Not to be confused with Karelians (Finns), also known as Finnish Karelians or Karelian Finns, who are a distinct ethnic group living in Finland.
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Karelian, Livvi-Karelian, Ludian, Russian, Finnish, Swedish
Religion
Eastern Orthodox majority Lutheran minority
Related ethnic groups
Other Baltic Finns Especially Finnish Karelians, Izhorians, and Vepsians
Karelians (Karelian: karjalaižet, karjalazet, karjalaiset; Finnish: karjalaiset; Swedish: kareler, karelare; Russian: карелы, romanized: karely) are a Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russia. Karelians living in Russian Karelia are considered a distinct ethnic group closely related to Finnish Karelians, who are considered a subset of Finns. This distinction historically arose from Karelia having been fought over and eventually split between Sweden and Novgorod, resulting in Karelians being under different cultural spheres.
In Russia, Karelians mostly live in the Republic of Karelia, where they are the designated ethnic group, and in other adjacent north-western parts of the country. They traditionally speak the Karelian language and are Eastern Orthodox Christians. There are also significant Karelian enclaves in the Tver and Novgorod oblasts, as some Karelians migrated to those areas after the Russo-Swedish War of 1656–1658.
In Finland, the term Karelian generally refers to the Finnish Karelians, who are a subset of Finns. There were Karelian-speaking Karelians living in the easternmost parts of Finnish Karelia, known as "Border Karelia" (Raja-Karjala). As Finland had to cede parts of Karelia to the Soviet Union in World War II, evacuated Karelians and Finnish Karelians settled elsewhere in Finland. A minority of them, about 38,000,[8] were Border Karelian Orthodox Christians, who traditionally spoke Karelian. However, owing to Karelian not being recognized as its own language by the Finnish government until recently, most of these Karelians had no choice but to learn Finnish and now speak mostly Finnish.
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^"Росстат — Всероссийская перепись населения 2020". rosstat.gov.ru. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
^Languages of Finland. "Finland". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
^"Ethnic composition of Ukraine 2001". Pop-stat.mashke.org. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
^"RAHVASTIK RAHVUSE, SOO JA ELUKOHA JÄRGI, 31. DETSEMBER 2011". Pub.stat.ee. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
^Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь (PDF). Национальный статистический комитет Республики Беларусь (in Russian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
^"Latvijas iedzīvotāju sadalījums pēc nacionālā sastāva un valstiskās piederības (Datums=01.01.2018)" (PDF). Retrieved 18 February 2018.
^"Lietuvos Respublikos 2011 metų visuotinio gyventojų ir būstų surašymo rezultatai". Retrieved 18 February 2018.
^Mäntymäki, Varpu (2017). Ryssittely loppui vasta, kun evakoiden lapset kävivät "sotaan" paikallisia vastaan – 1940-luvun Suomi sopeutti pakolaisiaan kovalla kädellä. yle.fi. Retrieved 2022-2-10.
Finland and Russia. Karelians living in Russian Karelia are considered a distinct ethnic group closely related to Finnish Karelians, who are considered...
Karelian refers to something from or related to the region of Karelia, in present-day Russia and Finland. Karelians, an ethnic group in Russia speaking...
Karelians now live scattered throughout Finland, and Karelian is no longer spoken as a local community language. In the Republic of Karelia, Karelian...
isthmus. The eastern part of the Karelian Isthmus hosts a number of medieval remnants. There are many grave pits of Karelians of the 10th–15th centuries with...
of these areas led to an exodus: thousands of Karelians, including the ancestors of the Tver Karelians, emigrated to Russia. The Treaty of Nystad (Finnish:...
Karelianism was a late 19th-century cultural phenomenon in the Grand Duchy of Finland and involved writers, painters, poets and sculptors. Since the publishing...
Karelian Proper (Karelian Proper: Varšinaiskarjala) is a supradialect of the Karelian language, which is a Finnic language. Karelian Proper is one of two/three...
became an official language of the Karelian SSR, while in the Tver region most Karelians were expelled in 1939 and Karelian was banned there. The reason for...
the Occupation of Karelia seeks the creation of an independent Karelian state for Karelians, Finns, Vepsians, Pomors, Samis, Kola Norwegians based on traditional...
sagas around the 10th century. Russians first mentioned Karelians in 1143, they called Karelians "Korela". Sweden's interest in Karelia began a centuries-long...
of the Karelian Communist Party In the Soviet Census of 1939, Karelians were 23% of the population and Finns 2%; by the census of 1959, Karelians were 13%...
The Karelian Isthmus is the debut studio album by Finnish heavy metal band Amorphis, released in 1992. Although The Karelian Isthmus took its name from...
White Sea Karelians. The organization also helps to translate various government projects into Karelian. Protection and development of the Karelian language...
The Karelian Bear Dog (Karjalankarhukoira) is a Finnish breed of dog. In its home country, it is seen by many as a national treasure. Karelian Bear Dogs...
Northern Karelian (also called: White Sea Karelian, Viena Karelian and North Karelian) (North Karelian: Vienankarjala) is a dialect of Karelian Proper,...
The Karelian (Russian: Карельская лошадь Karel'skaya loshad) is a pony native to Karelia, a region of northern Europe between the Gulf of Finland and the...
Karelian people was about 14,633 in 2002, very few (about 25 in one census) named the dialect as their primary language. The number of Tver Karelians...
Karelian Association) to defend the rights of Karelians in Finland. During the Cold War, the Karelian-born Finnish politician Johannes Virolainen lobbied...
The Karelian Bobtail is a breed of cat that originated in the Lake Ladoga region of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. The breed was first recognised by...
The population of the okrug was 170,000, of which 65% were Tver Karelians. Karelian National Okrug was established on July 9, 1937 by the decree of the...
southern neighbor of the Karelian Red Finns) began to protest Finnish chauvinism toward the Karelians in concert with the Tver Karelians. This coincided with...
Fennoscandia (Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian: Fennoskandia; Russian: Фенноскандия, romanized: Fennoskandiya), or the Fennoscandian Peninsula, is the geographical...
Lesozavodsky, Kem are all located at the Karelian Coast. The coast has been populated by Pomors and Karelians since no later than the 13th century. Карельский...
the interests of Karelians who had lost their homes. By the 1960s, the organization started to focus on preservation of the Karelian culture, by that...
battalion is a voluntary military unit that consists mainly of ethnic Karelians and other Baltic-Finnic peoples. Its primary objective is to achieve the...
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