Matters pertaining to Finland were presented to the Emperor in St Petersburg by the Finnish Minister Secretary of State. The Grand Duke was the Russian Emperor, whose representative in Finland was the Governor General.Ī view of Helsinki from the late 19th century, by Oscar Kleineh (1846–1919).įinland’s highest governing body was the Senate, whose members were Finns. But when Finland was joined to Russia in 1809 it became an autonomous Grand Duchy. It was governed from Stockholm, the capital of the Finnish provinces at that time. When Sweden lost its position as a great power in the early 18th century, Russian pressure on Finland increased, and Russia conquered Finland in the 1808–1809 war with Sweden.ĭuring the Swedish period, Finland was merely a group of provinces and not a national entity. Swedes were often appointed to high offices in Finland, which strengthened the position of the Swedish language there. With consolidation of the administration in Stockholm, uniform Swedish rule was extended to Finland in the 17th century. The entire Bible appeared in Finnish in 1642.ĭuring its period as a great power (1617–1721), Sweden extended its realm around the Baltic and managed, due to the weakness of Russia, to push the Finnish border further east. The New Testament was translated into Finnish in 1548 by the Bishop of Turku, Mikael Agricola (1510–1557), who brought the Reformation to Finland and created written Finnish. The Reformation set in motion a great rise in Finnish-language culture. The Reformation started by Luther in the early 16th century also reached Sweden and Finland, and the Catholic Church consequently lost out to the Lutheran faith. Construction began in the 13th century and was completed in the late 16th century. Turku Castle is Finland’s oldest medieval castle. Finland’s most important centre was the town of Turku, founded in the middle of the 13th century. Feudalism was not part of this system and the Finnish peasants were never serfs they always retained their personal freedom. The Swedish reignĪs a consequence of Swedish domination, the Swedish legal and social systems took root in Finland. Karelia, became part of the Russo-Byzantine world. The western and southern parts of Finland were tied to Sweden and the Western European cultural sphere, while eastern Finland, i.e. Sweden came out on top, as the peace treaty of 1323 between Sweden and Novgorod assigned only eastern Finland to Novgorod. Until the middle of the 12th century, the geographical area that is now Finland was a political vacuum, though interesting to both its western neighbour Sweden and the Catholic Church there, and its eastern neighbour Novgorod (Russia) and its Greek Orthodox Church. Broadly speaking, it can be divided into three chapters: the Swedish period prior to 1809, the Russian period from 1809 to 1917, and the independent period from 1917 to the present day. We’ll run through the main events in Finnish history.
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