Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Page 263

FRONTIERS OF THE NORTHERN NATIONS 251
1809 belonged to Sweden, and her neighbour to the East: Russia.
This connection between the Swedish-Finnish and the Russo-
Finnish frontier problems is not immediately apparent, and is
perhaps best understood if we first regard the origin of the Russo-
Finnish frontier, beyond a doubt the most trenchant and histori-
cally the most sharply dividing boundary line in the North.
Our present knowledge of the process by which Finland was
gradually united with Sweden as an equal partner in the Swedish
realm is very imperfect. It was a matter of several centuries,
and the means by which it was brought about were sometimes
tnilitary and sometimes peaceful. A mediaeval tradition, on the
trustworthiness of which some doubt has been thrown, attaches
very great importance to a crusade alleged to have been under-
taken about the middle of the 12th century by Erik Jedvardsson,
known as St. Eric, which is said to have placed the coastal settle-
ments of Western Finland under Swedish rule. It is, however,
not till a later age that it becomes possible to follow the gradual
process of occupation through its various stages. One gets a dim
picture of the expansion of Swedish dominion and the progres-
sive absorption of Finnish tribes. But the sources are few and
far between, and very little is known about conditions in the
interior of the country. Towards the end of the i3th century
more light is shed on the process: the Swedes are now acquiring
a hold on the remainder of the Northern shores of the Gulf of
Finland and are forcing their way further East into the large
tribal area of Karelia, in the direction of Lake Ladoga. But in
these tracts they come up against the Russian sphere of interest,
represented by the powerful realm of Novgorod. A long war
ensues, which is brought to an end in 1323 by the peace of Nöte-
borg, which involves the first Russo-Swedish frontier delimita-
tion. The latter is, it is true, in several respects remarkably primi-
tive, but among the provisions of the Nöteborg Peace, which
have otherwise been such a fruitful source of dispute among
historians and in the sphere of politics, there has always been
one thing which was beyond dispute, viz. the starting point of
the frontier in the South. This was the Systerback River near
the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. From this point the frontier
ran North and Northwestwards through a region of lakes and
forests, and after passing through a zone with few and uncertain
landmarks, it ended at an open sea, which in the Swedish text
is called “Flelsinghaf,” and in the Russian “Kajáne more.” Among