Finnish people in the context of "Finnish mythology"

The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were military campaigns undertaken by Catholic Christian military orders and kingdoms in an effort to Christianize the pagan Baltic, Finnic, and West Slavic peoples around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. In some cases, such as with the Wendish Crusade, the campaign was partly motivated to control the rich resources found in the lands.

The most notable of these campaigns were the Livonian and Prussian Crusades. Some of these wars were explicitly regarded, during the Middle Ages, as crusades; for example, the military venture against the Estonians—and the "other pagans in those parts"—authorized by Pope Alexander III's 1171 crusade bull, Non parum animus noster. However, others—such as the (possibly mythical) 12th-century First Swedish Crusade and several subsequent incursions, undertaken by Scandinavian Christians against the then-pagan Finns—were dubbed "crusades" only in the 19th century, by romantic nationalist historians.

The Russian folklore, i.e., the folklore of Russian people, takes its roots in the pagan beliefs of ancient Slavs and now is represented in the Russian fairy tales. Epic Russian bylinas are also an important part of Slavic paganism. The oldest bylinas of Kievan cycle were recorded in the Russian North, especially in Karelia, where most of the Finnish national epic Kalevala was recorded as well.

In the late 19th-century Russian fairy tales began being translated into English, with Russian Folk Tales (1873) by William Ralston, and Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar (1890) by Edith Hodgetts.

Karelians (Karelian: karjalaižet, karjalazet, karjalaiset; Finnish: karjalaiset; Swedish: kareler, karelare; Russian: карелы, romanized: karely) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group who are indigenous to the historical region of Karelia, which is today split between Finland and Russia. Karelians living in Russian Karelia are considered a distinct ethnic group closely related to Finnish Karelians, who are considered a subset of Finns. This distinction historically arose from Karelia having been fought over and eventually split between Sweden and Novgorod, resulting in Karelians being under different cultural spheres.

In Russia, Karelians mostly live in the Republic of Karelia, where they are the designated ethnic group, and in other adjacent north-western parts of the country. They traditionally speak the Karelian language and are Eastern Orthodox Christians. 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.

Risto Heikki Ryti (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈristo ˈhei̯kːi ˈryti]; 3 February 1889 – 25 October 1956) was a Finnish politician who served as the president of Finland from 1940 to 1944. Ryti started his career as a politician in the field of economics and as a political background figure during the interwar period. He made a wide range of international contacts in the world of banking and within the framework of the League of Nations. Ryti served as prime minister during the Winter War and the Interim Peace, and as president during the Continuation War.

Ryti penned the 1944 Ryti–Ribbentrop Agreement – named after himself and Joachim von Ribbentrop – a personal letter to Nazi German Führer Adolf Hitler whereby Ryti agreed not to reach a separate peace in the Continuation War against the Soviet Union without approval from Nazi Germany, in order to secure German military aid for Finland to stop the Soviet Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive against Finland. His resignation soon afterwards allowed his successor, Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, to bypass the agreement and make peace with the Soviet Union once the offensive had been stopped.

Kaarle Väinö Voionmaa (to 1906 Wallin) (12 February 1869 in Jyväskylä – 24 May 1947 in Helsinki) was a Finnish professor, diplomat, member of the parliament of Finland, senator, minister and chancellor. He also was one of the most influential politicians during the early times of independent Republic of Finland. He was a Social Democrat.

As an academic, Voionmaa contributed to introduce economic and geographic perspectives into Finnish history writings. He has studied the medieval times and the rise of the modern urban industrial society. He was also one of the founders of the School of Social Sciences in 1930 that eventually became the University of Tampere.

Ingria is a historical region in what is now northwestern European Russia. It lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and by the River Narva on the border with Estonia in the west. The earliest known modern inhabitants of the region were indigenous Finnic ethnic groups, primarily the Izhorians and Votians, who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy over several centuries during the late Middle Ages. They were later joined by the Ingrian Finns, descendants of 17th century Lutheran Finnish immigrants to the area. At that time, modern Finland proper and Ingria were both part of the Swedish Empire.

Ingria as a whole never formed a separate state; however, North Ingria was an independent state for just under two years in 1919–1920. The inhabitants of Ingria cannot be said to have comprised a distinct nation, since the population is made up of several different ethnic groups, despite the Soviet Union recognizing Ingrian as a nationality. The indigenous peoples of Ingria, like the Votians and Izhorians, are today close to extinction, together with their languages. This notwithstanding, many people still recognize and attempt to preserve their Ingrian heritage.

Kalevi Ensio Aho (born 9 March 1949) is a Finnish composer.

Ingrian Finns are the Finnish population native to Ingria, a historical region corresponding to the central part of today's Leningrad Oblast in Russia. They originated from Lutheran Finnish settlers who moved to Ingria in the 17th century, when both Finland and Ingria were parts of the Swedish Empire. During the Soviet era, particularly before and after World War II, most of them were relocated to other parts of the Soviet Union or killed, in campaigns directed towards their forced deportation and genocide. Today, the Ingrian Finns constitute the largest part of the Finnish population of the Russian Federation. According to some records, some 25,000 Ingrian Finns have returned or still reside in the region of Saint Petersburg.

The term Ingrians is sometimes used as a synonym for Ingrian Finns, though it can also refer to the Izhorians or the Baltic Finnic residents of Ingria in general.