When did the name Finns appear? Origin of the Finns: a brief historical sketch

The Finns appeared on the historical scene quite early. Long before our era, Finno-Ugric tribes lived in some part of the forest belt of Eastern Europe. The tribes settled mainly along the banks of large rivers.

Finno-Ugric tribes. Photo: kmormp.gov.spb.ru

The sparse population of the forest belt of Eastern Europe, its flat nature, and the abundance of powerful rivers favored the movement of the population. A major role was played by commercial (hunting, fishing, etc.) seasonal trips covering thousands of kilometers, so it is not surprising that the ancient Finno-Ugric speech was very similar over long distances. Many groups adopted Finno-Ugric speech instead of any other, especially if these groups had a special economic structure. These are, for example, the ancestors of the Sami (Lapps), nomadic reindeer herders. Among such groups, the Finno-Ugric speech acquired exceptional features. By the 1st millennium BC. Part of the Finno-Ugric population was drawn to the shores of the Baltic Sea, between the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga. Living on the same territory leveled the speech and contrasted it with the speech of the internal parts of Eastern Europe. A special type of Finno-Ugric speech was developed - the ancient Baltic-Finnish speech, which began to oppose other varieties of Finno-Ugric speech - Sami, Mordovian, Mari, Perm (Komi-Udmurt), Ugric (Mansi-Khanty-Magyar). Historians identify four main tribes that influenced the formation of the Finnish people. These are Suomi, Hame, Vepsa, Vatja.

The Suomi tribe (Sum - in Russian) settled in the southwest of modern Finland. The location of this tribe was convenient in terms of trade: the waters of the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland merged here. The Hame tribe (in Russian Yam or Em or Tavasts) settled down near a system of lakes from where the rivers Kokemäenjoki (to the Gulf of Bothnia) and Kyminjoki (to the Gulf of Finland) flow. The location of this tribe was also convenient: the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland were close, to In addition, the internal situation provided fairly reliable protection.Later, towards the end of the 1st millennium AD, the Karjala tribe (in Russian Karela) settled near the northwestern and northern coast of Lake Ladoga.The place of this tribe had its own amenities: at that time , in addition to the route along the Neva, there was another route from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Ladoga - through the modern Vyborg Bay, a number of small rivers and the Vuoksi River, and Korela controlled this route; in addition, the position at some distance from the Gulf of Finland provided fairly reliable protection from attacks from the west.On the southeastern coast of Lake Ladoga, in the corner between Volkhov and Svir, the Vepsa tribe (in Russian Ves) settled.The location of this tribe made it possible to control trade in the Volga and Zavolotsk directions. (Zavolochye was the name given to the territory in the river basins flowing into the White Sea).

South of 60 degrees. With. w. The Vatja tribe, in Russian Vod (in the corner between Lake Peipsi and the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland), several Estonian tribes and the Liivi tribe, in Russian Livi (along the coasts of the Gulf of Riga) were formed.

The tribes inhabiting Finland, long before the settlement of the East Slavic tribes across the Russian plain, occupied lands along the middle Volga, under the common name Suomi (Sum), were divided into two main branches: Karelians - more in the north and Tavasts (or Tav-Ests, as they were called in Swedish, and in Finnish hame) - to the south. In the northwest, from the Volga to Scandinavia, the Lapps roamed, who once occupied all of Finland. Subsequently, after a series of movements, the Karelians settled along Lakes Onega and Ladoga and further west into the interior of the country, while the Tavasts settled along the southern shores of these lakes, and partly settled to the west, reaching the Baltic Sea. Pressed by Lithuania and the Slavs, the Tavasts moved to present-day Finland, pushing the Lapps to the north.

By the end of the 1st millennium AD. The Eastern Slavs fortified themselves at Lake Ilmen and Pskov. having paved the “path from the Varangians to the Greeks.” The prehistoric cities of Novgorod and Ladoga arose and trade relations were established with the Varangians and other Western countries. In the north, in Novgorod, a node of connections was created between the culture of the Eastern Slavs and Western cultures. The new state of affairs causes an increase in trade, an increase in trade - the development of new northern territories by the Baltic Finns. Tribal life among the Baltic Finns was decomposing at this time. In some places mixed tribes were sent to form, for example the Volkhov Chud, elements of Vesi predominated in it, but there were many people from other Baltic-Finnish tribes. Of the Western Finnish tribes, the Yam settled especially heavily. People from the Yami descended along the Kokemäenjoki River to the Gulf of Bothnia and from the river developed vigorous activity in a northerly direction. Particularly famous was the activity of the so-called Kvens or Kainuu (Kayans), who at the end of the 1st millennium AD. began to rule the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia.

Relations between Rus' and the Finns begin. In the 10th century, the southern shores of Lake Ladoga, the Neva and the Gulf of Finland, inhabited by the peoples of the Finnish Chud tribe, were conquered by the Russians. Around the 11th century, the son of Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir, annexed the Tavasts (1042). Novgorodians force Karelians to pay tribute. Then in 1227 the Karelians accepted Christianity from the Russian Orthodox clergy. East Slavic borrowings rushed into the Baltic-Finnish languages. All Christian terms in all Baltic-Finnish languages ​​are of East Slavic origin.

Chroniclers claim that both Slavic-Russian and Finnish tribes took part in the formation of the Russian state. Chud lived the same life with the Ilmen Slavs; she took part in the calling of Rurik and other Varangian princes. The Finns who inhabited the Russian Plain settled mostly with Slavic-Russian tribes.

"Chud goes underground", artist N. Roerich. Photo: komanda-k.ru

By the 12th century, Scandinavia had become Christian, and from that time on - for the first time in 1157 under Eric IX the Saint - the Swedish crusades began in Finland, which led to its conquest and political merger with Sweden. The first campaign established the southwestern corner of Finland behind Sweden, which they called Nylandia. Soon clashes between the Swedes and the Novgorodians began on the territory of the Finnish peninsula for religious dominance. Already under Pope Innocent III, the first Catholic bishop, Thomas, was sent to Finland. Thanks to him, Roman Catholicism was established in Finland. Meanwhile, in the east the general baptism of Karelians was forgiven. In order to protect their borders from the spread of papal power, the Novgorodians undertook a large campaign into the interior of Finland under the leadership of Prince Yaroslav Vsevoldovich and conquered the entire area. The Swedes, in response to this, at the request of Pope Gregory IX, went to the Novgorod region itself, taking advantage of the difficult times for Rus' (the Mongol-Tatar yoke) and enlisting support from Lithuania and the Livonian Order. The Swedes were led by Jarl (first dignitary) Birger with bishops and clergy, while the Novgorodians were led by the young prince Alexander Yaroslavovich. In the battle at the mouth of Izhora, and then on the ice of Lake Peipsi in 1240 and 1241, the Swedes were defeated, and Prince Novgorod began to be called Nevsky.

"Battle on the Ice", artist S. Rubtsov. Photo: livejournal.com

Having entered the administration of Sweden as the king's son-in-law, Birger in 1249 conquered the lands of the Tavasts (Tavastland) and built the Tavastborg fortress as a stronghold against the Novgorodians and Karelians. But Alexander Nevsky undertook a new campaign deep into Finland to its northern outskirts. In 1252, he concluded an agreement on borders with the Norwegian king Gakon II, but not for long.

In the middle of the 12th century, a sharp confrontation arose between two strong northern states - Russia and Sweden. By this time, Russia had acquired the strongest influence in all the territories inhabited by the Baltic Finns. In the middle of the 12th century, Sweden conquered the territory of Sumi. Yam found itself in the wake of Swedish military policy. Karela, fighting against the Swedish offensive, entered into an alliance with Russia and then became part of the Russian state. As a result of stubborn battles, the Swedes in 1293, the ruler of Sweden, Torkel Knutson, conquered southwestern Karelia from the Novgorodians and built the Vyborg fortress there. On the contrary, in order to maintain their influence on Karelia, they fortified the city of Karela (Kegsholm) and at the sources of the Neva, but on the island of Orekhovoy they founded the fortress Oreshek (Shlisselburg, in Swedish Noteborg). Here, on August 12, 1323, the Novgorod prince Yuri Danilovich and the young king of Sweden Magnus signed a peace treaty for the first time, which precisely defined the borders of Rus' with Sweden. Sweden ceded part of Russian Karelia. The Orekhov Treaty was very important because it served as the legal basis for the original Russian rights to the eastern part of Finland. It was confirmed three times in the 14th century and was referred to until the end of the 16th century. According to this agreement, the border began at the Sestra River, went to the Vuoksi River, and there it turned sharply northwest to the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia. Within the borders of Sweden were Sum, Yam, and two groups of Karelians: Karelians who settled near Vyborg and Karelians who settled in the area of ​​Lake Saimaa. The remaining Karelian groups remained within the borders of Russia. On the Swedish side, on the ethnic basis of Sumi, Yami and two groups of Karel, the Finnish - Suomi people began to form. This people got its name from Suomi, which played the role of an advanced tribe - the main city of the then Finland, Turku (Abo), was located on its territory. In the 16th century, a phenomenon arose among the Suomi Finns that especially contributed to the unification of heterogeneous ethnic elements - literary Finnish.

Finns (self-name - Suomi) are the main population of Finland, where there are over 4 million people (more than 90% of all residents of the country) 1 . Outside of Finland, Finns live in the USA (mainly in Minnesota), northern Sweden, as well as in Norway, where they are called Kvens, and in the USSR (in the Leningrad region and the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). In total, over 5 million people around the globe speak Finnish. This language belongs to the Baltic-Finnish group of the Finno-Ugric language family. The Finnish language has several local dialects, which are grouped into two main groups - Western and Eastern. The basis of the modern literary language is the Häme dialect, that is, the dialect of the central regions of southern Finland.

Finland is one of the northernmost countries on the globe. Its territory lies between 60 and 70° northern latitude, on both sides of the Arctic Circle. The average length of the country from north to south is 1160 km, and from west to east - 540 km. The area of ​​Finland is 336,937 square meters. km. 9.3% of it consists of inland waters. The climate in the country is relatively mild, which is explained by the proximity of the Atlantic.

BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH

The territory of Finland was inhabited by humans during the Mesolithic era, i.e. approximately in the 8th millennium BC. e. In the 3rd millennium BC. e. Tribes penetrated here from the east and created Neolithic cultures of pit-comb ceramics, probably the ancestors of Finnish-speaking peoples.

In the 2nd millennium BC. e. The Letto-Lithuanian tribes, who were characterized by a culture of corded pottery and boat-shaped battle axes, came to the southwest of Finland through the Gulf of Finland from the Baltic states. The newcomers gradually merged with the local population. However, there are still some differences between the population of southwestern Finland and the population of the middle and eastern parts. The material culture of the eastern and central regions of Finland testifies to strong ties with the Ladoga, Priongezhye and Upper Volga regions. For the southwestern part, connections with Estonia and Scandinavia were more typical. In the north of Finland lived the Lapp (Sami) tribes, and the southern border of their settlement gradually retreated to the north as the Finns moved in this direction.

The tribes that inhabited southwestern Finland constantly communicated with the population of the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, from where at the end of the 1st millennium BC. e., there were probably direct migrations of ancient Estonian groups. The eastern and central part of Finland was occupied at that time by the northern branch of the eastern group of Baltic Finns - the ancestors of the Karelian tribes. Over time, three main tribal groups were formed in Finland: in the southwest - the Suomi (the sum of Russian chronicles), in the south-central part of the country - the Häme (in Russian ем, in Swedish - Tavasty) and in the east - the Karjala (Karelians) . In the process of merging the Suomi, Häme and Western Karelian tribes, the Finnish people were formed. The development of Eastern Karelians, who entered the XI-XII centuries. into the Novgorod state, took a different path and led to the formation of the Karelian people. From the Finnish settlers to Scandinavia, who belonged to different tribes, a special group of Finno-E-kvenas was formed.

In the 1st millennium AD e. Finnish tribes began to switch to agricultural activities and a sedentary lifestyle. The process of decomposition of the communal-tribal system and the development of feudal relations took place in specific conditions: at this stage, the Finnish tribes had to face Swedish aggression. The expansion of Sweden, which began already in the 8th century, turned the territory of Finland into a field of fierce and lengthy struggle. Under the pretext of converting pagan Finns to Christianity, Swedish feudal lords undertook in the XII-XIII centuries. three bloody crusades in Finland, and the country fell under the rule of the Swedish king for a long time (until the beginning of the 19th century). This left a noticeable imprint on all subsequent development of Finland. Traditions that have developed under the influence of Swedish culture are still felt in various areas of Finnish life (in everyday life, in legal proceedings, in culture, etc.).

The takeover of Finland by Sweden was accompanied by violent feudalization. Swedish feudal lords seized the lands of Finnish peasants, who, although they remained personally free, bore heavy feudal duties. Many peasants were driven off the land and were forced to become small tenants. Torpari (landless peasant tenants) paid for rented plots (torpas) in kind and in labor. The Torpar form of tenancy came to Finland from Sweden.

Until the 18th century peasants jointly used forests, pastures, and fishing grounds, while arable land was for household use. Since the 18th century The division of land was also allowed, which was distributed between households in proportion to the size of the arable plots.

Due to the collapse of the rural community, the number of landless peasants grew.

The class struggle of the Finnish peasantry against feudal oppression was intertwined with the national liberation struggle against the Swedes, who made up the majority of the ruling class. The Finns were supported by Russia, which sought to win access to the sea from the Swedish crown.

The land of Finland became the arena of struggle between Sweden and Russia. In this struggle, each side was forced to flirt with Finland. This is precisely what explains the concessions of the Swedish kings, and then the granting of partial autonomy to Finland by Russian tsarism.

After Sweden's defeat in the war with Russia, Finland, according to the Treaty of Friedrichsham in 1809, became part of Russia as a grand duchy. Finland was guaranteed a constitution and self-government. However, the Finnish Diet was convened only in 1863. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, in the context of the economic rise of Finland, tsarism embarked on the path of open Russification of Finland and began a campaign against its autonomy. According to the manifesto of 1899, the tsarist government arrogated to itself the right to issue laws binding on Finland without the consent of the Finnish Sejm. In 1901, independent Finnish military formations were abolished.

In the struggle for their social and national interests, Finnish workers relied on the revolutionary movement in Russia. This was clearly demonstrated during the revolution of 1905. The Russification policy of tsarism was dealt a serious blow by the joint actions of the Russian and Finnish proletariat. “The Russian revolution, supported by the Finns, forced the tsar to unclench his fingers, with which he had been squeezing the throats of the Finnish people for several years,” wrote V.I. Lenin \ The working people of Finland achieved the expansion of political rights; in 1906, the statute of the Sejm was adopted, introducing universal suffrage.

According to the constitution of 1906, the unicameral Sejm of Finland was elected on the basis of universal, direct, equal suffrage for a period of three years. At the same time, laws on freedom of speech, assembly and unions came into force in Finland. At the same time, however, the governor-general appointed by the tsar remained at the head of the administration, and the Senate, whose members were appointed by the tsar, remained as the highest government body.

A notable feature of the country’s public life at that time was the active participation of women in it, who held rallies and mass demonstrations, demanding that they be given political rights on an equal basis with men. As a result, Finnish women were the first in Europe to achieve voting rights.

After the defeat of the first Russian revolution, the tsarist government several times curtailed the rights of the Finnish people and gradually eliminated the role of the Finnish Sejm.

After the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government was forced to announce the restoration of Finland's autonomy, but it refused to satisfy the workers' demands for democratic changes. The provisional government tried to prevent Finnish national self-determination and in July issued a decree dissolving the Sejm. However, the Social Democratic faction of the Sejm continued to work, despite the decree of the Provisional Government. Behind the backs of the Finnish people, bourgeois circles in Finland began negotiations with the Provisional Government on an amicable division of power. With the draft agreement reached, Governor General Nekrasov left for Petrograd on October 24 (November 6), 1917, but the project was never considered by the Provisional Government, which was overthrown on November 7, 1917.

Only after the October Revolution did the Finnish people gain independence. On December 6, 1917, the Finnish Diet adopted a declaration declaring Finland an independent state. On December 31, 1917, the Council of People's Commissars recognized the state independence of Finland. This decision was in full accordance with Lenin's principles of national policy.

However, the Finnish Workers' Republic lasted only three months - from January to early May 1918.

The main reason for the defeat of the revolution in Finland was the intervention of German invaders. Soviet Russia, busy fighting internal counter-revolution and intervention, was unable to provide sufficiently effective assistance to the people of Finland. The absence of a Marxist party also had a negative impact on the course of the revolution. The revolutionary wing of Finnish social democracy (the so-called Siltasaarites) was still inexperienced and made many mistakes, in particular, it underestimated the importance of the alliance of the working class with the peasantry. The Red Guard was not strong enough to resist the German regular armed forces. After the suppression of the revolution in Finland, a period of brutal police terror and an attack on the working class began. A reactionary regime was established in the country. Communists who operated underground were persecuted. Left-wing progressive labor organizations were banned. Thousands of members of the labor movement were sentenced to long prison terms.

During the difficult years of the economic crisis (1929-1933), the reactionary fascist movement of the Lapuans revived in Finland, and the activities of the Shutskor and other fascist organizations developed. Fascist

Germany established contact with reactionary circles in Finland. A non-aggression pact was concluded between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1932, but relations between them were strained. The Soviet Union's attempts to reach a new agreement during the spring and fall of 1939 did not lead to the desired result. The Finnish government, which disrupted the negotiations, did not seek to normalize relations. On November 30, 1939, hostilities began between Finland and the USSR, which ended in the spring of 1940 with the defeat of Finland.

In 1941, the Finnish reaction, obsessed with revanchist ideas, again plunged its country, as an ally of Nazi Germany, into a war with the Soviet Union.

But when the fascist German troops found themselves on the eve of final defeat on the Soviet-German front, under pressure from the growing anti-war movement in the country, the Finnish government was forced to begin negotiations with the Soviet government on a way out of the war. The armistice agreement between Finland and the USSR created the preconditions for new Soviet-Finnish relations, which subsequently strengthened and gave the whole world a vivid and concrete example of the peaceful coexistence of two different social systems.

The country's progressive forces waged a determined struggle for a democratic Finland. They advocated democratic changes in all areas of the country's life and for the approval of a new foreign policy course, called the Paasikivi-Kekkonen line. This policy was aimed at establishing friendship and cooperation with the USSR and was fully consistent with the national interests of Finland.

Of great importance was the agreement on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance concluded between Finland and the Soviet Union in April 1948. The agreement was concluded on the basis of complete equality of both parties. He facilitated the further successful development of economic, political and cultural ties between both states. On the basis of this agreement, Finland pursues a policy aimed at preserving the country's national independence, adhering to neutrality and refusing to participate in military blocs.

Christian Carpelan,
Licentiate in Archeology and Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki.
From the book "Finnish Features", ed. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Press and Culture. Original: http://sydaby.eget.net/swe/jp_finns.htm
Translated from English by V.K.

Recently, cytogeneticists made a revolution with their “stunning” discovery regarding the origin of the Finnish and Sami peoples. Cytogenetics, however, is by no means a new tool for bioanthropological research. Already in the 1960s and 70s, Finnish researchers made the important discovery that only one quarter of the Finnish gene pool is of Siberian origin, and three quarters is of European origin. The Sami, however, have a different gene pool: a mixture of distinctly Western as well as Eastern elements. If we take the genetic connections between the peoples of Europe, the Sami will form a separate group, and the other Ural peoples also have a different genetic composition.

Bioanthropology: in search of our genetic roots

Humans inherit the genetic material contained in the mitochondria of the egg cytoplasm (mitochondrial DNA) from their mother because the DNA molecules in sperm are destroyed after fertilization. Since the 1980s, studies of mitochondrial DNA have allowed scientists to establish the biological connections and origins of human populations by tracing their maternal origins. DNA studies confirm that Homo sapiens appeared in Africa about 150,000 years ago. From there, modern humans spread further and explored new territories, eventually inhabiting almost every continent.

Another fact confirmed by DNA research is that there is only minor genetic difference between the peoples of Europe, including the Finns. Mitochondrial DNA studies have shown the presence of a "Western" component in the genetic make-up of the Finns. Meanwhile, studies of the egg nucleus show that Finnish genes differ to some extent from other Europeans. This apparent contradiction stems from the fact that the genetic variations exhibited by mitochondrial DNA are of much older origin—tens of thousands of years older—than that of the egg cell nucleus, whose genetic age is only a few thousand years.

Sami mystery

DNA studies show that the genetic make-up of the Sami and Samoyeds is significantly different from each other and from other Europeans. In the case of the Samoyeds, this is not surprising, since they migrated to northeastern Europe from Siberia only at the beginning of the Middle Ages. It is interesting, however, that the mitochondrial DNA of the Sami is so different from other European peoples. The "Sami motif" discovered by the researchers - a combination of three specific genetic mutations - is present in more than a third of the Sami examined and in only six other samples, one Finnish and five Karelian. This raises the question of whether the ancestors of modern Sami lived in genetic isolation at some stage of their evolution.

DNA researchers classify the Finns as Indo-Europeans, or carriers of the Western gene pool. But since "Indo-European" is a linguistic term, it is misleading in the broader context of bioanthropology. DNA researchers work over time spans of tens of thousands of years, whereas the development of Indo-European languages, like all European language groups, is limited to a much shorter period of time. DNA researchers, however, argue that the Finno-Ugric population absorbed an influx of migrating Indo-European farming communities ("Indo-European" - both genetically and linguistically). The aliens changed the original genetic makeup of the Finno-Ugric population, but adopted their language. This is the only way DNA researchers explain the origins of the Finns. The Sami, however, are a much older population, according to DNA researchers, and their origins have yet to be definitively established.

Philology: in search of our linguistic roots

Language is one of the defining characteristics of an ethnic group. To a large extent, the ethnic identity of Finns and Sami can be determined based on the languages ​​they speak. The Finns speak a language of the Uralic family, as do the Sami, Estonians, Maris, Ostyaks, Samoyeds and various other ethnic groups. With the exception of the Hungarians, the languages ​​of the Uralic family are spoken exclusively by peoples living in the forest and tundra zone, stretching from Scandinavia to western Siberia. All Uralic languages ​​descend from a common proto-language, but over the centuries they have formed various branches. The exact origin and geographical area of ​​the Uralic proto-language, however, remains a point of academic debate.

Initially, it was believed that the Uralic, or Finno-Ugric, proto-language arose in a narrow region in eastern Russia. Linguistic differentiation was believed to have occurred as the Proto-Uralic peoples migrated along various routes. According to this theory, our ancient Finnish ancestors came to Finnish soil, gradually migrating westward.

When the truth of this theory was questioned, others emerged. One such theory claims that the homeland of the Uralic proto-language is in continental Europe. According to this theory, the linguistic evolution that gave rise to the Sami language occurred when European settlements spread to Fennoscandia. Our ancient Finnish ancestors became "Indo-Europeanized Sami" under the influence - demographic, cultural and linguistic - of the Baltic and Germanic peoples.

The "contact theory" suggests that the proto-languages ​​of today's language families were formed by convergence caused by close contacts between speakers of originally different languages: the idea of ​​a common linguistic homeland is thus inconsistent with it. According to a recent version of the contact theory, the Uralic proto-language was formed in this way among peoples living at the edges of the continental glacier, stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals, while the Indo-European language developed correspondingly further to the south. The Indo-European peoples then mastered the art of agriculture and gradually began to spread throughout Europe. At the same time, Indo-European languages ​​began not only to displace the Uralic ones, but also to significantly influence the development of those that had not yet been superseded.

However, many linguists believe that the Uralic languages ​​have so much in common in their basic structures - grammar and vocabulary - that these similarities cannot be convincingly explained by the interaction of unrelated groups of languages ​​over such a wide geographical area. On the contrary, we must assume that they have a common place of origin, from where they received their characteristic features and from where they began to spread geographically: as the area expanded, speakers of other languages ​​who found themselves within its borders may have lost their original language in favor of Proto-Uralic. The same applies to the Indo-European family of languages.

Archeology reveals the age of ancient settlements

Archaeological evidence suggests that Homo sapiens first settled in Europe between 40,000 and 35,000 BC. BC e. These early settlers may have shared a common gene pool. Genetic mutations such as the "Sami motif" have occurred for centuries, but have not recurred. Of course, the ancestors of modern Sami must have lived in sufficient genetic isolation for this random mutation to persist.

Homo sapiens first arrived in Europe during the relative warming of the Ice Age. Between 20,000 and 16,000 BC e. a cold snap forced the settlers to retreat south. Central Europe was depopulated, as was the region of the Oka and Kama rivers. After this peak of cold, the climate became more moderate, but with occasional cold snaps. Gradually, people began to return to the areas they left several thousand years ago. Meanwhile, the ice cap was rapidly retreating to the north, opening up new territory for settlement. The Ice Age came to an end along with a dramatic change in climate around 9500 BC. e. Average annual temperatures are estimated to have risen by as much as seven degrees over several decades. What remained of the continental glacier disappeared over the next thousand years.

The warming climate has been followed by radical changes in the environment. The tundra, formerly covered by the glacier, now became forest, and instead of the wild deer that previously roamed the outskirts of the glacier, elk appeared. Transition from Paleolithic to Mesolithic around 8000 BC. e. was a stage marked by human efforts to adapt to changes in the environment. This was the period when the Ural peoples settled in the areas of northern Europe where we find them today.

Scandinavia is settled by continental Europeans

During the Ice Age, a significant proportion of the world's water supply was locked up in continental glaciers. Because sea levels were much lower than they are today, vast areas of the earth's surface that are now under water were once inhabited coastal areas. An example is the North Sea area between England and Denmark: underwater finds show that this area was the site of human settlement at the end of the Ice Age.

Norwegian archaeologists believe that the first settlers to leave this "North Sea Continent" were communities of sea fishermen who quickly advanced along the Norwegian coast to the Finnmark area and the Rybachy Peninsula no later than 9000 BC. e. Many archaeologists previously believed that the earliest settlers of the Finnmark coast, representing the Komsa culture, migrated there from Finland, eastern Europe or Siberia. However, recent archaeological evidence does not support this theory.

The pioneers, who settled on the coast of Norway, gradually moved inland to northern Sweden and may also have reached the northern regions of Finnish Lapland. Around 6000 BC e. a second wave of migrants from Germany and Denmark moved north through Sweden and eventually also reached northern Lapland. The Norwegian coast remained inhabited by the original settlers, but the original population of northern Scandinavia was a melting pot of two different peoples. Does the fact that the "Sami motif" is limited to a specific area of ​​northern Scandinavia mean that the mutation occurred not before, but after northern Scandinavia became populated?

Burial finds have shown that the Late Paleolithic settlers of central Europe and their Mesolithic descendants on the Scandinavian Peninsula were Caucasians with fairly large teeth - a perhaps humorous detail, but an important factor in identifying these populations. Although the language of these settlers is unlikely to ever be discovered, I see no basis for the theory that any of these groups spoke a Uralic proto-language.

Eastern Europe: "melting pot"

If we now turn to the early settlements of north-eastern Europe, their history is more complex than that of Scandinavia, for the peoples who settled there seem to have come from several different directions.

The Paleolithic peoples of southern Russia originally inhabited the steppes, but as the Ice Age came to an end, the eastern steppes became arid and barren. Central Russia, meanwhile, was abundantly overgrown with forests, providing a more favorable environment for life than the scorched steppes. The Paleolithic settlements of the Don River were apparently deserted when their communities moved into the area of ​​the Oka and Kama rivers. Archaeological finds in late Paleolithic settlements in central Russia, however, provide indirect rather than firm evidence for this theory.

At the end of the Ice Age, the eastern parts of southern Russia were a sparsely populated wasteland, but in the west, in the region of the Dnieper River, Paleolithic culture flourished. From there, residents migrated to the forest belt of central Russia. As the late Paleolithic peoples of Poland, Lithuania and western Belarus adapted to forest life, they also began moving into central Russia. At the beginning of the Mesolithic, three peoples of different origins competed for subsistence within the same region of central Russia.

As the northern coniferous forests (or taiga belt) spread north, this mixture of settlers followed, eventually reaching latitude 65 around 7000 BC. e. After this, they began to inhabit the northern outskirts of Europe. On the Northern Cap of Fennoscandia, the "border" was between peoples who migrated north through Scandinavia and those who migrated through Finland and Karelia. Russian archaeologists, in turn, also see no evidence of Paleolithic or Mesolithic migration westward from Siberia.

Two different types of skull, Caucasoid and Mongoloid, have been discovered during excavations of Mesolithic burials in northeastern Europe. The two types of skull have been seen as support for the theory that an early group of settlers migrated to Europe from Siberia. A "Siberian" element found in Finnish genes is believed to provide further support for this claim, but this theory appears dubious due to a lack of archaeological evidence.

According to more modern theories, the two types of skull found in Mesolithic burials do not suggest the presence of two different populations, as previously thought, but rather indicate a high degree of genetic variation within the same population. In general, the peoples of the northeast were very different from the peoples of the west. The decisive difference lies in the teeth.

Eastern Europeans have small teeth compared to the relatively large teeth of Scandinavians, a feature that stems from an old genetic difference. Ancient skulls tell us that the early settlers of eastern Europe were mainly descendants of an ancient eastern European population that lived in long isolation from the Scandinavians. Perhaps the "Siberian" element in the Finnish genes is actually Eastern European in origin?

The Sami also have relatively small teeth, which is considered evidence that they are descendants of the small-toothed Mesolithic population of eastern Europe. Archaeological and genetic data, however, cannot support this theory. Are the Sami's small teeth a result of isolation, or is it a later genetic trait? If we choose the latter alternative, we must presumably consider the contributing role of those settlers who migrated into the Sami region from the northern parts of Finland and eastern Karelia. There is archaeological evidence of such a northern movement in the Bronze and early Iron Ages.

Does the Uralic proto-language come from Eastern Europe?

How then should we explain the fact that Finnish belongs to the Uralic group of languages? I believe that the development of modern European languages ​​began in the Paleolithic, as a stage of adaptation to the socio-economic changes that arose at the end of the Ice Age. My theory is that the Uralic proto-language has roots in Eastern Europe, where, after a period of expansion following the Ice Age, it became the common language of a portion of the Eastern European population, eventually displacing all other languages ​​that appeared in that area.

When settlement began in earnest, Mesolithic cultures arose between the Baltic Sea and the Ural Mountains, in which the Uralic proto-language began to split into various branches. In my opinion, the archaeological evidence of later movements and waves of influence indicates that the linguistic development of the Uralic languages ​​did not follow the classical "family tree" model: the term "genealogical bush" proposed by linguists would be a more appropriate metaphor.

The early settlements of northern Finland were founded by an original population of eastern Europeans who migrated as far north as the Arctic Circle. The early Finnish proto-language - the "grandfather" of the Baltic-Finnish and Sami languages ​​- dates back to the period of the spread of the "Comb Pottery" culture throughout the region around 4000 BC. e. Proto-Saami and Proto-Finnish languages ​​diverged when the "Battle Axe" or "Cord Ware" culture entered southwestern Finland around 3000 BC. e. This linguistic differentiation lasted through the Bronze Age around 1500 BC. e., when the Scandinavians began to have a noticeable influence on the region and its language, which explains, in particular, the appearance of Proto-Baltic and Proto-Germanic borrowings.

From here the development of the Proto-Finnish language and, further, the differentiation of the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​began. The linguistic evolution leading to the emergence of the Proto-Sami language took place in the eastern, northern and inland regions of Finland, where Baltic and Germanic influence was weak and Eastern European influence was comparatively strong. As a common spoken and trade language, Proto-Saami spread from the Kola Peninsula to Jämtland with the onset of the late Iron and Bronze Age migrations.

I believe, therefore, that the peoples inhabiting Norrland and the polar region changed their original language - whatever it was - to Proto-Saami in the Bronze Age. The modern Sami thus come from a different gene pool and a significantly different cultural environment than the original "proto-Sami" who later merged with the rest of the Finnish people. Our early Finnish ancestors did not change their language, but they did change their identity as they evolved from hunters to farmers during the Corded Ware period and the influence of the Scandinavian Bronze Age.

The Komi language is part of the Finno-Ugric language family, and with the closest Udmurt language it forms the Perm group of Finno-Ugric languages. In total, the Finno-Ugric family includes 16 languages, which in ancient times developed from a single base language: Hungarian, Mansi, Khanty (Ugric group of languages); Komi, Udmurt (Perm group); Mari, Mordovian languages ​​- Erzya and Moksha: Baltic - Finnish languages ​​- Finnish, Karelian, Izhorian, Vepsian, Votic, Estonian, Livonian languages. A special place in the Finno-Ugric family of languages ​​is occupied by the Sami language, which is very different from other related languages.

Finno-Ugric languages ​​and Samoyed languages ​​form the Uralic family of languages. The Amodian languages ​​include Nenets, Enets, Nganasan, Selkup, and Kamasin languages. Peoples speaking Samoyed languages ​​live in Western Siberia, except for the Nenets, who also live in northern Europe.

Hungarians moved to the territory surrounded by the Carpathians more than a thousand years ago. The self-name of the Hungarians Modyor has been known since the 5th century. n. e. Writing in the Hungarian language appeared at the end of the 12th century, and the Hungarians have a rich literature. The total number of Hungarians is about 17 million people. In addition to Hungary, they live in Czechoslovakia, Romania, Austria, Ukraine, Yugoslavia.

Mansi (Voguls) live in the Khanty-Mansiysk district of the Tyumen region. In Russian chronicles, they, together with the Khanty, were called Yugra. The Mansi use a written language based on Russian graphics and have their own schools. The total number of Mansi is over 7,000 people, but only half of them consider Mansi their native language.

The Khanty (Ostyaks) live on the Yamal Peninsula, lower and middle Ob. Writing in the Khanty language appeared in the 30s of our century, but the dialects of the Khanty language are so different that communication between representatives of different dialects is often difficult. Many lexical borrowings from the Komi language have penetrated into the Khanty and Mansi languages

The Baltic-Finnish languages ​​and peoples are so close that speakers of these languages ​​can communicate with each other without a translator. Among the languages ​​of the Baltic-Finnish group, the most widespread is Finnish, it is spoken by about 5 million people, the self-name of the Finns is Suomi. In addition to Finland, Finns also live in the Leningrad region of Russia. Writing arose in the 16th century, and in 1870 the period of the modern Finnish language began. The epic "Kalevala" is written in Finnish, and a rich original literature has been created. About 77 thousand Finns live in Russia.

Estonians live on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea; the number of Estonians in 1989 was 1,027,255 people. Writing existed from the 16th century to the 19th century. Two literary languages ​​developed: southern and northern Estonian. In the 19th century these literary languages ​​became closer based on the Central Estonian dialects.

Karelians live in Karelia and the Tver region of Russia. There are 138,429 Karelians (1989), a little more than half speak their native language. The Karelian language consists of many dialects. In Karelia, Karelians study and use the Finnish literary language. The most ancient monuments of Karelian writing date back to the 13th century; in Finno-Ugric languages, this is the second oldest written language (after Hungarian).

Izhora is an unwritten language and is spoken by about 1,500 people. Izhorians live on the southeastern coast of the Gulf of Finland, on the river. Izhora, a tributary of the Neva. Although the Izhorians call themselves Karelians, in science it is customary to distinguish an independent Izhorian language.

Vepsians live on the territory of three administrative-territorial units: Vologda, Leningrad regions of Russia, Karelia. In the 30s there were about 30,000 Vepsians, in 1970 there were 8,300 people. Due to the strong influence of the Russian language, the Vepsian language is noticeably different from other Baltic-Finnish languages.

The Votic language is on the verge of extinction, because there are no more than 30 people who speak this language. Vod lives in several villages located between the northeastern part of Estonia and the Leningrad region. The Votic language is unwritten.

The Livs live in several seaside fishing villages in northern Latvia. Their number has sharply decreased over the course of history due to the devastation during World War II. Now the number of Livonian speakers is only about 150 people. Writing has been developing since the 19th century, but currently the Livonians are switching to the Latvian language.

The Sami language forms a separate group of Finno-Ugric languages, since there are many specific features in its grammar and vocabulary. The Sami live in the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. There are only about 40 thousand people, including about 2000 in Russia. The Sami language has much in common with the Baltic-Finnish languages. Sami writing develops on the basis of different dialects in Latin and Russian graphic systems.

Modern Finno-Ugric languages ​​have diverged so much from each other that at first glance they seem completely unrelated to each other. However, a deeper study of the sound composition, grammar and vocabulary shows that these languages ​​have many common features that prove the former common origin of the Finno-Ugric languages ​​from one ancient parent language.

Turkic languages

Turkic languages ​​belong to the Altaic language family. Turkic languages: about 30 languages, and with dead languages ​​and local varieties, the status of which as languages ​​is not always indisputable, more than 50; the largest are Turkish, Azerbaijani, Uzbek, Kazakh, Uyghur, Tatar; the total number of speakers of Turkic languages ​​is about 120 million people. The center of the Turkic range is Central Asia, from where, in the course of historical migrations, they also spread, on the one hand, to southern Russia, the Caucasus and Asia Minor, and on the other, to the northeast, to eastern Siberia up to Yakutia. The comparative historical study of Altai languages ​​began in the 19th century. Nevertheless, there is no generally accepted reconstruction of the Altaic proto-language; one of the reasons is the intensive contacts of the Altaic languages ​​and numerous mutual borrowings, which complicate the use of standard comparative methods.

Read also:

AVITO notebook VKontakte group on VKontakte
II. HYDROXYL GROUP – OH (ALCOHOLS, PHENOLS)
III. CARBONYL GROUP
A. Social group as a fundamental determinant of living space.
B. Eastern group: Nakh-Dagestan languages
The influence of the individual on the group. Leadership in small groups.
Question 19 Typological (morphological) classification of languages.
Question 26 Language in space. Territorial variation and interaction of languages.
Question 30 Indo-European family of languages. General characteristics.
Question 39 The role of translation in the formation and improvement of new languages.

Read also:

Väinemöinen was alone,
Eternal singer, -
Born by a beautiful virgin,
He was born from Ilmatar...
Old faithful Väinämöinen
Wanders in the womb of the mother,
He spends thirty years there,
Zim spends exactly the same amount of time
On waters full of slumber,
On the foggy waves of the sea...
He fell into the blue sea,
He grabbed the waves with his hands.
The husband is at the mercy of the sea,
The hero remained among the waves.
He lay at sea for five years,
I rocked in it for five and six years,
And another seven years and eight.
Finally floats to land,
To an unknown shallows,
He swam out onto the treeless shore.
Väinämöinen has risen,
I stood with my feet on the shore,
To an island washed by the sea,
To a plain without trees.

Kalevala.

Ethnogenesis of the Finnish race.

In modern science, it is customary to consider the Finnish tribes together with the Ugric ones, uniting them into a single Finno-Ugric group. However, research by the Russian professor Artamonov on the origins of the Ugric peoples shows that their ethnogenesis took place in an area covering the upper reaches of the Ob River and the northern coast of the Aral Sea. It should be noted that the ancient Paleosian tribes, related to the ancient population of Tibet and Sumer, acted as one of the ethnic substrates for both the Ugric and Finnish tribes. This relationship was discovered by Ernst Muldashev with the help of a special ophthalmological study (3). This fact allows us to talk about the Finno-Ugric people as a single ethnic group. However, the main difference between the Ugrians and Finns is that different tribes acted as the second ethnic component in both cases. Thus, the Ugric peoples were formed as a result of the mixing of the ancient Palaisians with the Turks of Central Asia, while the Finnish peoples were formed as a result of the mixing of the former with the ancient Mediterranean (Atlantic tribes) supposedly related to the Minoans. As a result of this mixture, the Finns inherited a megalithic culture from the Minoans, which died out in the middle of the second millennium BC due to the destruction of its metropolis on the island of Santorini in the 17th century BC.

Subsequently, the settlement of the Ugric tribes occurred in two directions: downstream of the Ob and to Europe. However, due to the low passionarity of the Ugric tribes, they only in the 3rd century AD. reached the Volga, crossing the Ural ridge in two places: in the area of ​​modern Yekaterinburg and in the lower reaches of the great river. As a result, the Ugric tribes reached the Baltic territory only by the 5th-6th century AD, i.e. just a few centuries before the arrival of the Slavs on the Central Russian Upland. While Finnish tribes lived in the Baltic region at least since the 4th millennium BC.

Currently, there is every reason to believe that the Finnish tribes were carriers of an ancient culture, which archaeologists conventionally call the “funnel beaker culture.” This name arose due to the fact that a characteristic feature of this archaeological culture are special ceramic cups that are not found in other parallel cultures. Judging by archaeological data, these tribes were mainly engaged in hunting, fishing and raising small livestock. The main hunting weapon was a bow, the arrows of which were tipped with bone. These tribes lived in the floodplains of large European rivers and, during the period of their greatest expansion, occupied the northern European lowlands, which were completely freed from the ice sheet around the 5th millennium BC. The famous archaeologist Boris Rybakov describes the tribes of this culture as follows (4, p. 143):

In addition to the agricultural tribes mentioned above, who moved to the territory of the future “ancestral home of the Slavs” from the Danube south, because of the Sudetes and the Carpathians, foreign tribes also penetrated here from the North Sea and the Baltic. This is the “funnel cup culture” (TRB), associated with megalithic structures. It is known in Southern England and Jutland. The richest and most concentrated finds are concentrated outside the ancestral home, between it and the sea, but individual settlements are often found along the entire course of the Elbe, Oder and Vistula. This culture is almost synchronous with the Pinnacle, Lendel, and Trypillian, coexisting with them for more than a thousand years. The unique and fairly high culture of funnel-shaped beakers is considered the result of the development of local Mesolithic tribes and, in all likelihood, non-Indo-European, although there are supporters of attributing it to the Indo-European community. One of the centers of development of this megalithic culture probably lay in Jutland.

Judging by the linguistic analysis of the languages ​​of the Finnish group, they do not belong to the Aryan (Indo-European) group. Famous philologist and writer, professor at Oxford University D.R. Tolkien devoted a lot of time to studying this ancient language and came to the conclusion that it belongs to a special language group. It turned out to be so isolated that the professor constructed on the basis of the Finnish language the language of the mythological people - the elves, whose mythical history he described in his fantasy novels. So, for example, the name of the Supreme God in the mythology of the English professor sounds like Iljuvatar, while in Finnish and Karelian it is Ilmarinen.

By their origin, the Finno-Ugric languages ​​are not related to the Aryan languages, which belong to a completely different language family - Indo-European. Therefore, numerous lexical convergences between the Finno-Ugric and Indo-Iranian languages ​​testify not to their genetic relationship, but to deep, diverse and long-term contacts between the Finno-Ugric and Aryan tribes. These connections began in the pre-Aryan period and continued in the pan-Aryan era, and then, after the division of the Aryans into “Indian” and “Iranian” branches, contacts were carried out between Finno-Ugric and Iranian-speaking tribes.

The range of words borrowed by Finno-Ugric languages ​​from Indo-Iranian languages ​​is very diverse. This includes numerals, kinship terms, animal names, etc. Particularly characteristic are words and terms related to the economy, the names of tools and metals (for example, “gold”: Udmurt and Komi - “zarni”, Khanty and Mansi - “sorni”, Mordovian “sirne”, Iranian “zaranya” ", modern Ossetian - "zerin"). A number of correspondences have been noted in the field of agricultural terminology (“grain”, “barley”); Words used in various Finno-Ugric languages ​​for cow, heifer, goat, sheep, lamb, sheep skin, wool, felt, milk and a number of others were borrowed from Indo-Iranian languages.

Such correspondences, as a rule, indicate the influence of more economically developed steppe tribes on the population of the northern forest regions. Also indicative are examples of borrowing into Finno-Ugric languages ​​from Indo-European languages ​​terms related to horse breeding (“foal”, “saddle”, etc.). The Finno-Ugrians became acquainted with the domestic horse, apparently as a result of connections with the population of the steppe South. (2, 73 pages).

A study of basic mythological subjects shows that the core of Finnish mythology differs significantly from the common Aryan one. The most complete presentation of these stories is contained in Kalevala, a collection of Finnish epics. The main character of the epic, unlike the heroes of the Aryan epic, is endowed not only and not so much with physical, but with magical power, which allows him to build, for example, a boat with the help of a song. The heroic duel again boils down to competitions in magic and poetry. (5, p. 35)

He sings – and Joukahainen
I went thigh-deep into the swamp,
And up to the waist in the quagmire,
And up to the shoulders in loose sand.
That's when Joukahainen
I could comprehend with my mind,
That I went the wrong way
And took the journey in vain
Compete in chants
With the mighty Väinämöinen.

The Scandinavian “Saga of Halfdan Eisteysson” also reports about the outstanding witchcraft abilities of the Finns (6, 40):

In this saga, the Vikings meet in battle with the leaders of the Finns and Biarms - terrible werewolves.

One of the Finnish leaders, King Floki, could shoot three arrows at once from a bow and hit three people at once. Halfdan cut off his hand so that it flew into the air. But Floki exposed his stump, and his hand grew to it. Another Finnish king, meanwhile, turned into a giant walrus, which simultaneously crushed fifteen people. The king of the Biarms, Harek, turned into a fearsome dragon. With great difficulty, the Vikings managed to deal with the monsters and take possession of the magical country of Biarmia.

All these and many other elements indicate that the Finnish tribes belong to some very ancient race. It is the antiquity of this race that explains the “slowness” of its modern representatives. After all, the more ancient a people is, the more life experience they have accumulated, and the less vain they are.

Elements of the culture of the Finnish race are found mainly among the peoples living along the shores of the Baltic Sea. Therefore, the Finnish race can also be called the Baltic race. It is characteristic that the Roman historian Tacitus in the 1st century AD. pointed out that the Aestii people, living on the shores of the Baltic Sea, have many similarities with the Celts. This is a very important point, since it was through Celtic culture that the ancient Finnish nation was able to preserve its historical heritage. In this sense, the Frisian tribe is of greatest interest, from the point of view of studying ancient Finnish history. In ancient times, this people lived on the territory of modern Denmark. The descendants of this tribe still live in this territory, although they have long lost their language and culture. However, the Frisian chronicle “Hurray Linda Brook” has survived to this day, which tells how the ancestors of the Frisians sailed to the territory of modern Denmark after a terrible catastrophe - the flood that destroyed Plato’s Atlantis. This chronicle is often cited by Atlantologists as confirmation of the existence of a legendary civilization. As a result, the version of the antiquity of the Baltic race receives further confirmation.

Each nation can also be identified by the nature of its burials. The main funeral rite of the ancient Balts is the laying of stones over the body of the deceased. This ritual has been preserved in both Ireland and Scotland. Over time, it was modified and was reduced to installing a tombstone on the grave.

Such a ritual indicates a direct cultural connection between the Finnish/Baltic race and the megalithic structures found mainly in the Baltic Sea basin and surrounding areas. The only place that falls outside this range is the North Caucasus, however, there is an explanation for this fact, which, however, cannot be given within the framework of this work.

As a result, we can state the fact that one of the essential elements of the ethnic substrate of the modern Baltic peoples is the ancient Finnish race, whose origin is lost in the depths of millennia. This race went through its own history of development, different from the Aryans, as a result of which it formed a unique language and culture, which are part of the genetic heritage of the modern Balts and Finns.

Individual tribes.

The overwhelming number of ethnographers agree that the tribes that inhabited northeastern Europe and adjacent territories, immediately before the start of the Slavic and Germanic colonization of this region, were ethnically Finno-Ugric, i.e. to the 10th century AD Finnish and Ugric elements in the local tribes mixed quite strongly. The most famous tribe that lived on the territory of modern Estonia, after which the lake located on the border of the Slavic and German colonization zones is named, is Chud. According to legend, miracles possessed various witchcraft abilities. In particular, they could suddenly disappear in the forest, or they could remain under water for a long time. It was believed that the white-eyed miracle knew the spirits of the elements. During the Mongol invasion, the Chud went into the forests and disappeared forever from the chronicle history of Rus'. It is believed that it is she who inhabits the legendary Kitezh-grad, located at the bottom of Beloozero. However, in Russian legends, the Chud are also called the more ancient dwarf people who lived in prehistoric times, and in some places lived as a relic until the Middle Ages. Legends about dwarf people are usually common in areas where there are clusters of megalithic structures.

In Komi legends, these short and dark-skinned people, for whom the grass seems like a forest, sometimes acquire animal features - they are covered with hair, and miracles have pig legs. The miracles lived in a fabulous world of abundance, when the sky was so low above the earth that the miracles could reach it with their hands, but they do everything wrong - they dig holes in the arable land, feed the cattle in the hut, mow the hay with a chisel, reap the bread with an awl, store threshed grain in stockings, pounding oatmeal in an ice hole. The strange woman insults Yen because she stains the low sky with sewage or touches it with a rocker. Then En (the demiurge god of the Komi) raises the sky, tall trees grow on the ground, and tall white people do not replace the miracles: the miracles leave them in their holes underground, because they are afraid of agricultural tools - the sickle, etc...

...There is a belief that miracles have turned into evil spirits that hide in dark places, abandoned dwellings, baths, even under water. They are invisible, leave behind traces of birds' paws or children's feet, harm people and can replace their children with their own...

According to other legends, Chud are, on the contrary, ancient heroes, which include Pera and Kudy-osh. They also go underground or turn to stone or become trapped in the Ural Mountains after Russian missionaries spread the new Christian religion. Ancient settlements (kars) remained from the Chud; the Chud giants could throw axes or clubs from settlement to settlement; sometimes they are credited with the origin of lakes, the founding of villages, etc. (6, 209-211)

The next large tribe was “Vod”. Semenov-Tianshansky in the book “Russia. Complete geographical description of our Fatherland. Lake Region" in 1903 wrote about this tribe as follows:

“In the east of the miracle there once lived water. This tribe, ethnographically, is considered transitional from the western (Estonian) branch of the Finns to other Finnish tribes. Vody settlements, as far as can be judged by the prevalence of Votic names, occupied a vast area ranging from the river. Narova and to the river. Msta, reaching in the north to the Gulf of Finland, and in the south going beyond Ilmen. Vod participated in the alliance of tribes that called the Varangian princes. It was first mentioned in the “Charter of Bridges”, attributed to Yaroslav the Wise. The colonization of the Slavs pushed this tribe to the coast of the Gulf of Finland. The vod lived amicably with the Novgorodians, participating in the campaigns of the Novgorodians, and even in the Novgorod army a special regiment consisted of “leaders.” Subsequently, the area inhabited by Vodya became part of one of the five Novgorod regions under the name “Vodskaya Pyatina”. From the middle of the 12th century, the Swedes began crusades in the land of water, which they called “Vatland”. A number of papal bulls are known to encourage Christian preaching here, and in 1255 a special bishop was appointed for Watland. The connection of the Vod with the Novgorodians, however, was stronger; the Vod gradually merged with the Russian and became strongly channeled. The remnants of the Vodi are considered to be the small tribe “Vatyalayset”, living in the Peterhof and Yamburg districts.”

It is also necessary to mention the unique Setu tribe. Currently it lives in the Pskov region. Scientists believe that it is an ethnic relic of the ancient Finnish race, which was the first to populate these lands as the glacier melted. Some national characteristics of this tribe allow us to think so.

The Karela tribe managed to preserve the most complete collection of Finnish myths. Thus, the basis of the famous Kalevala (4) - the Finnish epic - is mostly based on Karelian legends and myths. The Karelian language is the most ancient of the Finnish languages, containing a minimal number of borrowings from languages ​​belonging to other cultures.

Finally, the most famous Finnish tribe, which has preserved its language and culture to this day, is the Livs. Representatives of this tribe live in the territory of modern Latvia and Estonia. It was this tribe that was the most civilized in the initial period of the formation of the Estonian and Latvian ethnic groups. Occupying territory along the coast of the Baltic Sea, representatives of this tribe came into contact with the outside world earlier than others. For several centuries, the territory of modern Estonia and Latvia was called Livonia, after the estate of this tribe.

Comments.

It can be assumed that the description of this ethnic contact, which occurred in ancient times, was preserved in the Kalevala in the second rune. (1), where it is indicated that a short hero in copper armor came out of the sea to help the hero Väinämöinen, who then miraculously turned into a giant and cut down a huge oak tree that covered the Sky and eclipsed the Sun.

Literature.

1. Tolkien John, The Silmarilion;
2. Bongard-Levin G.E., Grantovsky E.A., “From Scythia to India” M. “Mysl”, 1974
3. Muldashev Ernst. "From whom did we come?"
4. Rybakov Boris. "The paganism of the ancient Slavs." – M. Sofia, Helios, 2002
5. Kalevala. Translation from Finnish by Belsky. – St. Petersburg: Publishing house “Azbuka-classics”, 2007.
6. Petrukhin V.Ya. “Myths of the Finno-Ugric peoples”, M, Astrel AST Transitbook, 2005

Finno-Ugric peoples

Finno-Ugric peoples: history and culture. Finno-Ugric languages

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Peoples of the Finno-Ugric language group

The Finno-Ugric language group is part of the Ural-Yukaghir language family and includes the peoples: Sami, Vepsians, Izhorians, Karelians, Nenets, Khanty and Mansi.

Sami live mainly in the Murmansk region. Apparently, the Sami are the descendants of the oldest population of Northern Europe, although there is an opinion about their migration from the east. For researchers, the greatest mystery is the origin of the Sami, since the Sami and the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​go back to a common base language, but anthropologically the Sami belong to a different type (Uralic type) than the Baltic-Finnish peoples, who speak languages ​​that are closest to them related, but mainly of the Baltic type. To resolve this contradiction, many hypotheses have been put forward since the 19th century.

The Sami people most likely descend from the Finno-Ugric population. Presumably in the 1500-1000s. BC e. the separation of the proto-Sami begins from a single community of native language speakers, when the ancestors of the Baltic Finns, under Baltic and later German influence, began to move to a sedentary lifestyle as farmers and cattle breeders, while the ancestors of the Sami in Karelia assimilated the autochthonous population of Fennoscandia.

The Sami people, in all likelihood, were formed by the merger of many ethnic groups. This is indicated by anthropological and genetic differences between the Sami ethnic groups living in different territories. Genetic studies in recent years have revealed that modern Sami have common features with the descendants of the ancient population of the Atlantic coast of the Ice Age - the modern Basque Berbers. Such genetic characteristics were not found in more southern groups of Northern Europe. From Karelia, the Sami migrated further and further north, fleeing the spreading Karelian colonization and, presumably, tribute. Following the migrating herds of wild reindeer, the ancestors of the Sami, at the latest during the 1st millennium AD. e., gradually reached the coast of the Arctic Ocean and reached the territories of their current residence. At the same time, they began to move on to breeding domesticated reindeer, but this process reached a significant extent only in the 16th century.

Their history over the past one and a half millennia represents, on the one hand, a slow retreat under the onslaught of other peoples, and on the other hand, their history is an integral part of the history of nations and peoples that have their own statehood in which an important role is given to the imposition of tribute on the Sami. A necessary condition for reindeer herding was that the Sami wandered from place to place, driving herds of reindeer from winter to summer pastures. In practice, nothing prevented people from crossing state borders. The basis of the Sami society was a community of families, which were united on the principles of joint ownership of land, which gave them the means to subsist. Land was allocated by family or clan.

Figure 2.1 Dynamics of the population of the Sami people 1897 – 2010 (compiled by the author based on materials).

Izhorians. The first mention of Izhora occurs in the second half of the 12th century, where it speaks of pagans, who half a century later were already recognized in Europe as a strong and even dangerous people. It was from the 13th century that the first mentions of Izhora appeared in Russian chronicles. In the same century, the Izhora land was first mentioned in the Livonian Chronicle. At the dawn of a July day in 1240, the elder of the Izhora land, while on patrol, discovered the Swedish flotilla and hastily sent a report on everything to Alexander, the future Nevsky.

Obviously, at this time the Izhorians were still very close ethnically and culturally to the Karelians who lived on the Karelian Isthmus and in the Northern Ladoga region, north of the area of ​​​​the supposed distribution of the Izhorians, and this similarity persisted until the 16th century. Quite accurate data on the approximate population of the Izhora land were first recorded in the Scribe Book of 1500, but the ethnicity of the residents was not shown during the census. It is traditionally believed that the inhabitants of the Karelian and Orekhovetsky districts, most of whom had Russian names and nicknames of Russian and Karelian sound, were Orthodox Izhorians and Karelians. Obviously, the border between these ethnic groups passed somewhere on the Karelian Isthmus, and perhaps coincided with the border of Orekhovetsky and Karelian counties.

In 1611, Sweden took possession of this territory. During the 100 years that this territory became part of Sweden, many Izhorians left their villages. Only in 1721, after the victory over Sweden, Peter I included this region in the St. Petersburg province of the Russian state. At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, Russian scientists began to record the ethno-confessional composition of the population of the Izhora lands, then already included in the St. Petersburg province. In particular, to the north and south of St. Petersburg, the presence of Orthodox residents is recorded, ethnically close to the Finns - Lutherans - the main population of this territory.

Veps. At present, scientists cannot finally resolve the question of the genesis of the Veps ethnic group. It is believed that by origin the Vepsians are associated with the formation of other Baltic-Finnish peoples and that they separated from them, probably in the 2nd half. 1 thousand n. e., and by the end of this thousand settled in the southeastern Ladoga region. The burial mounds of the 10th-13th centuries can be defined as ancient Vepsian. It is believed that the earliest mentions of the Vepsians date back to the 6th century AD. e. Russian chronicles from the 11th century call this people the whole. Russian scribal books, lives of saints and other sources more often know the ancient Vepsians under the name Chud. The Vepsians lived in the interlake region between Lakes Onega and Lake Ladoga from the end of the 1st millennium, gradually moving east. Some groups of Vepsians left the inter-lake region and merged with other ethnic groups.

In the 1920s and 30s, Vepsian national districts, as well as Veps rural councils and collective farms, were created in places where people lived compactly.

In the early 1930s, the introduction of teaching the Vepsian language and a number of academic subjects in this language in primary schools began, and Vepsian language textbooks based on Latin script appeared. In 1938, Vepsian-language books were burned, and teachers and other public figures were arrested and expelled from their homes. Since the 1950s, as a result of increased migration processes and the associated spread of exogamous marriages, the process of assimilation of the Vepsians has accelerated. About half of the Vepsians settled in cities.

Nenets. History of the Nenets in the 17th-19th centuries. rich in military conflicts. In 1761, a census of yasak foreigners was carried out, and in 1822, the “Charter on the Management of Foreigners” was put into effect.

Excessive monthly exactions and the arbitrariness of the Russian administration have repeatedly led to riots, accompanied by the destruction of Russian fortifications; the most famous is the Nenets uprising in 1825-1839. As a result of military victories over the Nenets in the 18th century. first half of the 19th century The area of ​​settlement of the tundra Nenets expanded significantly. By the end of the 19th century. The territory of Nenets settlement has stabilized, and their numbers have increased compared to the end of the 17th century. approximately doubled. Throughout the Soviet period, the total number of Nenets, according to census data, also increased steadily.

Today the Nenets are the largest of the indigenous peoples of the Russian North. The share of Nenets who consider the language of their nationality to be their native language is gradually decreasing, but still remains higher than that of most other peoples of the North.

Figure 2.2 Number of Nenets peoples 1989, 2002, 2010 (compiled by the author based on materials).

In 1989, 18.1% of Nenets recognized Russian as their native language, and in general were fluent in Russian, 79.8% of Nenets - thus, there is still a fairly noticeable part of the linguistic community, adequate communication with which can only be ensured by knowledge of the Nenets language. It is typical that young people retain strong Nenets speech skills, although for a significant part of them the Russian language has become the main means of communication (as with other peoples of the North). A certain positive role is played by the teaching of the Nenets language at school, the popularization of national culture in the media, and the activities of Nenets writers. But first of all, the relatively favorable language situation is due to the fact that reindeer husbandry - the economic basis of Nenets culture - was generally able to survive in its traditional form despite all the destructive trends of the Soviet era. This type of production activity remained entirely in the hands of the indigenous population.

Khanty- a small indigenous Ugric people living in the north of Western Siberia.

Volga region center of cultures of Finno-Ugric peoples

There are three ethnographic groups of Khanty: northern, southern and eastern, and the southern Khanty mixed with the Russian and Tatar population. The ancestors of the Khanty penetrated from the south into the lower reaches of the Ob and settled the territories of modern Khanty-Mansiysk and the southern regions of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and from the end of the 1st millennium, based on the mixing of aborigines and alien Ugric tribes, the ethnogenesis of the Khanty began. The Khanty called themselves more by rivers, for example “people of Konda”, “people of the Ob”.

Northern Khanty. Archaeologists associate the genesis of their culture with the Ust-Polui culture, localized in the river basin. Ob from the mouth of the Irtysh to the Ob Bay. This is a northern, taiga fishing culture, many of whose traditions are not followed by modern northern Khanty.
From the middle of the 2nd millennium AD. The northern Khanty were strongly influenced by the Nenets reindeer herding culture. In the zone of direct territorial contacts, the Khanty were partially assimilated by the tundra Nenets.

Southern Khanty. They spread upward from the mouth of the Irtysh. This is the territory of the southern taiga, forest-steppe and steppe and culturally it gravitates more to the south. In their formation and subsequent ethnocultural development, the southern forest-steppe population played a significant role, layering on the general Khanty base. The Russians had a significant influence on the southern Khanty.

Eastern Khanty. They settle in the Middle Ob region and along the tributaries: Salym, Pim, Agan, Yugan, Vasyugan. This group, to a greater extent than others, retains North Siberian cultural features that go back to the Ural population - draft dog breeding, dugout boats, the predominance of swing clothing, birch bark utensils, and a fishing economy. Within the modern territory of their habitat, the Eastern Khanty interacted quite actively with the Kets and Selkups, which was facilitated by belonging to the same economic and cultural type.
Thus, in the presence of common cultural features characteristic of the Khanty ethnic group, which is associated with the early stages of their ethnogenesis and the formation of the Ural community, which, along with the mornings, included the ancestors of the Kets and Samoyed peoples, the subsequent cultural “divergence”, the formation of ethnographic groups, to a greater extent was determined by the processes of ethnocultural interaction with neighboring peoples. Muncie- a small people in Russia, the indigenous population of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. Closest relatives of the Khanty. They speak the Mansi language, but due to active assimilation, about 60% use Russian in everyday life. As an ethnic group, the Mansi were formed as a result of the merger of local tribes of the Ural culture and Ugric tribes moving from the south through the steppes and forest-steppes of Western Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan. The two-component nature (a combination of the cultures of taiga hunters and fishermen and steppe nomadic herders) in the culture of the people persists to this day. Initially, the Mansi lived in the Urals and its western slopes, but the Komi and Russians in the 11th-14th centuries forced them out into the Trans-Urals. The earliest contacts with Russians, primarily Snovgorodians, date back to the 11th century. With the annexation of Siberia to the Russian state at the end of the 16th century, Russian colonization intensified, and already at the end of the 17th century the number of Russians exceeded the number of the indigenous population. The Mansi were gradually forced out to the north and east, partially assimilated, and were converted to Christianity in the 18th century. The ethnic formation of Mansi was influenced by various peoples.

In the Vogul cave, located near the village of Vsevolodo-Vilva in the Perm region, traces of Voguls were discovered. According to local historians, the cave was a temple (pagan sanctuary) of the Mansi, where ritual ceremonies were held. In the cave, bear skulls with traces of blows from stone axes and spears, shards of ceramic vessels, bone and iron arrowheads, bronze plaques of the Permian animal style with an image of an elk man standing on a lizard, silver and bronze jewelry were found.

Finno-Ugrians or Finno-Ugric- a group of peoples with related linguistic features and formed from the tribes of northeastern Europe since the Neolithic times, they inhabited Western Siberia, the Trans-Urals, the northern and middle Urals, the territory north of the upper Volga, the Volga Oksya interfluve and the middle Volga region until midnight of the modern Saratov region in Russia.

1. Title

In Russian chronicles they are known under the unifying names Chud and Samoyeds (self-name suomaline).

2. Settlement of Finno-Ugric ethnic groups in Russia

On the territory of Russia there live 2,687,000 people belonging to the Finno-Ugric ethnic groups. In Russia, Finno-Ugric peoples live in Karelia, Komi, Mari El, Mordovia, and Udmurtia. According to chronicle references and linguistic analysis of toponyms, the Chud united several tribes: Mordva, Muroma, Merya, Vesps (All, Vepsians) and etc..

The Finno-Ugric people were an autochthonous population between the Oka and Volga rivers; their tribes, Estonians, Merya, Mordovians, and Cheremis, were part of the Gothic kingdom of Germanaric in the 4th century. The chronicler Nestor in the Ipatiev Chronicle indicates about twenty tribes of the Ural group (Ugro-Finivs): Chud, Livs, Vodi, Yam (Ӕm), all (also the North of them on the White Lake Sedѧt Vs), Karelians, Ugra, caves, Samoyeds, Perm (Perm) ), cheremis, casting, zimigola, kors, nerom, Mordovians, Merya (and on Rostov the river Merya and on Kleshchina and the river lake there is the same), Muroma (and there is a river where the Volga flows into the Volga Svoi Muroma) and meshchera . The Muscovites called all local tribes Chud from the indigenous Chud, and accompanied this name with irony, explaining it through the Muscovite weird, weird, strange. Now these peoples have been completely assimilated by the Russians, they have disappeared from the ethnic map of modern Russia forever, adding to the number of Russians and leaving only a wide range of their ethnic geographical names.

These are all the names of rivers from ending-wa: Moscow, Protva, Kosva, Silva, Sosva, Izva, etc. The Kama River has about 20 tributaries, the names of which end in na-va, means "water" in Finnish. From the very beginning, the Muscovite tribes felt their superiority over the local Finno-Ugric peoples. However, Finno-Ugric place names are found not only where these peoples today make up a significant part of the population, forming autonomous republics and national districts. Their distribution area is much larger, for example, Moscow.

According to archaeological data, the settlement area of ​​the Chud tribes in Eastern Europe remained unchanged for 2 thousand years. Starting from the 9th century, the Finno-Ugric tribes of the European part of present-day Russia were gradually assimilated by Slavic colonists who came from Kievan Rus. This process formed the basis for the formation of modern Russian nation.

The Finno-Ugric tribes belong to the Ural-Altai group and a thousand years ago they were close to the Pechenegs, Cumans and Khazars, but were at a much lower level of social development than the others; in fact, the ancestors of the Russians were the same Pechenegs, only forest ones. At that time, these were the primitive and culturally most backward tribes of Europe. Not only in the distant past, but even at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia they were cannibals. The Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC) called them androphages (eaters of people), and the chronicler Nestor, already during the period of the Russian state, called Samoyeds (Samoyed).

Finno-Ugric tribes of a primitive gathering-hunting culture were the ancestors of the Russians. Scientists claim that the Moscow people received the greatest admixture of the Mongoloid race through the assimilation of the Finno-Ugric people, who came to Europe from Asia and partially absorbed the Caucasoid admixture even before the arrival of the Slavs. A mixture of Finno-Ugric, Mongolian and Tatar ethnic components contributed to the ethnogenesis of the Russians, which was formed with the participation of the Slavic tribes of the Radimichi and Vyatichi. Due to ethnic mixing with the Ugrofinans, and later with the Tatars and partly with the Mongols, Russians have an anthropological type that is different from the Kiev-Russian (Ukrainian). The Ukrainian diaspora jokes about this: “The eyes are narrow, the nose is plus - completely Russian.” Under the influence of the Finno-Ugric language environment, the formation of the Russian phonetic system (akanye, gekanya, ticking) took place. Today, “Ural” features are inherent to one degree or another in all the peoples of Russia: average height, wide face, nose, called “snub-nosed,” and sparse beard. The Mari and Udmurts often have eyes with the so-called Mongolian fold - epicanthus; they have very wide cheekbones and a thin beard. But at the same time she has blond and red hair, blue and gray eyes. The Mongolian fold is sometimes found among Estonians and Karelians. Komi are different: in those places where there are mixed marriages with adults, they are dark-haired and slanted, others are more reminiscent of Scandinavians, but with a slightly wider face.

According to the research of Meryanist Orest Tkachenko, “In the Russian people, connected on the maternal side with the Slavic ancestral home, the father was a Finn. On the paternal side, Russians descended from the Finno-Ugric peoples.” It should be noted that according to modern studies of Y-chromosome halotypes, in fact the situation was the opposite - Slavic men married women of the local Finno-Ugric population. According to Mikhail Pokrovsky, Russians are an ethnic mixture, in which Finns belong to 4/5, and Slavs -1/5. Remnants of Finno-Ugric culture in Russian culture can be traced in such features that are not found among other Slavic peoples: women's kokoshnik and sundress , men's shirt-shirt, bast shoes (bast shoes) in national costume, dumplings in dishes, style of folk architecture (tent buildings, porch), Russian bathhouse, sacred animal - bear, 5-tone singing scale, a-touch and vowel reduction, paired words like stitches-paths, arms-legs, alive and well, so-and-so, turnover I have(instead of I, characteristic of other Slavs) the fairytale beginning “once upon a time”, the absence of the rusal cycle, carols, the cult of Perun, the presence of the cult of the birch rather than the oak.

Not everyone knows that there is nothing Slavic in the surnames Shukshin, Vedenyapin, Piyashev, but they come from the name of the Shuksha tribe, the name of the war goddess Vedeno Ala, and the pre-Christian name Piyash. Thus, a significant part of the Finno-Ugrians was assimilated by the Slavs, and some, having converted to Islam, mixed with the Turks. Therefore, today Ugrofins do not make up the majority of the population even in the republics to which they gave their name. But, having dissolved in the mass of Russians (Rus. Russians), Ugrofins have retained their anthropological type, which is now perceived as typically Russian (Rus. Russian) .

According to the vast majority of historians, the Finnish tribes had an extremely peaceful and gentle disposition. This is how the Muscovites themselves explain the peaceful nature of colonization, declaring that there were no military clashes, because written sources do not remember anything like that. However, as the same V.O. Klyuchevsky notes, “in the legends of Great Russia, some vague memories of the struggle that broke out in some places survived.”

3. Toponymy

Toponyms of Meryan-Erzyan origin in Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Ivanovo, Vologda, Tver, Vladimir, Moscow regions account for 70-80% (Vexa, Voxenga, Elenga, Kovonga, Koloksa, Kukoboy, lekht, Melexa, Nadoxa, Nero (Inero), Nux, Nuksha, Palenga, Peleng, Pelenda, Peksoma, Puzhbol, Pulokhta, Sara, Seleksha, Sonokhta, Tolgobol, otherwise, Sheksheboy, Shekhroma, Shileksha, Shoksha, Shopsha, Yakhrenga, Yakhrobol(Yaroslavl region, 70-80%), Andoba, Vandoga, Vokhma, Vokhtoga, Voroksa, Lynger, Mezenda, Meremsha, Monza, Nerekhta (flicker), Neya, Notelga, Onga, Pechegda, Picherga, Poksha, Pong, Simonga, Sudolga, Toekhta, Urma, Shunga, Yakshanga(Kostroma region, 90-100%), Vazopol, Vichuga, Kineshma, Kistega, Kokhma, Ksty, Landeh, Nodoga, Paks, Palekh, Parsha, Pokshenga, Reshma, Sarokhta, Ukhtoma, Ukhtokhma, Shacha, Shizhegda, Shileksa, Shuya, Yukhma etc. (Ivanovo region), Vokhtoga, Selma, Senga, Solokhta, Sot, Tolshma, Shuya and others. (Vologda region), "Valdai, Koy, Koksha, Koivushka, Lama, Maksatikha, Palenga, Palenka, Raida, Seliger, Siksha, Syshko, Talalga, Udomlya, Urdoma, Shomushka, Shosha, Yakhroma etc. (Tver region), Arsemaki, Velga, Voininga, Vorsha, Ineksha, Kirzhach, Klyazma, Koloksha, Mstera, Moloksha, Mothra, Nerl, Peksha, Pichegino, Soima, Sudogda, Suzdal, Tumonga, Undol etc. (Vladimir region), Vereya, Vorya, Volgusha, Lama, Moscow, Nudol, Pakhra, Taldom, Shukhroma, Yakhroma etc. (Moscow region)

3.1. List of Finno-Ugric peoples

3.2.

FINNO-UGRIAN PEOPLES

Personalities

Ugrofinams by origin were Patriarch Nikon and Archpriest Avvakum - both Mordovians, Udmurts - physiologist V. M. Bekhterev, Komi - sociologist Pitirim Sorokin, Mordvins - sculptor S. Nefedov-Erzya, who adopted the name of the people as his pseudonym; Mikhail Ivanovich Pugovkin is a Russified Merya, his real name sounds Meryan - Pugorkin, composer A.Ya. Eshpai is a Mari, and many others:

See also

Sources

Notes

Map of the approximate settlement of Finno-Ugric tribes in Art. 9.

Stone gravestone with the image of a warrior. Ananyinsky burial ground (near Yelabuga). VI-IV centuries BC.

The history of the Russian tribes that inhabited the Volga-Oka and Kama basins in the 1st millennium BC. e., is distinguished by significant originality. According to Herodotus, the Boudins, Tissagets and Irki lived in this part of the forest line. Noting the difference between these tribes from the Scythians and Sauromatians, he points out that their main occupation was hunting, which supplied not only food, but also furs for clothing. Herodotus especially notes the horse hunting of the hirks with the help of dogs. The information of the ancient historian is confirmed by archaeological sources indicating that hunting really occupied a large place in the life of the studied tribes.

However, the population of the Volga-Oka and Kama basins was not limited only to those tribes mentioned by Herodotus. The names he gives can only be attributed to the southern tribes of this group - the immediate neighbors of the Scythians and Sauromatians. More detailed information about these tribes began to penetrate into ancient historiography only at the turn of our era. Tacitus probably relied on them when he described the life of the tribes in question, calling them Fenians (Finns).

The main occupation of the Finno-Ugric tribes in the vast territory of their settlement should be considered cattle breeding and hunting. Swidden farming played a minor role. A characteristic feature of production among these tribes was that, along with iron tools, which came into use around the 7th century. BC e., bone tools were used here for a very long time. These features are typical of the so-called Dyakovo (interfluve of the Oka and Volga), Gorodets (southeast of the Oka) and Ananino (Prikamye) archaeological cultures.

The southwestern neighbors of the Finno-Ugric tribes, the Slavs, throughout the 1st millennium AD. e. significantly advanced into the area of ​​settlement of Finnish tribes. This movement caused the displacement of part of the Finno-Ugric tribes, as an analysis of numerous Finnish names of rivers in the central part of European Russia shows. The processes under consideration occurred slowly and did not violate the cultural traditions of the Finnish tribes. This makes it possible to connect a number of local archaeological cultures with Finno-Ugric tribes, already known from Russian chronicles and other written sources. The descendants of the tribes of the Dyakovo archaeological culture were probably the Merya and Muroma tribes, the descendants of the tribes of the Gorodets culture - the Mordovians, and the origin of the chronicle Cheremis and Chud goes back to the tribes that created the Ananyin archaeological culture.

Many interesting features of the life of the Finnish tribes have been studied in detail by archaeologists. The most ancient method of obtaining iron in the Volga-Oka basin is indicative: iron ore was smelted in clay vessels standing in the middle of open fires. This process, noted in settlements of the 9th-8th centuries, is characteristic of the initial stage of the development of metallurgy; later ovens appeared. Numerous bronze and iron products and the quality of their manufacture suggest that already in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Among the Finno-Ugric tribes of Eastern Europe, the transformation of domestic production industries into crafts, such as foundry and blacksmithing, began. Among other industries, the high development of weaving should be noted. The development of cattle breeding and the beginning emphasis on crafts, primarily metallurgy and metalworking, led to an increase in labor productivity, which in turn contributed to the emergence of property inequality. Nevertheless, the accumulation of property within the clan communities of the Volga-Oka basin occurred rather slowly; because of this, until the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. the ancestral villages were relatively weakly fortified. Only in subsequent centuries did the settlements of the Dyakovo culture become fortified with powerful ramparts and ditches.

The picture of the social structure of the inhabitants of the Kama region is more complex. The burial inventory clearly indicates the presence of wealth stratification among local residents. Some burials dating back to the end of the 1st millennium allowed archaeologists to suggest the emergence of some kind of disadvantaged category of the population, possibly slaves from among prisoners of war.

Settlement area

On the position of the tribal aristocracy in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. evidenced by one of the striking monuments of the Ananyinsky burial ground (near Yelabuga) - a stone tombstone with a relief image of a warrior armed with a dagger and a war hammer and decorated with a mane. The rich grave goods in the grave under this slab contained a dagger and a hammer made of iron, and a silver hryvnia. The buried warrior was undoubtedly one of the clan leaders. The isolation of the clan nobility especially intensified by the 2nd-1st centuries. BC e. It should be noted, however, that at this time the clan nobility was probably relatively few in number, since low labor productivity still greatly limited the number of members of society who lived off the labor of others.

The population of the Volga-Oka and Kama basins was associated with the Northern Baltic, Western Siberia, the Caucasus, and Scythia. Many objects came here from the Scythians and Sarmatians, sometimes even from very distant places, such as the Egyptian figurine of the god Amon, found in a settlement excavated at the spout of the Chusovaya and Kama rivers. The shapes of some iron knives, bone arrowheads and a number of vessels among the Finns are very similar to similar Scythian and Sarmatian products. Connections of the Upper and Middle Volga region with the Scythian and Sarmatian world can be traced back to the 6th-4th centuries, and by the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. are made permanent.

Norway and in (in).

FINNS(self-name - Suomalayset), nation, main population of Finland, about 4.4 million people (1976), in other countries about 0.6 million people, including 85 thousand people in the USSR (1970). Language Finnish; believers - some are Orthodox.

SUM(Suomi), an ancient Finnish tribe. With the conquest of S., who lived in the southwest coast of the country, in the mid-12th century, the conquest of Finland by Sweden began. Subsequently, together with other tribes, it formed the Finnish people.

FINNS(self-name - suomalaiset), 1) country of Finland; 2) Finnish-Ugric people, main. in the village of Finland. Number 4.9 million people. (2014, according to data from the Statistics Center). They also live in Sweden (over 400 thousand native F., mainly in the east - 2012, census; 674.9 thousand named after -grants from Finland and their po-toms - 2008, re-write), USA (623.5 thousand people. Finnish production - 2000, census), Ka-na-de (131 thousand people, of which 73 thousand people in the On-Tario province - 2006, census), Russia ( 20.3 thousand people, including in Karelia 8.6 thousand people, Leningrad region 4.4 thousand people, St. Petersburg Ge 2.6 thousand people; fin-na-mi-in-ger-man-land-tsa-mi 0.4 thousand people called themselves. - 2010, re-write) etc. They speak in Finnish. language Believers in the basic lu-te-ra-ne, there are Mo-Rav-brothers (since the 1730s), Evan-ge-li-sty (since the 1840s), me-to-dis-sty, Bap-ti-sty, etc., in the East there are right-of-glorious ones.

Rice. E.N. Fedorchenko Women's costume of Eastern Finland: a shirt with embroidery on the chest (rekkopaita), a black woolen skirt with a red hem, an apron made of stripes of red cloth and brocade, a white caftan (viitta), a linen on the head...

F.'s ancestors are Baltic-Finnish. ple-me-na, settled across Finland in the 2nd-1st millennium BC. e. and you are close to the local village (including the ancestors of the Sami). In the Middle Ages, you-de-la-yu-t-sya ple-me-na suo-mi (the sum of ancient Russian is-to-accurate-ni-kov) in the south-west of the pas-de- me (Old Russian em) in Center. Finland and Sa-vo in the East. For app. F. ha-rak-ter-ny connections with Scan-di-na-vi-ey, for the eastern ones - with Pri-la-dozh-em and Upper Vol-zh-em. Until the end 19th century in the village x-ve pre-ob-la-da-lo land-le-de-lie (rye, barley, etc.; until the 2nd half of the 19th century, it was kept for cutting -og-ne-voe land-le-de-lie, especially in the east; since the 20th century, you have grown mainly potatoes, vegetables cabbage soup, kor-mo-vye cul-tu-ry), from the end. 19th century ve-du-schi-mi hundred-but-vyat-sya dairy life-here-but-water-st-vo (co-ro-you of Finnish origin and Air-shire-born), bird-tse-water-st-vo. Tra-di-tsi-on-but-you-have-developed forestry industries, fishing-stations. Kre-st-yan-skie villages in the past-pas-de-deux until the 16-17th centuries. a bunch of plans, then - hu-to-ra, in the east - one-yard. Estate-ba so-sto-it from a living house, ri-gi (rii-hi), kle-ti (ait-ta), ba-ni (sau-na), etc.; in the south-west of the pas-de-country there is a yard. Log house dwelling, pre-name. three- or multi-dimensional, sometimes very long, sometimes G- or T-different in plan, with 2- th floor 18th century - also two-story; in the south-east of the country there is a house-yard of northern Russian. tee-pa. In the main dwelling in the place (tu-pa; in the south-west-pas-de, north-ve-re and east-ke - pir-ti, per-ti) at the entrance of the hundred it oven; on the other side from this (port-stua) there is the same room with a stove (to-it-tu-pa, vo-ora- ste tu-pa, za-al), in the south-za-pa-de (basin of the Ko-ke-mya-enyo-ki river) - with a cook-and-bread oven (ne -kar-nya - pa-ka-ri); sometimes in the ha-nyah or in the second tu-pa you-de-la-u-t-sya are up-to-half-tel-nye, first-at-the-start-but-not-so-p-li -your-places (kam-mo-ra, kam-mar). The chicken stove was usually made of stone, and often had smoke ducts leading into the furnace , and a she-tok with a suspended boiler (on the back-pas-de-pi-schu go-vi-li on the she-st-ke, on the east - the same at the mouth of the stove, they baked bread and pi-ro-gi there), in the east (Sa-vo and Kar-ya-la) - you are the guardian, in the bordering regions with Karelia - a low box with an entrance to the underfloor (head). From the 17th century in the back there is a stove with a smoke-mo-ho-house in the form of a pipe above the neck; from-west-ny and pe-chi tip-pa "Gol-land-ki". Housing is abundantly decorated with fabric-nya-mi, chrome-plated rose-pi-sew and carvings on the furniture (cabinets, on the -de - double-russian and sliding-beds) and ut-va-ri (spinning wheels, ho-mu-you, ko-ly-be-li, on- pas-de - two-on-vines, on the east - under-weight).

Traditional women's suit - ru-ba-ha or blue-za, one-tone, po-lo-sa-tay or checkered skirt, front-nick, bodice with you are deeply (lii-vi). East F. but-si-li that-none-about-different-ru-ba-hu with embroidery on the chest (re-ko-pay-ta) and a cut ku, rock-shaped fibula, white half-long caf-tan with wedges from the waist (wi-it-ta), to the beginning. 19th century - unsewn clothes with straps (khur-stut; cf.), in the districts bordering Ka-re-li-ya - sa-ra-fan; headdress in lo-ten-cha-ty (hun-tu), among the right-of-glorious ones - type Russian. ki-ki (so-rock-ka, ha-rak-ka).

In the East, they baked rye bread in the oven (ru-is-lim-ppu); on the premises they baked bread outside the premises of several. once a year in the form of rusty le-pe-sheks with an opening in the center (rey-kya-ley-pya), which are then stored na-ni-zan-mi-mi on the pole under the ceiling. On the pas-de-de they made home-made cheese, ty-nu-shy forms of sour milk (vii-li), on the east - com-ko -I say pro-sto-kva-shu. Go-to-vyat the same soup (go-ro-ho-vyy - dick-no-kate, fish soup with milk - k-la-kate, etc.) , fish (including smoked, ma-ri-no-van-nuyu - graa-vi-lo-hi, you-mo-chen-nuyu in lye-ke - li-pea- ka-la), mushrooms, on Ro-zh-de-st-vo (Yo-ulu) - rusty pi-horn with fish (ka-la-kuk-ko), on Easter - pu-ding from rye flour (myam-mi), on Midsummer Day (Yukhan-nus, in the south-west of the pas-de - Met-tu-maa-ri, from the old-Swedish- sko-go midhsu-mar) - soup from milk-lo-ka and cheese-ra (yuhan-nu-syuu-sto), om-let (mu-na-vel-li), etc. Main. na-pi-tok on za-pas-de - beer, on vo-to-ke - kvass. On Ivan's Day, uk-ra-sha-li do-ma ze-le-new (including log-linen-ny-mi bir-rez-ka-mi), in Po-hyan-maa st- vi-li “iva-no-vu spruce” (yukhan-nu-sk-ku-si) with rim-ran-ny-mi branches, in the east they burned bonfires (yukhan -well-skok-ko), including in the form of you-so-kih ba-shen, etc.

Lit.: Sirelius U. T. Suomen kansanomaista kulttuuria: esineellisen kansatieteen tuloksia. , 1919-1921. Osa 1-2; Manninen I. Die finnisch-ugrischen Völker. Lpz., 1932; Valo-nen N. Zur Geschichte der finnischen Wohns-tu-ben. Hels., 1963; Vilkuna K. Isin työ - veden ja maan viljaa, arkityön kauneutta. Hels., 1976.