The Republic of Karelia, or simply Karelia or Karjala is a republic of Russia situated in the northwest of the country. The republic is a part of the Northwestern Federal District, and covers an area of , with a population of 533,121 residents. Its capital is Petrozavodsk.
The modern Karelian Republic was founded as an autonomous republic within the Russian SFSR, by the Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) on 27 June 1923 and by the Decree of the VTsIK and the Council of People's Commissars of 25 July 1923, from the Karelian Labour Commune. From 1940 to 1956, it was known as the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the republics of the Soviet Union. In 1956, it was once again made an autonomous republic and remained part of Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Etymology "Karelia" derives from the name of the ethnic group — Karelians. The name "Karjala" has unknown origins, but it is theorised that it may come from the Proto-Finnic word karja, meaning "herd", which was borrowed from the Proto-Germanic harjaz ("army"); the ending -la means "earth".
Geography The Republic of Karelia is in the northwestern part of Russia, between Lake Ladoga and the White Sea, which has a shoreline of . The republic has an area of . It shares internal borders with Murmansk Oblast (north), Arkhangelsk Oblast (east/south-east), Vologda Oblast (south-east/south), and Leningrad Oblast (south/south-west), and it also borders Finland (Kainuu, Lapland, North Karelia, Northern Ostrobothnia, and South Karelia); the borders measure 723 km. The main bodies of water next to Karelia are the White Sea (an inlet of the Barents Sea) to the north-east and Lake Onega and Lake Ladoga both shared with neighboring Oblasts to the south. Its highest point is the Nuorunen peak at .
Geology
As a part of the Fennoscandian Shield's ancient Karelian craton, most of the Republic of Karelia's surficial geology is Archaean or Paleoproterozoic, dated up to 3.4 billion years in the Vodlozero block. This area is the largest contiguous Archaean outcrop in Europe and one of the largest in the world.
Since deglaciation, the rate of post-glacial rebound in the Republic of Karelia has varied. Since the White Sea connected to the World's oceans uplift along the southern coast of Kandalaksha Gulf has totaled 90 m. In the interval 9,500–5,000 years ago the uplift rate was 9–13 mm/yr. Before the Atlantic period, uplift rate had decreased to 5–5.5 mm/yr, to then rise briefly before arriving at the present uplift rate is 4 mm/yr.
Rivers There are about 27,000 rivers in Karelia. Major rivers include: Vodla River (; ) Kem River (; ) Kovda River (Karelian and Finnish: ) Shuya River (; ) Suna River (; ) Vyg River (Karelian and Finnish: )
Lakes
There are 61,000 lakes in Karelia. The total water surface of the lakes is 16.2 thousand km² (10.3% of the territory), or 17.8 thousand km² (11.4% of the territory) if reservoirs are included. Lake Ladoga (; ) and Lake Onega (; ) are the largest lakes in Europe. Other lakes include: Nyukozero (Karelian and Finnish: ) Pyaozero (; ) Segozero (Karelian and Finnish: ) Syamozero (; ) Topozero (Karelian and Finnish ) Vygozero (Karelian and Finnish )
The lakes Ladoga and Onega are located in the south of the republic.
Islands White Sea coast: Oleniy Island Chernetskiye Island Kamestrov Island
Shuy Island Kutulda Island Perkhludy Island Lesnaya Osinka Island Kotkano Island Vygnvolok Island Tumishche Island Sum Island Razostrov Island Sedostrov Island Myagostrov Island Zhuzhmuy Islands
In Lake Onega:
In Lake Ladoga:
Mantsinsaari Island
National parks Vodlozero National Park Kalevala National Park Paanajärvi National Park
Natural resources The majority of the republic's territory (, or 85%) is composed of state forest stock. The total growing stock of timber resources in the forests of all categories and ages is 807 million m³. The mature and over-mature tree stock amounts to 411.8 million m³, of which 375.2 million m³ is coniferous.
Fifty useful minerals are found in Karelia, located in more than 400 deposits and ore-bearing layers. Natural resources of the republic include iron ore, diamonds, vanadium, molybdenum, and others.
Climate The Republic of Karelia is located in the Atlantic continental climate zone. The average temperature in January is and in July. Average annual precipitation is 500–700 mm.
Administrative divisions The Republic of Karelia includes 18 administrative-territorial units, including: 2 city okrugs 5 municipal okrugs 11 districts (including 3 national districts)
There are 818 settlements in the Republic of Karelia, including: 13 cities 11 urban-type settlements 794 settlements and villages
International cooperation
Northern Dimension Project In 2000, the EU Summit approved the Northern Dimension project, which aimed to gradually develop a consolidated strategy for intercountry and interregional cooperation in Northern Europe, including the Russian northern regions of Karelia, the Komi Republic, Murmansk, Kaliningrad, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Pskov, and Leningrad Oblasts, St. Petersburg, and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
The Republic of Karelia promotes international cultural and economic cooperation with the provinces and unions of communes of Finland, the Swedish province (Västerbotten), the Norwegian municipality (Tromsø), the state of the United States of America (Vermont), the voivodeship of Poland (Chekhanovo), the autonomous republic of Georgia (Adjara), the prefecture of Greece (Ilia), the Republic of Belarus, the province of Fujian (Eastern China), and the region of Abai in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
History
Middle ages
The Karelian people and culture developed during the Viking Age in the region to the west of Lake Ladoga. Karelians were first mentioned in Swedish sagas around the 10th century. Russians first mentioned Karelians in 1143, they called Karelians "Korela".
Sweden's interest in Karelia began a centuries-long struggle with Novgorod (later Russia) that resulted in numerous border changes following the many wars fought between the two, the most famous of which is the Pillage of Sigtuna of 1187. In 1137 the oldest documented settlement was established, the modern-day city of Olonets (Aunus). Karelians converted to Orthodox Christianity in 1227. The Karelians' alliance with Novgorod developed into domination by the latter in the 13th century, when Karelia became a part of Novgorod under the name of Obonezhie pyatina as an autonomy. Later Karelia had anti-Novgorod revolts in the 13th and 14th centuries. Later Karelia became a part of Muscovy when Novgorod was annexed in the second half of the 15th century.
Modern era During the Great Northern War (1700–1721) the modern-day capital of Karelia, the city of Petrozavodsk, was founded as a cannon factory by Peter the Great.
19th century On 9(21) September 1801 Olonets Governorate was created by order of Alexander I.
After Russian emperor Alexander I became the Grand Duke of Finland following the Finnish War, he transferred Old Finland to the newly formed Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812. This move was regarded as a means of securing support of the Finnish nobility for the Russian emperor.
Early 20th century
In 1906, the Union of White Sea Karelians (Vienan karjalaisten liitto) was created. The Union's main goal was to improve the life of the common Karelians and additionally develop their own national identity. The union was temporarily dissolved in 1911 after series of repressions done by the local government.
In 1917, the Murmansk Railroad was built, leading to the Karelian lands becoming more strategically important. This led much of intelligentsia to believe that the Russian tourism and immigration into the region would rise, leading to further assimilation of the Karelians to the Russian culture.
Civil War
During the Finnish and the Russian Civil Wars the local peasantry rebelled against the new Soviet State due its Prodrazverstka policy, causing several squads of the "Whiteguard" to cross into the Karelian lands, where then was organized a government that later swiftly declared independence from the Russian Soviet Federative Republic, creating the Uhtua Republic. Later in 1920 Finnish forces occupied Olonets, creating another puppet government, which then merged with the other Karelian state into the United Karelian Government. The regions were reclaimed by the Red Army later the same year, the Tartu peace was signed and the Karelian United Government was dissolved.
Similar to other ethnically non-Russian states within RSFSR, the Karelia would receive autonomy within RSFSR, establishing the Karelian Labour Commune on 8 June 1920, which enjoyed a large de-facto autonomy approved by Lenin in early 1921.
In 1921, an uprising was started by the Forest Guerrillas in an attempt to gain control over Karelia yet again, but it was defeated by the Soviets shortly after.
During the years of its existence, the Commune was actively educating the people, opening the schools and libraries as of the Likbez policy were open and maintained, the Commune was later expanded in 1923 by transferring the Kolezhemskaya, Lapinskaya, Navodnitskaya and many other posads from Arkhangelsk Governorate.
In 1923, the Karelian Labour Commune became the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic due its de-facto large autonomy, with the government of the region directly managing the local economy without having to pay its taxes to the RSFSR's state budget. The formal increase of the autonomy was first vetoed by People's Commissar for Nationalities of the RSFSR, but it was later accepted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic After the Likbez policy was fulfilled, the Republic now shifted its goal from educating the people to expanding the production and electrifying the Republic according to the GOELRO plan. The first steps were the creation of Mevezegorsky and Pudozsky tree-cutting factories, the Kondopoga Paper Factory, and the launch of the Kem and the Uhta hydroelectrostations.
In the 1930s, the goal yet again shifted, now to improving the cultural and physical development and well-being of the locals by creation of many free clinics and hospitals, "Houses of Physical Culture", Theaters etc.
Many of the Finns who fled to Karelia were detained and most likely shot during The Great Purge of 1937, with the Karelian ethnic Finns' population dropping to 21%. Karelia has one of the biggest burial sites of Stalinist purges in Russia, Sandarmokh, where possibly thousands of victims were executed.
Winter War
During the Winter War, a Soviet puppet government was created in occupied territories. The Finnish Democratic Republic was to incorporate Finland, plus some western parts of the KASSR. Some members of the FDP government were also members of the KASSR government.
After the Moscow Peace Treaty territories of the Karelian Isthmus were transferred to the newly created Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic. After the evacuation of Finnish Karelia, the new territories were left unpopulated, so migrants from Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and other Soviet republics moved in. To this day, this area has one of the lowest percentages of Karelian and Finnish populations in the Republic.
World War II After the beginning of World War II, mass rallies were held on the territory of the republic, at which the inhabitants of Karelia declared their readiness to stand up for the defense of the Soviet Union. Workers of the Onega Tractor Plant wrote "We will work only in such a way as to fully meet the needs of our Red Army. We will double, triple our forces and crush, destroy the German fascists".