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Kvenland, known as ''Cwenland'', ''Qwenland'', ''Kænland'', and similar terms in medieval sources, is an ancient name for an area in
Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia ( Finnish, Swedish and no, Fennoskandia, nocat=1; russian: Фенноскандия, Fennoskandiya) or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical peninsula in Europe, which includes the Scandinavian and Kola penins ...
and
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
. Kvenland, in that or nearly that spelling, is known from an Old English account written in the 9th century, which used information provided by
Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...
adventurer and traveler
Ohthere Ohthere (also ''Ohtere''), Old Norse ''Óttarr vendilkráka'' (''Vendelcrow''; in Modern Swedish ''Ottar Vendelkråka'') was a semi-legendary king of Sweden of the house of Scylfings, who is said to have lived during the Germanic Heroic Age, p ...
, and from
Nordic Nordic most commonly refers to: * Nordic countries, written in plural as Nordics, the northwestern European countries, including Scandinavia, Fennoscandia and the North Atlantic * Scandinavia, a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in ...
sources, primarily
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
ic. A possible additional source was written in the modern-day area of
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. All known Nordic sources date from the 12th and 13th centuries. Other possible references to Kvenland by other names and spellings are also discussed here.


Old English Orosius

A Norwegian adventurer and traveler named
Ohthere Ohthere (also ''Ohtere''), Old Norse ''Óttarr vendilkráka'' (''Vendelcrow''; in Modern Swedish ''Ottar Vendelkråka'') was a semi-legendary king of Sweden of the house of Scylfings, who is said to have lived during the Germanic Heroic Age, p ...
visited
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
around 890 CE. King Alfred of Wessex had his stories written down and included them in his Old English version of a world history written by the Romano-Hispanic author
Orosius Paulus Orosius (; born 375/385 – 420 AD), less often Paul Orosius in English, was a Western Roman Empire, Roman priest, historian and theology, theologian, and a student of Augustine of Hippo. It is possible that he was born in ''Bracara Au ...
. Ohthere's story contains the only contemporary description about Kvenland that has survived from the 9th century:
htheresaid that the Norwegians' (Norðmanna) land was very long and very narrow ... and to the east are wild mountains, parallel to the cultivated land. Finnas inhabit these mountains ... Then along this land southwards, on the other side of the mountain (''sic''), is Sweden ... and along that land northwards, Kvenland (Cwenaland). The Kvens (Cwenas) sometimes make depredations on the Northmen over the mountain, and sometimes the Northmen on them; there are very large reshwater meres amongst the mountains,Given the context, "geond", with a range of possible meanings in "throughout", "over" and "as far as", is best understood as "amongst"; and "moras", with a range of possible meanings in "
moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct o ...
" or "mountains", is best understood as "mountains", though "moors" may be intended. The word ''mór [] m (-es/-as)'' used in the original text can be translated as moor, morass, swamp; hill, mountain. See e.g. .
and the Kvens carry their ships over land into the meres, and thence make depredations on the Northmen; they have very little ships, and very light.
As is emphasized in the text, Ohthere's account was an oral statement, made to King Alfred, and the section dealing with Kvenland takes up only two sentences. Ohthere's information on Kvens may have been second-hand, since, unlike in his other stories, Ohthere does not emphasize his personal involvement in any way. Ohthere's method of locating Kvenland can be interpreted to mean that Kvenland was located in and around the northern part of the modern-day Sweden and in the mid-western part of the modern-day
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...
, when the difference in the Viking compass is taken into consideration (see more further below). Other, somewhat later sources call the land adjacent to the northern part of Norway "
Finnmark Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024. On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...
." Ohthere's ''Finnas'' may be a reference to the Sami people, but not all historians agree on this.Julku, Kyösti: ''Kvenland – Kainuunmaa''. With English summary: ''The Ancient territory of Kainuu''. Oulu, 1986. Although Ohthere does not give any name for the area where his "Finnas" lived, he gives a lengthy description of their lives in and around Northern Norway, without mentioning Kvens. Ohthere's mention of the "large reshwatermeres" and of the Kvens' boats are of great interest. The meres are said to be "amongst the mountains", the words used in the text being ''geond þa moras''. Ohthere may be referring to the Southern Norwegian lake district, which is also referred to in '' Orkneyinga saga''. This way, the reference would have included Lake Mjøsa, an area which is known to have been inhabited at that time: the Orkneyinga saga tells how these inhabitants were attacked by men from Kvenland. The mention of the "very light ships" (boats) carried overland has a well-documented ethnographic parallel in the numerous
portage Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...
s of the historical river and lake routes in Fennoscandia and Northern Russia. According to the philologist Irmeli Valtonen, " hetext does not give us a clear picture where the ''Cwenas'' are to be located though it seems a reasonable conclusion that they lived or stayed somewhere in the modern-day areas of Northern Sweden or Northern Finland." The name "Kven" briefly appears later in King Alfred's ''Orosius''. The
Kven Sea KVEN (1520 AM, "La Voz 1520 AM & 96.3 FM") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Port Hueneme, California and serves the Ventura County area. The station is owned by Gold Coast Broadcasting and broadcasts a Spanish-language news/ta ...
is mentioned as the northern border for the ancient
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, and Kvenland is mentioned again, as follows:
... the Swedes (Sweons) have to the south of them the arm of the sea called East (Osti), and to the east of them
Sarmatia The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic peoples of classical antiquity who dominated the Pontic steppe from about the 3rd century BC to the 4th cent ...
(Sermende), and to the north, over the wastes, is Kvenland (Cwenland), to the northwest are the Sami people (Scridefinnas), and the Norwegians (Norðmenn) are to the west.
The Viking compass is believed to have had a 45 degree rotation of
cardinal points The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are at ...
.See e.g. Weibull, Lauritz. ''De gamle nordbornas väderstrecksbegrepp''. Scandia 1/1928; Ekblom, R. ''Alfred the Great as Geographer''. Studia Neuphilologia. 14/1941-2; Ekblom, R. ''Den forntida nordiska orientering och Wulfstans resa till Truso''. Förnvännen. 33/1938; Sköld, Tryggve. ''Isländska väderstreck''. Scripta Islandica. Isländska sällskapets årsbok 16/1965. If the territories listed in King Alfred's ''Orosius'' are examined with that in mind, the Norwegians would be to the northwest of Sweden, and the Sami people would be to the north. These points are correct after rotation based on the difference between the Viking and modern compasses. Kvenland is then situated to the northeast of Sweden and might be placed somewhere around the present-day Swedish
Norrland Norrland (, "Northland", originally ''Norrlanden'' or "the Northlands") is the northernmost, largest and least populated of the three traditional lands of Sweden, consisting of nine provinces. Although Norrland does not serve any administ ...
or the western part of the present-day Finland. The information of Kvenland being situated "over the wastes", northwards from the Viking-period "Sweden" (corresponding roughly to the south-central part of present-day Sweden) matches the idea of Kvenland extending to Norrland. There is no "
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...
" mentioned anywhere either in the original or the updated version of Orosius' history.


''Hversu Noregr byggdist'' and ''Orkneyinga saga''

Three medieval
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
ic accounts discuss Kvenland. They are ''
Egils saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( non, Egils saga ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years ...
'' and the more legendary '' Hversu Noregr byggdist'' and '' Orkneyinga saga''.Orkneyinga saga
See als

According to ''Hversu Noregr byggdist'', Kvens made sacrifices to Thorri, who "ruled over Gothland, Kvenland (Kænlandi) and Finland." According to ''Orkneyinga saga'',
Fornjót Fornjót (Old Norse: ''Fornjótr'') is a jötunn in Norse mythology, and the father of Hlér ('sea'), Logi ('fire') and Kári ('wind'). It is also the name of a legendary king of " Finnland and Kvenland". The principal study of this figure is ...
was "a king" who "reigned over Gotland, which we now know as Finland and Kvenland." A DNA study conducted on the prehistoric skeletal remains of four individuals from Gotland supports the area having been ethnically interconnected with Finland and Kvenland during the primeval era, just as suggested by ''Hversu Noregr byggdist'' and ''Orkneyinga saga'':
"The hunter-gatherers show the greatest similarity to modern-day Finns", says Pontus Skoglund, an evolutionary geneticist at Uppsala University in Sweden.DNA study published in nature.com on April 26, 2012. Pontus Skoglund on prehistoric Gotlanders: "The hunter-gatherers show the greatest similarity to modern-day Finns."
/ref>
Recent archaeological discoveries made in Finland have further emphasized the close ties between Gotland and modern-day Finland during the primeval era. In the late spring of 2013, a
Merovingian 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 ...
period (600–800 AD) silver plate, believed to be a piece of a sword scabbard, was discovered in
Rautjärvi Rautjärvi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the South Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . M ...
, Finland. The origin of the silver plate has been traced to Gotland, based on its style of ornamentation. According to Jukka Luoto of the Museum of South Karelia, "this indicates that these areas have independently conducted trade with Gotland."Yle News
"Amateur archaeologists have made huge discoveries during the springtime
" published on June 4, 2013 (in Finnish).
Yle News
"Mystical silver plate discovered in Rautjärvi may change history writing
" published on May 30, 2013 (in Finnish).
''Orkneyinga saga'' contains a realistic description of
Nór Nór (Old Norse Nórr) is according to the Orkneyinga Saga the eponymous founder of Norway. Icelandic accounts Source material Nór of Norway appear in “Fundinn Nóregr” (‘Norway Founded’), hereafter called F, which begins the '' Orkne ...
traveling from Kvenland to Norway. Based on the saga's internal chronologies, this would have happened around the 6th or 7th century CE, but the dating is very insecure. Locations of Kvenland, Finland and Gotland are given rather exactly:
"to the east of the gulf that lies across from the White Sea (Gandvík); we call that the Gulf of Bothnia (Helsingjabotn)."
The saga is correct in placing the Gulf of Bothnia "across" (i.e., "on the other side of" the isthmus between the two seas) from the
White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is s ...
. The saga does not say that Kvenland was on the coast, but just east of the Gulf. This is how Nór started his journey to Norway:
But Nor, his brother, waited until snow lay on the moors so he could travel on snow-shoes. He went out from Kvenland and skirted the Gulf, and came to that place inhabited by the men called Sami (Lapps); that is beyond Finnmark.
Having traveled for a while, Nór was still "beyond Finnmark." After a brief fight with Sami people (Lapps), Nór continued:
But Nor went thence westward to the Kjolen Mountains and for a long time they knew nothing of men, but shot beasts and birds to feed to themselves, until they came to a place where the rivers flowed west of the mountains. — Then he went up along the valleys that run south of the fjord. That fjord is now called Trondheim.
Starting somewhere on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, Nór had either gone all the way up and around the Gulf, or skied across; it was winter, and the gulf might have been frozen. Nór ended up attacking the area around
Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...
in central Norway and later the lake district in the south, conquering the country and uniting it under his rule. There is no mention of Kvenland after that. Again only a handful of words are devoted to Kvenland, mainly telling where it was. Nór's journey from Kvenland to Norway is missing from ''Hversu'', which in fact does not even mention that Nór came from Kvenland at all, only stating: "Norr had great battles west of the Keel". The journey may have been lifted from some other context and added to ''Orkneyinga saga'' in a later phase by an unknown author who wanted to make the saga more adventurous.


Egil's saga

''
Egils saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( non, Egils saga ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years ...
'' is an epic
Icelandic saga The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...
possibly by
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
(1179–1241 CE), who may have written it between 1220 and 1240 CE. While authorship of the sagas is unclear, it is generally accepted that
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
, who was a priest, was not the author of the sagas, but was rather collecting very old stories that had been transmitted orally for many centuries. The saga covers a long period, starting in Norway in 850 CE and ending around 1000 CE. It contains a short description of Egil's uncle Thorolf Kveldulfsson co-operating with a Kvenland king,
Faravid Faravid was a legendary King of Kvenland who is mentioned in the Icelandic Egils saga from the early 13th century. According to the saga, Faravid made an alliance with the Norwegian Thorolf Kveldulfsson to fight against Karelian invaders. Dating ...
, against invading Karelians. Rather accurate geographical details about Kvenland's location are given in chapter XIV:
Finmark is a wide tract; it is bounded westwards by the sea, wherefrom large firths run in; by sea also northwards and round to the east; but southwards lies Norway; and Finmark stretches along nearly all the inland region to the south, as also does
Hålogaland Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the medieval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a kingdom extending between the Namdalen valley in Trøndelag county and the Lyngen f ...
outside. But eastwards from
Namdalen Namdalen ( sma, Nååmesjevuemie) is a traditional district in the central part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities Namsos, Grong, Overhalla, Røyrvik, Nærøysund, Høylandet, Flatanger, Lierne, Leka, and Namsskogan, all in Trøn ...
(Naumdale) is Jämtland (Jamtaland), then
Hälsingland Hälsingland (), sometimes referred to as Helsingia in English, is a historical province or ''landskap'' in central Sweden. It borders Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is part of the land of Norrland. ...
(Helsingjaland) and Kvenland, then Finland, then
Karelia Karelia ( Karelian and fi, Karjala, ; rus, Каре́лия, links=y, r=Karélija, p=kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə, historically ''Korjela''; sv, Karelen), the land of the Karelian people, is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for ...
(Kirialaland); along all these lands to the north lies Finmark, and there are wide inhabited fell-districts, some in dales, some by lakes. The lakes of Finmark are wonderfully large, and by the lakes there are extensive forests. But high fells lie behind from end to end of the Mark, and this ridge is called Keels.
Like ''Hversu Noregr byggdist'', ''Egils saga'' clearly separates Finland and Kvenland, listing them as neighboring areas. However, Finland is not listed in any of the saga's surviving versions, indicating that it might be a later addition by someone who did not recognize Kvenland any more. The saga says "eastwards from Namdalen is Jämtland", but actually the direction is southeast. Also Hälsingland is southeast, not east, of Jämtland. Since it is widely assumed that the Viking compass had a 45 degree rotation of cardinal points, the saga's "east" seems to correspond to the contemporary southeast. In chapter XVII Thorolf goes to Kvenland again:
That same winter Thorolf went up on the fell with a hundred men; he passed on at once eastwards to Kvenland and met king Faravid.
Had Thorolf gone up to the mountains around his homeland Namdalen and then straight "eastwards", i.e., southeast, he would have first reached Jämtland and then Hälsingland. These are the same lands that were listed earlier in the saga. If the passage about going "southwest" is taken literally and directly, continuing from Hälsingland across the Gulf of Bothnia Thorolf would have arrived in the southwestern tip of present-day Finland, the center of Finland's Viking period population (see map). Again, as with ''Ohthere'', Sami people and Kvens are not discussed at the same time. The saga tells how Norwegians taxed the Sami people, but there is no indication in the saga that the Kvens would have competed with the Norwegians for control of the Sami or lived near or among them. Much debate has taken place concerning whether the saga provides truthful information of Iron Age Kvenland by mentioning that the Kvens had a real-sounding 'king' and a 'law' to divide the loot. The saga places the confrontation of Norwegians and Karelians in the 9th century.


Other sources

Besides Old English Orosius, Hversu Noregr byggdist, Orkneyinga saga and Egil's saga, Kvenland or Kvens are very briefly mentioned in four
Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
ic texts from the same era. One of the texts may have been written in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
.


''Norna-Gests þáttr''

''
Norna-Gests þáttr ''Nornagests þáttr'' or the ''Story of Norna-Gest'' is a legendary saga about the Norse hero Nornagestr, sometimes called Gestr, and here anglicized as Norna-Gest. Summary Norna-Gest was the son of a Danish man named Thord Thingbiter, who onc ...
'' has a brief mention of the king of
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...
and Sweden,
Sigurd Hring Sigurd Ring (Old Norse: ''Sigurðr Hringr'', in some sources merely called ''Hringr'') according to legend was a king of the Swedes, being mentioned in many old Scandinavian sagas. According to these sources he was granted rulership over Sweden ...
(ruling in the mid-8th century), fighting against the
Curonians :''The Kursenieki are also sometimes known as Curonians.'' The Curonians or Kurs ( lv, kurši; lt, kuršiai; german: Kuren; non, Kúrir; orv, кърсь) were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic Sea in what are now the western ...
and the Kvens:
Sigurd Ring (Sigurðr) was not there, since he had to defend his land, Sweden (''Svíþjóð''), since Curonians (''Kúrir'') and Kvens (''Kvænir'') were raiding there.


''Historia Norwegiae''

''
Historia Norwegiae Historia may refer to: * Historia, the local version of the History channel in Spain and Portugal * Historia (TV channel), a Canadian French language specialty channel * Historia (newspaper), a French monthly newspaper devoted to History topics * ...
'' was written sometime between 1160 and 1175 CE in an unknown location. It contains a list of peoples in the North:
But towards north many pagan tribes—alas!—stretch from the east behind Norway, namely
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 Russ ...
(Kiriali) and Kvens (Kwæni), corneous Sami people (cornuti Finni) and both peoples of Bjarmia (utrique Biarmones). But what tribes dwell behind them, have we no certainty.


''Icelandic Annals''

The Icelandic Annals have a late mention of Kvens clearly active in the North. Around 1271 CE, the following is said to have happened:
Then Karelians (Kereliar) and Kvens (Kvænir) pillaged widely in
Hålogaland Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the medieval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a kingdom extending between the Namdalen valley in Trøndelag county and the Lyngen f ...
(Hálogaland).


Possible other sources

In some pre-medieval and medieval texts, it is not clear which groups of people the authors are referring to by the titles used. According to historians, terms used for either the Kvens, Finns and/or Sami in texts written during the 1st millennium AD include the following: * ''Aeni'', ''Aeningia'' (in reference to ''Fenningia'') – by
Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ...
c. 77 AD;Jaakkola, Jalmari: ''Suomen varhaishistoria'' ("Proto-history of Finland"). Werner Söderström. Porvoo, 1956Julku, Kyösti: ''Kvenland – Kainuunmaa'', page 51. With English summary: ''The Ancient territory of Kainuu''. Oulu, 1986. * ''Fenni'', ''
Sitones The Sitones were a Germanic people living somewhere in Northern Europe in the first century CE. They are mentioned only by Cornelius Tacitus in 97 CE in Germania. Tacitus considered them similar to Suiones (ancestors of modern Swedes) apart from ...
'' – by Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
, c. 98;Korhonen, Olavi: ''"Håp – vad är det för en båt? Lingvistiska synpunkter. Bottnisk kontakt I. Föredrag vid maritimhistorisk konferens i Örnsköldsvik 12–14 februari 1982. Örnsköldsvik 1982."'' * ''Phinnoi'' – by
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of import ...
, c. 150; * ''Qwnio'', Qwens – by Ulfilas (in Gothic:
Wulfila Ulfilas (–383), also spelled Ulphilas and Orphila, all Latinized forms of the unattested Gothic form *𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌰 Wulfila, literally "Little Wolf", was a Goth of Cappadocian Greek descent who served as a bishop and missionar ...
), c. 352; *'' Finni'', ''Finnaithae'', ''Screrefennae'', ''
Vinoviloth Vinoviloth are one of the tribes in '' Scandza'' (Scandinavia) mentioned by Jordanes in '' De origine actibusque Getarum'' in the 6th century CE.Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') a ...
, c. 550; * ''Finnas'', ''Scriðefinnas'' – in
Widsith "Widsith" ( ang, Wīdsīþ, "far-traveller", lit. "wide-journey"), also known as "The Traveller's Song", is an Old English poem of 143 lines. It survives only in the ''Exeter Book'', a manuscript of Old English poetry compiled in the late-10th c ...
, c. 600; * ''Skridfinnar'', ''Winnili'' – by Paul the Deacon, c. 790; * ''Finnas'', ''Cwenas'' – by
Ohthere of Hålogaland Ohthere of Hålogaland ( no, Ottar fra Hålogaland) was a Viking Age Norwegian seafarer known only from an account of his travels that he gave to King Alfred (r. 871–99) of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex in about 890 AD. His account ...
, c. 888; * ''Finnas'', ''Cwenas'', ''Qwen'' (''Qwensae'') – by King Alfred the Great of Wessex, c. 890. In the Old Norse language the word "Finn" (''finnr'') referred to the Sami people, though, and not the
Finnish people 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 ...
, and the word still has that same meaning in
Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
(one of the two official standards of the Norwegian language). ''Skridfinne'' ("skiing Finn") and ''finne'' also referred to the Sami people, and not the Finnish people, in both the other Scandinavian languages, Latin (''scricfinni/finni'') and Greek (''/'') during mediaeval times.


''Germania''

According to Finnish historian Kyösti Julku the
Germanic Germanic may refer to: * Germanic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group identified by their use of the Germanic languages ** List of ancient Germanic peoples and tribes * Germanic languages :* Proto-Germanic language, a reconstructed proto-language o ...
tribe
Sitones The Sitones were a Germanic people living somewhere in Northern Europe in the first century CE. They are mentioned only by Cornelius Tacitus in 97 CE in Germania. Tacitus considered them similar to Suiones (ancestors of modern Swedes) apart from ...
mentioned in Tacitus' ''
Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north ...
'' in 98 CE lived in the area in northern Fennoscandia claimed to be ''Kvenland'', saying "There can be no confusion about the geographical location of the Sitones."


Different interpretations


Kvenland and Kainuu

Kvenland has generated many theories about its origin, the location of Kvenland east of the
Bay of Bothnia The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and wi ...
has, however, been an unchanging feature of most interpretations since the 17th century, when the Swedish historians
Johannes Messenius Johannes Messenius (1579–1636) was a Swedish historian, dramatist and university professor. He was born in the village of Freberga, in Stenby parish in Östergötland, and died in Oulu, in modern-day Finland. Childhood He was the son of a mill ...
and
Olaus Rudbeckius Olaus Rudbeck (also known as Olof Rudbeck the Elder, to distinguish him from his son, and occasionally with the surname Latinized as ''Olaus Rudbeckius'') (13 September 1630 – 12 December 1702) was a Swedish scientist and writer, professor o ...
first noted the concept of Kvenland in Old Norse sources. In 1650, Professor Michael Wexionius from
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
became the first to associate Kvenland with the Finnish '' Kainuu''. In the 18th century the Finnish historian
Henrik Gabriel Porthan Henrik Gabriel Porthan (1739 in Viitasaari – 1804 in Turku) was a professor and rector at the Royal Academy of Turku. He was a scholar sometimes known as ''The Father of Finnish History''. Biography He was born at Viitasaari in Tavastlan ...
, among others, focused attention on the ''Ohthere'' passage mentioning the ''Cwenas''. Whereas Porthan suggested that the ancient Kvens may have been Swedish, many others came to view the Kvens as an ancient Finnish tribe.Tacitus' Germania.
/ref> Nowadays Kainuu is a name of an inland province in northeastern Finland. In the past the name Kainuu was often used of the more western coastal area around the
Bay of Bothnia The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and wi ...
, even up to the 19th century. In the early ''Umesaami'' dictionaries the terms ''Kainolads'' and ''Kainahalja'' described Norwegian and Swedish men and women respectively.


Kvenland and Pohjola

In a theory somewhat closely related to the Kainuu theory, Kvenland has also been associated with the legendary
Pohjola Pohjola (; from 'base, bottom', but used in derived forms like ''pohjois-'' to mean 'north' + ''-'' 'place'), sometimes just Pohja (), is a location in Finnish mythology. It is one of the two main polarities in the Finnish national epic, the ''Ka ...
. Pohjola is an other-worldly country in Finnish mythology, ruled by a fierce witch called
Louhi Louhi () is a wicked queen of the land known as Pohjola in Finnish mythology and a villain of the ''Kalevala''. As many mythological creatures and objects are easily conflated and separated in Finnish mythology, Louhi is probably an alter-e ...
. Pohjola is best known from the ''
Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies an ...
'', a 19th-century Finnish work of
epic poetry An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...
compiled by
Elias Lönnrot Elias Lönnrot (; 9 April 1802 – 19 March 1884) was a Finnish physician, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry. He is best known for creating the Finnish national epic, ''Kalevala'', (1835, enlarged 1849), from short ...
from Karelian and Finnish oral
folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...
and
mythology Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
, collected largely in the Finnish region of Kainuu. Different interpretations of the origins of the mythical Pohjola exist. Some include parts of Lapland and the ancient Kainuu (same as Kvenland according to common view today) in Kalevala's Pohjola. Some point out a similarity with the name ''Pohjanmaa'' ( Ostrobothnia in English), a region in western Finland.


Other interpretations

An original view has been provided by a Finnish historian and Helsinki University professor,
Matti Klinge Matti Klinge (born August 31, 1936, Helsinki) is a Finnish historian. He studied at the University of Helsinki and gained his Ph.D. in 1969. He later served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Paris (1970–1972) and held the Swedi ...
, who has placed Kvenland/Kainuu not only in southern Finland, but around the Baltic Sea as a kind of Finnish-Swedish "maritime confederation". Klinge has presented a hypothesis of Kvenland as a naval power on the Baltic, located on both the present-day Finnish and Swedish sides of the Gulf of Bothnia as well as in some of the surrounding areas. The folklorist and professor of literature Väinö Kaukonen calls it "fantastic fabulation" and a "dream-wish". However, Professor Emeritus in Archeology at the University of Turku, Unto Salo has also concluded that "Kvens/Kainulainens" were men of Satakunta in Southern Finland. There is archeological evidence linking Satakunta and Lapland (for example types of skis) but skipping the areas between which suggests that expeditions were undertaken from Satakunta to the North during the late Viking Age. Further, toponomy suggests that there were regular routes used by the people of Satakunta to get to the North. Lastly, haapio, a type of a very light dugout boat was used extensively in Satakunta and would have been ideal for such expeditions. Unto Salo speculates that the name Haaparanta ("Aspen shore") in the Northern Sweden (county of Norrbotten) would have been given due to presence of asps needed to build haapios. Originally Kvenland was more likely situated in the Southern-Ostrobothnia but when this habitation disappeared in the early 9th century for unknown reasons, the Norwegians continued to apply the term Kven to the men of Satakunta and Häme who inherited the Northern trade and taxation.


Woman Land

Different views exist of why ancient scholars have made references to Kvenland as an area dominated by women. Some have suggested that there may have been misinterpretations of terminology. Whatever the etymological origin of the element ''kven'', it effortlessly translates to "woman" in
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
. Proto-Germanic *''kwinōn'', *''kunōn'', *''kwēni-z'' and *''kwēnō'' for "woman" developed into ''kona'', ''kvǟn'', ''kvān'', ''kvɔ̄n'', ''kvendi'', ''kvenna'' and ''kvinna'' in Old Norse. It is plausible that this led learned speakers of Old Norse to identify Kvenland with the land of the Amazons in Greek legend;
Adam of Bremen Adam of Bremen ( la, Adamus Bremensis; german: Adam von Bremen) (before 1050 – 12 October 1081/1085) was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. Adam is most famous for his chronicle '' Ges ...
, for example, often mentions Amazons in writing of the far North. Among sources used in the related debate by historians is the following statement of
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
from c. 98 CE:
"Upon the Suiones, border the people Sitones; and, agreeing with them in all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is exercised by a woman. So notoriously do they degenerate not only from a state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage."
According to a view shared by many historians, the term ''Sitones'' (Kvens) shares etymological roots with
Sigtuna Sigtuna () is a locality situated in Sigtuna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 8,444 inhabitants in 2010. It is the namesake of the municipality even though the seat is in Märsta. Sigtuna is for historical reasons often still ref ...
, which much later had a Latin spelling ''Situne''. According to ''
Disas saga Disa is the heroine of a Swedish legendary saga, which was documented by Olaus Magnus, in 1555. It is believed to be from the Middle Ages, but includes Old Norse themes. It was elaborated by Johannes Messenius in his drama ''Disa'', which was th ...
'', the Sitones were ruled by a queen. According to a common view, the "queen" of the Sitones either derives from or is a possible linguistic confusion of an
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
term used for "woman", which shares linguistic origins with the term used in reference to the
Kvens Kvens (; fi, kveeni; no, kvenar, kvener; sv, kväner; se, kveanat) are a Balto-Finnic ethnic minority in Norway. They are descended from Finnish peasants and fishermen who emigrated from the northern parts of Finland and Sweden to Northe ...
. According to
Thomas William Shore Thomas William Shore, sometimes given as William Thomas Shore (5 April 1840 – 15 January 1905) was an English geologist and antiquarian. Life Born on 5 April 1840 at Wantage, he was son of William Shore, architect, by his wife Susannah Carter. ...
, the English language term "queen" derives from the term "qwen", a spelling used for the Kvens e.g. by
Wulfila Ulfilas (–383), also spelled Ulphilas and Orphila, all Latinized forms of the unattested Gothic form *𐍅𐌿𐌻𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌰 Wulfila, literally "Little Wolf", was a Goth of Cappadocian Greek descent who served as a bishop and missionar ...
in c. 352 CE and King Alfred the Great of Wessex in c. 890 CE. In 1075 AD, in ''
Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum ''Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' (Medieval Latin for ''"Deeds of the Bishops of Hamburg"'') is a historical treatise written between 1073 and 1076 by Adam of Bremen, who made additions (''scholia'') to the text until his death (poss ...
'', the German chronicler
Adam of Bremen Adam of Bremen ( la, Adamus Bremensis; german: Adam von Bremen) (before 1050 – 12 October 1081/1085) was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. Adam is most famous for his chronicle '' Ges ...
calls Kvenland Women's Land, stating the following:
Meanwhile Swedes (Sueones), who had expelled their bishop, got a divine revenge. And at first King's son called Anund, whose father had sent him to enlarge his kingdom, after arriving to Women's Land (''patriam feminarum''), whom we consider to be Amazons, was killed along with his army from poison, that they had mixed to the spring water. (III 15)
"After that come the Swedes (Sueones) that rule wide areas up until the "Land of Women" (terram feminarum). Living east of these are said to be Wizzi, Mirri, Lamiy, Scuti and Turci up until the border of Russia (Ruzziam)." (IV 14)
In the related debate references are sometimes also made to the Finnish epic ''
Kalevala The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies an ...
'', according to which
Pohjola Pohjola (; from 'base, bottom', but used in derived forms like ''pohjois-'' to mean 'north' + ''-'' 'place'), sometimes just Pohja (), is a location in Finnish mythology. It is one of the two main polarities in the Finnish national epic, the ''Ka ...
was ruled by a woman called
Louhi Louhi () is a wicked queen of the land known as Pohjola in Finnish mythology and a villain of the ''Kalevala''. As many mythological creatures and objects are easily conflated and separated in Finnish mythology, Louhi is probably an alter-e ...
or ''Pohjan-akka''. The ancient Norse knew the Northern ruler-goddesses by the names ''gýgjar'' (singular: '' gýgr'') and ''íviðjur'' (singular: ''íviðja''). There is also a reference to a northern land of women in an Icelandic manuscript from the 14th century, which describes a ''kuenna land'' ("woman land").


Different theories on the origins of the Kvens

In 1958, a Finnish historian, politician and
University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...
professor,
Kustaa Vilkuna Kustaa Gideon Vilkuna (born 26 October 1902 in Nivala – died 6 April 1980 in Kirkkonummi) was a Finnish ethnologist, linguist and historian. Vilkuna was a member of the Academic Karelia Society (AKS) until resigning in 1932 and again from 1942 ...
, suggested that Kainuu or Kvenland was originally in Southern Finland, on the Gulf of Bothnia and covering just northern
Southwest Finland Southwest Finland, calqued as Finland Proper ( fi, Varsinais-Suomi ; sv, Egentliga Finland), is a Regions of Finland, region in the southwest of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-H ...
and coastal
Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish and Swedish, ) is a region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia and Ostrobothnia. The capital city of the region i ...
. A small local area called as "
Kalanti Kalanti ( sv, Kaland, officially ''Uusikirkko Tl'' during 1915–1936) is a former municipality in Southwest Finland region, Finland. Kalanti is first mentioned in historical sources 1316. It was merged with Uusikaupunki Uusikaupunki (; sv, ...
" (''Kaland'' in Swedish) would have been a remnant of the earlier name Kvenland. Because of the trading and tribute-taking expeditions as well as settlement expansion of the kainulaiset, the territorial concept of Kainuu was gradually moved northward. Another mid-20th-century historian, Professor
Jalmari Jaakkola Kaarle Jalmari Jaakkola (1 January 1885 – 12 February 1964) was a Finnish historian and a professor of Finnish history at the University of Helsinki between 1932 and 1954. Jaakkola is known as a historian who primarily researched medieval histor ...
, considered the Kvens or ''kainulaiset'' as long-range hunters and tribute-takers coming from Upper Satakunta, from the inland region surrounding the present-day city of
Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...
. This theory was supported by Professor Armas Luukko. In 1979, Professor Pentti Virrankoski of the
University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...
presented a hypothesis according to which Kainuu was originally the sedentary Iron Age settlement in
Southern Ostrobothnia South Ostrobothnia ( fi, Etelä-Pohjanmaa; sv, Södra Österbotten) is one of the 19 regions of Finland. It borders the regions of Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Pirkanmaa, and Satakunta. Among the Finnish regions, South O ...
. After the settlement was supposedly destroyed by tribal warfare during the early 9th century, the ''kainulaiset'' became dispersed along the western coasts of Finland, leaving only place-names and some archaeological finds as permanent traces. In 1980, the
University of Oulu The University of Oulu ( fi, Oulun yliopisto) is one of the largest universities in Finland, located in the city of Oulu. It was founded on July 8, 1958. The university has around 13,000 students and 2,900 staff. 21 International Master's P ...
professor
Jouko Vahtola Jouko is a masculine Finnish given name and may refer to: *Jouko Ahola (born 1970), Finnish strongman, powerlifter and actor * Jouko Grip (born 1949), Finnish paralympic athlete *Jouko Halmekoski (born 1937), Finnish writer * Jouko Hassi (born 1959 ...
pointed out that there is no evidence of the name ''Kainuu'' being of Western Finnish origin and considered it to have Eastern Finnish roots. However, he suggested a common Germanic etymology for the names Kainuu and Kvenland. Like most of his predecessors, Vahtola viewed Kainuu/Kvenland as the name of the coastal Ostrobothnia, meaning roughly "low-lying land". Based on the archaeological knowledge of the north, Vahtola did not believe that there was a separate Iron Age tribe called Kvens. He considered the Kvens to be mainly
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 (Häme) and speak Tavastian dialects. ...
hunting and trading in northern Ostrobothnia, thus partially reproducing the view of Jaakkola and Luukko (Upper Satakunta being a part of traditional Tavastia). This theory is nowadays widely adopted in Finland, Sweden and Norway, and it is cited in many studies and popular works. In 1995 the Finnish linguist Jorma Koivulehto gave support for the theory of common etymological roots of the names ''Kainuu'' and ''Kvenland''. He suggests a new etymology meaning roughly "marine gap-land", the "marine gap" being the northern sea-route on the Bothnian Gulf.Jorma Koivulehto. Ala-Satakunnan Kainu ja pohjoisen Kainuu.
he ''Kainu'' of Western Satakunta and the ''Kainuu'' of the north. He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
A paper in the book ''Kielen ja kulttuurin Satakunta''. 1995.
Increasing archaeological fieldwork in northern Finland has cast some doubts on the idea of Kvenland having almost no sedentary settlements. Encouraged by the new findings, Professor Kyösti Julku of Oulu University presented a theory of the Kvens being early permanent Finnish inhabitants of Northern Finland and Norrbotten (a part of modern-day Sweden). Some Swedish historians have suggested that the ancient Kvens were actually a Scandinavian and not a Finnish group, but these views have little support nowadays. The Swedish archaeologist Thomas Wallerström suggests that the Kvens/kainulaiset was a collective name for several Finnic groups participating in the west-east fur-trade, not just southern Finns but ancestors of
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 Russ ...
and
Vepsians Veps, or Vepsians ( Veps: ''vepsläižed''), are a Finnic people who speak the Veps language, which belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. According to the 2002 census, there were 8,240 Veps in Russia. Of the 281 Veps in Ukrai ...
as well. In this case, the land of the Kvens would have extended from the Bothnian Gulf in the west to the
Lake Onega Lake Onega (; also known as Onego, rus, Оне́жское о́зеро, r=Onezhskoe ozero, p=ɐˈnʲɛʂskəɪ ˈozʲɪrə; fi, Ääninen, Äänisjärvi; vep, Änine, Änižjärv) is a lake in northwestern Russia, on the territory of the Repu ...
in the east.


Kvenland and Kvens later in historical time

In 1328, Tälje Charter ("Tälje stadga") – the oldest known record written in Swedish – mention the
Birkarls The Birkarls (''birkarlar'' in Swedish, unhistorical ''pirkkamiehet'' or ''pirkkalaiset'' in Finnish; ''bircharlaboa'', ''bergcharl'' etc. in historical sources) were a small, unofficially organized group that controlled taxation and commerce ...
("bircharlaboa"). Based on the information revealed, the
Birkarls The Birkarls (''birkarlar'' in Swedish, unhistorical ''pirkkamiehet'' or ''pirkkalaiset'' in Finnish; ''bircharlaboa'', ''bergcharl'' etc. in historical sources) were a small, unofficially organized group that controlled taxation and commerce ...
then inhabited areas, e.g., in Northern Hälsingland, which covered the western coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, and from there all the way up and around the gulf to Oulu River. Tälje Charter is a state treaty ratified between the Kvens and the Swedish crown, in which the king of Sweden guarantees the Birkarl Kvens trading and tax-collecting rights as chief enforcement officers (Swedish term: ''Fogde'') in the North.''Schefferus bok LAPPONIA (LAPPLAND''), published in 1673 in Latin. A translation from Latin last printed in 1995 by Wallerström in Sweden. Page 48. In his 1539 map
Carta Marina ''Carta marina et descriptio septentrionalium terrarum'' (Latin for ''Marine map and description of the Northern lands''; commonly abbreviated ''Carta marina'') is the first map of the Nordic countries to give details and place names, created by S ...
,
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used b ...
Olaus Magnus Olaus Magnus (October 1490 – 1 August 1557) was a Swedish writer, cartographer, and Catholic ecclesiastic. Biography Olaus Magnus (a Latin translation of his birth name Olof Månsson) was born in Linköping in October 1490. Like his elder b ...
places Birkarl Kvens ("Berkara Qvenar") on the Norwegian North Atlantic coast, roughly in the middle in between the
archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
of
Lofoten Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolv� ...
and the modern-day city of
Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies in Northern Norway. The municipality is the 21s ...
. In his 1555 ''
Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus ''Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus'' was a monumental work by Olaus Magnus on the Nordic countries, printed in Rome 1555. It was a work which long remained for the rest of Europe the authority on Swedish matters. Its popularity increase ...
'' (A Description of the Northern Peoples), he also mentions both terms: the Finnish traders who commuted between and inhabited the general area of
Tornio Tornio (; sv, Torneå; sme, Duortnus ; smn, Tuárnus) is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is wa ...
and the modern-day area of
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
are said to have been called ''Kvens''. The earliest remaining
Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...
tax records, stored at the National Archival Services of Norway (''Riksarkivet''), dating to the mid-16th century, also mention Kvens.Niemi, E. (1994). ''Kvenene og staten – et historisk riss. I: Torekoven Strøm (ed.)''. Report from the seminar ”Kvenene – en glemt minoritet?”, on Nov. 14, 1994, at the University of Tromsø / Tromsø Museum. Today, the term ''Kven'' is used in Norway in reference to the descendants of Finnish-speaking people who have inhabited or migrated to the present-day area of Norway anytime before World War II. Migration waves from the 16th century onward have brought Finnish settlers to
Northern Norway Northern Norway ( nb, Nord-Norge, , nn, Nord-Noreg; se, Davvi-Norga) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the two northernmost counties Nordland and Troms og Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the la ...
from the modern-day areas of Northern Sweden and Northern Finland, mostly from the northern coastal areas of the
Bay of Bothnia The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and wi ...
.


Modern reappearance of the terms "Kvenland" and "Kvens"

Repeated claims about there in mediaeval times having existed a country named ''Kvenland'', populated by a Finnish-speaking people named ''Kvens'', have reappeared in modern times in northern Sweden and northern Finland, amid claims that the "Kvens" not only are an indigenous people in northern Sweden and Finland, but the indigenous people there. Claims that are directly connected to a struggle over the rights to hunt and fish in very large areas in northern
Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia ( Finnish, Swedish and no, Fennoskandia, nocat=1; russian: Фенноскандия, Fennoskandiya) or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical peninsula in Europe, which includes the Scandinavian and Kola penins ...
, between the Sami people, who are the recognised indigenous people of the area, and the Swedish- and Finnish-speaking population there. There are, however, no documented or in any other way proven connection between the people in northern Sweden and Finland who now claim to be ''Kvens'', and the geographical area, and people who lived there, that in mediaeval times were referred to as ''Kvenland'' and ''Kvens''.Myten om kvänernas rike. En granskning. Manuskript, 2013-08-12
''Lennart Lundmark'' is a retired historian, formerly of
Umeå University Umeå University ( sv, Umeå universitet; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within ...
, a recognised expert in the field, and has published several books about the history of northern Fennoscandia (PDF in Swedish). Retrieved 14 July, 2016.


See also

*
Bjarmaland Bjarmaland (also spelt ''Bjarmland'' and ''Bjarmia''; Latin: ''Biarmia''; Old English: ''Beormaland,'' Komi: Биармия ''Biarmia,'' Old Permic: 𐍑𐍙‎𐍐𐍒‎𐍜𐍙‎𐍐) was a territory mentioned in Norse sagas since the Viki ...
*
Hålogaland Hålogaland was the northernmost of the Norwegian provinces in the medieval Norse sagas. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Hålogaland was a kingdom extending between the Namdalen valley in Trøndelag county and the Lyngen f ...
*
Tornedalians The Tornedalians are descendants of Finns who, at some point, settled to the areas of today's Northern Sweden near the Torne Valley district and west from there. History Tornedalians migrated from today's Southern Finland, mainly from Häme a ...
*
Birkarls The Birkarls (''birkarlar'' in Swedish, unhistorical ''pirkkamiehet'' or ''pirkkalaiset'' in Finnish; ''bircharlaboa'', ''bergcharl'' etc. in historical sources) were a small, unofficially organized group that controlled taxation and commerce ...
*
Kylfings The Kylfings ( Old Norse ''Kylfingar''; Estonian ''Kalevid''; Hungarian ''Kölpények''; Old East Slavic Колбяги, ''Kolbiagi''; Byzantine Greek Κουλπίγγοι, ''Koulpingoi''; Arabic ''al-Kilabiyya'') were a people of uncertain orig ...


References

{{reflist, 2


Further reading

* Edgren, Torsten – ''Den förhistoriska tiden''. Finlands historia 1. 1993. * Hallencreutz, C.F. – ''Adam, Sverige och trosskiftet''. 1984. * Huurre, Matti – ''9000 vuotta Suomen esihistoriaa''. 1979, 1995. * Jutikkala, Eino, with Kauko Pirinen – ''A History of Finland''. 1979. * Vahtola, Jouko – ''Suomen historia / Jääkaudesta Euroopan unioniin''. 2003. * Zetterberg, Seppo / Tiitta, Allan – ''Suomi kautta aikojen''. 1997. Medieval Finland Scandinavian history Geographic history of Norway Saga locations Kven Viking Age populated places Exonyms