Savonian

The Savonians are the Finnish tribal subgroup of the historical province of Savonia in the forested east of Finland. They descend from Tavastian and Karelian peasants who entered the wilderness during the Middle Ages in search of land for slash-and-burn farming, mixing with the older Sámi population.

The Treaty of Nöteborg in 1323, the first written mention of Savonia, assigned it to Sweden rather than Novgorod, tying it to the Finnish language and the Lutheran church. A distinct Savonian identity had formed by about 1700.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Swedish crown encouraged Savonian settlement of the central Finnish forests. Many migrated into central Sweden and eastern Norway, becoming known as the Forest Finns. Savonians and Karelians were also the first Finns to use hereditary surnames, often marked by the diminutive ending nen.