Originally Posted by
Lemminkäinen
To the 1200s it was still Saami region. Around 1300 south Finns populated the coast line, inland was Saami area to the 1600s, mostly uninhabited. The king's driving idea was to populate all coastal areas to secure it from Russians and it succeeed. Colonists got extra privileges to rule and tax Saamis as a compensation for defending area against Russians. This led to wars lasting 300 years. Still in the Great Northern War the Czar remembered it because he gave on order to kill civilians (30% killed) and burn the whole area to black soil. Still Stalin tried to occupy it in the Winter War, yet didn't succeed. So Sweden wanted to control the coast line from the middle on the 14 century by south Finnish colonists. It was like the Central USA in the 1700s. Only laws were sword and rifle. After the king Gustav Vasa's order in the middle of the 16th century East Finns, still with Karelian orgin, started an expansion to the Oulu direction, now the Oulu area is "multicultural" including also recent immigrants from Iraq etc. In the economic view in the coastal area seafaring has been important and the peak point was during the Russian era when Finland had one of the the biggest commercial navies in Europe. The livelihood in inlands is husbandry. Oulu is today known of its hitec companies and university.
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