Karelia - History, Politics, Geography, Demographics, Culture
pop (2000e) 796 000; area 172 400 km²/66 560 sq mi. Constituent republic of Russia; bounded W by Finland and E by the White Sea; in mediaeval times, an independent state with strong Finnish associations; under Swedish domination, 17th-c; annexed by Russia, 1721; constituted as a Soviet Socialist Republic, 1923; many lakes and rivers; heavily forested; mining, timber, cereals, fishing.
Karelia is the land of the Karelian and Finnish peoples and is a vast inhabited area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden. It is currently divided between the Russian Republic of Karelia, the Russian Leningrad Oblast, and two Regions of Finland, South Karelia and North Karelia.
In the Karelian, Finnish, and Estonian languages, Karelia is called Karjala; in Russian Карелия;
History
Karelia was bitterly fought over by Sweden and the Novgorod Republic during the 13th-century Swedish-Novgorodian Wars.
The Treaty of Nystad (Finnish: Uudenkaupungin rauha) in 1721 between Imperial Russia and Sweden ceded most of Karelia to Russia.
During the 1920s, Finns were involved in attempts to overthrow the Bolshevists in Russian Karelia (East Karelia), for instance in the failed Aunus expedition. After the end of the Russian Civil War, and the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, the Russian part of Karelia became the Karelian Autonomous republic of the Soviet Union (ASSR) in 1923. In 1941 Karelia was re-conquered for three years during the Continuation War 1941–1944 when East Karelia was also occupied by the Finns.
Politics
Karelia is divided between Finland and Russia. The Finnish parts of Karelia are part of the regions (maakunta) of South Karelia and North Karelia.
There are some small but enthusiastic groups of Finns campaigning for closer ties between Finland and Karelia. The political expression of these irredentist hopes is called the Karelian question and is about for Finland's re-acquisition of the ceded Finnish Karelia live on in for instance the Karjalan Liitto and ProKarelia.
Geography
Karelia streches from the White Sea coast to the Gulf of Finland.
The border between Karelia and Ingria, the land of the closely related Ingrian people, is traditionally held to follow the Sestra River/Rajajoki (Russian: Сестра/Раяйоки), today in the Saint Petersburg metropolitan area, but in 1812–1940 the Russo-Finnish border.
In historical texts Karelia is sometimes divided into East Karelia and West Karelia, which are also called Russian Karelia and Finnish Karelia respectively. The area to the north of Lake Ladoga which belonged to Finland before World War II is called Ladoga Karelia, and the parishes on the old pre-war border are sometimes called Border Karelia. White Karelia is the northern part of East Karelia and Olonets Karelia is the southern part.
Tver Karelia denotes the villages in the Tver Oblast that are inhabited by Karelians.
Towns and cities
Republic of Karelia Petrozavodsk (Петрозаводск, Petroskoi) Medvezhyegorsk (Медвежьегорск, Karhumäki) Kalevala (Калевала, Uhtua) Kem (Кемь, Vienan Kemi, compare with Kemi) Kostomuksha (Костомукша, Kostamus) Kondopoga (Кондопога, Kontupohja) Sortavala (Сортавала, Sortavala) Segezha (Сегежа, Sekee) Unitsa (Уница) Karelian Isthmus Vyborg (Выборг, Viipuri) Priozersk (Приозерск, Käkisalmi/Keksholm) South Karelia Imatra Joutseno Lappeenranta (Villmanstrand) North Karelia Joensuu Kitee Lieksa Nurmes OutokumpuDemographics
The Karelian language is spoken in the Republic of Karelia and also in the Tver Karelian villages. The so called Karelian dialects spoken mainly in Finnish South Karelia form the southeastern dialect group of Finnish. Karelians who evacuated from Finnish Karelia resettled all over Finland and today there are approximately one million people in Finland having their roots in the area ceded to the Soviet Union after the World War II.
|
Ruskeala Park near Sortavala |
Ruskeala Park |
Marble Lake in Ruskeala |
Ruskeala waterfall |
User Comments Add a comment…