Sweden's Colonization Research Paper

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Sweden’s colonization Sweden’s colonization affected Finland’s past and future a lot. Sweden wasn’t one of the major colonizing powers, but it wanted to be. Sweden in fact was ahead of such nations as
Germany and Italy in acquiring overseas colonies. Sweden wanted to have an impact to the new world. It colonized to get trading partners, sources of raw material and outlets for its ow products. Sweden had colonies in America, Africa and ruled or was united with Norway and governed a land-based empire in the Baltic including Estonia, parts of Russia,
Poland, Finland, Latvia and Germany.Sweden ’s population doubled during the hundred years period from the mid seventeenth to the mid eighteenth centuries, when industrialization also began. Population …show more content…

Finland was a part of Sweden for over 600 years from the middle ages until the early 19th century. During this time, Finland was a battleground between Sweden and Russia. They both wanted Finland, because Finland and the Finns bore a heavy military burden. Before Sweden’s or Russia’s colonization Finland was considered only a group of provinces, with a little sense of a national entity, which made it easy to colonize. Swedish influence in Finland grew when the Swedes were converted to christianity by the
Roman Catholic Church and soon afterward began missionary activities in Finland. Meanwhile, in the eastern part of Finland the Russians also sought control of Finland. Finnish people in eastern Karelia were converted to Orthodoxy. This was followed by thirty years of war. Sweden gained its control over Finland gradually, first came the Swedish settlers along the southern and the western coasts of Finland. The settlers became a ruling class within Finland, and Finland was politically integrated into Swedish realm. The economy of medieval Finland was based on agriculture supplemented by hunting, fishing, trapping and gathering. Most of the farmers were freemen, they had little political power. Society and politics were dominated by …show more content…

During this time one-third of the Finnish people died of starvation. Finnish troops were also sent to fight Sweden’s wars. Of the 60,000 Finns who served in the Swedish army, only about 10,000 survived the Great Northern War. Sweden’s frequent wars were also expensive and
Finnish economy was exploited for the benefit of Sweden. Swedish aristocrats and military officers were given large estates in Finland as a reward for their services. The Swedish-speaking minority dominated landholding, government, and the military. The Great Northern War ended on August 30, 1721 and the Russians evacuated Finland. Russia replaced Sweden as the main power of the Baltic. Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy, under the control of the
Russian emperor .These new freedoms of self-rule enabled much of the past Swedish influence to hold ground: Swedish (along with Finnish) remains the official language and the Lutheran
Church retains its position. Feudalism was never a part of Finland’s history, and the working class always retained its personal freedoms. These factors, along with early Swedish domination having had a strong influence in Finland’s legal and social systems laid the groundwork for the liberal,

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