Kven
Encyclopedia
Kvens are an ethnic minority in Norway who are descended from Finnish peasants and fishermen who emigrated from the northern parts of Finland
and Sweden
to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1996 the Kvens were granted minority status in Norway, and in 2005 the Kven language
was recognized as a minority language in Norway.
The origin of the term Kven
is disputed as is the fate of the medieval Kvens. There is little evidence that modern Kvens are direct descendants of Kvenland mentioned in a few ancient Norwegian and Icelandic sources.
As a result of that Norway signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
in 1999 the term kven became for the first time an official name, the name of finnish decendants with a long history in Norway that views themselves as a member of that particular protected ethnic minority group of finnish descendants.
There is a theory among some academic groups that due to the discrimination and suppression by the Norwegian authorities the term Kven became derogatory in the late 19th century. Therefore, many Kvens, preferred to be called 'suomalaiset' (finns). But with the revitalization of the Kven culture in the 1970s Kvens themselves started using the term. However, even in the 1990s there was a debate whether the Norwegian terms 'finne', 'finsk', or 'finskætted' (respectively a Finnish person, Finnish, and of Finnish origin) should be used instead. However, today the term Kven is accepted and used for example in the name of the Kven organization in Norway (Norske Kveners Forbund).
In the 1930 census there were 8215 registered Kvens in Troms and Finnmark. While in 1950 1439 people reported that they used the Finnish language in Troms (58 people) and Finnmark (1381 people).
In 2001, the number of Kvens was estimated to be about 10,000 to 15,000 in a Parliamentary inquiry on national minorities in Norway. However, estimating the number of Kvens is difficult since there is no official definition of a Kven. Therefore, other studies have estimated the number of Kvens to be about 50-60,000, based on the criteria that at least one of the grandparents spoke Finnish. But many of these may consider themselves to be Norwegian or Sami (or all three).
. Kvenland is only known from a Norwegian account from the 9th century and from Icelandic sources written in the 12th and 13th centuries. As a name for a country, Kvenland seems to have been out of ordinary usage already at the beginning of the second millennium. Location of ancient Kvenland is unclear, as the existing sources can be interpreted in several ways. The most common interpretation is that ancient Kvenland was roughly corresponding to Ostrobothnia
and Norrbotten
.
Danish/Norwegian tax records from the 16th century already list some Kvens living in North Norway. Also, the famous map of Scandinavia
by Olaus Magnus
from 1539 shows a possible Kven settlement roughly in between today's Tromsø
and Lofoten
named "Berkara Qvenar". Kvens of this time are often connected to the birkarl organization in northern Sweden. In some early documents Kvens are also grouped together with the Sami people
, who are the indigenous people of Central and Northern Norway.
The main immigration of Kvens to Norway can be divided into two periods. The first large immigration was from about 1720 to 1820, when Finnish speaking people from the northern Finland and Tornio
River valley moved to river basins and fjord-ends in Troms
and the western parts of Finnmark
, to places such as Polmak
, Karasjok
, Porsanger
, Alta
and Lyngen
. The immigration can be seen as a continuation of Finnish farmers colonizing Finnish and Swedish Lapland.
The second, larger, immigration was from about 1820 to 1890 to the coastal areas of eastern Finnmark, motivated by the blooming fishing industry in Northern Norway. It was also easier to get to America from Northern Norway than Northern Finland. Therefore many people moved first to Finnmark, continuing from there over the Atlantic. The immigration ended due to problems in the fishing industry, population pressure, emigration to America and increasing problems for Kvens to buy land and obtain Norwegian citizenship.
Note that the term "immigration" may not be applicable for these periods, since the Norwegian-Swedish border was not established until 1751, and the Norwegian-Russian border in 1826.
From World War II
until the 1970s, Kvens were not mentioned in politics, but were still monitored by the security police. During this period the Sami culture revitalized and become politically active, and were able make some progress into stopping the assimilation, for example by being allowed to teach Sami in the schools. At the same time, the Norwegian government's policy against the Sami and Kven changed, especially after altasaken
in the 1980s which was an important turning point for Sami politics. After “altasaken”, the Sami people were recognized as indigenous people (1989), it became important to protect the Sami culture, the Sami language became protected by a law, a Sami parliament was established, and finally “finnmarksloven” transferred the ownership of the land in Finnmark back from the Norwegian state company “Statskog” to the people of Finnmark (of which many are Sami). In the 1980s, the Kven people also started organizing themselves, and fought for a status as a national minority. Norske Kveners Forbund (the Kven organization in Norway) was established in 1987.
During this period the use of the Kven language was forbidden in schools and government offices. Land purchase was prohibited for those who did not acquire Norwegian family names. Eventually, selling land to non-speakers of the Norwegian language
became prohibited. Also, the Norwegian Defense Ministry in 1870 demanded that all Kven/Finnish names ("foreign names") to be removed from maps.
In the 1990s Kvens were recognized as a national minority, and with it protection of the Kven culture and language (2005).
In spite of what their own preferences might have been, the Kven population of Norway largely became integrated into the Norwegian mainstream society. In traditional Kven communities, such as Vadsø
, where the Kvens had formed the majority of the population, they soon considered the Norwegian cultural identity as a standard.
of Finnish
, but for political and historical reasons it received in 2005 status of a legal minority language
in Norway
, within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
.
The Kven language differs from Finnish, since the Kven population was in effect isolated from other Finnish-speaking people. The Kven language has come to incorporate many Norwegian loan words, and Finnish words no longer used in Finland are still used. In a 2005 government report, the number of people speaking the Kven language in Norway is estimated to be between 2000 and 8000, depending on the criteria used.
. However, post-Norwegianization policies have treated them differently. Sami people have been recognized as the indigenous people in Northern Norway. They have their own schools and parliament, and they elect three of the six members for the board of Finnmark Estate (the organization owning about 95% of the land in the county of Finnmark). Some Kvens believe the distribution of rights and public funds has favored the Sami people too much, whereas on the Sami side there are people who think the Norwegian minority politics and public funding should focus mostly on the Sami people.
Lately, the Norwegian Kven Organization
has attempted to get the Kvens recognized, similarly to the Sami people, as an indigenous people in Norway. This has made it important for some Kvens to show that their history stretches further back in time than commonly believed. There has been some recent unofficial adoption of the word "Kainu" as the new name for "Kven", in accordance with the hypotheses put forward by Finnish historians Jouko Vahtola and Kyösti Julku. Julku has also been the main protagonist for claims about existence of a large Kven territory covering Finnmark
, all of Lapland and even northern Ostrobothnia
which would have been known as "Kainu(u)" and existed already in the Viking Age
. Vahtola has hypothesized that words "Kven" and "Kainu(u)" are interchangeable
.
, some Tornedalians
call themselves Kvens, claiming to be the direct descendants of the medieval Kvens
. This group is attempting to get the Kvens recognized as the indigenous people in Northern Sweden in order to get the same rights to the land as the Sami people are predicted to get if Sweden accepts the ILO 169
convention about the rights of indigenous people (see also: Finnmark Act
). However, the Swedish Kvens have no distinct culture, have not been known as an ethnic group in recent history, and there is no evidence that they are the descendants of the medieval Kvens. It should be noted, on the other hand, that there is a relatively large minority of Finnish-speaking people living in northern Sweden, particularly in the Torneå River Valley, and that their language, meänkieli (literally "our language", a slightly pidginized version of the Finnish accent found on the east bank of the Torneå/Tornionjoki), is now an official minority language in Sweden. Although probably not directly related to the mediaeval Kvens (Finn. "kainulaiset"), the Finnish-speaking populace was well established in what is now northern Sweden long before the current Swedish-Finnish border was drawn in 1809, the two countries having previously been parts of the same realm for some six centuries.
/Finnish
and Norwegian
) that is published in Tromsø
, Norway
. Currently one issue is published each month. The newspaper writes mostly about Kven issues, and about the work of strengthening Finnish language and culture in Norway. In addition the paper has stories about other Finnish organizations in Norway, and about other Finnish minorities in the Nordic
and surrounding countries.Chief editor Liisa Koivulehto.
. The first festival was in June 2007, but it is intended to be an annual event. The responsible organizers is Nordreisa municipality, and the first festival director was Johanne Gaup.
single ever recorded in the Kven language. It is based on an old Kven nursery rhyme
about making sausages. The artists are Karine Jacobsen and Kine Johansen respectively from Børselv
and Lakselv. The single was published by Iđut.
, Børselv
, Nord-Varanger
, Tana, Lakselv, Alta
, northern Troms
, Tromsø
, and Østlandet
.
The tasks of the organisation include working for a government report about the history and rights of the Kven population, improving the media coverage of Kven issues, and for the Norwegian government to establish a secretary (statssekretær) for Kven issues. In addition, reading and writing classes at the beginner to advanced level, establishing a Kven kindergarten, and to incorporate the Kven language in all education levels in Norway. Also, to establish a Kven culture fund, road and other signs in Kven, Kven names in official maps, and museums and centers for Kven language and culture.
located in Børselv
in Porsangi (Porsanger)
municipality in Norway
.
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1996 the Kvens were granted minority status in Norway, and in 2005 the Kven language
Kven language
The Kven language is a Finnic language spoken in Northern Norway by the Kven people. For political and historical reasons it received the status of a minority language in 2005 within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
was recognized as a minority language in Norway.
Name
The term Kven has been continuously in use in Norway, from the Middle Ages up to the present age, to describe descendants of Finnish speaking people who immigrated to Northern Norway from the 16th century up to World War II.The origin of the term Kven
Origin of the name Kven
The origin of the name "Kven" is unclear. The name appears for the first time in a 9th century Old English version, written by King Alfred of Wessex, of a work by the Roman author Orosius, in the plural form "Cwenas"...
is disputed as is the fate of the medieval Kvens. There is little evidence that modern Kvens are direct descendants of Kvenland mentioned in a few ancient Norwegian and Icelandic sources.
As a result of that Norway signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
The Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was signed on February 1995 by 22 member States of the Council of Europe ....
in 1999 the term kven became for the first time an official name, the name of finnish decendants with a long history in Norway that views themselves as a member of that particular protected ethnic minority group of finnish descendants.
There is a theory among some academic groups that due to the discrimination and suppression by the Norwegian authorities the term Kven became derogatory in the late 19th century. Therefore, many Kvens, preferred to be called 'suomalaiset' (finns). But with the revitalization of the Kven culture in the 1970s Kvens themselves started using the term. However, even in the 1990s there was a debate whether the Norwegian terms 'finne', 'finsk', or 'finskætted' (respectively a Finnish person, Finnish, and of Finnish origin) should be used instead. However, today the term Kven is accepted and used for example in the name of the Kven organization in Norway (Norske Kveners Forbund).
Demographics
The Kvens were registered as a separate group in the Norwegian censuses in the period 1845 to 1930. From the 18th century the Kvens started to comprise a significant part of the population in Northern Norway. In 1845 13.3% of the population in Finnmark, and 3.2% in Troms, considered themselves as Kvens. In 1854 the numbers increased to respectively, 19.9% and 7.0%. The peak was in 1875, with respectively 24.2% and 7.7%. The ratios were reduced to respectively 20.2% and 3.7%, in 1890, and 13.8% and 2.0% in 1900 (all numbers from).In the 1930 census there were 8215 registered Kvens in Troms and Finnmark. While in 1950 1439 people reported that they used the Finnish language in Troms (58 people) and Finnmark (1381 people).
In 2001, the number of Kvens was estimated to be about 10,000 to 15,000 in a Parliamentary inquiry on national minorities in Norway. However, estimating the number of Kvens is difficult since there is no official definition of a Kven. Therefore, other studies have estimated the number of Kvens to be about 50-60,000, based on the criteria that at least one of the grandparents spoke Finnish. But many of these may consider themselves to be Norwegian or Sami (or all three).
Kvenland
Kvenland is an ancient name for an area in FennoscandiaFennoscandia
Fennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are geographic and geological terms used to describe the Scandinavian Peninsula, the Kola Peninsula, Karelia and Finland...
. Kvenland is only known from a Norwegian account from the 9th century and from Icelandic sources written in the 12th and 13th centuries. As a name for a country, Kvenland seems to have been out of ordinary usage already at the beginning of the second millennium. Location of ancient Kvenland is unclear, as the existing sources can be interpreted in several ways. The most common interpretation is that ancient Kvenland was roughly corresponding to Ostrobothnia
Ostrobothnia
Ostrobothnia refers to various areas in Finland:* Ostrobothnia , province of the kingdom of Sweden before 1809* Ostrobothnia , in modern Finland* Other regions in modern Finland:** Southern Ostrobothnia** Central Ostrobothnia...
and Norrbotten
Norrbotten
Norrbotten is a Swedish province in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland.- Administration :...
.
Migrations
Carta marina
The Carta marina , created by Olaus Magnus in the 16th century, is the earliest map of the Nordic countries that gives details and placenames...
by Olaus Magnus
Olaus Magnus
Olaus Magnus was a Swedish ecclesiastic and writer, who did pioneering work for the interest of Nordic people. He was reported as born in October 1490 in Östergötland, and died on August 1, 1557. Magnus, Latin for the Swedish Stor “great”, is a Latin family name taken personally, and not a...
from 1539 shows a possible Kven settlement roughly in between today's Tromsø
Tromsø
Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
and Lofoten
Lofoten
Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...
named "Berkara Qvenar". Kvens of this time are often connected to the birkarl organization in northern Sweden. In some early documents Kvens are also grouped together with the Sami people
Sami people
The Sami people, also spelled Sámi, or Saami, are the arctic indigenous people inhabiting Sápmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Kola Peninsula of Russia, and the border area between south and middle Sweden and Norway. The Sámi are Europe’s northernmost...
, who are the indigenous people of Central and Northern Norway.
The main immigration of Kvens to Norway can be divided into two periods. The first large immigration was from about 1720 to 1820, when Finnish speaking people from the northern Finland and Tornio
Tornio
Tornio is a town and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. The population density is , with a total population of . It borders to the Swedish municipality of Haparanda...
River valley moved to river basins and fjord-ends in Troms
Troms
or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...
and the western parts of Finnmark
Finnmark
or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...
, to places such as Polmak
Polmak
Polmak is a village and a former municipality in Finnmark county in Norway. It is located in the southern part of the present-day municipality of Tana...
, Karasjok
Karasjok
Kárášjohka or is a village and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Karasjok.-Name:Karasjok is a Norwegianized form of the Sámi name Kárášjohka...
, Porsanger
Porsanger
Porsanger or Porsáŋgu or Porsanki is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lakselv...
, Alta
Alta, Norway
-Birdlife:For those interested in bird watching, the river outlet, known locally as Altaosen is well worth a visit. This tidal area is used as a stopover for many wetland species.-Transportation:...
and Lyngen
Lyngen
Lyngen is a municipality and a fjord in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lyngseidet.- General information :...
. The immigration can be seen as a continuation of Finnish farmers colonizing Finnish and Swedish Lapland.
The second, larger, immigration was from about 1820 to 1890 to the coastal areas of eastern Finnmark, motivated by the blooming fishing industry in Northern Norway. It was also easier to get to America from Northern Norway than Northern Finland. Therefore many people moved first to Finnmark, continuing from there over the Atlantic. The immigration ended due to problems in the fishing industry, population pressure, emigration to America and increasing problems for Kvens to buy land and obtain Norwegian citizenship.
Note that the term "immigration" may not be applicable for these periods, since the Norwegian-Swedish border was not established until 1751, and the Norwegian-Russian border in 1826.
Assimilation policy
At the beginning of the first immigration until the 1860s, the Norwegian government was positive to the Kvens establishing farming colonies in the sparsely populated areas in Northern Norway. However, from 1850s until World War II the Norwegian government initiated fornorskningspolitikken (the norwegianization policy), where the goal was to assimilate the Kven and Sami people, and culture, into the national majority. The policy was motivated by nationalistic ideas and later by race theory. Also the Sami and Kvens even came to be considered a national "security risk". Both groups were monitored by the Norwegian security police. Later research has shown that there was no actual threat.From World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
until the 1970s, Kvens were not mentioned in politics, but were still monitored by the security police. During this period the Sami culture revitalized and become politically active, and were able make some progress into stopping the assimilation, for example by being allowed to teach Sami in the schools. At the same time, the Norwegian government's policy against the Sami and Kven changed, especially after altasaken
Alta controversy
The Alta controversy refers to a political controversy in Norway in the late 1970s and early 1980s concerning the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the Alta river in Finnmark, Northern Norway.-Key events:...
in the 1980s which was an important turning point for Sami politics. After “altasaken”, the Sami people were recognized as indigenous people (1989), it became important to protect the Sami culture, the Sami language became protected by a law, a Sami parliament was established, and finally “finnmarksloven” transferred the ownership of the land in Finnmark back from the Norwegian state company “Statskog” to the people of Finnmark (of which many are Sami). In the 1980s, the Kven people also started organizing themselves, and fought for a status as a national minority. Norske Kveners Forbund (the Kven organization in Norway) was established in 1987.
During this period the use of the Kven language was forbidden in schools and government offices. Land purchase was prohibited for those who did not acquire Norwegian family names. Eventually, selling land to non-speakers of the Norwegian language
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
became prohibited. Also, the Norwegian Defense Ministry in 1870 demanded that all Kven/Finnish names ("foreign names") to be removed from maps.
In the 1990s Kvens were recognized as a national minority, and with it protection of the Kven culture and language (2005).
In spite of what their own preferences might have been, the Kven population of Norway largely became integrated into the Norwegian mainstream society. In traditional Kven communities, such as Vadsø
Vadsø
is a city and municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality and the county of Finnmark....
, where the Kvens had formed the majority of the population, they soon considered the Norwegian cultural identity as a standard.
Language
The Kven language is a Finnic language. From a linguistic point of view the Kven language is a mutually intelligible dialectDialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
of Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, but for political and historical reasons it received in 2005 status of a legal minority language
Minority language
A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities.-International politics:...
in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a European treaty adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe...
.
The Kven language differs from Finnish, since the Kven population was in effect isolated from other Finnish-speaking people. The Kven language has come to incorporate many Norwegian loan words, and Finnish words no longer used in Finland are still used. In a 2005 government report, the number of people speaking the Kven language in Norway is estimated to be between 2000 and 8000, depending on the criteria used.
A separate ethnicity?
In the 1990s there was a debate among Kvens whether they should be considered as an ethnic group of their own, or whether they were just Finnish Norwegians. Also, during the process of getting the Kven language recognized, there was a debate whether it is an actual language or just a Finnish dialect, and whether the Kven language or Finnish should be taught in schools.Indigenous in Norway
Kven and Sami people share a common history of NorwegianizationNorwegianization
Norwegianization is a term used to described the official government policy carried out by the Norwegian government against the Sami and later the Kven people of northern Norway to assimilate non-Norwegian-speaking native populations into an ethnically and culturally uniform Norwegian population...
. However, post-Norwegianization policies have treated them differently. Sami people have been recognized as the indigenous people in Northern Norway. They have their own schools and parliament, and they elect three of the six members for the board of Finnmark Estate (the organization owning about 95% of the land in the county of Finnmark). Some Kvens believe the distribution of rights and public funds has favored the Sami people too much, whereas on the Sami side there are people who think the Norwegian minority politics and public funding should focus mostly on the Sami people.
Lately, the Norwegian Kven Organization
Norwegian Kven Organization
The Norwegian Kven Organization was established in 1987, and has about 700 members. The organization has local branches in Skibotn, Børselv, Nord-Varanger, Tana, Lakselv, Alta, northern Troms, Tromsø, and Østlandet....
has attempted to get the Kvens recognized, similarly to the Sami people, as an indigenous people in Norway. This has made it important for some Kvens to show that their history stretches further back in time than commonly believed. There has been some recent unofficial adoption of the word "Kainu" as the new name for "Kven", in accordance with the hypotheses put forward by Finnish historians Jouko Vahtola and Kyösti Julku. Julku has also been the main protagonist for claims about existence of a large Kven territory covering Finnmark
Finnmark
or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...
, all of Lapland and even northern Ostrobothnia
Ostrobothnia
Ostrobothnia refers to various areas in Finland:* Ostrobothnia , province of the kingdom of Sweden before 1809* Ostrobothnia , in modern Finland* Other regions in modern Finland:** Southern Ostrobothnia** Central Ostrobothnia...
which would have been known as "Kainu(u)" and existed already in the Viking Age
Viking Age
Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...
. Vahtola has hypothesized that words "Kven" and "Kainu(u)" are interchangeable
Origin of the name Kainuu
Origin of the name Kainuu has been a disputed subject among Finnish historians and linguistics. Kainuu is a region of Finland. The reason for the controversy is the speculated connection between areas known as Kainuu and Kvenland, both historical lands in Fennoscandia.-Theory one: Swampy land:As a...
.
"Swedish Kvens"
In SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, some Tornedalians
Tornedalians
The Tornedalians are descendants of Finns who in some point in history settled to the areas of today's Northern Sweden near the Torne Valley district and west from there.-History:...
call themselves Kvens, claiming to be the direct descendants of the medieval Kvens
Kvens of the past
Kvenland, known as Cwenland, Kænland or similar in sources, is an ancient name for an area in Fennoscandia. Kvenland is only known from an Old English account written in the 9th century, and from Icelandic sources written in the 12th and 13th centuries.Since the 17th century most historians have...
. This group is attempting to get the Kvens recognized as the indigenous people in Northern Sweden in order to get the same rights to the land as the Sami people are predicted to get if Sweden accepts the ILO 169
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 is an International Labour Organization Convention, also known as ILO-convention 169, or C169. It is the major binding international convention concerning indigenous peoples, and a forerunner of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.It...
convention about the rights of indigenous people (see also: Finnmark Act
Finnmark Act
The Finnmark Act transferred about 95% of the area in the Finnmark county in Norway to the inhabitants of Finnmark. This area is managed by the Finnmark Estate agency....
). However, the Swedish Kvens have no distinct culture, have not been known as an ethnic group in recent history, and there is no evidence that they are the descendants of the medieval Kvens. It should be noted, on the other hand, that there is a relatively large minority of Finnish-speaking people living in northern Sweden, particularly in the Torneå River Valley, and that their language, meänkieli (literally "our language", a slightly pidginized version of the Finnish accent found on the east bank of the Torneå/Tornionjoki), is now an official minority language in Sweden. Although probably not directly related to the mediaeval Kvens (Finn. "kainulaiset"), the Finnish-speaking populace was well established in what is now northern Sweden long before the current Swedish-Finnish border was drawn in 1809, the two countries having previously been parts of the same realm for some six centuries.
Ruijan Kaiku
Ruijan Kaiku is a bi-lingual newspaper (KvenKven language
The Kven language is a Finnic language spoken in Northern Norway by the Kven people. For political and historical reasons it received the status of a minority language in 2005 within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
/Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
and Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
) that is published in Tromsø
Tromsø
Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Currently one issue is published each month. The newspaper writes mostly about Kven issues, and about the work of strengthening Finnish language and culture in Norway. In addition the paper has stories about other Finnish organizations in Norway, and about other Finnish minorities in the Nordic
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
and surrounding countries.Chief editor Liisa Koivulehto.
Baaski festival
Baaski is a Kven culture festival held in NordreisaNordreisa
Nordreisa is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Storslett.The municipality consists of the valley of Reisadalen, with the Reisa river and deep pine forests, surrounded by mountains and high plateaus. Most people live in...
. The first festival was in June 2007, but it is intended to be an annual event. The responsible organizers is Nordreisa municipality, and the first festival director was Johanne Gaup.
Kven costume
In the late 1990s a Kven costume was designed. It is not a reconstruction of an old costume, but rather a new design based on pictures and other sources about the clothing and jewelry used by Kvens in the late 19th and early 20th century. The purpose of creating the costume was to unify and strengthen Kven identity.Kadonu Loru
Kadonu Loru is the only pop musicPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
single ever recorded in the Kven language. It is based on an old Kven nursery rhyme
Nursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
about making sausages. The artists are Karine Jacobsen and Kine Johansen respectively from Børselv
Børselv
Børselv is a village in Porsanger in Finnmark, Northern Norway. It is located along the Porsangerfjord at the outlet of the river Børselva....
and Lakselv. The single was published by Iđut.
The Norwegian Kven organization
The Norwegian Kven Organisation (Ruijan Kveeniliitto in Kven/Finnish and Norske Kveners Forbund in Norwegian) was established in 1987, and has currently about 700 members. The organization has local branches in: SkibotnSkibotn
Skibotn is a village with approximately 700 inhabitants in Storfjord municipality, located on the southeastern shore of the Lyngen Fjord in the Northern Norwegian county of Troms. The village area is located at the crossroads of the highways E6 and E8...
, Børselv
Børselv
Børselv is a village in Porsanger in Finnmark, Northern Norway. It is located along the Porsangerfjord at the outlet of the river Børselva....
, Nord-Varanger
Nord-Varanger
Nord-Varanger is a former municipality in Finnmark county in Norway. It is located in the present-day municipality of Vadsø on the southern half of the Varanger Peninsula along the Varangerfjord.-Name:...
, Tana, Lakselv, Alta
Alta, Norway
-Birdlife:For those interested in bird watching, the river outlet, known locally as Altaosen is well worth a visit. This tidal area is used as a stopover for many wetland species.-Transportation:...
, northern Troms
Troms
or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...
, Tromsø
Tromsø
Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...
, and Østlandet
Østlandet
Eastern Norway or Austlandet ) is the geographical region of the south-eastern part of Norway. It consists of the counties Telemark, Vestfold, Østfold, Akershus, Oslo , Buskerud, Oppland and Hedmark....
.
The tasks of the organisation include working for a government report about the history and rights of the Kven population, improving the media coverage of Kven issues, and for the Norwegian government to establish a secretary (statssekretær) for Kven issues. In addition, reading and writing classes at the beginner to advanced level, establishing a Kven kindergarten, and to incorporate the Kven language in all education levels in Norway. Also, to establish a Kven culture fund, road and other signs in Kven, Kven names in official maps, and museums and centers for Kven language and culture.
The Kven institute
The Kven institute (Kainun institutti in Kven/Finnish and Kvensk institutt in Norwegian) is a center for Kven culture and languageKven language
The Kven language is a Finnic language spoken in Northern Norway by the Kven people. For political and historical reasons it received the status of a minority language in 2005 within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
located in Børselv
Børselv
Børselv is a village in Porsanger in Finnmark, Northern Norway. It is located along the Porsangerfjord at the outlet of the river Børselva....
in Porsangi (Porsanger)
Porsanger
Porsanger or Porsáŋgu or Porsanki is a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lakselv...
municipality in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
Kven Language Board
The Kven Language Board that was established in April 2007. It consists of the leader Irene Andreassen, Terje Aronsen, Prof. Anna Riitta Lindgren, Assoc. Prof. Eira Söderholm, and Pia Lane. The first task is to create a standard for written Kven language.External links
- Norske Kveners Forbund (the Norwegian Kven Organization (Norwegian only)
- Vadsø museum. A Kven museum
- http://www.ub.uit.no/baser/kvensk/. Kven bibliography. Searchable database of news articles, books, maps, etc.
- Kenneth Hyltenstam & Tommaso Maria Milani: Kvenskans status: Rapport för Kommunal- og regionaldepartement och Kultur- og kirkedepartement. 2003. Has a nice introduction to Kven history (Swedish only)
- Ethographical map of Finnmark in 1861.
- FTDNA Finland Geographic DNA Project