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This Island SHOULD Be Swedish - Why Isn't It?
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May 18, 2025
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View Video Transcript
0:00
Take a look at this set of islands in the Baltic Sea. They are called the Åland Islands
0:05
the main one being Fasta, where 90% of its 30,000 people live. In addition to it
0:11
there are about 6,500 other small ones. Their flag is essentially the Swedish one with an
0:17
additional red Nordic cross and most of its people are ethnically Swedish, speaking Swedish
0:24
as their language as well, with 85% of the people, only 5% speaking Finnish. But despite that
0:31
it's part of Finland. It's likely that most of you watching being either Swedish
0:37
Finnish, or fans of history and geography will already know this, but the story of how these
0:42
islands came to be in Finland's possession and how that impacts their unique status today
0:48
is quite interesting. So in this video, we are going to learn about that
0:54
First of all, the name. I couldn't really figure out how to say it properly. We don't
1:03
have this little circle above the A in Latin languages, so my Norwegian fiancé came to
1:08
the rescue and I'm sure I'm still gonna mispronounce it throughout the entire video
1:12
The name is believed to be a short form of Avaland, which derived from an old Norse word
1:18
Ava meaning water. In Finnish it's called Avenanma, coming from the word Aven which means perch
1:26
The Latin name for it is Alandia so I would therefore conclude that its name literally means
1:31
water land which is fitting given the island status. Olan was actually first colonized by
1:37
people of the Kamen Keramik culture in prehistoric times. These were people native to prehistoric
1:44
Finland in about 4000 BC. Thousands of years later other people from the west arrived, likely from
1:50
Scandinavia. By the year 500, various settlements of Swedish origin were established and in the 12th
1:57
century Swedish King Erik IX, also called Erik the Saint, is said to have arrived and definitively
2:04
occupied the islands. As the time went on and as we arrived into the middle ages
2:10
western influence continued to grow. This is visible in the burial customs, having Christian
2:16
markings and churches becoming present as early as the 13th century, which is precisely when the
2:22
islands were fully incorporated into the Swedish empire. At this time, Sweden ruled not only what
2:28
is today their territory, but also essentially all of Finland. Åland wasn't an extra set of
2:34
of islands off their eastern border as they are now, they were exactly in the middle of their vast
2:40
kingdom. This map shows us the charter of the east route between Stockholm and Turku with the
2:47
Åland archipelago being precisely in the middle of it. For administrative purposes, they were
2:52
assigned to the Turku diocese of Finland and the bishop assigned by the Swedish king to rule over
2:59
it was actually a native from the islands, Ragenwald II. During the middle ages, Åland
3:04
became very prosperous. The Baltic Sea was the setting of important trade routes, the Hanseatic
3:10
League is an example of that and one of those ran straight through the sea of Åland, stretching from
3:16
Roslagen in Sweden near Stockholm and going through southwest Finland They were likely a part of extensive trade networks so much so that even Arab coins have been found on the islands The castle of Kasselholm was also built in the 14th century
3:32
and granted Åland a military importance, too, in connection to the military forces stationed in
3:38
Turku. But a few hundred years later, its status changed, being incorporated into a duchy that
3:44
Swedish king Gustav Vassa gave to his son, Duke Johan. Actually a fun fact about this period is
3:52
that that same duke then held his brother, King Erik XIV and his wife, prisoner at the castle of
3:59
Kasselholm and in 1665 a number of witch trials took place at the castle too with over 20 women
4:06
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6:11
Throughout these centuries of existence under Swedish rule many Swedes migrated to the islands
6:16
and its population and importance grew. But not enough to give it full autonomy, at least not yet
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By 1634, a reform of the territorial organization of Sweden restructured Finland
6:30
and Åland was merged with Finland proper into a governorship. And everything was fine for a while, but then the troubles began
6:39
As the Great Northern War started between the empires of Sweden and Russia
6:44
Finland and the Islands were caught in the middle as they were much closer to the front line The Battle of Gringham is one of the finest examples of this taking place in 1720 and seeing the Swedish navy face off
6:57
against the Imperial Russians. The battle was actually an impressive feat being depicted
7:02
in this painting by Ferdinand Viktor Pero. While the Swedish didn't achieve a full-on
7:07
victory, they were able to hold their own despite being significantly outnumbered. They
7:13
had one ship of the line, four frigates and three galleys. Counting with only about a
7:18
thousand sailors while Russia had 61 galleys and 11,000 men. Many say it was the last significant
7:25
battle of the northern war, at least at sea, showing the significance of the location of
7:30
the islands too. So much so that the Russians came to occupy them between 1714 and 1721
7:37
And while Sweden was terribly defeated in this war and lost a lot of territory at the
7:42
end of it, they were able to hold on to Holland and Finland for a little while more
7:49
But not for long. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Finnish war took place between Sweden and Russia again
7:55
The Russians occupied Åland once more in 1808, using their attack as precisely a way
8:00
of breaking communications between mainland Sweden and Sweden-controlled Finland. Surprisingly, despite Sweden not being able to defend the island, the islanders themselves
8:11
rose up against the Russian occupation. An army of farmers and fishermen led by a local sheriff, Erik Arden, and a pastor, Johan
8:21
Enrik Gumerus, managed to be victorious against the Russian forces. Perhaps angry at the humiliation, or perhaps just aware of how strategically important
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the archipelago was, the Russians returned with a force of more than 10,000 soldiers
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They took the islands and eventually won the Finnish war. As a result, Sweden lost control over the islands as well as over all of Finland, which
8:46
was turned into the Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire
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And so, in the year of 1809, Åland was no longer Swedish, despite its people remaining so
8:58
Under Russian rule, the archipelago went through all sorts of ordeals. They built a new fortress called Bomarsund and were actually invaded by the British and
9:07
French during the Crimean War. These two great paintings tell us the story of those conflicts
9:13
between British and Russian forces in 1854. Imagine living there at the time, you're just
9:19
a Swedish guy living in your island, suddenly you're now Finnish, then you're Russian and then
9:25
British and French troops are arriving at your home, invading your town, all because your current
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rulers are fighting to conquer some peninsula thousands of kilometers away. Despite its craziness
9:38
this conflict, which ended up being called the Island War, is relevant to life in the islands
9:43
today. It was during the Treaty of Paris that ended the Crimean War that it was determined
9:48
that it would be forbidden for anyone to construct fortifications in the island
9:53
with all old forts being destroyed. This was breached over and over again in the next
9:59
upcoming centuries, but it's still relevant today. While it was a part of the Duchy of Finland
10:03
the importance of the islands made it so that they were the target of a more direct attention by
10:08
Russia As World War I broke out however that attention was diverted into the front line with Germany as well as their own internal conflict that followed In 1917 Finland declared independence and sent troops to take over but seeing
10:23
the Finnish become independent stirred up the patriotism of Åland's Swedes. A referendum was held and 95% of the islanders voted to rejoin Sweden
10:33
This was followed by the arrival of Swedish soldiers who remained there until the end
10:37
of the war. In the Paris Peace Conference, Sweden made the argument that they should be able to recover
10:41
the islands but the Entente powers refused and asserted that it should remain Finnish
10:46
It's difficult to understand why the Entente was so against giving the islands back to Sweden
10:53
especially when they were so adamant in changing borders to reflect the will of the locals. But
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Sweden was neutral during the war and so didn't have that much influence. When it came to the
11:03
peace conference, maybe this is why they couldn't do it. In the end, a meeting was held by the League
11:08
of nations on the subject and Sweden agreed to the islands remaining a part of Finland but
11:13
as an autonomous region, with Finland committing to respect their local identity, Swedish language
11:19
and culture and to assure the islands remain neutral and demilitarized. Finland itself is
11:24
a double language country, Swedish and Finnish have equal standing in the constitution so
11:29
this wasn't a huge concession for them to give. During World War II the islands were mostly left
11:33
alone. Finland was invaded by the Soviets during the Winter War but rather than taking the chance
11:38
to recover the islands, Sweden chose to support Finland instead, sending support and volunteers
11:44
They only had a contingency plan to take over the islands should all of Finland fall to the Soviets
11:49
which it didn't. Due to their autonomous status, the Olan merchant navy was able to freely move
11:55
around the Baltic Sea, something rare at the time. It's said they provided shipping services for
12:00
both sides of the conflict. After the war, the islands continued to be Finnish and it seems that
12:06
Swedish identity faded away over time. In a more recent poll, up to 70% of the locals said
12:12
they wanted to remain autonomous within Finland. Maybe they realized the benefits of that autonomy
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They get to legislate on their own on basically everything from education to healthcare as long as it doesn't clash with the Finnish constitution
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In 1997, after Finland voted to join the EU with 56% in favor, they held their own separate
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referendum which got over 70% support. Today they remain autonomous as a part of Finland with
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16 municipalities that present us with one of the coolest coat of arms collection that I've ever
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seen, most of them have only a couple hundred people living in them. And so that is why this
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set of islands remains Finnish today despite having belonged to Sweden for so much of their history
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despite being populated by mostly Swedish people that speak Swedish and fly a Swedish flag
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And it's also that unique history that leads to their, also, unique status today
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Thank you so much for watching this video, remember to subscribe if you want to catch future ones
13:12
and I will see you next time for more general knowledge. The Moomin' Cup today is, once again, a winter one
13:25
You have no idea how bright it is outside. It's the second video in a row that this happens
13:30
I need to lower the blind. I think what it is is that there's a very white building across from my building
13:38
And it just reflects so much of the light that I can't really see anything
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