Karelia

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Karelia , constituent republic (1990 pop. 800,000), 66,409 sq mi (172,300 sq km), NW European Russia, extending from the Finnish border in the west to the White Sea in the east and from the Kola Peninsula in the north to Lakes Ladoga and Onega (Europe's largest freshwater lakes) in the south. Petrozavodsk is the capital. A glaciated plateau, Karelia is covered by over 60,000 lakes and by coniferous forests; fishing and lumbering are major industries. Agriculture, generally hampered by cold climate and poor soil, is possible only in the south, where some grains, potatoes, fodder grasses, and vegetables are grown; dairy farming and livestock raising are also carried on. Karelia has valuable deposits of iron ore, magnetite, lead, zinc, copper, titanium, marble, and pyrite. Power for industry is supplied by the republic's many short, rapid rivers. Besides lumbering and related industries, Karelia has shipbuilding and repair yards, food-processing plants, and factories that produce furniture, aluminum, building materials, and textiles. The republic is crossed by the Murmansk RR and by the Baltic–White Sea Canal, which is both commercially and strategically important. Russians and Ukrainians constitute a majority of the population, the rest of which consists mainly of Karelians, Finns, and Lapps, who are very closely related and have an identical written language. The Karelians, a major division of the Finns, were first mentioned in the 9th cent. and formed a strong medieval state. Karelia, properly speaking the region N and E of Lake Onega, was conquered in the 12th–13th cent. by the Swedes, who took the west, and by Novgorod, which took the east. The eastern part was taken from Russia by Sweden in 1617 but restored in 1721 by the Treaty of Nystad. The western part shared the history of Finland until 1940. It was from oral traditions among the Karelians that the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, was compiled in the 19th cent. by Elias Lönnrot . The Karelian area of the Russian Empire was economically backward and was often a place of exile for political prisoners. In 1920 an autonomous oblast, known as the Karelian Workers' Commune, was set up in E Karelia; in 1923 it was made into the Karelian Autonomous SSR, which, after the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–40, incorporated most of the territory ceded by Finland to the USSR. In Mar., 1940, the region's status was raised to that of a constituent republic, called the Karelo-Finnish SSR. During World War II, the Finns (allies of the Axis powers) occupied most of Karelia, but it was returned to the USSR in 1944. Karelia reverted to the status of an autonomous republic in 1956. It was a signatory to the Mar. 31, 1992, treaty that created the Russian Federation (see Russia ).

Karelia Republic of the Russian Federation in nw European Russia; the capital is Petrozavodsk. In the Middle Ages, the region was an independent Finnish state. Split in the 12th century between Sweden and Novgorod, it was unified under Swedish rule in the 17th century. The e was returned to Russia in 1721, while the w was part of Finland until 1940. After the Soviet-Finnish War (1939–40), the e sector absorbed 36,000sq km (14,000sq mi) of Finnish land and became a constituent republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR). During World War II, the Finns occupied most of Karelia but it was returned to the Soviet Union in 1944. Declaring itself the Republic of Karelia, it became a constituent republic of the Russian Federation in 1992. Climate restricts farming to the s, where vegetables and cereals are grown and livestock raised. Fishing and timber are the chief industries. The region has valuable mineral deposits. Area: 172,400sq km (66,564sq mi). Pop. (2000 est.) 766,400.

Karelia (Russian: Kareliya; Finnish: Karjala), Finland‐Russia The major part of the region forms a Russian republic, previously called Olonets Province after a dialect of the Karelian language, named after the Karelian people; a very small part lies in Finland. An independent Finnish state in medieval times, Eastern Karelia was acquired by Russia in 1323 and Western Karelia when Sweden relinquished it in 1721 at the end of the Great Northern War (1700–21). However, after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and Finland's declaration of independence in 1917, Western Karelia was awarded to Finland in 1920. In 1940 the greater part of Finnish Karelia was annexed by the Soviet Union after the Russo‐Finnish War (1939–40) ended.

Karelia A region on the frontier of Finland and Russia, which formed an independent Finnish state in medieval times and whose folk-tales were the source of the Finnish epic, the Kalevala. In the 16th century Karelia came under Swedish rule and in 1721 it was annexed by Russia. Following Finland's declaration of independence in 1917, part of Karelia became a region of Finland and part was subsequently designated an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union. After the Russian—Finnish War of 1939–40 the greater part of Finnish Karelia was ceded to the Soviet Union.

Karelia. Ov. and suite for orch., Opp. 10 and 11 by Sibelius, comp. 1893. Karelia is province in southern Finland.