Finnic Peoples

Finnic peoples, descendants of a collection of tribal peoples speaking closely related languages of the Finno-Ugric family who migrated to the area of the eastern Baltic, Finland, and Karelia before ad 400—probably between 100 bc and ad 100, though some authorities place the migration many centuries earlier. The major modern representatives are the Finns and Estonians, who have maintained their languages. Other groups include the Karelians, living mainly in Karelia, in northwestern Russia; the Ingrians, Votes, and Veps, scattered around the Gulf of Finland and Lakes Onega and Ladoga; and the Livs, or Livonians, on the Estonian-Latvian border.

Native speakers in the smaller groups are fast disappearing. In the last decades of the 20th century, for example, both Livonian and Votic probably had fewer than 100 speakers. Other groups of which there is record have long since disappeared.

In prehistoric times, the Finnic peoples evidently came from central Russia, probably bringing with them the art of cereal agriculture. Those migrating to the area of Estonia may have met a numerous population of Balts and Germans already there, but those going on to Finland entered an almost uninhabited country; the few resident nomadic Sami (Lapps) withdrew to the north. In the early centuries ad, the Estonians carried on prosperous trade with the south and west and, though suffering reverses during the disruptions of Roman decline and the great migrations, succeeded between about ad 800 and 1200 in becoming the most commercial and progressive of Finnic nations, because of their favourable position in east–west trade and their own handicrafts in textiles and iron. To the north, in the area of Finland and Karelia, on the other hand, the population remained sparse, and no Finnish state emerged, though three loose unities apparently crystallized: the Finns proper, the Tavastlanders (or Tavastians), and the Karelians, each of whom had their own chiefs and all of whom waged war on the others. One offshoot of the Karelians, the Kvaens, moved into far northern Sweden and Norway, where they gained infamy as savage marauders in the Middle Ages.

The independence of the Estonians, Finns, Karelians, and other Finnic groups came to an end as they were Christianized and conquered by foreign powers beginning in the 11th and 12th centuries. The Estonians were successively ruled by Danes and Teutonic Knights, Swedes, and Russians, enjoying independence only between 1918 and 1940 and from 1991. The Finns, who were ruled first by the Swedes and then by the Russians, did not achieve independence until 1917. The region of Karelia was divided between Sweden and Russia from 1323 to 1721, when it was wholly incorporated into Finland under Russian rule; western Karelia was part of independent Finland from 1920 to 1940; all Karelia is now part of Russia.

Modern Finns are closely tied to the economy of the Scandinavians. Although Finland was originally an agricultural country, only one-third of its people now earn a living from agriculture and forestry. As with the Scandinavian countries, many elements of Finnish society—from housing to businesses and recreational facilities—are owned by cooperatives. In Estonia, agriculture is still the largest employer despite rapid industrialization and an increase in urban population.

The Finns have a rich folkloric tradition and have successfully transformed their traditional arts and crafts into original designs in wood, stone, glass, and ceramics. The Karelian folklore is similar to the Finns’, but the younger generations tend to identify more with the Russians. Culturally the Estonians were strongly influenced by the Germans, and only traces of the original Finnic culture have been preserved in folklore. Estonia was severely affected by Soviet political control and cultural domination from the mid-1940s to 1990.

Since the Reformation, Lutheranism has been the predominant religion among Finnic peoples.