Were the Finns Vikings? Viking Age Finland explained

As we all know, the term viking is a little bit confusing. Most people use it to describe iron age Scandinavians, what is totally wrong. So no, "the Finns" were not vikings in this kind of definition. So when Scandinavians were Swedes, Danes and Norwegians, the Finns were Finns, Tavastians, Barmians, Kvens, Karelians, Lapps and Estonians. And there are huge differences between those tribes, how they lived, behaved etc.. So if we see vikings as raiders on boats from Northern Europe things get different. There are many archeological findings, which can be seen as typical for "vikings". For example the ULFBERTH swords, where todays Finland take the second place in founds after todays Norway. It was a status symbol in viking society, and may originate from Middle Europe (Germany/France). The second view is that people talk about vikings as an ethnic or genetic ancestry which is also wrong. There is no such thing as typical viking DNA. Scientific research has shown that many different ethnic ancestries are included. One Viking skeleton obviously came from Ireland and had typical features of the natives there. Another fact is, that the DNA of the descendants of Rurik shows features that are most typical among todays Finns, so either he was a "Finn" or "Finns" lived on the other side of Ostrobothnia, bevor "the Swedes" went northwards. This also supports a theory called "Kvenland theory". A third view sees vikings as traiders, otherwise the Swedes would not have been real Vikings compared to the mainly raiding Danes and Norwegians. And this is interesting because there is many evidence about trade objects found in Finland also. For example the silver hoard near Mikkeli which includes coins from the middle east at the end of the viking age. Also the whole Austrvegr starts parallel to Finlands coastline. Who controlled the coastline? Who lived there? Wouldn't people join a promising activity such as trading goods, when it's carrying out right in front of their eyes? I doubt it. At the end we don't really know it, but I strongly believe that there will be much more to find out in the future. I mean, why would the warrior of Janakkala for example carry two swords of which one was 200-300 years older and which was clearly a typical viking sword. He must have had a connection to his ancestors and DNA shows, that he was a local man, a Finn. I think after beeing 500 years a part of the Swedish Empire, lots of evidence where carried off, destroyed or were put in the wrong context by the rulers as part of Christianization and ideological agenda to gain control over the native people. A nation without history has no identity. I mean there is also evidence of grave robbing by Swedish elites in former days Finland, so maybe that's also a point. But no hate, lot's of love to our northern brothers and every other one on this planet! <3

I'm loving this stuff!!

To me viking refers more to way of life than origin of person. It is a disappointing fact that we fins dont have our written history from viking era. Discovery of viking swords, specially how many of them found in finland is interesting and weird fact, ulfbert swords, a lot of those in finland. How did the superweapon of that era got in finland?

I really like your art

Wasn't someone has pointed out that their skill and mastered in shamanism, animism and the stark beauty of the girl/maiden makes them a sought after for being queen for other northerny rulers?

That means, they are being well-respected in the viking age

I will kill you in 365 verses...

The Cheedite invasion of Europe is never talked about.

See your cardiologist! ahahahaa

To the Norse, "Finn" meant Sami. Referring to people who spoke an ancestor of the modern Finnish language (as opposed to an ancestor of the modern Sami languages), they would call them Karelians, Kvens, Tavastians, Shudes etc. but never Finns. It's interesting how a demonym can wander like that.

The Norse sagas refer to "Finn kings" both in legends (the master smith Volund/Wayland was supposed to be the son of one), and in history (there's one well-known account of a Finn king who called on Norse aid against tribes further east) but they were likely Sami chieftains.

Like the pagan Norse, the pagan Sami also had no proper "priest" caste, it was almost always the chieftains who were the noaides (shamans). The pagan Norse didn't see themselves as having a fundamentally different religion than the pagan Sami. Contrary to what many people believe, they converted to Christianity at roughly the same time too. It's true the Sami kept a ton of superstitions and customs of obviously pagan nature, but so did their Norse neighbors.

Viking is the Norse word for pirate. Pirates are almost always multi-ethnic - you have sailors who travel and see the world, and see people with different customs who hold completely different things holy. Then they start wondering if any customs - their own or others' - are really that big a deal, and then the customs that you shouldn't plunder wealthy strangers and be cruel are often first to go. The thing that stopped you was in large part "people just don't DO that", and you've just seen with your own eyes that this ain't necessarily so... Popper called it "the strain of civilization". Meeting people with different customs has many benefits, but both tolerance and cruelty has a tendency to win out by default.

So yes, there probably were Finnish people on viking ships, as well as Sami ones, Baltic ones and maybe even a few impious people from Christian Europe. Norse was their common language though.

The whole era is what is that popular definition of a Viking ? Yes there were Finish VIKINGS ! Yes the Fins are a people of quiet strength, until provoked. I am just an American who has some Finish blood.
With my auburn hair and cherry red beard.
And I a set of lungs that can destroy the silence for miles. And people call me Frank the Screaming Viking.

I've always thought that the former old self serving rhetoric common among the Germanic peoples paints Finns in a good light no matter what. Either they could not stand up to savages and every village strongman was as good and qualified as their royal king, or that Finland had some sort of kingdom or tribal alliance. Tietäjälaitos is a proven concept and it'd be weird to have organized religion without organized state, but then again, if we mudhut dwelling savages could raid Swedes and rebuke many crusades, then i wouldn't say it's impossible.
I think Finns might have not been vikings per se, i've read of Merovingian age loot being found in graves in Finland, maybe it was always a sort of option. Watched a documentary which told about Finns being varjagi/varanki/varyag, that they sailed down the volga and sold furs to Iranic peoples and such.

Finns are Finns. It does not matter how other people have seen things and written down their history. We have a language and a culture of our own - thousands of years old.

"Suomen kieli" These two words already prove the ancient culture of ours.

They're different... they're not directly related...but there are absolutely 100% many cognates between Suomi and Norse. Lots of linguists like to think the Finnish just popped out of a hole in the ground but that's not the case.

Please make a video about how the Finns made their hillforts and what they looked like! I’d die to see something like that! 😅

Marika Mägi is just a wannabe who wishes she was Blonde hair Blue eyes white Nordic Aryan. She is a disgrace to her asiatic ancestors who fought and died against Nordic Aryan invaders and colonizers.

Didn't some of the Norse Sagas state that some vikings married Sami and other female Finn Shaman on purpose? Due to the powers that were often attributed to them in both Finn and Norse mythology?

We Savonians are mongrel tribe, mix of Karelians, Tavastians and Lapps/Sámi. Our dialect is eastern one like Karelians.

Trade network?
I belive the world was more connected by trade then we actually expect.

I am interested in any History.

My Prays go out to people .

I enjoyed this podcast and and the knowledge it brings.

Thank You

Jag är båda, Suomalainen ja Svensk. Vi har en lång historia tillsammans.

am a mix 😅 half dane and finn 😆 Grow up in Norway

Että mä repesin kun sanoit että ”see a cardiologist” 😂😂😂

I would like to know if Middle Ages Finns dressed like their Scandinavian neighbors or if they had their own style.

Vikings were Germanic. Finns are not Germanic. ☝️Forest goblins. 😂

The Oeselians are a more interesting question. It has been suggested they were Germanic, despite living off the main coast of what is now Estonia. For people in the know though, the defeat of Oeselians was the true end of Vikings. No one talks about them though.

I believe things were written and engraved and that the christains simply conquered us and wiped our history out ...

Vikings were Germanic People. Finnish are not even an European nation as origin and historically. They are accepted as Uralic people . We ( Turks) are even more close to Finnish People than Vikings .

Considering Estonians and Kuronians are attested to in the Saga’s as Vikingr, and mentioned as being allies, raiding and fighting wars together and against. It’s fair to say any pirate in the Baltic matched the true definition of Viking.

if you're finn, you could likely have viking blood course in your veins. i myself am a finn born on the wrong side of the atlantic. mother is savolainen n father karajalainen

Many historians bypass the fact of language.
When country has being occupied for hundreds of years by not one but two foreign language speaking conquerors it suggests that there has being something to be proud of as foreign languages have not being adopted by the Finns.
Finns maintained their own language (even that it has changed over centuries like all other languages as well) and their own religions, stories, mythology.
Logically thinking this behavior suggests some sort of greatness in past.
And as modern activities show conquerors do tend to rewrite history for their favor it can be presumed that there has being activities to reduce finns national history in the past.

Facts are however quite clear from archeology that there has being culture in Finland 10000 years ago and we have rock paintings from stone age, we have viking age findings and then we have our language.

Finns were not vikings but there were Scandinavian viking tribes living in what is now Finland.

There were waaaay less finnish vikings when comparing to scandinavia, but there definitely were atleast some thats for sure.

hiukan puutteista tietämyksestä..sentäs se meni oikein että oli 5 eri "heimoa" ja se se että 5 klaanin jako sillä erolla että länsi suomessa on yksi noista klaaneista..ja sillon kuin viikinkit haasto ne kaato moniin venesaartoihin..plus nimppeli tietoutta että vanhaimmat riimu kirjoitukset on venältä uralilta ja suomesta..scandille se tuli vasta paljon jälkeen...

DEAR ANTTI,
THE SUOMI-UGRIC REVERSIVE ETHNOGENESIS GETS BALLISTIC.... YEAAAAAAH.... LOVE
JUST IMAGINE :
MEMPHIS- DELFI -TULOMAA RIVER AXIS
ZEUS AND LETO ( "LETU" DIALECTICAL MEANS SUMMER RABBIT ) AT SAARISELKA ALL ALONG ....YA GUESS IT....LETO JOKI...FROM TULOMAA RIVER INLET...
DEAR ANTTI, THE HYDROGRAPHIC PROFILE OF THE TULOMAA RIVER INLET HAVE GOT THE MISSING APOLLO TEMPLE'S HILLOCK WITH 40-60 METERS SEVERED CONUS.... YEAAAAAAH....LOVE
ULTIMA THULE IS COMING BACK RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES....AMIDST THE HORRORS OF THE SUOMI-UGRIC REVERSIVE ETHNOGENESIS...THAT ASCENDING UNKNOWN ENTITY IS LONG OVERDUE... AND IT'S GONNA BE ABSOLUTELY DETACHED FROM ALL OF THE HELPLESS SUBJECTS OF THIS REVERSIVE ETHNOGENESIS...OH DEAR, ANTTI,
THE WHOLE PROCESS BEARS THE HALLMARKS OF THE HORRIBLE " REVERSIVE ZOONOSES "..... YEAAAAAAH...LOVE...APOLLOSAARI...

You didnt mention Bjarmi-tribe?!

Sorry, we had no vikings here, of course not. And you should absolutely not use the Sami flag, ever!

Siinäpä sitä onkin ihmettelemistä, kun jotkut tunnetut kertomukset esittää, että Rurik olisi ollut suomalais-ugrilaisen kansan jäsen. Eikä slaavi, kuten venäläiset asian haluaa ilmaistavan.

In my opinion I think we can only use the word Viking to describe Sea-Raiders/Pirates from Scandinavia and other Norse-Settled and occupied territories elsewhere, where the Iron-Age Scandinavian culture, customs, religion and language were dominant. The word "Viking" itself is an old Norse word. It doesnt make sense to describe a people with different beliefs, culture, language and so forth, as "Vikings" even if they participated in similar activities as the Vikings.. Otherwise that would make18th century Pirates like Blackbeard and modern-day Somalian Pirates Vikings too.

There is plenty of "Viking" objects found in Estonia and Finland, but that can also siomply mean that they simply traded with Swedes or other Scandinavians or that the Swedes had colonies and settlements there aswell (which I believe we know for a fact that they did). And why should that come as a shock? They are neighbors afterall.

I dont think we should call the Finno-Ugric peoples Vikings - I think that is offensive to say about them in a way. They had their own truly epic mythology and traditions like the Kaalevala that should be lifted up and talked about more, not be downplayed and boxed in with the Iron-Age Scandinavians. In large part thanks to their mythology we have things like the Lord of the Rings and modern Fantasy. They had their own interesting tales of raids and battles, the Battle of Herdaler being only one of them.

No. They couldn't occupy Finland.

Metsäviikingit veti turpaan tänne tulevia. Ystävällisin terveisin
-Roviorannikko

You deserve way more likes !

Vikings didn't really like Finns because they were poor, didn't have very beautiful women and raiding them was a big threat because Finns were great hunters and were able to ambush raiding vikings in forest

No They was not !

Christian Finnish Frostiis wow i tought i was only finn talking english on Tube, Christian God bless you and you're family and loved ones Amen Be safe ! Oh i was so waiting if you say the magic words, Finland has the second highest amount of found ulfberht sword's only second to Norway yay you are knowledgeable ! Thank you for this interesting topic ! I am surprised you even suggested to leave a prayer and i did before i heard you say that even ! Subbed ! My 93y old grandma said i should talk about history too on tube, and i do in little bits when it's appropriate for my Tube so it's nice to see a dedicated finnish history channel made by a finn with courage to talk english

Clearly at least Estonians and Finns interacted with each other quite a lot as the languages are very closely related. That means trading and co operation

Since the Baltic was as a fast highway in the Iron Age between that is now Finland and Sweden it must have been a lot of contacts anyway between Finnish and Swedish tribes back then.

YES, Us Finns, we are oldest kingdom.