Everything about Finnic Peoples totally explained
Finnic peoples (
Fennic) are
linguistic groups of peoples:
Baltic Finns who are
native speakers of
Baltic-Finnic languages and
Volga Finns, speakers of
Volga Finnic languages.
The major modern representatives of Baltic Finns who have maintained their languages are the
Finns and
Estonians.
Other groups include the
Karelians, mainly living in
Karelia, in
Finland and northwestern
Russia. The
Ingrians,
Votes, and
Veps live around the
Gulf of Finland and Lakes
Onega and
Ladoga, languages, nowadays the
Sami people; the
Finno-Permic languages of
Komi (Zyryan),
Permyak, and
Udmurt (Votyak). The Finnic division of the groups: Baltic-Finnic, Volga-Finnic, Permic and Sami together with the
Ugric division of
Hungarian and the
Ob-Ugric languages
Mansi (Vogul) and
Khanty (Ostyak) make the
Finno-Ugric group of the
Uralic language family.
Genetics
According to year 2000 data the most common
mtDNA Haplogroup Frequencies and the genetic diversity among Baltic Finns, Volga Finns were following:
| mtDNA Haplogroup |
H |
I |
J |
K |
T |
U3 |
U4 |
U5 |
V |
W |
X |
Other |
IWX |
HV |
KU |
JT |
Genetic diversity |
| Baltic-Finnic | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Finland |
.278 |
.063 |
.044 |
.051 |
.051 |
.000 |
.025 |
.139 |
.089 |
.076 |
.000 |
.127 |
.152 |
.367 |
.215 |
.139 | .970 |
| Estonia |
.214 |
.000 |
.000 |
.000 |
.107 |
.000 |
.071 |
.179 |
.000 |
.071 |
.000 |
.250 |
.107 |
.214 |
.250 |
.179 | .989 |
| Karelia |
.313 |
.024 |
.000 |
.024 |
.072 |
.000 |
.084 |
.181 |
.060 |
.036 |
.000 |
.120 |
.096 |
.373 |
.289 |
.120 | .964 |
| Volga-Finnic | .176 |
.029 |
.032 |
.029 |
.118 |
.000 |
.147 |
.118 |
.029 |
.000 |
.000 |
.176 |
.029 |
.206 |
.294 |
.294
| .982 |
Haplogroup U is a group of people who descend from a woman who lived around 50,000 years ago in the
Haplogroup R branch of the Genographic tree. Her descendants gave birth to several subgroups, some of which exhibit specific geographic homelands. For example a subgroup
U5 is restricted to
Finland and it's populations. This is likely the result of
geographical,
linguistic and
cultural isolation of the Finnish populations that has kept it fairly isolated genetically. Haplogroup
U5 that first evolved in Europe is a group of people who descend from a woman who lived around 15,000 years ago. U5 is found also in small frequencies and at much lower diversity in the Near East and parts of
Africa, suggesting back-migration of people from northern Europe to the south.
One of the men in a group of Eurasian Clan peoples who was probably born in Siberia within the last 10,000 years gave rise to the LLY22G marker which defines
haplogroup N in the Genographic tree. Today his descendants effectively trace a migration of
Uralic-speaking peoples during the last several thousands of years like the
Sami people, the people of Northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. The Sami also have U5 lineages in their population indicating that it may have been introduced during their migration into these northern territories.
A genetic link between Sami and the Volga-Ural region of Russia has been found, indicative of a more recent contribution of people from the Volga-Ural region to the Sami population as recently as 2700 years ago.
History
The Mesolithic Period
The region has been populated since the end of the last glacial era, about 10.000 B.C. The earliest traces of human settlement are connected with
Suomusjärvi culture and
Kunda culture. The Early
Mesolithic Pulli settlement is located by the
Pärnu River. It has been dated to the beginning of the 9th millennium BC. The Kunda Culture received its name from the
Lammasmäe settlement site in northern Estonia, which dates from earlier than 8500. Bone and stone artefacts similar to those found at Kunda have been discovered elsewhere in Estonia, as well as in
Latvia, northern
Lithuania and southern
Finland.
The Neolithic Period
Around 5300 BCE pottery entered Finland. The earliest representatives belong to the
Comb Ceramic Cultures, known for their distinctive decorating patterns. This marks the beginning of the
Neolithic Period
Comb Ceramic Culture
Until the early 1980s the arrival of
Finnic peoples, the ancestors of the Estonians, Finns, Livonians on the shores of the
Baltic sea around 3000 B.C. was associated with the
Comb Ceramic Culture However, such a linking of archaeologically defined cultural entities with linguistic ones can't be proven and it has been suggested that the increase of settlement finds in the period is more likely to have been associated with an economic boom related to the warming of climate. Some researchers have even argued that a form of
Uralic languages may have been spoken in Estonia and Finland since the end of the last glaciation.
Bronze Age
The beginning of the
Bronze Age in Estonia is dated to approximately 1800 B.C. In present day Finland some time after 1500 BCE. The coastal regions of Finland were a part of the Nordic Bronze Culture, whereas in the inland regions the influences came from the bronze-using cultures of Northern Russia. The development of the borders between the
Finnic peoples and the
Balts was under way. The first fortified settlements, Asva and Ridala on the island of
Saaremaa and Iru in the Northern Estonia began to be built. The development of shipbuilding facilitated the spread of bronze. Changes took place in burial customs, a new type of burial ground spread from Germanic to Estonian areas, stone cist graves and cremation burials became increasingly common aside small number of boat-shaped stone graves.
The Iron Age
The
Pre-Roman Iron Age began in about 500 B.C. and lasted until the middle of the 1.st century A.D. The oldest iron items were imported, although since the first century iron was smelted from local marsh and lake ore. Settlement sites were located mostly in places that offered natural protection. Fortresses were built, although used temporarily. The appearance of square
Celtic fields surrounded by enclosures in Estonia date from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The majority of stones with man-made indents, witch presumably were connected with magic designed to increase crop fertility, date from this period. A new type of grave, quadrangular burial mounds began to develop. Burial traditions show the clear beginning of social stratification.
The
Roman Iron Age is roughly dated to between 50 and 450 A.D., the era that was affected by the influence of the
Roman Empire. In material culture this is reflected by few Roman coins, some
jewellery and artefacts. The abundance of iron artefacts in Southern Estonia speaks of closer mainland ties with southern areas while coastal Finland and the islands of western and northern Estonia communicated with their neighbors mainly by sea.
By the end of the period clearly defined tribal dialectical areas: (proper-)Finns,
Tavastians,
Karelians, Northern Estonias, Southern Estonias, and Western Estonias including the islands had emerged, the population of each having formed its own understanding of identity.
Early Middle Ages
Finnic peoples in chronicles
The word
Finn is first mentioned in the form
fenni in the first century AD by
Tacitus, the Roman historian. However it's possible that he was referring to the people of northern Europe in general, particularly the Lappic or
Sami people. After that the name finni is used by
Claudius Ptolemaeus (170 AD) and the Gothic writer Jordanes in his
Getica (551 AD). The first sure mention in the western sources referring to Finns is considered to be in the Anglo-Saxon epic
Beowulf (800 AD). Information about Finnic tribes becomes much more numerous from the
Viking era (800-1050). It wasn't until abut 1171 that the word Finni was employed to mean the
Finns.
The term
Eesti, the name of the Estonians occurs first again by Tacitus, however, it might have indicated
Baltic peoples. In Northern Sagas (9th century) the term started to be used to indicate the Estonians.
In a Norwegian text (11-12 century) the first mention of the name
'Kiriali referring to Karelians, as well as the term 'cornuti Finni, interpreted as referring to the Lapps or Sami people appears.
The Russian Primary Chronicle's opening chapter lists the following peoples living "in the share of
Japheth" among others:
Chud,
Merya,
Muroma,
Ves,
Mordvin (
Moksha and
Erzya), Chud beyond the portages,
Perm,
Pechera, Yam, Ugra,
Liv.
The name
Sum, that's
Suomi (Finland in Finnish), is found in the oldest Russian, Nestor's Chronicle (1000-1100). The names of other Finnic tribes are also listed including
Veps,
Cheremis,
Mordvin (
Moksha and
Erzya),
Permian.
The
Chudes as mentioned by a monk Nestor in the earliest Russian chronicles, were the Ests or Esthonians . According to the Russian
Primary Chronicle Chuds bordered on the Varangian Sea (Baltic sea). (the historical Russian name of
Tartu,
Estonia). According to
Old East Slavic chronicles the Chudes where one of the founders of the
Rus' state.
Middle Ages
Speakers of Finnic languages
Baltic Finns
Volga Finns
Mari
Moksha
Erzya
Finno Lappic
SamiFurther Information
Get more info on 'Finnic Peoples'.
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