Tornedalians

Tornedalians (; ; ) are an ethnic minority native to the Meänmaa (Torne Valley) region in northern Sweden and Finland. Tornedalians may refer to themselves using several different terms, though most commonly as Tornedalians, Kvens or Lantalaiset. Tornedalians were officially recognized as a distinct national minority in Sweden in 2000. In Finland, Tornedalians are generally considered a regional subgroup of Finns.

Key facts

Ethnic group.group: Tornedalians
Ethnic group.native_name_lang: fit
Ethnic group.flag: Flag of Tornedalians (2007).svg
Ethnic group.flag_caption: Flag of Tornedalians
Ethnic group.image: Gubben Tano från Kolari.jpg
Ethnic group.image_caption: Man from Kolari in traditional clothing.
Ethnic group.pop1: 40,000–150,000
Ethnic group.rels: Lutheranism (Laestadianism)
Ethnic group.langs: Meänkieli, Finnish and Swedish
Ethnic group.related: Kvens, Peräpohjalaiset, Finns, Karelians

via Wikipedia infobox

~20 min read

Encyclopedic overview

16 sections

Contents

Etymologies
Language
History
Early History: 800–1323
Early Interactions with Sweden: 1300–1500
Swedish Colonial Era: 1500–1809
The Great Wrath
Modern Era: 1809–today
Religion and beliefs
Population
Traditional clothing
Literature and cinema
Flag
Notable people
See also
References

==Etymologies== The English word Tornedalian derives from the Swedish name for the Torne Valley, Tornedalen. The Swedish word Tornedalen in turn derives from the archaic Finnic word tornio meaning spear and the Swedish word dal which means valley.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tornedalians” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.