Finland under Swedish rule

Finland under Swedish rule refers to the period in the history of Finland when it was a part of Sweden. It has traditionally been considered as starting from 1150, when according to the legend of St. Erik the king Eric IX of Sweden and the bishop Henry arrived in Finland. The actual starting point of the Swedish rule is however under a large amount of uncertainty and controversy. Clear historical evidence of the establishing of Swedish rule in Finland exist from 1249 onwards, when the second crusade to Finland happened. The period of Swedish rule ended in the Finnish war in 1808–1809.

Swedish-ruled Finland has in the 20th century also been referred to as "Sweden-Finland". The term has been used to refer to the realm consisting of the main parts of current Sweden and Finland. The historian Peter Englund has noted that Swedish-ruled Finland was not so much part of a national union or a province as "the eastern half of the realm which was practically destroyed in 1809, when both parts went on along their separate ways." Englund thinks that the period of Sweden as a superpower was the common "property" of Sweden and Finland, because the rise as a superpower would have been impossible for a poor nation without the resources of the eastern part of the realm.

As a part of Sweden, Finland was annexed as part of the Western Christian domain and the cultural, communal and economic order of Western Europe, on which the market economy, constitutional governments and legalistic principles were founded. Finland was the eastern frontier of the realm, which brought many wars and raids to the areas. The Finnish language, dating from prehistoric times, and some parts of folklore religion and culture remained under Swedish rule, even though they changed as they adapted to new circumstances. For example, in this period Finnish adopted the Latin alphabet as its writing system and a huge amount of Swedish loanwords.

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