Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The progress of settlement in Finland during the late middle ages

1981; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 29; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03585522.1981.10407949

1750-2837

Eljas Orrman,

Historical and Archaeological Studies

Abstract By the end of the Middle Ages both the southern inland areas and all the coastal districts of Finland had been permanently settled. Inland the northern border of the settled area ran along the 62nd parallel of latitude, but in the east, near the border between Sweden—Finland and Russia, settlement had expanded somewhat further north. On the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia and in the valleys of the Tornio and Kemi rivers which empty into it, permanent settlements extended as far as the arctic circle. By mid-sixteenth century the number of farmsteads in those areas of Finland which belonged the the Kingdom of Sweden—Finland had risen to more than 33,000 and of these farms over 90 per cent belonged to free, land-owning peasants.