Tver Karelia (russian: Тверска́я Каре́лия; krl, Tverin Kariela) is the area inside the

Tver Oblast Tver Oblast (russian: Тверска́я о́бласть, ''Tverskaya oblast'', ), from 1935 to 1990 known as Kalinin Oblast (), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. It was named after Mikhai ...

that is inhabited by

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 ...

Geography

Refugees from the Korelsky uyezd of the Vodskaya pyatina settled on the palace (state) lands of the Bezhetsk upper and other parts of the Bezhetskaya pyatina, which were deserted due to the turmoil and oppression of the

Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (russian: Смутное время, ), or Smuta (russian: Смута), was a period of political crisis during the Tsardom of Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Fyodor I (Fyodor Ivanovich, the last of the Rurik dy ...

; historically, these territories made up Tver Karelia. By the beginning of the 20th century, the largest number of Tver Karelians lived in Bezhetsky, Vesyegonsky, Vyshnevolotsky, Novotorzhsky, partly in Tversky, Zubtsovsky, Kashinsky uyezds.ИСТОРИКО-ДЕМОГРАФИЧЕСКАЯ СПРАВКА
According to the 1926 census, the Tver Karelians numbered 140,567 people, of which more than 95% spoke the Karelian language. KarelianVillagesTO

In 1930, according to the statistical collection of the Moscow Oblast Executive Committee (at that time the eastern part of the former Tver province was part of the Moscow region), Karelians lived in the following districts: Vesyegonsky - 13017 people or 25.08% of the total population of the district, Krasnokholmsky - 4420 people or 7%, Lesnoy - 3152 or 14%, Likhoslavlsky - 23,035 - 56%, Maksatikhinsky - 28,895 people. - 45%, Molokovsky - 1552 people. - 2%, Rameshkovsky - 24550 people. - 45%, Sonkovsky - 4027 people. - 8%, Spirovsky - 11181 people. - 33%, Tolmachevsky - 24469 people. - 95%. In total there were 150,617 Karelians in the region in 1930. According to the censuses in the Kalinin region, there were these many Karelians: * 1970 - 38,064Демоскоп_Weekly
/ref> * 1979 - 30,387 * 1989 - 23,169 According to the 2002 census, there were 14,633 Tver Karelians in the

Tver oblast Tver Oblast (russian: Тверска́я о́бласть, ''Tverskaya oblast'', ), from 1935 to 1990 known as Kalinin Oblast (), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. It was named after Mikhai ...

Karelian villages

The resettlement of the Karelians to the Tver land was carried out by the Moscow government in an organized manner, the places intended for the settlement of the Karelians were examined in advance, it was indicated how many families could be settled. The Karelians settled mainly in the wastelands (that is, in the place of desolate villages), the original Russian names were usually retained. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, new villages (settlements) and farms appeared. Karelian villages predominate in the Likhoslavl region, constituting a significant part in the Maksatikhinsky, Rameshkovsky, Spirovsky and Vesyegonsky districts. Now in most of them the population is mixed or Russian. The largest Karelian settlements are: Tolmachi, Mikshino,

Kozlovo Kozlovo (russian: Козлово) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Modern localities Astrakhan Oblast As of 2010, one rural locality in Astrakhan Oblast bears this name: * Kozlovo, Astrakhan Oblast, a '' selo'' in Kozlovsky ...

, Alyoshino, Nikolskoe, Trestna. The town of

Likhoslavl Likhoslavl (russian: Лихосла́вль) is a town and the administrative center of Likhoslavlsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia, located on the Moscow–St. Petersburg Railway, northwest of Tver, the administrative center of the obl ...

emerged on the site of the Karelian villages of Ostashkovo and Likhoslavl.

Population

The formation of Tver Karelia is associated with the mass resettlement of

from their original places of residence on the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (russian: Карельский перешеек, Karelsky peresheyek; fi, Karjalankannas; sv, Karelska näset) is the approximately stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern ...

and in the Northern Ladoga area to the empty palace lands of the Bezhetsk upper in the second half of the 16th — first quarter of the 18th centuries. Deprived of ties with their fellow tribesmen in Olonets and White Sea Karelia, Tver Karelians eventually separated into a separate subethnos of Karelians, speaking a special Tver dialect of the Karelian language.

History

Karelian National Okrug

On July 8, 1937, on the territory of the compact settlement of the Tver Karelians, the Karelian National Okrug was created, consisting of three already existing and two newly created districts: Likhoslavl, Novokarelsky, Rameshkovsky, Maksatikhinsky, Kozlovsky. The capital of the district was the city of Likhoslavl. During the first year of the Okrug's existence, many Karelian cultural and educational institutions were created, but on February 25, 1939, it ceased to exist, and many activists of the Karelian movement in the Tver region were repressed.

Tver national-cultural autonomy of Tver Karelians

In 1997, the Tver national-cultural autonomy of the Tver Karelians was formed, which is a public association of citizens of this nationality on the basis of voluntary self-organization in order to resolve issues of preserving identity, developing their native language, education, and national culture. Includes six regional and one urban cultural autonomy.

References

Bibliography

* ''Глинка Ф. Н.'', О древностях в Тверской Карелии. Извлеч. из писем Ф. Н. Глинки к П. И. Кеппену — 1836.

External links

Official website of Tver Oblast
{{Tver Oblast Ethnic groups in Russia Ethnic groups in Finland Indigenous peoples of Europe Karelia Karelian people Regions of Russia