The Estonian Swedes (, or ''aibofolke'', "island people"; , or ''rannarootslased'', "coastal Swedes") are a Swedish-speaking minority traditionally residing in the coastal areas and islands of what is now western and northern

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

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, almost all of the remaining Swedish-speaking minority escaped from the Soviet invasion of Estonia and fled to Sweden in 1944. Only the descendants of a few individuals who stayed behind are permanent residents in Estonia today.

History

Early history

The Swedish-speaking population in Estonia persisted for about 650 years. The first written mention of the Swedish population in Estonia comes from 1294, in the laws of the town of

Haapsalu Haapsalu () is a seaside resort town located on the west coast of Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Lääne County, and on 1 January 2020 it had a population of 9,375. History The name ''Haapsalu'' derives from the Estonian words ' ...

. Further early mentions of Swedes in Estonia came in 1341 and 1345 (when an Estonian monastery in

Padise Padise () is a village in Lääne-Harju Parish, Harju County in northern Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west ...

sold "the Laoküla Estate" and

Suur-Pakri Pakri islands (, ) are two Estonian islands in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea: Suur-Pakri and Väike-Pakri ( and ). Administratively the islands are part of the town of Paldiski. For centuries the two islands were inhabited by Estonian Swe ...

Island to a group of Swedes). Based on some of the place names, it is possible that there was a Swedish presence in Estonia even earlier. During the 13th through 15th centuries, large numbers of Swedes arrived in coastal Estonia from Swedish-speaking parts of Finland, which was part of the Kingdom of Sweden (and would remain so until 1809), often settling on Church-owned land. The first documented record of the island of

Ruhnu Ruhnu (; ; ) is an Estonian island in the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. Its territory of is administratively part of Saare County, Saare ''maakond'' (county). Ruhnu lies geographically closer to the coast of Courland on the mainland of Latvia ...

(), and of its Swedish population, is also a 1341 letter sent by the

Bishop of Courland The Bishopric of Courland (, ) was the second smallest (4500 km2) ecclesiastical state in the Livonian Confederation founded in the aftermath of the Livonian Crusade. During the Livonian War in 1559 the bishopric became a possession of ...

which confirmed the islanders' right to reside and manage their property in accordance with Swedish law.

Swedish Estonia

In 1561, Sweden established the

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

Swedish Estonia Estonia under Swedish rule signifies the period of time between 1561 and 1710, when present-day Estonia was under the rule of the Swedish Empire. In the wake of the breakup of the State of the Teutonic Order, the Baltic German Baltic nobility, ...

, which it would hold until 1710 (formally until 1721, when the territory was ceded to Russia under the

Treaty of Nystad The Treaty of Nystad, or the Treaty of Uusikaupunki, was the last peace treaty of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. It was concluded between the Tsardom of Russia and the Swedish Empire on in the then Swedish town of Nystad (, in th ...

). The Estonia-Swedes prospered during this period. Swedish, along with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

, was one of the official languages.

Russian rule

After the

Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...

lost much of its power in the 16th century and the Dominion of

was lost to Russia following the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

(1700–1721), conditions worsened for Swedes in Estonia: the lands they had settled were often confiscated from the Church and given to local nobility, and taxes increased. This situation remained the same during Russian rule, and the Estonian Swedes' suffering continued as, for example, the

agrarian reforms Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

which liberated the land of Estonian

serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...

in 1816, did not apply to (mostly non-serf) Estonian Swedes.

Forced emigrations

At certain times during

Russian Estonia The Governorate of Estonia, also known as the Esthonia (Estland) Governorate, was a province ('' guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. It was located in the northern Estonia with some islands in the West Eston ...

period, groups of Estonian Swedes were forced to leave Estonia for other parts of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Most notably, Empress

Catherine II of Russia Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

forced the 1,000 Swedes of

Hiiumaa Hiiumaa ( , ) is the second largest island in Estonia and is part of the West Estonian archipelago, in the Baltic Sea. It has an area of 989 km2 and is 22 km from the Estonian mainland. Its largest town is Kärdla. It is located within ...

(), to move to Southern Russia (today littoral

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

) in 1781, where they established the community of

Gammalsvenskby Gammalsvenskby (; ; ) is a former village that is now a neighbourhood of Zmiivka () in Beryslav Raion of Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. It was briefly known as Verbivka () prior to being integrated with Zmiivka. Gammalsvenskby is known for its Esto ...

(today within

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast (, ; ), also known as Khersonshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank ...

Conditions improve

The Estonian Swedes' positions improved during the 1850s and 1860s, due to further agrarian reforms, but discrimination remained during the rest of the period of Tsarist rule in Estonia. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, the independent

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

was created in 1918. The constitution of independent Estonia granted the ethnic minority groups the control over their language of education, the right to form institutions for their national and social rights, the right to use their native language in official capacities where they formed majorities of the population, and the choice of nationality. Swedes,

Baltic Germans Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their resettlement in 1945 after the end of World War II, Baltic Germans have drastically decli ...

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, and

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

all had ministers in the new national government. '' Svenska Folkförbundet'', a Swedish political organization, was formed. In 1925, a new law giving more cultural autonomy was passed, although the

and Swedes in Estonia did not take advantage of these new freedoms, mainly for economic reasons.

World War II

In 1939, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

forced Estonia to sign a treaty concerning military bases. Many of the islands upon which Estonian Swedes lived were confiscated, bases were built on them, and their inhabitants were forced to leave their homes. A year later, Estonia was occupied by, and annexed into, the Soviet Union, and their voice in government was lost. Estonian Swedish men were conscripted into the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and, during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, into the German armed forces. Most of the remaining Estonian Swedes fled to Sweden prior to the second occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union in 1944. On 8 June 1945, there were 6,554 Estonian Swedes and 21,815 ethnic Estonian refugees in Sweden.

Today

Today, small groups of remaining Estonian Swedes are regrouping and re-establishing their heritage, by studying Swedish language and culture. They are led by the Estonian Swedish Council, which is backed by the Estonian government. In 2000, Swedes were the 21st largest ethnic group in Estonia, numbering only 300. There are however many Estonian Swedes and descendants of Estonian Swedes residing in Sweden.

Areas of population and demographics

Population figures during the early centuries of Swedish settlement are not available. At the end of the Teutonic period, there were probably around 1,000 Estonian Swedish families, with some 1,500 Swedes in the capital

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

(), giving a total population of roughly 5–7 thousand, some 2–3% of the population of what is now Estonia at the time. The 1897 Russian Census gives a total Swedish population of 5,768 or 1.39% in the

Governorate of Estonia The Governorate of Estonia, also known as the Esthonia (Estland) Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. It was located in the northern Estonia with some islands in the West Estoni ...

. The majority of the Swedes lived in the Wiek County where they formed a minority of 5.6%. The 1922 census gives Estonia a total population of 1,107,059 of which Estonian Swedes made up only 0.7%, some 7,850 people, who made up majorities in some places, such as

(),

Vormsi Vormsi () is the fourth-largest island of Estonia, measuring and a registered population of around 400. It is located in the Baltic Sea, northwest of the mainland and east of Hiiumaa island, and is part of the West Estonian archipelago (Moonsu ...

(), Riguldi (). It dropped slightly to 7,641 in 1934. By the time of the Second World War, the population was nearly 10,000, and roughly 9,000 of these people fled to Sweden. Towns with large pre-war Swedish populations include

() and Tallinn (). After

, the numbers stayed fairly stable: there were 435 Estonian Swedes in 1970, 254 in 1979 and 297 in 1989, when they placed 26th on the list of Estonia's minority groups (before the Second World War, they were third in number, after

and

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

). The 2000

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

shows a number of 300, placing Swedes at 20th on the list of Estonia's minority groups. However, only 211 of them are Estonian citizens. Since all do not claim their real ethnic background, some have estimated the real number of Estonian Swedes in Estonia to be about 1,000.

Language

The Estonian Swedish

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

s were part of the Eastern varieties of Swedish. There was not a unified Estonian-Swedish dialect, but several.

had its own dialect, the

- Noarootsi-Riguldi dialect was spoken on those islands, and there was also a Pakri- Vihterpalu variety. The dialect of Hiiumaa is still spoken by a few in

, Ukraine (which is called in the

Gammalsvenska (locally ; literally "Old Swedish") is an Estonian Swedish dialect spoken in the neighborhood of Gammalsvenskby in Zmiivka, Ukraine. Its use has declined since the end of World War II, and most remaining speakers are older residents of Gamma ...

dialect).

Notable individuals

George Hackenschmidt Georg Karl Julius Hackenschmidt (1 August 1877 – 19 February 1968) was an Estonian Strongman (strength athlete), strongman, wrestling, amateur and Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, writer, and Philosophy of sport, sports philoso ...

(1877–1968), an Estonian strongman, professional wrestler, writer and sports philosopher *

Lennart Meri Lennart Georg Meri (; 29 March 1929 – 14 March 2006) was an Estonian writer, film director, and statesman. He was the country's foreign minister from 1990 to 1992 and President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Early life Meri was born in Tallin ...

(1929–2006), an Estonian writer, film director and statesman. *

Ragnar Nurkse Ragnar Wilhelm Nurkse (5 October 1907, Käru, Estonia – 6 May 1959, Le Mont-Pèlerin, Switzerland) was an Estonian-American economist and policy maker mainly in the fields of international finance and economic development. He is considered th ...

(1907–1959), an Estonian-American economist; pioneer of the Balanced Growth Theory

Gallery

File:Hullu küla (Hullo), Vormsi saar (Ormsö) SLS 443 26 - 1934.jpg, Hullo on

in 1934 with File:Kersli küla (Kerrslätt), Vormsi saar (Ormsö) SLS 443 24 - 1934.jpg, Kersleti (''Swedish: Kärrslett'') on

(''Swedish: Ormsö'') in 1934, originally populated from Kyrkslätt in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

File:Väike küla, Väike Pakrisaar (Lilla Rågö) SLS 443 1 - 1934.jpg, Väike küla (''Swedish: Lillbyn'') on

Väike-Pakri Pakri islands (, ) are two Estonian islands in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea: Suur-Pakri and Väike-Pakri ( and ). Administratively the islands are part of the town of Paldiski. For centuries the two islands were inhabited by Estonian Swe ...

(''Swedish: Lilla Rågö'') in 1934 File:Kurkse küla (Korkis) SLS 443 15 - 1934.jpg, Aerial photo of Kurkse (''Swedish: Korkis'') in 1934 File:Alliklepa küla (Aklop) SLS 443 17 - 1934.jpg, Aerial photo of av Alliklepa (''Swedish: Aklop'') in 1934 File:Ny Dag hyllar Stalin ockupation av Estland.jpg, Swedish communist daily Ny Dag headline on 5 September 1940: "The Swedes on Vormsi greet

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

and the new regime".

References

External links

Svenska Yle Arkivet: Estlandssvenskar 1991 och 1998

Svenska Yle Arkivet: Estlandssvenskar på Ormsö 1989

Brief information about verbs in Estonian Swedish in the 19th century

Estonian Swedes embrace cultural autonomy rights

Ethnic Minorities in Estonia

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110717201806/http://pub.stat.ee/px-web.2001/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=PC225&ti=POPULATION+BY+ETHNIC+NATIONALITY%2C+MOTHER+TONGUE+AND+CITIZENSHIP&path=..%2FI_Databas%2FPopulation_census%2F08Ethnic_nationality._Mother_tongue._Command_of_foreign_languages%2F&lang=1 Statistics Estonia: Population by Ethnic Group, Nationality, Mother Tongue, and Citizenship]
Estlandssvenskarna i Estland – har upprättat kulturellt självstyre
(In Swedish) * Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Rußwurm: ''Eibofolke oder die Schweden an der Küste Esthlands und auf Runö, eine ethnographische Untersuchung mit Urkunden, Tabellen und lithographirten Beilagen.'' Reval 1855
E-Text (In German)
{{Portal bar, Estonia, Sweden Swedish minorities

Swedes Swedes (), or Swedish people, are an ethnic group native to Sweden, who share a common ancestry, Culture of Sweden, culture, History of Sweden, history, and Swedish language, language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, ...