Slavery in Finland

Routes through Slavic territories used for the slave trade: the Volga trade route from the Vikings (Varangians) to the Muslim Middle East (red); trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks (Byzantines) (blue); and other trade routes of the 8th–11th centuries (orange).

Mikhail Golitsyn, Russian governor of Finland during the slave trade under the Great Wrath

Memorial stone for the victims of the slave trade during the Great Wrath in Muhos, Finland

Slavery in Finland is little known in history. While chattel slavery likely existed in Finland, as it did in most cultures around the world at some point, there is little documentation of slavery ever having existed in Finland.

However, Finland did play a considerable role in the history of slavery as a source of slaves. In Finland's case, the history of slavery has therefore focused on the country as a supplier of slaves, with Finnish people being trafficked to other parts of the world.

For many centuries, Finland was a religious border zone. Initially, it was one of the few remaining pagan areas in Europe, situated between Christian Sweden and Russia. After its Christianization, Finland became a frontier between Roman Catholic (and later Protestant) Europe and Russian Orthodoxy. Additionally, as part of the Swedish realm, Finland served for centuries as a military borderland between Sweden and Russia, often becoming a battleground in their frequent conflicts.

Finland's status as a religious and political border zone made it vulnerable to slave raids for centuries. These raids typically came from Russia, where Finnish captives were either enslaved locally or trafficked further south to the Black Sea region, Central Asia and the Middle East. This trade is known to have continued until the 18th century, reaching its most intense phase during the Russian occupation of Finland in the Great Northern War—a period known as the Great Wrath.

Slavery

Slavery likely existed in Finland, as it did in most societies during antiquity, when chattel slavery was regarded as a normal institution in many cultures. However, there is little documentation of Finnish society prior to Finland becoming part of Sweden in the 12th and 13th centuries, and there are no direct mentions of slavery in Finland. Nevertheless, interpretations of saga literature and Finnish folklore suggest that the Finnish elite owned slaves during the Viking Age (800–1050).

Between 1150 and 1250, Finland gradually became part of Sweden, alongside its Christianization. The Swedish period also marks the beginning of Finland's documented history. There is no mention of slavery in Finland during this time. In the Middle Ages, chattel slavery was phased out in Europe due to the Christian doctrine that Christians should not enslave other Christians. As Europe became increasingly Christian, pagan slaves could no longer be acquired. Finland was under Swedish rule and influenced by Swedish policy. In Sweden, slavery was gradually phased out during the 13th century and officially banned in 1335. While it is theoretically possible that slavery existed in Finland before that date, the law made it legally impossible for slavery to continue after 1335.

Slave trade

Finland did not conduct any known slave trade itself. However, for centuries, it was subjected to slave raids, primarily from the east—particularly from what later became Russia. As a vulnerable border region between Sweden and Russia, Finland often became a battleground during their frequent wars.

As a religious border zone—first between the Christian and Pagan worlds, and later between Catholic and Protestant Europe and the Orthodox East—Finnish people were often viewed as religiously legitimate targets for enslavement. Their typically blonde features were considered exotic and desirable in the southern slave markets.

Finnish people were trafficked for enslavement in Russia or further south along river routes to the Black Sea slave markets, as well as to Central Asia and the Middle East.

Byzantine slave trade (5th–13th centuries)

See also: Byzantine slave trade, Saqaliba, Dublin slave trade, Balkan slave trade, Prague slave trade, and History of slavery in the Muslim world

During the Middle Ages, the coasts of the Baltic Sea were a source of slaves for the Black Sea slave trade, transported down river routes to the southeast. The region was also a center of first the Viking slave trade and later the Baltic slave trade.

Since both Christians and Muslims banned the enslavement of people of their own faith but viewed pagans as legitimate targets for slavery, the pagans of northeastern Europe became prime targets for slave traders after the rest of Europe had become Christian by the 12th century. The pagan Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Livonians, and Latgallians raided each other, as well as Ingria and Novgorod, during the 12th and 13th centuries, selling war captives south to the Black Sea slave trade.

Christian Rus' merchants from Kievan Rus' raided pagan Estonians to capture and sell them in the slave trade, as they were considered legitimate targets due to their pagan faith.

When the Norse Vikings converted to Christianity and ended their piracy in the 11th century, they were succeeded by pagan pirates from the Baltics, who raided the coasts of the Baltic Sea—including the newly Christianized Sweden and Finland—to capture slaves. The island of Saaremaa served as a base for Baltic pirates, who were known for selling captive women in the slave trade. In 1226, pagan Baltic pirates from Saaremaa conducted a slave raid against the newly Christianized Sweden, capturing many Swedish women and girls with the purpose of selling them as slaves.

When the Viking slave trade ended in the mid-11th century, the old slave trade route between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea and Central Asia—via the Russian rivers—was maintained by pagan Baltic slave traders. They sold slaves through the Daugava River to the Black Sea and beyond. This became the only remaining slave trade route in Europe after the Western European slave markets died out in the 12th century.

Italian slave trade (13th–15th centuries)

See also: Saqaliba, Venetian slave trade, Balkan slave trade, Genoese slave trade, and History of slavery in the Muslim world

During this period, religious conviction played an important role in determining who could be legitimately enslaved. Christians could not enslave other Christians, and Muslims could not enslave other Muslims. However, since both Christians and Muslims regarded pagans as legitimate targets for slavery, the remaining pagans of northeastern Europe became an economical choice for slave traders.

By the 13th century, all of Europe had become Christian except for the Baltics, Eastern Finland and Karelia. These regions served as supply zones—via the Baltic and Kievan Rus' slave trades—for slaves destined for the Black Sea slave trade. From there, Italian slave traders trafficked them to Southern Europe and the Islamic Middle East.

In the late Middle Ages (13th–15th centuries), the Black Sea was the center of the Genoese slave trade and the Venetian slave trade, which exported slaves from Eastern Europe via their controlled cities in Crimea to Spain and Italy and to the Islamic Middle East.

Crimean slave trade and Russia (16th–18th centuries)

See also: Crimean slave trade, Ottoman slave trade, Slavery in Iran, and History of slavery in the Muslim world

Peter I of Russia pacifies his marauding troops after taking Narva in 1704 by Nikolay Sauerweid, 1859. Many Swedish Empire citizens were captured by Russian soldiers during this event and were sold to Crimea.

Slave raids carried out by private Russian traders across the border into Eastern Finland—capturing Finns and trafficking them south to the Black Sea—began in the Middle Ages and are estimated to have continued throughout the 17th century.

During the Great Northern War (1700–1721), Russia invaded the eastern provinces of the Swedish Empire in Finland, Estonia and Livonia in the Baltics. Since the 15th century, the Russian army had permitted private soldiers to capture and sell war captives. During the Great Northern War, many Russian soldiers captured Livonians, Finns, and Baltic civilians—particularly children—from the Swedish provinces and sold them, with some ending up in the Black Sea slave trade and Persia.

One notable event was the fall of Narva, where Lovisa von Burghausen became a well-known victim, captured by Russian soldiers with the intent to sell her into slavery. Another case involved Annika Svahn and Afrosinya. Lovisa, along with two other female slaves—one from Finland and one from Narva—was sold on the Russian slave market in Moscow. The Finnish woman was sold to an Armenian, the woman from Narva to a Russian clerk, and Lovisa to a Turkish-Ottoman merchant.

The Swedish province of Finland endured severe oppression during the Russian invasion and occupation known as the Great Wrath (1714–1721). Among the atrocities were the abductions and enslavement of people by the Russian military, some of whom were trafficked through Russia and the Crimean slave trade to Persia and the Middle East, where blonde people were considered exotic. It is estimated that between 20,000 and 30,000 people were abducted, and about a quarter of Finnish farmhouses were reportedly empty by the end of the occupation. Finnish historian Teemu Keskisarja has suggested that during the Great Northern War, more slaves were taken from Finland to Russia in proportion to the population than from many regions of Africa to the Americas.

Between 10,000 and 20,000 people were taken to serve as slave labourers during the building of Saint Petersburg. Approximately 2,000 men were forcibly enlisted in the Russian army, but many women and children were also abducted as serfs or sex slaves by Russian officers, some of whom sold them into the Crimean slave trade. About 4,600 people—most of them children—were abducted from Ostrobothnia and Eastern Finland. Annika Svahn, Kustaa Lillbäck and (likely) Afrosinya are examples of Finnish people abducted by the Russians during the Great Wrath.

Many Swedish Empire citizens captured and sold by Russian soldiers were trafficked through the Crimean slave trade to the slave market in Constantinople, where the Swedish ambassador managed to secure the freedom of some—many of whom were women. From June 1710, the Swedish ambassador Thomas Funck made trips to the slave market in Constantinople to buy Swedish Empire citizens. These trips were documented by his legation priest, Sven Agrell. Agrell recorded, for example, the purchase of a "carpenter's daughter from Narva" for $82, a "Captain's wife" for $240, Catharina Pereswetoff-Morath, age 18, for $275, and an entire Livonian family—Anders Jonsson with his wife and children. Those who were bought free with Swedish funds were probably escorted to King Charles XII's war camp in Bender and returned to Sweden with him. However, it was noted that although many Swedish Empire citizens were freed by the Swedish ambassador, limited wartime finances made it impossible to buy everyone. Many young women and children were far too expensive, and as a result, many were purchased by private buyers and remained in the Ottoman Empire.

Legacy

On 3 September 2022, in Muhos, Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland, a memorial called Orjaleiripatsas, designed by Antero Kassinen, was inaugurated in memory of the Finnish victims of the slave trade during the Russian occupation known as the Great Wrath.