Viipuri Province

History

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 autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, with the Russian Tsar as Grand Duke.

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 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.

World War II

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.

Economy

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.

Serfdom

Following its cession to Russia in 1721, the Vyborg Governorate initially retained Swedish laws, which upheld the personal freedom of peasants and workers. However, throughout the 18th century, an influx of Russian landowners introduced the institution of serfdom to the region—a practice eventually adopted by some established local families as well. By 1812, in the city of Viipuri, for example, 106 serfs were recorded within a population of over 2,900.

Serfdom became a legal issue when the province was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812 and the emperor declared that all inhabitants were to be governed by Finnish laws, which did not recognize ownership of human beings. Nevertheless, members of the Russian upper class and families of German origin continued to keep serfs after 1812. References to serfdom become increasingly sparse in the sources after the 1840s.

Administrative divisions

Local districts

In Finnish kihlakunta, in Swedish härad.

Ranta Swedish: Stranda

Äyräpää Swedish: Äyräpää

Käkisalmi Swedish: Kexholm

Kurkijoki Swedish: Kronoborg now usually transliterated into English as Kurkiyoki (Куркиёки)

Kymi Swedish: Kymmene

Lappee Swedish: Lappvesi

Salmi Swedish: Salmis

Sortavala Swedish: Sordavala

Jääski Swedish: Jäskis

Cities, towns and municipalities in 1939

Those which were ceded to the Soviet Union during World War II are given in italics.

Cities

Hamina – Fredrikshamn

Kotka

Käkisalmi – Kexholm

Lappeenranta – Villmanstrand

Sortavala – Sordavala

Viipuri – Viborg

Towns

Kouvola

Koivisto – Björkö

Lahdenpohja

Lauritsala (merged into Lappeenranta in 1967)

Rural municipalities

Finnish/Swedish name. Main village with the same name unless otherwise noted.

Electoral districts

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.

Governors

Governors of the Viipuri Province 1812–1945:

Carl Johan Stjernvall 1812–1815

Carl Johan Walleen 1816–1820

Otto Wilhelm Klinckowström 1820–1821 (acting) and 1821–1825

Carl August Ramsay 1825–1827 (acting) and 1827–1834

Carl Gustaf Mannerheim 1834–1839

Fredric Stewen 1839–1844

Casimir von Kothen 1844–1846 (acting) and 1846–1853

Alexander Adam Thesleff 1853–1856

Bernhard Indrenius 1856–1866

Christian Theodor Åker-Blom 1866–1882

Woldemar von Daehn 1882–1885

Sten Carl Tudeer 1885–1888 (acting) and 1888–1889

Johan Axel Gripenberg 1889–1899

Nikolai von Rechenberg 1900–1902

Nikolai Mjasojedov 1902–1905

Konstantin Kazansky 1905 (acting) and 1905

Mikael von Medem 1905–1906 (acting)

Nikolai von Rechenberg 1906–1907

Birger Gustaf Samuel von Troil 1907–1910

Frans Carl Fredrik Josef von Pfaler 1910–1917

Notable people

People born in Viipuri Province between 1812 and 1917, when it was part of the Grand Duchy of Finland

Carl Jaenisch (1813–1872) Finnish and Russian chess player and theorist

Stephen Wäkevä (1833 in Säkkijärvi – 1910) Russian silversmith of Finnish origin, Fabergé workmaster

Julius Krohn (1835, Viipuri – 1888) Finnish poetry researcher, professor of Finnish literature and Fennoman

Leo Mechelin (1839 in Hamina – 1914) Finnish professor, statesman, senator and liberal reformer

Kaarlo Bergbom (1843, Viipuri – 1906) theatre director, founded the Finnish National Theatre

Lydia Sesemann (1845–1925) Finnish doctor of chemistry

Evald Relander (1856–1926), Finnish agronomist, rector and banker

Alexandra Gripenberg (1857, Kurkiyoki [Finnish Kurkijoki] – 1913) Finnish social activist, newspaper publisher and Fennoman

Ernst Löfström (1865–1937) Finnish general

Gustaf Komppa (1867, Viipuri – 1949), Finnish chemist

Armas Järnefelt (1869, Viipuri – 1958), Finnish composer and conductor

Magnus Enckell (1870 in Hamina – 1925) Finnish symbolist painter

Georg Schnéevoigt (1872–1947) Finnish conductor and cellist