Northern nature. – Finnish tribe and its division

Finns are one of the largest Ural peoples. Their number currently numbers 6–7 million people (an exact figure does not exist due to the lack of reliable statistics on the fairly large Finnish emigration). Finns live mainly in Finland (5.3 million people). as well as in the USA (about 700 thousand people), in Canada (120 thousand), in Russia (34 thousand), Scandinavian countries, in Australia, etc. Language - Finnish or Swedish (about 300 thousand) people in Finland). The self-name of the Finns is suomalainen(units), Russian folk name - Chukhna, Chukhonians, and the official name is Finns- borrowed by Russians from Germanic languages. The ethnonym Finns (Swedish finnar, German Finnen) was first found by the Roman historian Tacitus (I AD) in the form Fenni. Apparently, in its origin it is connected with the Germanic verbs meaning ‘to find, seek’ (Goth. fin?an, Swedish finna, German finden). Initially, this ethnonym served in the Germanic languages, from where it eventually came to Tacitus, to designate the population of Fennoscandia and (in Tacitus, in any case) the Eastern Baltic, leading a mainly active lifestyle and unfamiliar with agriculture (living by hunting, that is, “the seeker”), most likely the ancestors of the modern Sami, whose settlement border at that time lay significantly south of the current one (and the very name of the country - Finnland, Finland - originally meant, in fact, 'the country of the Sami, Sami'). Back in the 18th century, in a word Finnar Norwegians and Swedes called not only Finns, but also Sami (Norwegian finne still means ‘Sami’ today). The Finnish name for Finland is Suomi (suomalainen, thus, literally means ‘resident of the country of Suomi, Suomian’) is first recorded on the pages of Russian chronicles in the form Sum (from the beginning of the 12th century). Initially, this was the name of the territory of what is now southwestern Finland (coastal areas), the so-called. Varsinais Suomi‘real Finland’. This word itself is also of Germanic origin, going back to an ancient Swedish word meaning 'squad, group, gathering', which in itself should not be surprising - Finnish culture and language throughout its history have constantly experienced powerful Germanic influence. The word Suomi did not immediately become represent the entire country. Simultaneously with the name Sum, another group appears in Russian chronicles - eat (Finnish h?me), and the difference between the dialects of both these groups continues to this day. In a number of ways, the Suomi dialect is close to the Estonian, Votic, and Livonian dialects (the southern (western) group of Baltic-Finnish dialects) and is opposed to the Häme dialect, Karelian and Vepsian languages. This indicates the origin of the Suomi group from the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. The question of the time of the appearance of Suomi on the territory of southwestern Finland remains debatable; from an archaeological point of view, the most likely assumption is that this happened in the so-called “early Roman time” (the turn of the era - the first centuries AD), when the territory of Varsinais Suomi and all The coast of Finland up to the area of ​​today's Vasa was subject to the expansion of carriers of the culture of stone burial grounds with fences, which originated, in particular, from the territory of modern Estonia and Latvia. In turn, the Häme developed the territories immediately to the east and northeast of Varsinais Suomi, displacing the ancient Sami population from them. The formation of the Finnish people at the end of the 1st - first half of the 2nd millennium AD. was a complex process of consolidation of several Baltic-Finnish tribes. In addition to the Finns-Suomi and Häme, the Karelians played a significant role in this process. As a result of mixing the dialects of Suomi (to a small extent), Häme and Karelians in eastern Finland, the Savo dialect (f. Savo - possibly from the Orthodox personal names Savva, Savvaty) was formed. and in the southeast - the Ladoga Finnish dialects, which are essentially closer to the Karelian language than to the language of the Suomi Finns. It was these groups that in the 17th century formed the basis of the Finns who moved to the lands of Ingermanland (mainly the modern Leningrad region) that moved to the lands of Ingria (mainly the modern Leningrad region) through the Stolbovo world, who by the end of the 17th century there were already more than 30 thousand people in this territory (more than half the population of the region). Ingrian Finns, who called themselves yyrьmbiset (plural; probably from f. ырьs “steep bank; slope”) and savakot (plural; from Savo - see above), were the largest national minority at the beginning of the 20th century on the territory of the modern Leningrad region (about 125 thousand people) and lived not only in rural areas, but also in St. Petersburg, where a Finnish newspaper was founded back in 1870. Schools taught in Finnish, published literature, and from 1899 to 1918 All-Ingrian song festivals were regularly held. In the first decades of Soviet power, the national and cultural development of Ingrian Finns continued successfully: the number of Finnish schools grew, in several village councils of the region, office work was translated into Finnish, and a Finnish book publishing house was created. However, in the mid-1930s, relations between Finland and the Soviet Union began to rapidly deteriorate, and this had the saddest impact on the fate of Finns in Russia: about 50 thousand people were forcibly deported from their homeland, since 1937 all Finnish printed publications were completely banned, teaching in Finnish, activities of national and cultural organizations. During the war, more than 50 thousand Ingrian people were deported to Finland, then returned to the USSR, but they were forbidden to settle in their native places. Finns from the territory of the Leningrad region and from besieged Leningrad were almost completely taken to Siberia, and only in 1956 Finns were again allowed to settle in the Leningrad region. The 2002 census recorded 4 thousand Finns in St. Petersburg, and another approx. in the Leningrad region. 8 thousand. In addition to the Baltic-Finnish tribes, settlers from Scandinavia (ancient Germans - ancient Scandinavians - Swedes), who settled on the coast of western, southwestern and southern Finland since the end of the Bronze Age, played a significant role in the formation of the Finns. Their influx into Finland has increased significantly since around the 3rd century AD. - from this time on, the population of Varsinais Suomi finds itself drawn into a single sphere of trade relations with Scandinavia, in contrast to the more eastern regions, where old ties with Eastern Europe are preserved. As a result of the mixing of the Baltic-Finnish and Scandinavian populations in the Middle Ages, a group of Kvens (Russian Kayans, Finnish kainuu, Norwegian kv?n) was formed, settling along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia to the north. The name Kvens is recorded in Old Norse (Kv?nir) and Old English (Cwenas) sources starting from the 9th century, and designated the mixed Finnish-Scandinavian population of the coast of Bothnia (cf. later Russian (Pomeranian) Kayans 'Norwegians'). Around the turn of I and II millennium AD Baltic-Finnish tribes occupied only the west, southwest and south of modern Finland, and central Finland and the lake district, not to mention the north of the country, were inhabited by the Sami, as evidenced by toponymy, archeology, folklore and historical sources. The Baltic-Finnish population turned out to be back in the 1st millennium AD. drawn into the circle of trade relations between the Baltic and, more broadly, Europe as a whole, and was particularly active in the northern direction. In the first centuries of the 2nd millennium AD. The ancestors of the Finns begin expansion into the Sami lands, which was initially of a trading nature. In the 16th-17th centuries, the process of agricultural colonization of the Sami lands of the lake region (central Finland) by Finnish peasants (mainly Savosians) was actively underway, who carried out massive forest burning, thereby eliminating the ecological basis for preserving the Sami hunting and fishing industry here. This led to the gradual displacement of the Sami population further and further north or to its assimilation by the Finns. The advance of the Finnish-Sami border to the north continued throughout the 17th-19th centuries, until almost the entire territory of modern Finland, except for a small Sami enclave in the far north near Lake. Inari and R. Utsjoki did not become Finnish. However, the advance of Finnish groups practicing slash-and-burn agriculture in search of new lands to clear to the north did not stop there: they penetrated into the territories of northern Sweden and especially Norway, where they received the name Forest Finns. After the official prohibition of slash-and-burn agriculture in Sweden in the middle of the 19th century and the implementation of an active state assimilation policy, the “Forest Finns” switched to the Swedish and Norwegian languages ​​by the middle of the 20th century. An important factor that contributed to the consolidation of the Finnish people within the borders of modern Finland was the inclusion of territory into the Swedish state and the conversion of the population to Christianity, which occurred in the second half of the 12th - first half of the 13th century as a result of several crusades associated with the founding of a new diocese on the territory of Finland. During the struggle between Sweden and Novgorod, by the middle of the 14th century, the border of their possessions was established, close to the modern border of Russia and Finland, and the Baltic-Finnish tribes were divided politically and religiously: their western part was subordinated to Sweden (Duchy of Finland from 1284 . to 1563, when the status of the duchy was temporarily abolished after the victory of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa over his rebellious son, Duke of Finland Johan) and converted to Catholicism (during the era of the Reformation, associated in Finland primarily with the activities of the enlightener Michael Agricola in the 16th century, replaced by Lutheranism), and the eastern one was subordinated to Novgorod and converted to Orthodoxy. This circumstance led mainly to the consolidation of the Finnish people in the west and the Karelian people in the east and the establishment of a border between them. Already under the conditions of Swedish domination, the enlightenment and rise of national self-awareness of the Finns began. In the middle of the 16th century, the already mentioned Mikael Agricola published the first books in Finnish. In 1581, Finland again received the status of a Grand Duchy within the Kingdom of Sweden. After the Russian-Swedish war of 1808–1809. Finland became part of the Russian Empire as an autonomous Grand Duchy, later - a Grand Duchy (the conditions for Finland's entry into the Empire were approved by a meeting of representatives of the country's estates - the Borgo Diet in 1809; since 1863. The Sejm (the Parliament of Finland) is in operation again. To consolidate its position in the new lands and combat Swedish influence, the Russian government used the Finnish factor - it granted autonomy rights unprecedented in breadth (since 1863, the equality of the Swedish and Finnish languages ​​​​in the territory of the Grand Duchy was officially announced, since 1866, education in schools was introduced in Finnish), annexed to the lands of the Grand Duchy the lands that at that time were part of Russia, and not Sweden (Vyborg region). All this created objectively favorable conditions for the national development of the Finnish people. The most significant and fateful event for Finnish cultural history in this regard was the transfer of the university from Abo (Turku) to Helsingfors (Helsinki) in 1827. Being under the personal patronage of Emperor Alexander I, the University of Helsingfors was the only university in the Empire that received a control copy of every publication printed in Russia for its library, and became the center of Finnish culture and science. All this ensured a sharp rise in the national movement, in which, in addition to politicians, an outstanding role was played by scientists: the collector of Karelian-Finnish epic songs and the creator of “Kalevala” Elias Lönnrot, academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences Antti Johan Sjögren, traveler, linguist and ethnologist Matthias Aleksanteri Castren and others. In the first half of the 19th century, the modern Finnish literary language was formed. Naturally, the national revival of the Finns led to an increase in Russophobic sentiments in society, and the attempts of the government of Nicholas II to smooth out the disproportion between the freedoms enjoyed by the Grand Duchy and the status of other regions of the empire only added fuel to the fire. The growing national movement achieved its main goal during the revolution of 1917: in July the Finnish Diet adopted the “Law on Power”, declaring itself the bearer of supreme power, in December the newly elected parliament adopted the Declaration of Independence, and the Republic of Finland was recognized by Soviet Russia.

As many already know and have heard, at the instigation of Western scientists, many nationalities of the Ural family living on the territory of Russia received the name “Finns-Ughurs” and the honorary title “indigenous inhabitants”. The name “Finns” was originally used by the Germanic Scandinavians to refer to their neighbors on the Scandinavian Peninsula who did not speak Germanic languages.

It is hardly appropriate to transfer this name to the Russian ethnic groups of the Mordovians, Komi, Mari, Udmurts, Vepsians, who have never lived in the Scandinavian Peninsula or Finland, have a culture far from the Finns, a different religion, and are very seriously mixed with other purely Russian ethnic groups.

Due to the fact that this topic is heavily littered with liberal propagandists, who also rely on the Finnishization of the Ural peoples of Russia, I decided to provide a number of historical details.

Let's turn to exact science, to genetics

Scientists trace the long history of resettlement of the peoples of the Ural family by the distribution of an ethnogenetic marker, that is, the Y-chromosomal haplogroup N1c1 (formerly called N3).

The ancestors of the Uralians come from Southern Siberia or even the territory of modern Northern China (so the name “Uralians” is also very arbitrary, but still much better than the Finns). The purest carriers of the “Finnish marker” N1c1 are now the Turkic-speaking Yakuts. Their prevalence reaches 80%. Note that among the Finns of Finland the prevalence of this truly Finnish marker is about 63%, among the other Ural peoples it is much less: among Komi about 35%, among the Mordovians in general 19%. By the way, Latvians and Lithuanians have Ural roots (42.1% and 43%) more often than Komi and Mordovians.

But let's return to Siberia. For a long time, the taiga was the main habitat of the Ural peoples; they moved along with the taiga to the west (and a serious expansion of the taiga forest zone to the west occurs in 2 thousand BC during the transition to the cold subboreal period). The flow of Ural migrants (hunters, fishermen, gatherers) “flowed around” from the north the areas of settlement of Indo-Europeans (belonging to haplogroup R1a1, to the Proto-Slavs - according to the terminology of the famous ethnogeneticist A. Klesov) or penetrated into their habitat area.

The Indo-European-proto-Slavs lived in the steppe, forest-steppe space, and the zone of deciduous forests, and were mainly engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture. Contacts between the Urals and the Indo-European-proto-Slavs began in southern Siberia in 3-2 thousand BC. Here we can mention the Indo-European Afanasiev culture (extended up to the modern territory of Xinjiang and Mongolia) and Andronovo culture (Southern Urals and Western Siberia).

Contacts continued on the East European Plain, with the Indo-European Poltavka culture in the Volga-Kama-Ural region, the Fatyanovo-Balanovo culture covering the upper Volga region, the Abashevo culture in the Middle Volga region, and the Pozdnyakovo culture on the Oka and Klyazma. On the shores of the Baltic Sea - with late carriers of the Corded Ware culture. Contact did not take place peacefully everywhere; in some places the Urals exterminated the indigenous Proto-Slavic population and took their wild animals and fish for themselves; captured women and children dispersed to the newly built “Finnish houses” of the aliens. Accordingly, the anthropological type of the Urals in the course of this “Drang nach Vesten” changed from Mongoloid to mixed laponoid, and then to Caucasoid up to Nordic.

Resettlement of the Urals

The Urals appeared on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea much earlier than in Finland, and here they became the ancestors of not only the Estonians and some small tribes such as the Izhoras and Livs, but also contributed to the formation of the peoples of the Letto-Lithuanian group, including the Prussians.

The resettlement of the Ural people to their supposed ancestral home, Finland, was not very active until our era. The ancestors of the Lapps first appeared here; the Germans called them Finns or Kvens, and considered them seasoned sorcerers. From Siberia, the Lapps brought the ability to go into a trance by drinking fly agaric juice, which amazed Western Europeans.

The dense settlement of Finland by the Urals began only at the turn of the 8th and 9th centuries AD, when the Yam (Em) and Sum tribes arrived there from the east. The latter actually gave the self-name to the Finnish Finns - suomalayset. Modest and without pretensions.

As I already wrote in the last post, everywhere on the Eastern European plain, where it was possible to engage in agriculture and not suffer from regular enemy invasions, Slavic settlers quickly grew in number and the Urals simply disappeared into the Slavic stream. Therefore, today there are very few Russians carrying the Ural marker N1c1, even in the Moscow region. But where the climate interfered with agriculture and extensive forestry and fishing industries prevailed, there the percentage of carriers of the Ural marker N1c1 among the Russian population turns out to be much higher - up to 20%, for example, in the area of ​​​​the former settlement of Zavolotskaya Chudi, on the northern Dvina, to the west and east of it . Here, most of all, there are native speakers of living Uralic languages.

The Old Russian state, and then the Polotsk, Pskov, Novgorod principalities, until the 13th century, controlled the wide Baltic entrance to the “route from the Varangians to the Greeks,” including most of the modern territory of Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. With the beginning of Swedish, German, and Lithuanian expansion, a border was formed, but not between the Russians and Finns, but between the Russian principalities, on the one hand, and Sweden, the possessions of the German knightly orders, and Lithuania, on the other hand. The Swedes and the Germans baptized the Estonians, Sums, Estonians, Livonians with fire and sword, then drove them into battle, but these were just bollards, semi-slave infantry. By the way, the successes of Swedish and German expansion, which led to the closure of wide access to the Baltic for the Russians, were based on the godless use of the sweat and blood of the conquered Ural (Finnish) tribes.

But as such, Finns were not present in politics at all. In the 17th century, when the Swedes captured both shores of the Gulf of Finland, the Karelian Isthmus, the course of the Neva, the Orthodox Karelians and Izhorians left the conquerors along with the Russian population, and in their place came Swedish, German, even Dutch settlers, and Lutheran Finns from Finland - these became the ethnic group later known as the Ingrian Finns.

How great Finland rose from history

The Finnish problem was generated for Russia by the efforts of its liberal elite, including the scientific community. Alexander I, the “republican on the throne,” having received the Principality of Finland from the Swedes, attached the Vyborg province to it in 1811 (previously Votskaya Pyatina in the Novgorod Principality and Korelsky District in Muscovite Rus'). The Russian language and Russian laws are being replaced here by the Swedish language and Swedish laws. Finland rolled under the walls of St. Petersburg. Just the same skillful combination of privileges - low taxes, abolition of military service, free access to the huge Russian market and closedness to Russian traders - Finland was transformed from a poor, hungry Swedish colony crushed by duties into a prosperous land.

And then it was the turn of the awakening of the Finnish language and culture - in which, by the way, the Finnish Swedes distinguished themselves a lot, consciously and subconsciously wanting revenge for the defeat of 1809. Finnish culture and language were restored by Swedish scientists with Russian money.

And there it was already close to the ideas of a “great Finland”, to Mannerheim, to the Finnish
concentration camps in occupied Soviet territory, before the blockade of Leningrad and the Finnish advances to the White Sea and Tikhvin(If they had succeeded, there would be no guaranteed Russia today). Today we have lived to see the Finnishization of the Mordovians and Komi, which is happening amid the noise of the liberal campaign about “Stalin’s crimes” against “democratic Finland.” Our political elite looks at this with an indifferent oligophrenic eye and even lays wreaths on the grave of the Finnish ghoul Karl Gustavovich.

There is only one way out and it is very simple. Accept at a high level and explain to the world community the idea - there are no Finns on Russian territory, with the exception of tourists from Finland. There was a scientific error, but it has now been corrected. There are Ural ethnic groups that are an important part of the large Russian or Russian nation - we have been together for 1200 years, and if we take into account the pre-Slavic times, then 4 thousand years. (In the same way, the Bretons are part of the French nation, and the Catalans are part of the Spanish nation.) And the question is closed.

- (self-name Suomalayset) nation, the main population of Finland (4.65 million people), total number of 5.43 million people (1992), including in the Russian Federation 47.1 thousand people (1989). Language Finnish. Protestant believers (Lutherans) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

FINNS, Finns, units. Finn, Finn, husband 1. The people of the Finno-Ugric group, inhabiting the Karelo Finnish SSR and Finland. 2. The general name of the peoples of the Finnish branch of the Finno-Ugric peoples. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

FINNS, ov, units. Finn, ah, husband. The people who make up the main population of Finland. | wives Finnish, I. | adj. Finnish, aya, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

- (self-name suomalay set), people. In the Russian Federation there are 47.1 thousand people living in Karelia, the Leningrad region, etc. The main population is Finland. The Finnish language is a Baltic-Finnish branch of the Finno-Ugric family of languages. Believers... ...Russian history

People living in the northwestern region of Europe. Russia and mainly in Finland. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

FINNS- FINNS, see Cysticercosis. FISTULA, see Fistula... Great Medical Encyclopedia

Finns- residents of a state in Northern Europe, Finland. However, they themselves do not call their country that way. This is a foreign name for them of Germanic origin. Finnish doesn't even have the f sound itself. For them, their country is Suomi, and they themselves are suoma layset (people... ... Ethnopsychological Dictionary

Ov; pl. Nation, main population of Finland; representatives of this nation. ◁ Finn, a; m. Finka, and; pl. genus. nok, dat. nkam; and. Finnish, oh, oh. F. epic. F. language. F. knife (short knife with a thick blade, worn in a sheath). F e sleigh, sleigh (sleigh,... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

FINNS- in a broad sense, a number of Ural-Altai peoples. They were divided into four groups: a) Finnish in the narrow sense (Finns, Ests, Livs, Korels, Lapps); b) Ugric (Magyars, Ostyaks, Voguls); c) Volga region (Meshcherya, Merya, Muroma, Mordva, Cheremisy, Chuvash) and... ... Cossack dictionary-reference book

Books

• Finns serving in the SS troops during the Second World War, V. N. Baryshnikov. The monograph, based on Russian, Finnish and German sources, examines key events relating to relations between Finland and Germany in the 1920-1930s, as well as the period of the so-called…
• Finns serving in the SS troops during the Second World War. Second edition, corrected and expanded, Baryshnikov V.. The monograph, based on Russian, Finnish and German sources, examines key events relating to relations between Finland and Germany in the 1920-1930s, as well as the period of the so-called...

Finland is a small northern country with a unique flavor. The birthplace of Santa Claus, the land of a thousand lakes - such associations arise when mentioning Finland. And also a sauna, fishing, and special Finnish humor.

However, few people know that “Finland” is not a Finnish word at all. What do Finns call their country, if not Finland? Suomi is the name of the state. Let's figure out where it came from.

A little history. State formation

For almost seven centuries Finland was under Swedish rule. All this time, the Russian Empire was fighting for Finnish lands. Only at the beginning of the 19th century Finland ceded to Russia, and gained independence in 1917. Nevertheless (or maybe that’s why), Finns are very sensitive to the issue of self-determination and national identity. Anxiously, but patiently, accepting the fact of a multilingual and multinational society. Swedish has the status of a second state language, and Russian, although not officially recognized, is studied in many schools and used in everyday life. Signs, price tags in stores, announcements in Russian are the norm, especially in border areas.

Why Suomi?

The way Finns call their country has several interpretations. According to one version, the name comes from the word “suomaa” - swamp, swampy land. According to another, from the word "suomu" - fish scales.

In modern Russian there is also a consonant word “Sami”, the name of a small people living in Lapland, as well as in the northern part of Norway. The Sami are a nomadic tribe of reindeer herders who have preserved their language (in Norway it is the second state language), traditions, and customs.

If you dig deeper, the root of the word "suomi" echoes the Baltic "zeme", which simply means "land".

Finland vs Suomi. What do Finns think?

There is no clear explanation of where the word Finland comes from. Historians only agree that it dates back to the times of Swedish rule. The Scandinavian word "finnland" literally means "beautiful land". This is exactly what the Swedes called part of the territories of modern southwestern Finland back in the 12th century.

The Finns themselves, with their characteristic equanimity, accept both names. Loving your country is a national trait. Moreover, this love is deep, not subject to feelings of false patriotism. What is the Finnish country? The homeland for the Finns is thousands of lakes, endless forests, northern lights and self-esteem. What word this is called outside the country is a secondary matter.

The national idea is not a political system or territorial integrity. For Finns, this is, first of all, silence, peace and respect for nature.

X. FINNISH NORTH AND NOVGOROD VELIKIY

(Start)

Northern nature. – Finnish tribe and its division. – His life, character and religion. - Kalevala.

From the Valdai Plateau, the soil gradually decreases to the north and northwest to the shores of the Gulf of Finland; and then it rises again and passes into the granite rocks of Finland with their spurs leading to the White Sea. This whole strip represents the great lake region; it was once covered with a deep layer of ice; water, accumulated over thousands of years from the melting of ice, filled all the depressions of this strip and formed its countless lakes. Of these, Ladoga and Onega, in their vastness and depth, can be called inland seas rather than lakes. They are connected to each other, as well as to Ilmen and the Baltic by such high-water channels as the Svir, Volkhov and Neva. The Onega River, lakes Lache, Vozhe, Beloe and Kubenskoye can be considered approximately the eastern border of this great lake region. Further east of it, all the way to the Ural ridge, there is a strip of low, wide ridges, or “ridges,” cut through by three majestic rivers, the Northern Dvina, Pechora and Kama, with their numerous and sometimes very large tributaries. The ridges form the watershed between the left tributaries of the Volga and the rivers of the Northern Ocean.

The immeasurable pine and spruce forests that cover both of these stripes (lake and ridges), the further north you go, the more they are replaced by small shrubs and finally turn into wild, homeless tundra, i.e. low-lying swampy spaces, covered with moss and passable only in winter, when they are frozen, Everything in this northern nature bears the stamp of tedious monotony, wildness and immensity: swamps, forests, mosses - everything is endless and immeasurable. Its Russian inhabitants have long given apt nicknames to all the main phenomena of their nature: dark forests “dense”, winds “violent”, lakes “stormy”, rivers “fierce”, swamps “stagnant”, etc. Even in the southern half of the northern space, the poor sandy-clayey soil with a harsh climate and complete freedom for winds blowing from the Arctic Ocean could not contribute to the development of the agricultural population and feed its inhabitants. However, the enterprising, active character of Novgorod Rus' was able to subjugate this stingy, harsh nature and bring life and movement into it. But, before Novgorod Rus' spread its colonies and its industry here, the entire northeastern strip of Russia was already inhabited by the peoples of the vast Finnish family.

When our history begins, we find Finnish tribes in the same places where they live until now, i.e. mainly from the Baltic Sea to the Ob and Yenisei. The Arctic Ocean served as their northern border, and their southern limits can be approximately designated by a line from the Gulf of Riga to the middle Volga and the upper Urals. According to its geographical location, as well as some external differences in its type, the Finnish family has long been divided into two main branches: western and eastern. The first occupies that great lake region that we talked about above, i.e. a country between the Baltic, White and upper Volga seas. And the country of the Eastern Finns embraces an even more extensive strip of ridges, the middle Volga and Trans-Urals.

Ancient Rus' had another common name for the Finns; she called them Chudya. Distinguishing it according to individual tribes, she assigned the name Chudi to some primarily, namely those that lived on the western side of Lake Peipus, or Peipus (Ests), and on the eastern side (Vod). In addition, there was also the so-called. Chud Zavolotskaya, which lived near lakes Ladoga and Onega and apparently extended to the Onega River and Northern Dvina. Adjacent to this Zavolotskaya Chud was Ves, which, according to the chronicle, lived near Beloozero, but, without a doubt, spread south along the Sheksna and Mologa (Ves Egonskaya) and southwest to the upper Volga region. Judging by its language, this Ves and the neighboring part of the Zavolotskaya Chud belonged to that particular branch of the Finnish family, which is known under the name Em and whose dwellings stretched to the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia. The northwestern part of the Zavolotsk Chud was made up of another branch close to the Emi, known as the Karelians. One Karelian people who lived on the left side of the Neva River was called Ingrov or Izhora; and the other, which also advanced to the Gulf of Bothnia itself, is called Kveny. The Karelians pushed their fellow but wilder people of the wandering Lapps further north into the tundra and rocks; some of the latter, however, remained in their original places and mixed with the Karelians. For this western Finnish branch there is a common native name Suomi.

It is difficult to determine what distinguished the Western from the Eastern Finns, and also where the former ended and the latter began. We can only say in general that the former have a lighter color of hair, skin and eyes; Already Ancient Rus' in its songs noted the western branch with the nickname “White-Eyed Chud”. The middle between them, due to its geographical position, was once occupied by the significant (now Russified) tribe of Meri, who lived on both sides of the Volga, especially between the Volga and Vyazma. Part of this tribe that lived on the lower Oka River was called Muroma. And further to the east, between the Oka and Volga, there was a large Mordovian tribe (Burtas of Arab writers), with its division into Erza and Moksha. Where the Volga makes a sharp turn to the south, the Cheremis lived on both sides of it. All these are Finns from the Volga region. To the north of them the Perm tribe (Zyryans and Votyaks) settled widely, which covered the river areas of the Kama with Vyatka and the upper Dvina with Vychegda. Going further to the northeast, we meet Ugra, i.e. Ugric branch of the eastern Finns. The part of it that lived between the Kama and Pechora is called in the Russian chronicle by the name of the last river, i.e. Pechory; and its own Yugra lived on both sides of the Ural ridge; then she became better known under the names Vogulov and Ostyakov. The Bashkir tribe (later almost Tatarized), which roamed the Southern Urals, can also be attributed to this Ugric branch. From the Bashkir steppes, in all likelihood, came the ancestors of that Ugric, or Magyar, horde, which was driven out of its homeland by Turkish nomads, wandered for a long time in the steppes of Southern Russia and then, with the help of the Germans, conquered the Slavic lands on the Middle Danube. The Samoyed people, which ethnographically occupies the middle between the Finnish and Mongolian families, in ancient times lived further south than in our time; but other tribes gradually pushed him to the Far North into the homeless tundras stretching along the coasts of the Arctic Ocean.

The ancient fates of the vast Finnish family are almost beyond the reach of history. Several fragmentary and unclear news from classical writers, in medieval chronicles, Byzantine, Latin and Russian, from Arab geographers and in Scandinavian sagas - that’s all we have about the peoples of the Finnish North, who joined Ancient Rus' and from ancient times underwent gradual Russification . Our history finds them at low levels of everyday life, however, far from being the same among different tribes. More northern peoples live in dirty huts, dugouts or caves, eat grass, rotten fish and all kinds of carrion, or wander behind herds of deer, which feed and clothe them. Meanwhile, their other fellow tribesmen, Volga and Estonian, already have some signs of contentment, are engaged in animal hunting, cattle breeding, beekeeping and partly agriculture, live in large villages in log cabins, obtain various items of utensils and decorations from traders who visited their lands. These traders came partly from Kama Bulgaria, but mainly from Rus', Novgorod and Suzdal, and exchanged their own and foreign goods from the residents mainly for the skins of fur-bearing animals. That is why in the Chud burial mounds we often find not only native, Russian and Bulgarian products, but even coins and things brought from such distant countries as Muslim Asia, Byzantium, Germany and England. For all their rudeness and savagery, the Finnish peoples have been known since ancient times for their blacksmithing, i.e., metal processing. Scandinavian sagas glorify Finnish swords, which are credited with magical powers, since the blacksmiths who forged them were also known as people skilled in witchcraft. However, the language of the Finns and the monuments found in their country show that the glory of their forgers should be attributed to the “Copper Age”, i.e. to the art of working copper, not forging iron. The latest art was brought to the North by more gifted peoples.

The traits innate to the Finnish tribe have always sharply distinguished it from the Slavs, Lithuania and other Aryan neighbors. It is unenterprising, unsociable, does not like change (conservative), is inclined towards a quiet family life and is not devoid of a fertile imagination, which is indicated by its rich poetic fiction. These tribal qualities, together with the northern gloomy nature and distance from educated peoples, were the reason why the Finns for so long could not rise to higher levels of social development and almost never created an original state life. In the latter respect, only one exception is known, namely the Ugro-Magyar people, who received an admixture of some Caucasian tribes, found themselves on the Danube in the neighborhood of Latin and Byzantine citizenship and founded a fairly strong state there thanks to the hostility of the Germans to the Slavs. In addition, from among the Finnish peoples comes the Perm, or Zyryan, tribe, which was more distinguished than others by its ability for industrial and commercial activities. Scandinavian legends about some rich, flourishing country of Biarmia could be attributed to it, if its coastal position did not rather point to Chud Zavolotskaya.

The pagan religion of the Finns fully reflects their gloomy character, limited worldview and the forest or desert nature that surrounded them. We almost never meet among them the bright, sunny deity who played such a prominent role in the religious consciousness, in the celebrations and traditions of the Aryan peoples. Terrible, unkind creatures here decisively prevail over the good principle: they constantly send various misfortunes to a person and demand victims to appease them. It is a religion of primitive idolatry; The humanoid idea of ​​gods that prevailed among the Aryan peoples was little developed among the Finns. The deities appeared to their imagination in the form of either unclear elemental images, or inanimate objects and animals; hence the worship of stones, bears, etc. However, already in ancient times the Finns had idols that had a rough likeness of a person. More and more important events in their lives are entangled in many superstitions, hence the veneration of shamans, i.e. sorcerers and fortune-tellers who are in relations with air and underground spirits can summon them with wild sounds and furious antics. These shamans represent a kind of priestly class that is in the first stages of development.

The worship of a formidable, unkind deity was most dominant among the eastern Finns. It is mainly known under the name Keremeti. This name also began to be called the very place of sacrifice, arranged in the depths of the forest, where sheep, cows, and horses were slaughtered in honor of the deity; Moreover, part of the sacrificial meat is put aside for the gods or burned, and the rest is served for a feast along with a stupefying drink prepared for that occasion. Finnish concepts of the afterlife are very simple; it seemed to them a simple continuation of earthly existence; why, like other peoples, some of his weapons and household utensils were buried in the grave with the deceased. We find a somewhat less gloomy religious mood among the Western Finns, who have long been in relations with Germanic and Slavic tribes and were subject to some of their influence. They prevail in veneration of the supreme elemental being Ukko, however, better known under the common Finnish name Yumala, i.e. God. He personifies the visible sky and commands air phenomena such as clouds and wind, thunder and lightning, rain and snow. The Scandinavian sagas tell a curious story about the sanctuary of Yumala in the legendary Biarmia. In the first half of the 11th century (1026), therefore, during the time of Yaroslav I, the Norman Vikings equipped several ships and went to Biarmia, where they exchanged expensive furs from the natives. But this seemed to them not enough. Rumors about a nearby sanctuary filled with various riches aroused in them a thirst for spoils. It was the custom among the natives, they were told, that part of the property of the dead should be given to the gods; it was buried in sacred places and mounds were poured on top. There were especially many such offerings hidden around the idol of Yumala. The Vikings made their way to the sanctuary, which was surrounded by a wooden fence. One of them, named Thorer, who knew Finnish customs well, climbed over the fence and opened the gate to his comrades. The Vikings dug up the mounds and collected many different treasures from them. Thorer grabbed the bowl of coins that lay on the idol’s lap. A gold necklace hung around his neck; To remove this necklace, they cut off the neck. At the noise that arose from here, the watchmen came running and blew their horns. The robbers hastened to escape and managed to reach their ships.

Väinämöinen defends Sampo from the witch Louhi. Episode from the Finnish epic Kalevala. Painting by A. Gallen-Kallela, 1896

Scattered across the vast plains of North-Eastern Europe, the Finnish family lived in separate clans and tribes in the wilderness of primeval forests at the stages of patriarchal life, i.e. was governed by its elders, and, apparently, only in some places did these elders acquire such importance that they could be equated with the Slavic and Lithuanian princes. Despite their unenterprising, non-warlike character, the Finnish peoples, however, were often in hostile relations with each other and attacked each other, and the stronger, of course, tried to enrich themselves with booty at the expense of the weaker or to take away a less barren strip of land from them. For example, our chronicle mentions mutual attacks by Karel, Emi and Chudi. These internecine fights, as well as the need to protect oneself from foreign neighbors, gave rise to a kind of native heroes, whose exploits became the subject of songs and tales and reached later generations in very fantastic images. At the same time, a Finnish folk trait is fully revealed. While among other peoples their national heroes are primarily distinguished by extraordinary physical strength, fearlessness and dexterity, and although the element of magic occurs, it does not always play a major role, Finnish heroes accomplish their feats mainly with the help of witchcraft. Remarkable in this regard are the recently collected fragments of the Western Finnish and Karelian epics, called Kalevala (the country and together the offspring of the mythical giant Kalev, i.e. Karelia). In the songs or runes of the Kalevala, among other things, memories of the former struggle of the Karelians with the Lapps were preserved. The main person of this epic - old Veinemoinen - is a great sorcerer, at the same time an inspired singer and player of the "kantele" (a type of Finnish bandura or harp). His comrades also have the gift of magic, namely the skillful merchant Ilmarinen and the young singer Leminkeinen. But their opponents are also strong in witchcraft, although, of course, not to the same extent; Both sides are constantly fighting with prophetic words, spells and other charms. In addition to the inclination to engage in witchcraft and compose runes, this epic also reflected a favorite feature of the Finns: an attraction to blacksmithing, of which Ilmarinen is the personification. It is impossible not to notice, however, that such fictions, with all the fecundity of imagination, suffer from a lack of liveliness, harmony and clarity, which distinguish the poetic works of the Aryan peoples.

Although the Finns were sometimes able to stubbornly defend their independence from foreign conquerors, as we saw in the example of the Estonian Chud, but for the most part, with their fragmentation into small tribes and possessions, with a lack of military enterprise, and, consequently, the military-retinue class, they gradually fell into dependence more developed neighboring peoples. Thus, already in the first centuries of our history we find a significant part of the western and northeastern Finns either completely subordinate or paying tribute to Novgorod Rus'; part of the Volga and Poka peoples is part of the lands of Vladimir-Suzdal and Murom-Ryazan, and another part of the Volga and Pokam natives is subordinate to the Kama Bolgars.