Everything about Karelia totally explained
Karelia/Karjala, the land of the
Karelian peoples, is an 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 Finland (the
regions of
South Karelia and
North Karelia).
Karjala is the original name of the land which is the same in
Karelian,
Finnish, and
Estonian languages;
Karelia is the Russian adaptation of the name and is spelled in
Russian as
Карелия; the adaptation in
Swedish is
Karelen.
Various subdivisions may be called Karelia.
Finnish Karelia was a historical province of Finland, now divided between Finland and Russia, often called just
Karjala in Finnish. This chiefly
Lutheran area is the "Karelia" of the
Karelian question in Finnish politics. The Republic of Karelia is a Russian federal subject, including the so-called "East Karelia" with a chiefly Russian Orthodox population. Currently,
Karjala refers to the
regions of
South and
North Karelia. Formerly, there was a Finnish province of North Karelia.
History
Karelia was bitterly fought over by
Sweden and the
Novgorod Republic since the 13th-century
Swedish-Novgorodian Wars. The
Treaty of Nöteborg (Finnish: Pähkinäsaaren rauha) in
1323 divided Karelia between the two.
Viborg (Finnish: Viipuri) became the capital of the new Swedish province.
The
Treaty of Nystad (Finnish: Uudenkaupungin rauha) in
1721 between
Imperial Russia and Sweden ceded most of Karelia to Russia. After
Finland had been occupied by Russia in the
Finnish War, parts of the ceded provinces (
Old Finland) were incorporated into the
Grand Duchy of Finland. In
1917 Finland became independent and the border was confirmed by the
Treaty of Tartu in
1920.
During the
1920s, Finns were involved in attempts to overthrow the
Bolshevists in Russian Karelia (
East Karelia), for instance in the failed
Aunus expedition. These mainly private expeditions ended after the peace treaty of Tartu. After the end of the
Russian Civil War, and the establishment of the
Soviet Union in
1922, the Russian part of Karelia became the Karelian
Autonomous republic of the Soviet Union (ASSR) in
1923.
In
1939 the Soviet Union attacked Finland starting the
Winter War. The
Moscow Peace Treaty of
1940 handed most of
Finnish Karelia to the Soviet Union. About 400,000 people, virtually the whole population, had to be relocated within Finland. In 1941 Karelia was re-conquered for three years during the
Continuation War 1941–
1944 when East Karelia was also occupied by the Finns. The Winter War and the resulting Soviet expansion caused considerable bitterness in Finland, which lost its second biggest city,
Viipuri, its industrial heartland along the
river Vuoksi, the
Saimaa canal that connected central Finland to the
Gulf of Finland, access to the fishing waters of
Lake Ladoga (Finnish: Laatokka), and made an eighth of her citizens refugees without chance of return.
As a consequence of the peace treaty, the Karelian ASSR was incorporated with the
Karelo-Finnish SSR 1941–
1956, after which it became an ASSR again. Karelia was the only Soviet republic that was "demoted" from an SSR to an ASSR within the Russian SFR. Unlike autonomous republics, Soviet republics (in theory) had the
constitutional right to secede. The possible fear of secession, as well as the Russian ethnic majority in Karelia may have resulted in its "demotion." In
1991 the
Republic of Karelia was created out of the ASSR.
The collapse of the Soviet Union brought an
economic collapse. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the area has experienced massive
urban decay. The hastily and poorly constructed buildings from the Soviet era, as well as older houses remaining from the Finnish era, are being abandoned.
Politics
Karelia is divided between Finland and Russia. The
Republic of Karelia is a
republic of Russia, which was formed in 1991 from the
Karelian ASSR. The
Karelian Isthmus belongs to the
Leningrad Oblast. 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. These ambitions for closer ties with
East Karelia don't include territorial demands. However, much of the original Finnish population of the Russian side of Karelia has been either resettled and integrated to inner Finland, Russified or dispersed into Russia as victims of Soviet internal
population transfers.
Geography
Karelia stretches from the
White Sea coast to the
Gulf of Finland. It contains the two largest lakes in Europe,
Lake Ladoga and
Lake Onega. The
Karelian Isthmus is located between the
Gulf of Finland and
Lake Ladoga.
The border between Karelia and
Ingria, the land of the closely related
Ingrian people, has originally been the Neva river itself but later on it was moved northward into Karelian isthmus to follow the
Sestra River/Rajajoki (
Russian: Сестра/Раяйоки), today in the
Saint Petersburg metropolitan area, but in 1812–1940 the Russo-Finnish border.
On the other side of
Lake Ladoga,
River Svir is usually thought of as the traditional southern border of Karelian territory, as
Lake Saimaa marks the Western border while
Lake Onega and the
White Sea mark the Eastern border. In the North there were the
nomadic Samis, but no natural border except for huge woods (
taiga) and
tundra.
In historical texts Karelia is sometimes divided into
East Karelia and
West Karelia, which are also called
Russian Karelia and
Finnish Karelia respectively. The area to the north of Lake Ladoga which belonged to Finland before
World War II is called
Ladoga Karelia, and the parishes on the old pre-war border are sometimes called
Border Karelia.
White Karelia 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.
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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/Sordavala)
- Segezha (Сегежа, Sekee)
- Unitsa (Уница, Unitsa)
- Pitkyaranta (Питкяранта, Pitkäranta)
- Olonets (Олонец, Aunus)
- Karelian Isthmus
- South Karelia
- North Karelia
Demographics
The
Karelian language is spoken in the Republic of Karelia and also in the Tver Karelian villages. The
Veps language is spoken on both sides of the
River Svir. The so called Karelian dialects spoken mainly in Finnish South Karelia form the southeastern dialect group of Finnish. Similar dialects are also spoken in Ingria, which is an area between the Estonian border and Lake Ladoga. They appeared there in the 17th century after the Swedish conquest of the area. Anyhow the older inhabitants of the Ingria, the Ingrians have their own language, which is related to the Karelian language and the south-eastern dialects of Finnish.
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The dialects in Finnish North Karelia belong to the large group of Savonian dialects in Eastern and Central Finland.
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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. In Finland, about 5,000 people speak Karelian.
Image:Ruskeala2.jpg|Ruskeala Park near Sortavala
Image:Ruskeala park.jpg|Ruskeala Park
Image:Marblelake.jpg|Marble Lake in Ruskeala
Image:Ruskeale.jpg|Ruskeala waterfall
Culture
Kalevala
Karelian hot pot
Karelian language
Karelian pasties
Music of KareliaFurther Information
Get more info on 'Karelia'.
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