The History of Finland and the Finns

Taught by: ???




Brief Outline:
1. The Origin
2. Populating the Land
3. Invaders
4. Metal Ages




Chapter 1
The Origin

Well, as you must already know, the race of Finns is much older than what they've lived on and near the current area of Finland. Their origin is found from behind the Ural mountains, deep from the Central- and Northern Siberia. As people have always done when the food has gone low, some of the younger members of the tribes ventured to West. Hundreds and thousands of years the ancestors of Finns traveled towards Europe. They went also South, following River Volga. And from there, again up to North, to Estonia and Finland. Some of them continued further down South, and settled to the todays area of Hungary. Most part of the Finns settled around the Gulf of Bothnia, in the area of Russia and Estonia, since the glacier covering Finland melted away about 10,000 - 9,000 years ago. And even after that, only few ventured deeper to Finland. But when Finns finally started populating Finland, the two mainstreams of settlers came from the area between lake Laatokka and Gulf of Bothnia and from the areas surrounding lake Ääninen and from even more northern regions.




Chapter 2
Populating the land

After the glacier had gone, was a huge lake formed, since the gap between Denmark and Sweden was closed. The shore of this lake was much deeper inland as now, and the climate was warmer than today. The populating to south followed the shore of Gulf of Bothnia and in the north over the todays Finland-Russia border. But the inner parts remained as untouched wilderness. This culture, the one that came from east, is called today the "comb-ceramic-culture", because they used comb-like tools in decorading their pots. This culture lived in peace from 8,000 - 7,000 B.C. until 2,500 B.C.




Chapter 3
Invaders

As told, the comb-ceramic culture was left in peace for thousands of years, until the invaders coming from central Europe arrived.
Some climatic chance, plague or other natures event caused them to leave their homes and roam to NE. They arrived to Finland about 2,500 B.C. and their culture was called the "hammer-axe culture" or "war-axe culture" because of their handy (and deadly) weapons and tools. First they took over the islands near Finlands coast and then landed and invaded the shore itself. The attack of these wary and militarily well organized tribes was totally crushing for the peaceful comb-ceramic culture. But after the violent landing, these two races came closer and started trading. Finally they were mixed together, bringing new technology to this far-away land.




Chapter 4
Metal Ages

Bronze
Due to Finlands distant location, metal and forging skills were gained relatively slowly compared to rest of the Europe. Bronze spread from Skandinavia over the Baltic to the coastal areas, and from east to central and northern regions. This is usually being dated to 1500/1300 - 500 BC. Apparently the metal was brought to Finland first from the east, seemingly some deposits of copper were found as early as 2500 BC. but The Bronze-Age began much later. Even that the archeologists haven't made so many discoveries of metal tools or weapons, it's thought that metal was still quite commonly used, the people just recycled the broken objects by reforging them by themselves.


Iron
As bronze, iron came to Finland from two directions, over the sea from Skandinavia or from the east. This happened around 500 BC. and started the Pre-roman Iron-Age.
The complete iron-age is divided in six categories after the pre-roman:
-The earlier roman iron-age 0 - 200 AD.
-The younger roman iron-age 200 - 400 AD.
-The epoch of great migrations (The fall of Rome happened during this age)
400 - 550/600 AD.
-The Meroving -age 550/600 - 800 AD.
-The viking-age 800 - 1050 AD.
-The age of crusades 1050 - 1150/1300 AD.
      
     


Here is a short summary of Finland's history that can be used to get a main idea of what Finland is. However, some of the information might be wrong so don't use it as a reference.

Brief Version




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Past teachers: [willy]