Swedish colonisation of Finland happened during the

Northern Crusades The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were Christianity and colonialism, Christian colonization and Christianization campaigns undertaken by Catholic Church, Catholic Christian Military order (society), military orders and kingdoms, primarily ...

from the 12th century until the 1350s. Colonisation focused on the Finnish archipelago and some of its coastal regions. The colonisation led to the beginning of the

Swedish-speaking population of Finland The Swedish-speaking population of Finland (whose members are called by many names; fi, suomenruotsalainen) can be used as an attribute., group=Note—see below; sv, finlandssvenskar; fi, suomenruotsalaiset) is a linguistic minority in Finl ...

. The settlers were from central Sweden. It has been estimated that there were thousands of settlers.

History

The reason behind the colonisation was the pursuit of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

to spread its faith to pagan lands around the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

. The settlers were Christians and they arrived to lands that were still in major parts under

Finnish paganism Finnish paganism is the indigenous pagan religion in Finland and Karelia prior to Christianisation. It was a polytheistic religion, worshipping a number of different deities. The principal god was the god of thunder and the sky, Ukko; othe ...

. Besides the Catholic Church, the colonisation was supported by the still primal Swedish Kingdom who granted four years of tax exemption to any Christian Swede who settled the areas of

Southwest Finland Southwest Finland, calqued as Finland Proper ( fi, Varsinais-Suomi ; sv, Egentliga Finland), is a Regions of Finland, region in the southwest of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-H ...

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, ...

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

, Tavastia or

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish and Swedish, ) is a region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia and Ostrobothnia. The capital city of the region i ...

. The colonisation was also affected by the favorable climate phase in Europe. The warm climate phase of 980–1250 had led to population growth, which led to the need for emigration. At the same time Swedes also emigrated to northern Sweden and western

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

(see

Estonian Swedes The Estonian Swedes, or Estonia-Swedes ( sv, estlandssvenskar, colloquially ''aibofolke'', "island people"; et, eestirootslased), or "Coastal Swedes" ( et, rannarootslased) are a Swedish-speaking minority traditionally residing in the coastal ...

). In the 14th century Swedes also colonised

Medelpad Medelpad ( or ) is a historical province or ''landskap'' in the north of Sweden. It borders Hälsingland, Härjedalen, Jämtland, Ångermanland and the Gulf of Bothnia. The province is a part of Norrland and as such considered to be Norther ...

and

Ångermanland Ångermanland ( or ) is a historical province (''landskap'') in the northern part of Sweden. It is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Swedish Lapland, Västerbotten, the Gulf of Bothnia, Medelpad and Jämtland. The name is derived from ...

. Besides the violence of the crusades, the colonisation led to several conflicts between the settlers and

Finns Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...

. The settlers needed support from Sweden in many areas against the Finns. The native inhabitants in many coastal areas also lost their fishing and farming rights, which led to conflicts. In 1348, Hemming of Turku, Bishop of Turku and the head of the Turku Castle, gave a letter of protection to the settlers in the area of the Gulf of Bothnia. As a result of the colonisation, some of the pagan inhabitants who refused to receive the new Catholic religion from Tavastia and

started to move to the northern parts of Finland.

References

{{Reflist Northern Crusades Medieval Finland Medieval Sweden

History

See also

References