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| Viipuri Province Viipurin lääni Viborgs län Выборгская губерния | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province of Finland | |||||||||||||
| 1812–1945 | |||||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||||
 Map of the province of Vyborg from 1913 | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Viipuri | ||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• 19391 | 32,134 km2 (12,407 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
• 19391 | 620,838 | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Established | 1812 | ||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 1945 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| 1 About 43 thousand km2 with the surface of the Finnish part of Lake Ladoga. | |||||||||||||
Viipuri Province [lower-alpha 1] was a historical province of Finland from 1812 to 1945.
The predecessor of the province was Vyborg Governorate, which was established in 1744 from territories ceded by the Swedish Empire to Russia in 1721 (Treaty of Nystad) and in 1743 (Treaty of Åbo). These territories originated as parts of the Viborg and Nyslott County and Kexholm County in 1721, and parts of the Savolax and Kymmenegård County in 1743. The governorate was also known as Old Finland.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Kingdom of Sweden had allied itself with the Russian Empire, United Kingdom and other parties against Napoleonic France. However, following the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, Russia made peace with France. In 1808, supported by France, Russia successfully challenged Swedish control over Finland in the Finnish War. In the Treaty of Fredrikshamn on September 17, 1809, Sweden was obliged to cede all its territory in Finland east of the Torne River to Russia. The Russian Empire reconstituted the new territories into the autonomic Grand Duchy of Finland, with the Russian Tsar as Grand Duke. [1]
In 1812, the territories of the Vyborg Governorate were transferred from Russia proper to the Grand Duchy of Finland and established as Viipuri Province. The transfer announced by Tsar Alexander I just before Christmas, on December 23, 1811 O.S. (January 4, 1812 N.S.), can be seen[ vague ] as a symbolic gesture and an attempt to appease the sentiment of the Finnish population, which had just experienced Russian conquest of their country by force. Siestarjoki was transferred to Saint Petersburg Governorate in 1864.
When Finland became independent from Russia in 1917, the status of Viipuri Province remained unchanged. The provincial capital, Vyborg (Swedish : Viborg, Finnish : Viipuri), was at this time the fourth largest city in Finland.
Viipuri Province had sided with the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic during the Finnish Civil War. The Province was important to Red Finland for the reason that it shared a border with the Russian SFSR which in turn could send troops and supplies to Red Finland.
On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and started World War II. On September 17, 1939, the USSR, in accordance with the secret protocols of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, invaded Poland from the east. Within months, the Soviet Union launched a war against Finland. As a result of this war, Finland was forced to cede territory, including parts of Viipuri Province, to the Soviet Union in the Moscow Peace Treaty in early 1940. Finland lost its natural border along the Rajajoki River (Swedish : Systerbäck) in the south. 22,973 km2, or 71.5 percent of the province on the Karelian Isthmus, including the cities of Viipuri and Sortavala, became part of the newly established Karelo-Finnish SSR in the Soviet Union. Following the peace treaty, the entire population of the ceded territories, more than four hundred thousand people, was evacuated to central Finland.
In 1941 the Continuation War broke out and Finland recaptured the territories, but in 1944 its forces were pushed back and by the Moscow Armistice on September 19, 1944, and the Paris Peace Treaty in 1947 the territorial losses were confirmed again.
Winter war evacuees had returned following the Finnish offensive in 1941 and were evacuated again in 1944 after the Soviet counterattack, and the territories were repopulated by people from other parts of the Soviet Union. This time, the Karelian Isthmus became part of the Vyborgsky and Priozersky districts of the Leningrad Oblast, and only Ladoga Karelia and Border Karelia became part of the Karelo-Finnish SSR.
While Ladoga Karelia retained most of its original toponyms, the vast majority of toponyms in the Karelian Isthmus were renamed by the Soviet government around 1948. In 1945 the parts of the province that remained in Finnish hands were renamed Kymi Province, with its center at Kouvola. The Kymi Province was in turn merged with other provinces into the larger Southern Finland Province in 1997.
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The area had a well-developed economy due to its proximity to Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire. In 1856 Saimaa Canal (Russian : Сайменский канал, Saymensky kanal) was opened, linking Lake Saimaa and Finnish Lakeland to the Vyborg Bay.
The development of the province was bolstered further by the construction of the Saint Petersburg–Riihimäki railroad in 1870, the Viborg–Joensuu railroad in 1894 and the Petrograd–Hiitola railroad in 1917.
Granite, marble (in Ruskeala) and bog iron mining as well as logging were important branches of industry. Starting from the beginning of the 20th century, a number of hydroelectric power plants were built by Enso in the higher reaches of the River Vuoksi to supply its pulp and paper mills.
In Finnish kihlakunta, in Swedish härad.
Those which were ceded to the Soviet Union during World War II are given in italics.
Cities
Hamina – Fredrikshamn
Kotka 
Lappeenranta – Villmanstrand (website)Towns
Kouvola Rural municipalities
Finnish/Swedish name. Main village with the same name unless otherwise noted.
Following the electoral reform to the new Parliament of Finland in 1906, the province was divided into an Eastern and a Western electoral district.
Western electoral district
Haapasaari, Hamina, Johannes, Kanneljärvi, Koivisto, Koiviston maalaiskunta, Kotka, Kouvola, Kuolemajärvi, Kymi, Lappee, Lappeenranta, Lauritsala, Lavansaari, Lemi, Luumäki, Miehikkälä, Nuijamaa, Pyhtää, Savitaipale, Seiskari, Sippola, Suomenniemi, Suursaari, Säkkijärvi, Taipalsaari, Tytärsaari, Uusikirkko, Vahviala, Valkeala, Vehkalahti, Viipuri, Viipurin maalaiskunta, Virolahti, Ylämaa.
Eastern electoral district
Antrea, Harlu, Heinjoki, Hiitola, Impilahti, Jaakkima, Joutseno, Jääski, Kaukola, Kirvu, Kivennapa, Korpiselkä, Kurkijoki, Käkisalmen maalaiskunta, Käkisalmi, Lahdenpohja, Lumivaara, Metsäpirtti, Muolaa, Parikkala, Pyhäjärvi, Rautjärvi, Rautu, Ruokolahti, Ruskeala, Räisälä, Sakkola, Salmi, Simpele, Soanlahti, Sortavala, Sortavalan maalaiskunta, Suistamo, Suojärvi, Terijoki, Uukuniemi, Valkjärvi, Vuoksela, Vuoksenranta, Äyräpää.
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Governors of the Viipuri Province 1812-1945:
Both the second President of Finland Lauri Kristian Relander and Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, grandfather of the sixth President, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, were governors of Viipuri province.
People born in Viipuri Province between 1812 and 1917, when it was part of the Grand Duchy of Finland
For people born after 1917 in Vyborg
Southern Finland was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia.
Old Finland is a name used for the areas that Russia gained from Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700–1721) and in the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743). Old Finland was joined to the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland as Viipuri Province in 1812.
Viborg and Nyslott County was a county of the Swedish Empire from 1634 to 1721. The county was named after the castle towns of Viborg and Nyslott, today located in the towns of Vyborg in Russia and Savonlinna in Finland.
Kexholm County was a county of the Swedish Empire from 1634 to 1721, when the southern part was ceded to the Russian Empire in the Treaty of Nystad. The capital of the county was Kexholm, which today is Priozersk.
The former Province of Southern Finland in Finland was divided into six regions, 16 sub-regions, and 88 municipalities.
Karelia is a historical province of Finland, consisting of the modern-day Finnish regions of South Karelia and North Karelia plus the historical regions of Ladoga Karelia and the Karelian isthmus, which are now in Russia. Historical Karelia also extends to the regions of Kymenlaakso, Northern Savonia and Southern Savonia (Mäntyharju).
Priozersk is a town and the administrative center of Priozersky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the northwestern shore of Lake Ladoga, at the estuary of the northern armlet of the Vuoksi River on the Karelian Isthmus. It is served by a station of the same name on the St. Petersburg—Khiytola railway. Population: 18,777 (2021 Census); 18,933 (2010 Census); 20,506 (2002 Census); 20,557 (1989 Census).
Karelia is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia, Finland, and Sweden. It is currently divided between northwestern Russia and Finland.
Vyborg Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire. It was established in 1744 in newly ceded territories from Sweden following the Treaty of Åbo and parts of Saint Petersburg Governorate which were previously ceded by Sweden in 1721 as a result of the Great Northern War.
Uno Werner Ullberg was a famous Finnish architect.
Ladoga Karelia is a historical region of Karelia, currently largely in Russia. Today, the term refers to the part of the Republic of Karelia in the Russian Federation comprising the south-west part of the Republic, specifically Lakhdenpokhsky District, Pitkyarantsky District and Sortavala District. This region is on the northern littoral of Lake Ladoga, which borders Olonets Karelia to the East, Leningrad Oblast to the south-west and the North Karelia region of Finland to the west.
The old Karelian railroad between Viipuri and Joensuu was a 1,524 mm broad gauge line that used to link Joensuu, Sortavala, Hiitola, Antrea and Viipuri. Originally built in 1892-1894 by Finnish State Railways in the Grand Duchy of Finland, in the 1940s most of the railway up to Niirala was ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union in the Moscow Peace Treaty, Moscow Armistice and Paris Peace Treaty as a result of the Winter War and Continuation War. Now the track is located in Leningrad Oblast, Republic of Karelia and North Karelia. The Sortavala–Joensuu link across the border was abolished after the Continuation War, but was since restored and is currently in use for cargo traffic.
Lesogorsky is an urban locality in Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast, located on the left bank of the Vuoksi River, on the Karelian Isthmus, near the Russia–Finland border, and a station of the Kamennogorsk–Svetogorsk–Imatra railway. Population: 3,273 (2010 Census); 3,004 (2002 Census); 3,744 (1989 Census).
The Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway is a 385-kilometre (239 mi) long segment of the Helsinki–Saint Petersburg connection, which is divided between Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast in Russia and the province of Southern Finland in Finland.
The governorates of the Grand Principality of Finland were the administrative division of the Grand Principality of Finland as part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917.
The Kymi Province was a province of Finland from 1945 to 1997.
Vyborg is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, 130 km northwest of St. Petersburg, 245 km east of the Finnish capital Helsinki, and 38 km south of Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland. The most recent census population of Vyborg is 72,530 (2021 Census).
Highways in Finland, or Main roads, comprise the highest categories of roads in Finland:
Simpele is a built-up area and a former municipality of Finland in the South Karelia region, originally in the Viipuri Province and after the Second World War, the Kymi Province. It was consolidated with Rautjärvi in 1973, becoming its new administrative center.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)Former provinces of Finland | ||
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In parentheses are years when provinces were established and disestablished. | ||
| 1634–1775 |
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| 1775–1831 |
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| 1831–1918 | ||
| 1918–1997 |
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| 1997–2009 |
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