Karelian people

Karelians
karjalaižet

Flag of Karelians
Total population
c. 73,000
Regions with significant populations
Russia	60,815 (2010)
Finland	10,000 (1994)
Ukraine	1,522 (2001)
Estonia	363 (2011)
Belarus	302 (2009)
Latvia	192 (2018)
Lithuania	39 (2011)
Languages
Karelian, Russian, Finnish
Religion
Eastern Orthodox Lutheran
Related ethnic groups
Other Baltic Finns

Karelians (Karelian: karjalaižet) are a Baltic-Finnic ethnic group who are native to the Northern European historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russia.

In Russia, Karelians mostly live in the Republic of Karelia where there are the designated ethnic group and in other adjacent north-western parts of the country. There are also significant Karelian enclaves in the Tver and Novgorod oblasts, as some Karelians migrated to those areas after the Russo-Swedish War of 1656-1658.

In Finland, Karelians traditionally live in the regions of Savonia and Northern and Southern Karelia. The historic homeland of the Karelians is the Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia, Olonets Karelia in Russia and the regions of North and Southern Karelia and Savonia in Finland.

The first written mention of Karelia and Karelians occurs in Scandinavian sources. Several old Scandinavian sagas and chronicles refer to Karelia, sometimes as Karjalabotn, Kirjalabotnar or Kirjaland, which means that Karelians and Karelia were known to the Vikings as early as the 7th century AD. Another mention of Karelians in Scandinavian sources is The Chronicle of Erik. Part of the Chronicle mentions a Karelian raid to the then notable Swedish town of Sigtuna in 1187 and its subsequent pillage. This mention of Karelian raids on Sweden in the chronicle is given as the main reason to found , the current capital of Sweden.