| Abstrakt: |
The article addresses the construction of a province as a geographical, political and cultural concept from the 18th century to the latter half of the 19th century. We focus on the region of the present-day North Karelia - a northern part of the 17th-century Kexholm province separated from the rest of Karelia by the Russo-Swedish state border in 1721. Utilizing the spatial approach, we investigate the conceptual development resulting in gradually establishing 'North Karelia' as the name of the region. We ask how concepts related to North Karelia have been used, in what kind of contexts do they appear and how they are eventually connected to the rise of the Finnish nationalism? Regional consciousness is at the core of the analysis. The source material consists of the digitalized Swedish Diet protocols by the Swedish Royal Library and the digitized newspaper collection by the Finnish National Archive. The concordance tool KORP by the Language Bank of Finland was used in the analysis. The historical and conceptual 'Karelia' is an ambiguous region constantly in change. Our research concludes that 'Northern Karelia' drew closer to the state and to the region of Finland throughout the research period, but from outside it was still seen as historically and culturally foreign in part. For the North Karelians, the representation in the Swedish Diet provided further possibilities. The representatives pursued local aims and connected with the general ambitions of their estate but also aimed to maintain their extraordinary regional practices. Regional and geographical descriptions familiarized the Swedish Karelia within the realm. The perspective was European and focused on the region as a part of the state. Separating the Swedish Karelia as an individual region from the Russian Karelia initiated a long-lasting division that became accentuated after 1809. During the 19th century, emphasizing the distinctiveness of regions became related with nationalism in both Finland and in Europe. The rise of the provincial press made this development visible for the public. Simultaneously, the development of the economic and educational institutions tied the regions more tightly to the state structures. Hence, it became increasingly important for North Karelians to connect the local and regional objectives with the provincial and national rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
