Finland 1809-1863 Finland 1898-1917







Finland, 1863-1898


Administration . The governorship was held by Nikolay Vladimirovich Graf Adlerberg 1866-1881, by Feodor Logginovich Graf Heiden 1881-1897. The Diet of Finland was reestablished in 1863. Parliamentary elections were held in 1863, 1867, 1872, 1877, 1882, 1885, 1888, 1891, 1894, 1897; parliament then would convene fior a number of months and dissolve.

Political History . For much of the period in question, politicians were divided into Fennomans and Svecomans. The Swedish elite, leaning on the sympathies of the Russian governor, wanted to hold on to her privileged position, i.e. Swedish being the language of administration, jurisdiction and education. In 1892, the Fennomans achieved Finnish being declared official language, equal in status to Swedish.
The Young Finnish Party (Finnish Party) broke away from an earlier Finnish Party (est. in the 1860es) in 1894.

The Economy . During the latter half of the 19th century, Finland met an ever increasing demand in lumber, mainly for export into the industrializing countries. Agriculture also expanded.
In 1863, Finland had 110 km of railroad tracks, in 1898 2,516 km (IHS pp.655, 657). In 1891 Helsinki introduced horse-pulled trams, which were electrified soon after. In the 1880es, Helsinki and Tampere received street lighting.
In 1878 Finland produced 36,000 hectolitres of wheat, in 1898 56,000 hectolitres; potato production was 3.3 million hectolitres in 1878, 5.9 million in 1898 (IHS pp.265-266).

Social History . The population of Finland in 1867 was 1.83 million, that of 1896 2.52 million (Jan Lahmeyer).
Finland experienced urbanization; the city of Helsinki until 1890 had a Swedish-speaking population majority, hence the Swedish -speakers were outnumbered by the Finnish-speakers. The industrial city of Tampere had 3,000 inhabitants in 1850, 15,000 in 1880, more than 36,000 in 1900.

Cultural History . In 1868, the (Russian) Alexander Theatre in Helsinki was opened.
Elias Lönnrot, the publisher of the Kalevala (1835) died in 1884. Jean Sibelius began composing in 1892.
In 1890, Finland's postal service was placed under the postal service of the Russian Empire, and Russian imperial symbols began to appear on Finnish postage stamps.
An 1889 law introduced freedom of religion. In 1897 the Lutheran diocese of Mikkeli was established, suffragan to the Archdiocesis of Turku (Åbo).







EXTERNAL
FILES 		Article Grand Duchy of Finland, Finnish Party, Finland's Language Strife, Governor-General of Finland, Diet of Finland, Elias Lönnrot, Jean Sibelius, Nikolai Wladimirowitsch Adlerberg (in German), Frederick Heyden, Postgeschichte Finnlands (Postal History of Finland, in German), Helsinki Tram, Katuvalo (Street Lighting), in Finnish, Tammerfors (Tampere), in Swedish, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland : History, from Wikipedia
Library of Congress, Country Studies : Finland
Russian Rule 1809-1917, from A Virtual History of Finland, by Pasi Kuoppamäki
DOCUMENTS Finnish Statesmen, from World tatesmen (Ben Cahoon)
Historical Population Statistics : Finland, from Population Statistics (Jan Lahmeyer)
Travels in Finland in the 1870es, by Joe Brady, from Virtual Finland
Henry Lansdell, Finland. General View of the Country and People, in : Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Frb. 1891 pp.330-339; Albert Edelfelt, Sketches in Finland, from ibid. pp.339-354, from Cornell Digital Library Collection
Proclamation of the Czar to the Grand Duchy of Finland, 1891, from A selection of events and documents on the history of Finland
Finnish banknotes, from Wad Nensberg's Collection of Russian Banknotes, also from Ron Wise's World Paper Money
Article Finnland from Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1888-1890, in German
REFERENCE IHS : B.R. Mitchell, International Historical Statistics. Europe 1750-1988, NY : Stockton Press 1992 [G]
Raymond Pearson, The Longman Companion to European Nationalism 1789-1920, London etc.: Longman 1994, especially pp.86, 130-131 [G]
Article : Russia - Finland, in : Statesman's Year Book 1895 pp.912-912d, 1898 pp.912h-912m [G]
Article : Finland, in : International Year Book 1898 pp.312-313 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on January 3rd 2002, last revised on August 30th 2007

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