stockholm.[6]
Under Sweden, Finland was annexed as part of the Western Christian domain and the cultural, communal and economic order of Western Europe, on which the market economy, constitutional governments and legalistic principles were founded. Finland was the eastern frontier of the realm, which brought many wars and raids to the areas. The Finnish language, dating from prehistoric times, and some parts of folklore religion and culture remained under Swedish rule, even though they changed as they adapted to new circumstances.[7] For example, in this period Finnish adopted the Latin alphabet as its writing system and approximately 1100 Swedish loanwords, though most of them are originally from Latin or Greek.[8]
The historian Peter Englund has noted that Swedish-ruled Finland was not so much part of a national union or a province as "the eastern half of the realm which was practically destroyed in 1809, when both parts went on along their separate ways." Englund thinks that the period of Sweden as a superpower was the common "property" of Sweden and Finland, because the rise as a superpower would have been impossible for a poor nation without the resources of the eastern part of the realm.[9] For a time, Finns were considered by a majority of historians to be the first inhabitants of Sweden together with the Sámi. This was also believed by some Swedish historians, like Olof von Dalin (18th century), who believed them to be one of the biblical Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. This change in attitude largely stemmed from a need to create a more equal footing during the decline of the Swedish Empire. They still faced difficulties in dealing with higher Swedish authorities in Finnish and a lack of publications in Finnish.[10]
- ^ Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa (in Finnish). Porvoo: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. pp. 167–170. ISBN 9789515832122.
- ^ Haggren, Georg; Halinen, Petri; Lavento, Mika; Raninen, Sami; Wessman, Anna (2015). Muinaisuutemme jäljet (in Finnish). Helsinki: Gaudeamus. pp. 420–421.
- ^ Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa (in Finnish). Porvoo: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. pp. 134–136.
- ^ Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa (in Finnish). Porvoo: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. pp. 143–147.
- ^ Kemiläinen, Aira (2004). "Kansallinen identiteetti Ruotsissa ja Suomessa 1600-1700-luvuilla". Tieteessä Tapahtuu (in Finnish). 22 (8). Tieteessä tapahtuu 8/2004: 25–26. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ Engman, Max (2018). Kielikysymys (in Finnish). Helsinki: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. p. 32. ISBN 978-951-583-425-6.
- ^ "Suomi osana Ruotsin valtakuntaa". finnica.fi (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 17 February 2020.
- ^ Tarkiainen, Kari (2010). Ruotsin itämaa (in Finnish). Helsinki: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. p. 235. ISBN 978-951-583-212-2.
- ^ Englund, Peter (2003). Suuren sodan vuodet, Finnish-language version, introduction. Helsinki, WSOY. ISBN 9789510279403 See also: finnica.fi Archived 17 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Jensen, Ola W. (2009). "Sveriges och Finlands gemensamma forntid – en ambivalent historia: idéer om forntiden, kulturarvsbegreppet och den nationella självbilden före och efter 1809" (PDF). Fornvännen. Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research (in Swedish). 104 (4). ISSN 0015-7813. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2021.