Ristiretkiaikainen_hevosenkenkäsolki_Sortavalasta

Finnish tribes (

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

: ''Suomalaiset'' ''Heimot'') are ancient ethnic groups from which over time

Finns Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...

evolved. In 1548 in his New Testament

Mikael Agricola Mikael Agricola (; c. 1510 – 9 April 1557) was a Finnish Lutheran clergyman who became the de facto founder of literary Finnish and a prominent proponent of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden, including Finland, which was a Swedish territory ...

mentions that Finnish tribes are

Tavastians Tavastians ( fi, Hämäläiset, sv, Tavaster, russian: Емь, Yem, Yam) are a historic people and a modern subgroup (heimo) of the Finnish people. They live in areas of the historical province of Tavastia (historical province), Tavastia (Häme) ...

and

Karelians Karelians ( krl, karjalaižet, karjalazet, karjalaiset, Finnish: , sv, kareler, karelare, russian: Карелы) are a Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russi ...

. The same division can also be seen in typical brooches that women wore in the 12th to 14th centuries. However, the metal culture, especially jewelry and weapons, had already evolved into distinctive and peculiar in the end of the

Merovingian period The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

in the 8th century in the area of contemporary Finland. The intention of this evolution was possibly to express specifically "Finnish" identity which was born from the image of common origin and mutual similarity. Finnish tribes are frequently mentioned in historical sources, such as papal letters,

Novgorod First Chronicle The Novgorod First Chronicle (russian: Новгородская первая летопись) or The Chronicle of Novgorod, 1016–1471 is the most ancient extant Old Russian chronicle of the Novgorodian Rus'. It reflects a tradition different ...

and

Eric Chronicles The ''Eric Chronicle'' (Swedish: ''Erikskrönikan'') is the oldest surviving Swedish chronicle. It was written by an unknown author (or, less probably, several authors) between about 1320 and 1335. It is the oldest in a group of medieval rhymed ch ...

References

{{Finns Ethnic groups in Finland