Juhana "Johan" Fredrik Cajan (13 September 1815 – 28 February 1887) was a Finnish clergyman and historian, the author of the first history of Finland written in Finnish.

Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner (September 12, 1829 – October 20, 1900) was an American essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored the novel '' The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today''. Biography Warner was born of Puritan descen ...

, ed., ''Library of the world's best literature'', vol. 43, 1896
p.295
/ref> Cajan was born in

Sotkamo Sotkamo is a municipality of Finland, located in the Kainuu region about east of Kajaani, the capital of Kainuu. Vuokatti, in west of Sotkamo, is the most populous village in the municipality and also a popular skiing resort. Both Hiidenportti ...

, Finland and died in

Piippola Piippola is a village and a List of former municipalities of Finland, former municipality of Finland. Piippola is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Oulu (province), Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, ...

, Finland. Cajan's parents were Johann Cajan and Eva Elfving. After his exam he traveled to Lapland. During his studies, he got to know

Elias Lönnrot Elias Lönnrot (; 9 April 1802 – 19 March 1884) was a Finnish polymath, physician, philosopher, poet, musician, linguist, journalist, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish language, Finnish Oral literature, oral poetry. He is best k ...

, and he collected folklore with him. Cajan wrote about Finland's history (in the Finnish language) in the publication ''Mehiläinen'' 1839-40. He used writing names as J. F. Kainonen and J. F. Kajaani. His magnum opus is ''Suomen Historia, koetteeksi kerrottu lyhykäiset järjestyksessä''. Cajan wrote the first non-fiction literature in Finnish. In 1842 Cajan married Adolfina Augusta Tauler (died 1858). Cajan eventually suffered from mental illness.

References

* ''Facta'', 1 (1973) * Klinge, Matti, ''Idyll och hot'' (2000) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cajan, Johan 19th-century Finnish historians 1815 births 1887 deaths