Old Finland

Old Finland (Finnish: Vanha Suomi; Russian: Ста́рая Финля́ндия, tr. Staraya Finlyandiya; Swedish: Gamla Finland) is a name used for the areas that Russia gained from Sweden in the Great Northern War and in the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743). Old Finland was joined to the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland as Viipuri province in 1812.

The area corresponded largely with that of the medieval province subjugated to Viipuri castle.

The Russian ruler guaranteed religion, property rights, old Swedish laws, and some privileges to the inhabitants of these territories. However, a circumvention occurred, as the Russian administrators and Russian military were unfamiliar with the Swedish system. The Russians were used to a different system with its enslaved peasants, serfdom. As a result, the economy of the area was markedly different from that on the other side of the border.

The ruler's guarantee froze the situation. Thus legal developments in Sweden were not introduced to these areas: the Viipuri and Käkisalmi territory did not adopt the 1734 General Law of Sweden (though Hamina (Fredrikshamn), Lappeenranta (Villmanstrand), and Savonlinna (Nyslott), at the time still Swedish, of course did adopt it), and the new constitution of King Gustav III was not implemented in the entire area.

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