Misplaced Pages

Ingria: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 21:41, 13 November 2006 editGrafikm fr (talk | contribs)11,265 edits rm incorrect and non-WP:EL compliant link← Previous edit Latest revision as of 08:28, 13 January 2025 edit undo176.83.23.115 (talk) led. 
(508 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Historical region in northwestern Russia}}
{{unsourced}}
{{Other uses}}
:''For the Italian municipality, see ]. ] in 1900.]]
{{Redirect|Izhora (region)||Izhora (disambiguation)}}
Historically '''Ingria''' ({{lang-fi|Inkeri}}, {{lang-ru|Ижора or Ингерманландия}}, {{lang-sv|Ingermanland}}) comprises the area along the basin of the river ], between the ], the ], ] in the south-west, and ] in the north-east. The traditional border with ] followed the ] ''(Siestarjoki or Rajajoki-Systerbäck)'' rivulet in North-West.
{{Expand Russian|topic=ego|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox historic subdivision
| Name = Ingria
| subdivision_type = ]
| AltName =
| image = File:Parishes of the Church of Ingria, 1925.png
| image_caption = Ingria and its ] parishes in the Russian ], c. 1900<ref>Based on Räikkönen, Erkki. ''Heimokirja''. Helsinki: Otava, 1924.</ref>
| image_coat = Ingria Coat-of-Arms.svg
| arms_link =
| image_flag = Inkerin lippu.svg
| flag_link =
| demonym = {{unbulleted|]|]|]|]|]}}
| common_name = Ingria
| native_name = Izhora
| coordinates = {{Coord|59|38|N|29|18|E|source:kolossus-nowiki_type:country|display=title,inline}}
| today = {{flag|Russia}}
}}


'''Ingria''' ({{langx|ru|Ингрия, Ингерманландия, Ижорская земля|Ingriya, Ingermanlandiya, Izhorskaya zemlya}}; {{langx|fi|Inkeri, Inkerinmaa}}; {{langx|sv|Ingermanland}}; {{langx|et|Ingeri, Ingerimaa}}) is a historical region including, and adjacent to, what is now the city of ] in northwestern ]. The region lies along the southeastern shore of the ], bordered by ] on the ] in the north and by the ] river on the current international border with ] in the west. The earliest known inhabitants of the region were indigenous ], primarily the ancestors of modern ] and ], who converted to ] Christianity during the late ]. They were later joined by the ], descendants of 17th century ] ] immigrants. At that time, Ingria, the Karelian Isthmus, Estonia, and what is now ] were all part of the Kingdom of ].
Ingria never formed a ]; the Ingrians can hardly be said to have been a ], although their "]" was recognized in the ], and as an ] the Ingrians died out together with their ]. But many people still recognize their Ingrian ].{{fact}}


Ingria as a whole never formed a separate state; however, ] was an independent state for just under two years in 1919–1920. The inhabitants of Ingria cannot be said to have comprised a distinct nation, since the population is made up of several different ethnic groups, despite the ] recognizing Ingrian as a nationality. The indigenous peoples of Ingria, like the ] and ], are today close to extinction, together with their ]. This notwithstanding, many people still recognize and attempt to preserve their Ingrian ].<ref name="kurs">
The historic Ingria covers approximately the same area as the ]s of ], ], ], ], ], ] and ] in the ]. It also contained the historic towns of ], ] and ] and after 1703 ], the new Russian capital.
Kurs, Ott (1994). . '']'' 33.1, 107–113.</ref>


Historic Ingria covers approximately the same area as the ], ], ], ], ], ] and ] districts of modern ] as well as the city of ].
== History ==
In the ]–late ], from the 750s and on, Ingria was a bridgehead on the ] trade route to ]. A Varangian ] developed, that would ultimately rule over ] and ]; allegedly causing peace between the warring ] and ] tribes.


The names of the region are:
The ancient ]ian land of ''Vod'' was called ''Ingermanland'' by the Swedes, Latinized to "Ingria". It is said to be named after ], the daughter of the Swedish king ] (995–1022). Upon her marriage to ] in 1019, she was given the lands around ] as a marriage gift. They were administered by Swedish ]s, such as ] under the sovereignty of the ].
*{{langx|fi|Inkeri|link=no}} or {{lang|fi|Inkerinmaa}};
*{{langx|ru|link=no|Ингрия}}, ''Ingriya'', {{lang|ru|Ижора}}, ''Izhora'', or {{lang|ru|Ингерманландия}}, ''Ingermanlandiya'';
*{{langx|sv|Ingermanland|link=no}};
*{{langx|et|Ingeri|link=no}} or {{lang|et|Ingerimaa}}


==History==
In the 12th century, Western Ingria was absorbed by the Republic. There followed centuries of ], chiefly between ]ns and ], but often involving ] and ] as well. The latter established a stronghold in the town of ], followed by the Russian castle ] on the opposite side of Narva River in 1492.
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2023}}
]}} (1539).]]


In the ] (late ]), from the 750s onwards, ] served as a bridgehead on the ] trade route to Eastern Europe. A Varangian ] developed that would ultimately rule over ] and ]. In the 860s, the warring ] and ] tribes rebelled under ], but later asked the Varangians under ] to return and to put an end to the recurring conflicts between them.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xj83PbqdvyUC&q=An+ancient+tradition+speaks+vaguely+of+a+revolt+against+Rurik+the+Old+under+the+hero+Vadim+.+Sviatoslaf+,+the+conqueror+of+the+Bulgaria+of+the+Danabe+,+undertook+to+govern+her+by+mere+agents+,+but+Novgorod+insisted+on+having+one+of+his+sons|page=129|title=History of Russia from the Earliest Times to 1882|volume=1|author=Alfred Rambaud|publisher=AMS Press|year=1970|isbn=978-04-04-05230-0}}</ref>
== Swedish Ingria ==
]es in the ] ca 1925.]]
:''Main article: ]''


The Swedes referred to the ancient ]ian land of ] as "Ingermanland", Latinized to "Ingria". ] traces its name to ], the daughter of the Swedish king ] (995–1022). Upon her marriage to ], Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev, in 1019, she received the lands around Ladoga as a marriage gift. They were administered by Swedish ], such as ], under the sovereignty of the ].
Ingria became a ] in the 1580s, was returned to Russia by the ] (1595), and after the ] again ceded to Sweden in the ] (1617). Sweden's interest in the territory was strategic: as a ] against Russian attacks on the ] and present-day Finland; and Russian trade had to pass through Swedish territory. In addition, Ingria became the destination for Swedish deportees. The townships of ], Jama (now ]), Caporie (now ]) and Nöteborg (now ]) became centres of the four Ingrian counties (]).


In the 12th century, Western Ingria was absorbed by the Novgorod Republic. There followed centuries of ], chiefly between Novgorod and Sweden, and occasionally involving ] and ] as well. The Teutonic Knights established a stronghold in the town of ], followed by the Russian castle ] on the opposite side of the Narva River in 1492.
Ingria remained sparsely populated. In 1664 the total population was counted as 15,000. Swedish attempts to introduce ] were met with repugnance by the majority of the ] peasantry, who were obliged to attend Lutheran services; converts were promised grants and tax reductions, but Lutheran gains were mostly due to voluntary resettlements by ] from ] and ]. Ingermanland was enfeoffed to ] military and state officials, who brought their own Lutheran servants and workmen.


With the consolidation of the ] and the expansion of the ] north, the indigenous Ingrians became ]. Ingria became a province of Sweden in the ] in 1617 that ended the ], fought between Sweden and Russia. After the Swedish conquest of the area in 1617 the ], descendants of 17th-century ] emigrants from present-day ], became the majority in Ingria.
== Russian Ingria ==
In 1710, following a Russian conquest, Ingria was designated as the Province of St. Petersburg.


In the ] in 1721, Sweden formally ceded Ingria to Russia.
In the early 1700s the area was reconquered by ] in the ] after having been in ] possession for about 100 years. Near the place of the Swedish town ], close to the Neva river's estuary at the Gulf of Finland, the new Russian ] ] was founded in 1703.


In 1927 the Soviet authorities designated the area as Leningrad Province. ] started in late 1920s, and ] was nearly complete by the 1940s.
] raised Ingria to the status of duchy with ] as its first (and last) duke. Later, in 1710, it was designated the '''Province of Saint Petersburg'''. After the Bolshevik revolution in ] a so-called '''Republic of ]''' (''Pohjois Inkeri'') declared its independence from Russia with the support of ] and with the aim to be incorporated into Finland. It ruled parts of Ingria from 1919 until 1920. With the Peace Treaty of ] it was re-integrated into ].
In 1927, Ingria was renamed ''Leningrad Province,'' and although in 1991 the city of Leningrad changed its name back to Saint Petersburg, the region is still called ''].''


In the modern era, Ingria forms the northwestern anchor of Russia—its "window" on the ]—with ] as its centre.
== Demographics ==
The ] ], along with the ], are the ] of historical Ingria ''(Inkeri'' in ]). However, after the Swedish conquest the ], descendants of 17th century ] emigrants from present-day ] became the majority among the "Finnish" population.


==Swedish Ingria==
At its height in the 1920s, the Finnish population of Ingria was about 160,000, with 300 Finnish language schools and 10 Finnish language newspapers.
{{Main|Swedish Ingria}}


Although Sweden and Novgorod had fought for the Ingrian lands more or less since ] of 1054, the first actual attempt to establish Swedish dominion in Ingria appears to date from the early 14th century, when Sweden first founded the settlement of ] in ]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLpiAAAAMAAJ&q=Torkel+Knutsson+founded+Vyborg+Castle+in+1293+as+a+base+of+the+Swedish|page=67|title=Memories of My Town: The Identities of Town Dwellers and their Places in Three Finnish Towns|author=Åström Anna-Maria|author2=Korkiakangas Pirjo|author3=Olsson Pia|publisher=Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura|year=2018|isbn=978-95-17-46433-8}}</ref> and then the fortress ] (built in 1299 or 1300) at the confluence of the ] and ] rivers. However, Novgorod re-conquered Landskrona in 1301 and destroyed it. Ingria eventually became a ] in the 1580s, but the ] (1595) returned it to ] in 1595. Russia in its turn ceded Ingria to Sweden in the ] (1617) after the ] of 1610–1617. Sweden's interest in the territory was mainly strategic: the area served as a ] against Russian attacks on the ] and on present-day Finland, then the eastern half of the Swedish realm; and Russian Baltic trade had to pass through Swedish territory. The townships of ], Jama (now ]), Caporie (now ]) and Nöteborg (now ]) became the centres of the four Ingrian counties (]), and consisted of citadels, in the vicinity of which were small boroughs called ''hakelverk'' – before the wars of the 1650s mainly inhabited by Russian townspeople. The degree to which Ingria became the destination for Swedish deportees has often been exaggerated.{{by whom|date=February 2017}}
This population all but disappeared from Ingria during the Soviet period. 63,000 fled to ] during ], and were required back by ] after the war. Most were executed as unreliables {{fact}} or became victims of ]s; and the remainder, including some post-Stalin returnees, were in any case outnumbered by a numerous Russian immigration. After the ] in 1991, surviving Ingrian Finns and their Russified descendants have been allowed to emigrate to Finland. This has led to the birth of a sizable ] minority in Finland.


Ingria remained sparsely populated. In 1664 the total population amounted to 15,000. Swedish attempts to introduce ], which accelerated after an initial period of relative ],<ref>A. Pereswetoff-Morath, "'Otiosorum hominum receptacula': Orthodox Religious Houses in Ingria, 1615–52", ''Scando-Slavica'', vol. 49, 2003.</ref>
== See also ==
met with repugnance on the part of the majority of the ] peasantry, who were obliged to attend Lutheran services; converts were promised grants and tax reductions, but Lutheran gains were mostly due to voluntary resettlements by ] from ] and ] (mostly from ]).<ref name="kurs"/><ref name="matley">
{{cite journal
|title = The Dispersal of the Ingrian Finns
|last = Matley
|first = Ian M.
|journal = ]
|issn = 0037-6779
|volume = 38
|issue = 1
|year = 1979
|pages = 1–16
|doi = 10.2307/2497223
|jstor = 2497223
|doi-access = free
}}
</ref>
The proportion of Lutheran Finns in Ingria (]) comprised 41.1% in 1656, 53.2% in 1661, 55.2% in 1666, 56.9% in 1671 and 73.8% in 1695, the remainder being Russians,<ref name="matley"/> ] and ].<ref>''Inkeri. Historia, kansa, kulttuuri''. Edited by Pekka Nevalainen and Hannes Sihvo. Helsinki 1991.</ref> Ingermanland was to a considerable extent enfiefed to ] military and state officials, who brought their own Lutheran servants and workmen. However, a small number of Russian Orthodox churches remained in use until the very end of the Swedish dominion, and the forceful conversion of ethnic Russian Orthodox forbidden by law.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3giAQAAIAAJ&q=forceful+conversion+of+ethnic+Russian+Orthodox+forbidden+by+law|page=138|title=Russian Nationalism from an Interdisciplinary Perspective: Imagining Russia|author=Daniel Rancour-Laferriere|publisher=E. Mellen Press|year=2000|isbn=978-07-73-47671-4}}</ref>


] became the main trading centre of Ingria, especially after Ivangorod dwindled, and in 1642 it was made the administrative centre of the province. In 1656 a Russian attack badly damaged the town, and the administrative centre moved to ].<ref name="kurs"/>
*]


==Russian Ingria==
]
] in 1900]]
]
]
]


In the early 18th century the area was reconquered by Russia in the ] after having been in Swedish possession for about 100 years. Near the location of the Swedish town ], close to the Neva river's estuary at the Gulf of Finland, the new Russian capital ] was founded in 1703.
]

]
] raised Ingria to the status of a duchy with ] as its first (and last) duke. In 1708, Ingria was designated a governorate ('''Ingermanland Governorate''' in 1708–1710, ''']''' in 1710–1914, '''Petrograd Governorate''' in 1914–1924, '''Leningrad Governorate''' in 1924–1927).
]

]
In 1870, printing started of the first Finnish-language newspaper in Ingria, ''Pietarin Sanomat''. Before that Ingria received newspapers mostly from Viborg. The first public library was opened in 1850 in Tyrö. The largest of the libraries, situated in Skuoritsa, had more than 2,000 volumes in the second half of the 19th century. In 1899 the first song festival in Ingria was held in Puutosti (Skuoritsa).<ref name="kurs"/>
]

]
By 1897 (year of the ]) the number of ] had grown to 130,413, and by 1917 it had exceeded 140,000 (45,000 in Northern Ingria, 52,000 in Central (Eastern) Ingria and 30,000 in Western Ingria, the rest in ]).
]

]
From 1868 ] began to migrate to Ingria as well. In 1897 the number of
]
Estonians inhabiting the ] reached 64,116 (12,238 of them in ] itself); by 1926 it had increased to 66,333 (15,847 of them in Leningrad).
]

]
As to ], in 1834 there were 17,800 of them, in 1897—21,000, in 1926—26,137. About 1000 Ingrians lived in the area ceded to Estonia under the ] (1920).<ref name="kurs"/>
]

==Estonian Ingria==
], during the ]. Giving their oath to Finland in ], 27 April 1944.]]
Under the Russian-Estonian ] of 1920, a small part of West Ingria became part of the ]. In contrast to other parts of Ingria, Finnish culture blossomed in this area, known as {{ill|Estonian Ingria|ru|Эстонская Ингерманландия|et|Eesti Ingeri}}. This was to a large extent due to the work of '''Leander Reijo''' (also Reijonen or Reiju) from {{ill|Kullankylä|fi}} on the new border between Estonia and the Soviet Union, who was called "The King of Ingria" by the Finnish press. Finnish schools and a Finnish newspaper were started. A church was built in {{ill|Kallivieri|fi}} in 1920 and by 1928 the parish had 1,300 people.<ref>Johannes Angere, Kullankylä (1994) Swedish magazine Ingria. (4), pages 6–7</ref><ref>Johannes Angere, Min hemtrakt (2001) Swedish magazine Ingria (2), pages 12–13.</ref>

In 1945, after the ], Estonian Ingria, then in the ], was transferred to the ] and incorporated into the ]. Since Estonia reclaimed its independence in 1991, this territory has been disputed. As Russia does not recognize the Treaty of Tartu, the area currently remains under Russian control.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

==Soviet Ingria==
{{See also|Revolt of the Ingrian Finns|Deportations of the Ingrian Finns|Genocide of the Ingrian Finns}}
]
After the 1917 ] in Russia, the ] ({{langx|fi|Pohjois-Inkerin tasavalta}}) declared its independence from Russia with the support of Finland and with the aim of incorporation into Finland. It ruled parts of Ingria from 1919 until 1920. With the Russian-Finnish ] it was re-integrated into Russia, but enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy.

At its height in the 1920s, there were about 300 Finnish language schools and 10 Finnish language newspapers in Ingria.<ref>, Tietoa Inkerinsuomalaisista (Information about Ingrian Finns), at the ], 13 February 2008 {{in lang|fi}}</ref>

The ] in 1926 recorded 114,831 Leningrad Finns, as Ingrian Finns were called.<ref name="kurs"/> The 1926 census also showed that the Russian population of central Ingria outnumbered the ] living there, but Ingrian Finns formed the majority in the districts along the Finnish border.<ref name="matley"/>

In the early 1930s the ] was taught in the schools of the ] and the area around the mouth of the ].<ref name="kurs"/>

In 1928 ] started in Ingria. To facilitate it, in 1929–1931, 18,000 people (4320 families), ] (independent peasants) from North Ingria, were deported to ], the ] as well as ] and Central Asia.

The situation for the Ingrian Finns deteriorated further when in the fall of 1934 the ] along the western border of the Soviet Union was established, where entrance was forbidden without special permission issued by the ]. It was officially only 7.5&nbsp;km (5 miles) deep initially, but along the Estonian border it extended to as much as 90&nbsp;km (60 miles). The zone was to be free of Finnic and some other peoples, who were considered politically unreliable.<ref name="matley"/><ref name="martin">{{cite journal
|title = The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing
|last = Martin
|first = Terry
|journal = ]
|issn = 1537-5358
|volume = 70
|issue = 4
|year = 1998
|pages = 813–61
|doi = 10.1086/235168
|jstor = 10.1086/235168
|s2cid = 32917643
|url = https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/1/3229636/2/Martin%201998.pdf
}}</ref> On 25 March 1935, ] authorized a large-scale deportation targeting Estonian, ] and Finnish ]s and ] residing in the border regions near Leningrad. About 7,000 people (2,000 families) were deported from Ingria to Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the ]. In May and June 1936 the entire Finnish population of the parishes of ], ], ] and ] near the Finnish border, 20,000 people, were resettled to the areas around ] and Siberia in the next wave of deportations. In Ingria they were replaced with people from other parts of the ], mostly ] but also ] and ].<ref name="kurs"/><ref name="matley"/>

In 1937 Lutheran churches and Finnish and Izhorian schools in Ingria were closed down and publications and radio broadcasting in Finnish and Izhorian were suspended.

Both Ingrian Finnish and Izhorian populations all but disappeared from Ingria during the Soviet period. 63,000 fled to Finland during World War II, and were required back by ] after the war. Most became victims of ]s and many were executed as "]".<ref name="kurs"/><ref name="matley"/><ref name="martin"/> The remainder, including some post-Stalin returnees (it was not until 1956 that some of the deported were allowed to return to their villages), were outnumbered by Russian immigration.

The 1959 census recorded 1,062 Izhorians; in 1979 that number had fallen to 748, only 315 of them around the mouth of the ] and on the ]. According to the ], there were 829 Izhorians, 449 of them in Russia (including other parts of the country) and 228 in Estonia.<ref name="kurs"/>

==After the dissolution of the Soviet Union==
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2024}}
Following the ] in 1991, surviving Ingrian Finns and their Russified descendants have been ]. This has led to the birth of a sizable ] minority in Finland.

==See also==
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Kurs, Ott (1994). . '']'' 33.1, 107–113.
*
*
*
* {{SLS Q|Q113529885}}
* {{SLS Q|Q113529971}}

{{Authority control}}
{{Wikiquote}}

]
]
]
]
]
]
<!--
Note to bot operators: The iw link to ru-sib:Ингерманландия has been rejected by editors of this page. Bots re-adding it will be blocked. Please run your interwiki.py bot only with the "-neverlink ru-sib" option when operating on English Misplaced Pages.
-->
<!--]-->

Latest revision as of 08:28, 13 January 2025

Historical region in northwestern Russia For other uses, see Ingria (disambiguation). "Izhora (region)" redirects here. For other uses, see Izhora (disambiguation).
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (January 2021) Click for important translation instructions.
  • Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Misplaced Pages.
  • Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,057 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
  • Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
  • You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Russian Misplaced Pages article at ]; see its history for attribution.
  • You may also add the template {{Translated|ru|Ингерманландия}} to the talk page.
  • For more guidance, see Misplaced Pages:Translation.

IngriaIzhora
Historical region
Ingria and its Lutheran parishes in the Russian Saint Petersburg Governorate, c. 1900
Flag of Ingria Flag Coat of arms of Ingria Coat of arms
Demonym
Area
 • Coordinates59°38′N 29°18′E / 59.633°N 29.300°E / 59.633; 29.300
Today part of Russia

Ingria (Russian: Ингрия, Ингерманландия, Ижорская земля, romanized: Ingriya, Ingermanlandiya, Izhorskaya zemlya; Finnish: Inkeri, Inkerinmaa; Swedish: Ingermanland; Estonian: Ingeri, Ingerimaa) is a historical region including, and adjacent to, what is now the city of Saint Petersburg in northwestern Russia. The region lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and by the Narva river on the current international border with Estonia in the west. The earliest known inhabitants of the region were indigenous Finnic peoples, primarily the ancestors of modern Izhorians and Votians, who converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity during the late Middle Ages. They were later joined by the Ingrian Finns, descendants of 17th century Lutheran Finnish immigrants. At that time, Ingria, the Karelian Isthmus, Estonia, and what is now Finland were all part of the Kingdom of Sweden.

Ingria as a whole never formed a separate state; however, North Ingria was an independent state for just under two years in 1919–1920. The inhabitants of Ingria cannot be said to have comprised a distinct nation, since the population is made up of several different ethnic groups, despite the Soviet Union recognizing Ingrian as a nationality. The indigenous peoples of Ingria, like the Votians and Izhorians, are today close to extinction, together with their languages. This notwithstanding, many people still recognize and attempt to preserve their Ingrian heritage.

Historic Ingria covers approximately the same area as the Gatchinsky, Kingiseppsky, Kirovsky, Lomonosovsky, Tosnensky, Volosovsky and Vsevolozhsky districts of modern Leningrad Oblast as well as the city of Saint Petersburg.

The names of the region are:

  • Finnish: Inkeri or Inkerinmaa;
  • Russian: Ингрия, Ingriya, Ижора, Izhora, or Ингерманландия, Ingermanlandiya;
  • Swedish: Ingermanland;
  • Estonian: Ingeri or Ingerimaa

History

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Ingria may be seen represented in the easternmost part of the Carta Marina (1539).

In the Viking era (late Iron Age), from the 750s onwards, Ladoga served as a bridgehead on the Varangian trade route to Eastern Europe. A Varangian aristocracy developed that would ultimately rule over Novgorod and Kievan Rus'. In the 860s, the warring Finnic and Slavic tribes rebelled under Vadim the Bold, but later asked the Varangians under Rurik to return and to put an end to the recurring conflicts between them.

The Swedes referred to the ancient Novgorodian land of Vod people as "Ingermanland", Latinized to "Ingria". Folk etymology traces its name to Ingegerd Olofsdotter, the daughter of the Swedish king Olof Skötkonung (995–1022). Upon her marriage to Yaroslav I the Wise, Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev, in 1019, she received the lands around Ladoga as a marriage gift. They were administered by Swedish jarls, such as Ragnvald Ulfsson, under the sovereignty of the Novgorod Republic.

In the 12th century, Western Ingria was absorbed by the Novgorod Republic. There followed centuries of frequent wars, chiefly between Novgorod and Sweden, and occasionally involving Denmark and Teutonic Knights as well. The Teutonic Knights established a stronghold in the town of Narva, followed by the Russian castle Ivangorod on the opposite side of the Narva River in 1492.

With the consolidation of the Kievan Rus and the expansion of the Republic of Novgorod north, the indigenous Ingrians became Eastern Orthodox. Ingria became a province of Sweden in the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617 that ended the Ingrian War, fought between Sweden and Russia. After the Swedish conquest of the area in 1617 the Ingrian Finns, descendants of 17th-century Lutheran emigrants from present-day Finland, became the majority in Ingria. In 1710, following a Russian conquest, Ingria was designated as the Province of St. Petersburg.

In the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, Sweden formally ceded Ingria to Russia.

In 1927 the Soviet authorities designated the area as Leningrad Province. Deportations of the Ingrian Finns started in late 1920s, and Russification was nearly complete by the 1940s.

In the modern era, Ingria forms the northwestern anchor of Russia—its "window" on the Baltic Sea—with Saint Petersburg as its centre.

Swedish Ingria

Main article: Swedish Ingria

Although Sweden and Novgorod had fought for the Ingrian lands more or less since the Great Schism of 1054, the first actual attempt to establish Swedish dominion in Ingria appears to date from the early 14th century, when Sweden first founded the settlement of Viborg in Karelia and then the fortress Landskrona (built in 1299 or 1300) at the confluence of the Ohta and Neva rivers. However, Novgorod re-conquered Landskrona in 1301 and destroyed it. Ingria eventually became a Swedish dominion in the 1580s, but the Treaty of Teusina (1595) returned it to Russia in 1595. Russia in its turn ceded Ingria to Sweden in the Treaty of Stolbova (1617) after the Ingrian War of 1610–1617. Sweden's interest in the territory was mainly strategic: the area served as a buffer zone against Russian attacks on the Karelian Isthmus and on present-day Finland, then the eastern half of the Swedish realm; and Russian Baltic trade had to pass through Swedish territory. The townships of Ivangorod, Jama (now Kingisepp), Caporie (now Koporye) and Nöteborg (now Shlisselburg) became the centres of the four Ingrian counties (slottslän), and consisted of citadels, in the vicinity of which were small boroughs called hakelverk – before the wars of the 1650s mainly inhabited by Russian townspeople. The degree to which Ingria became the destination for Swedish deportees has often been exaggerated.

Ingria remained sparsely populated. In 1664 the total population amounted to 15,000. Swedish attempts to introduce Lutheranism, which accelerated after an initial period of relative religious tolerance, met with repugnance on the part of the majority of the Orthodox peasantry, who were obliged to attend Lutheran services; converts were promised grants and tax reductions, but Lutheran gains were mostly due to voluntary resettlements by Finns from Savonia and Finnish Karelia (mostly from Äyräpää). The proportion of Lutheran Finns in Ingria (Ingrian Finns) comprised 41.1% in 1656, 53.2% in 1661, 55.2% in 1666, 56.9% in 1671 and 73.8% in 1695, the remainder being Russians, Izhorians and Votes. Ingermanland was to a considerable extent enfiefed to noble military and state officials, who brought their own Lutheran servants and workmen. However, a small number of Russian Orthodox churches remained in use until the very end of the Swedish dominion, and the forceful conversion of ethnic Russian Orthodox forbidden by law.

Nyen became the main trading centre of Ingria, especially after Ivangorod dwindled, and in 1642 it was made the administrative centre of the province. In 1656 a Russian attack badly damaged the town, and the administrative centre moved to Narva.

Russian Ingria

Map of Saint Petersburg Governorate in 1900

In the early 18th century the area was reconquered by Russia in the Great Northern War after having been in Swedish possession for about 100 years. Near the location of the Swedish town Nyen, close to the Neva river's estuary at the Gulf of Finland, the new Russian capital Saint Petersburg was founded in 1703.

Peter the Great raised Ingria to the status of a duchy with Prince Menshikov as its first (and last) duke. In 1708, Ingria was designated a governorate (Ingermanland Governorate in 1708–1710, Saint Petersburg Governorate in 1710–1914, Petrograd Governorate in 1914–1924, Leningrad Governorate in 1924–1927).

In 1870, printing started of the first Finnish-language newspaper in Ingria, Pietarin Sanomat. Before that Ingria received newspapers mostly from Viborg. The first public library was opened in 1850 in Tyrö. The largest of the libraries, situated in Skuoritsa, had more than 2,000 volumes in the second half of the 19th century. In 1899 the first song festival in Ingria was held in Puutosti (Skuoritsa).

By 1897 (year of the Russian Empire Census) the number of Ingrian Finns had grown to 130,413, and by 1917 it had exceeded 140,000 (45,000 in Northern Ingria, 52,000 in Central (Eastern) Ingria and 30,000 in Western Ingria, the rest in Petrograd).

From 1868 Estonians began to migrate to Ingria as well. In 1897 the number of Estonians inhabiting the Saint Petersburg Governorate reached 64,116 (12,238 of them in Saint Petersburg itself); by 1926 it had increased to 66,333 (15,847 of them in Leningrad).

As to Izhorians, in 1834 there were 17,800 of them, in 1897—21,000, in 1926—26,137. About 1000 Ingrians lived in the area ceded to Estonia under the Peace Treaty of Tartu (1920).

Estonian Ingria

Ingrian battalion that served in the Finnish Defense Forces, during the Continuation War. Giving their oath to Finland in Karelian Isthmus, 27 April 1944.

Under the Russian-Estonian Peace Treaty of Tartu of 1920, a small part of West Ingria became part of the Republic of Estonia. In contrast to other parts of Ingria, Finnish culture blossomed in this area, known as Estonian Ingria [ru; et]. This was to a large extent due to the work of Leander Reijo (also Reijonen or Reiju) from Kullankylä [fi] on the new border between Estonia and the Soviet Union, who was called "The King of Ingria" by the Finnish press. Finnish schools and a Finnish newspaper were started. A church was built in Kallivieri [fi] in 1920 and by 1928 the parish had 1,300 people.

In 1945, after the Second World War, Estonian Ingria, then in the Soviet Union, was transferred to the Russian SFSR and incorporated into the Leningrad Oblast. Since Estonia reclaimed its independence in 1991, this territory has been disputed. As Russia does not recognize the Treaty of Tartu, the area currently remains under Russian control.

Soviet Ingria

See also: Revolt of the Ingrian Finns, Deportations of the Ingrian Finns, and Genocide of the Ingrian Finns
Finnic settlements in Western Ingria throughout the 20th century

After the 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia, the Republic of North Ingria (Finnish: Pohjois-Inkerin tasavalta) declared its independence from Russia with the support of Finland and with the aim of incorporation into Finland. It ruled parts of Ingria from 1919 until 1920. With the Russian-Finnish Peace Treaty of Tartu it was re-integrated into Russia, but enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy.

At its height in the 1920s, there were about 300 Finnish language schools and 10 Finnish language newspapers in Ingria.

The First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union in 1926 recorded 114,831 Leningrad Finns, as Ingrian Finns were called. The 1926 census also showed that the Russian population of central Ingria outnumbered the Finnic peoples living there, but Ingrian Finns formed the majority in the districts along the Finnish border.

In the early 1930s the Izhorian language was taught in the schools of the Soikinsky Peninsula and the area around the mouth of the Luga River.

In 1928 collectivization of agriculture started in Ingria. To facilitate it, in 1929–1931, 18,000 people (4320 families), kulaks (independent peasants) from North Ingria, were deported to East Karelia, the Kola Peninsula as well as Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

The situation for the Ingrian Finns deteriorated further when in the fall of 1934 the Forbidden Border Zone along the western border of the Soviet Union was established, where entrance was forbidden without special permission issued by the NKVD. It was officially only 7.5 km (5 miles) deep initially, but along the Estonian border it extended to as much as 90 km (60 miles). The zone was to be free of Finnic and some other peoples, who were considered politically unreliable. On 25 March 1935, Genrikh Yagoda authorized a large-scale deportation targeting Estonian, Latvian and Finnish kulaks and lishentsy residing in the border regions near Leningrad. About 7,000 people (2,000 families) were deported from Ingria to Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the Ural region. In May and June 1936 the entire Finnish population of the parishes of Valkeasaari, Lempaala, Vuole and Miikkulainen near the Finnish border, 20,000 people, were resettled to the areas around Cherepovets and Siberia in the next wave of deportations. In Ingria they were replaced with people from other parts of the Soviet Union, mostly Russians but also Ukrainians and Tatars.

In 1937 Lutheran churches and Finnish and Izhorian schools in Ingria were closed down and publications and radio broadcasting in Finnish and Izhorian were suspended.

Both Ingrian Finnish and Izhorian populations all but disappeared from Ingria during the Soviet period. 63,000 fled to Finland during World War II, and were required back by Stalin after the war. Most became victims of Soviet population transfers and many were executed as "enemies of the people". The remainder, including some post-Stalin returnees (it was not until 1956 that some of the deported were allowed to return to their villages), were outnumbered by Russian immigration.

The 1959 census recorded 1,062 Izhorians; in 1979 that number had fallen to 748, only 315 of them around the mouth of the Luga River and on the Soikinsky Peninsula. According to the Soviet census of 1989, there were 829 Izhorians, 449 of them in Russia (including other parts of the country) and 228 in Estonia.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, surviving Ingrian Finns and their Russified descendants have been allowed to emigrate to Finland. This has led to the birth of a sizable Russophone minority in Finland.

See also

References

  1. Based on Räikkönen, Erkki. Heimokirja. Helsinki: Otava, 1924.
  2. ^ Kurs, Ott (1994). "Ingria: The broken landbridge between Estonia and Finland". GeoJournal 33.1, 107–113.
  3. Alfred Rambaud (1970). History of Russia from the Earliest Times to 1882. Vol. 1. AMS Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-04-04-05230-0.
  4. Åström Anna-Maria; Korkiakangas Pirjo; Olsson Pia (2018). Memories of My Town: The Identities of Town Dwellers and their Places in Three Finnish Towns. Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura. p. 67. ISBN 978-95-17-46433-8.
  5. A. Pereswetoff-Morath, "'Otiosorum hominum receptacula': Orthodox Religious Houses in Ingria, 1615–52", Scando-Slavica, vol. 49, 2003.
  6. ^ Matley, Ian M. (1979). "The Dispersal of the Ingrian Finns". Slavic Review. 38 (1): 1–16. doi:10.2307/2497223. ISSN 0037-6779. JSTOR 2497223.
  7. Inkeri. Historia, kansa, kulttuuri. Edited by Pekka Nevalainen and Hannes Sihvo. Helsinki 1991.
  8. Daniel Rancour-Laferriere (2000). Russian Nationalism from an Interdisciplinary Perspective: Imagining Russia. E. Mellen Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-07-73-47671-4.
  9. Johannes Angere, Kullankylä (1994) Swedish magazine Ingria. (4), pages 6–7
  10. Johannes Angere, Min hemtrakt (2001) Swedish magazine Ingria (2), pages 12–13.
  11. "Inkerinsuomalaisten kronikka", Tietoa Inkerinsuomalaisista (Information about Ingrian Finns), archived at the Wayback Machine, 13 February 2008 (in Finnish)
  12. ^ Martin, Terry (1998). "The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing" (PDF). The Journal of Modern History. 70 (4): 813–61. doi:10.1086/235168. ISSN 1537-5358. JSTOR 10.1086/235168. S2CID 32917643.

Further reading

Categories: