Pekka Vesainen or (as a character in a historical novel by
Santeri Ivalo) ''Juho Vesainen'' was a famous 16th century
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 ...
peasant leader and
guerrilla chief during the "long wrath" or
"pitkä viha".
The long restlessness of Russo-Swedish war was worst among settlements in
Northern Ostrobothnia
North Ostrobothnia ( fi, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa; sv, Norra Österbotten) is a region of Finland. It borders the Finnish regions of Lapland, Kainuu, North Savo, Central Finland and Central Ostrobothnia, as well as the Russian Republic of Karelia. ...
region, which was officially then beyond the Russian border of the
Treaty of Nöteborg
The Treaty of Nöteborg, also known as the ''Treaty of Oreshek'' ( sv, Freden i Nöteborg, Russian: ''Ореховский мир,'' fi, Pähkinäsaaren rauha), is a conventional name for the peace treaty signed at Oreshek ( sv, Nöteborg, fi, ...
. The long and cruel guerrilla war without any outside help created eventually need of
warlord
A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...
s to take care of the protection of the settlers. The most famous figure of this period is Pekka Vesainen.
A raiding party of peasants from
Ii, led by Vesainen, destroyed and burned
Kandalaksha
Kandalaksha (russian: Кандала́кша; fi, Kantalahti, also ''Kandalax'' or ''Candalax'' in the old maps; krl, Kannanlakši; sms, Käddluhtt) is a town in Kandalakshsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located at the head of Kandala ...
(Kantalahti) and a small Russian settlement in
Kem in summer 1589. They took a considerable loot with them back to Ii. According to oral tradition and historical speculation from later centuries, Vesainen would have also led another raid later on same year, on which the peasants destroyed the
Pechenga Monastery
The Pechenga Monastery (russian: Печенгский монастырь; fi, Petsamon luostari) was for many centuries the northernmost monastery in the world. It was founded in 1533 at the influx of the Pechenga River into the Barents Sea, 135& ...
and killed all the monks. This raid did actually take place, but Vesainen is not known to have anything to do with it.
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
16th-century Finnish people
Finnish guerrillas
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