Historical Background
10 000 years ago, the inland ice covered the Barents area. People gradually filled the ice-free coasts, mainly thanks to the warm Gulf Stream. These inhabitants were travellers - Stone Age people feeding on hunting and fishing. Archaeological finds in the area have established a kinship with people living in Germany and the then ice-free parts of southern Europe - this being the first known Barents culture, Komsa. A coastal people, the Komsa lived on what the sea offered them. Here, we find the very first known settlers of the area.
The Sami people
The fact that the Sami people belong to the original population in the area has been verified by archaeological excavations, but for how long and from where is still shrouded in mystery.
We have the bronze-using southern Scandinavians and the eastern Bronze Age with its asbestos ceramics. Here, it becomes fairly obvious that people travelled by water to spread their culture. This process continued up until the Viking Age, when we gained more information about how people travelled and cultures met. Objects from the Mediterranean area have been found, as well as items from more southerly parts of Europe.
At the end of the 9th century, the first written documents and reliable sources about people and countries were found - as has been confirmed by excavations in the Barents area. The notes of Viking chief Ottar - also a farmer with large holdings - were among the most important finds. As a habitant of Hålogland, his stories revolved around his trips along the Arctic Ocean coast, towards the Kola Peninsula and his trade with the Sami people in the area.
It is widely known that the Barents area became a common field of interest for rivalling nation-states - Denmark/Norway, Sweden and Russia - during the Middle Ages. No fixed national borders existed. Being an aboriginal people, the Sami were rudely forced to pay tax in all three countries - a proof of how the national powers enforced their taxation rights in the area. These conflicts of interest between the nations escalated into war-like actions, the foremost reason being the desire to control the increasingly lucrative skin- and fur trade.
Merchants from other countries found their way up here, resulting in a new law implemented by Swedish king Magnus Eriksson in mid 14th century, dictating all trade to be conducted via Stockholm and Åbo (the Bothnian trade restraint). Denmark/Norway followed the same path and
Collectively, these actions held back the development of trade in the Arctic areas.
The Pomor trade
Geographical borders slowly emerge around this time - in the shape of taxation areas, if you will. A border can, however, be interpreted in many ways. Traditional trade routes ignored them altogether. For centuries, people used the same trading methods and -patterns when travelling from one market space to another. The Russians, for example, used the Finnish lake- and river system to get to the Gulf of Bothnia. During the early Middle Ages, a route from Lofoten via the Torne Valley, over inner Finland and Karelia was used too. Here, we encounter the Pomors - Russian trade pheasants from the area around Murmansk and the coasts of the Kola Peninsula. Their trading activities developed quickly during the 18th century, with their geographical field of interest running all the way from the northern Norwegian coast to Bergen.
In February of 1808, Russian tsar Alexander I attacked the Swedes in Finland, resulting in a Swedish withdrawal from Finland - agreed on at the peace negotiations in Fredrikshavn 1809. Finland became a grand duchy under the Russian tsar. The Swedish-Norwegian union made the border between the two countries superfluous. By the so-called Karlstad treaty in 1905, Sweden acknowledged Norway as a sovereign state. By the end of the 19th century, the antagonism between Finland and Russia had grown strong. On the 6th of December in 1917, Finland was declared independent. During the Russian Revolution, the drawing of borders became increasingly distinct and talk about proper borders became more appropriate - although the economic, social and political unrest was considerable throughout the world in the years leading up to the 1st World War. Borders and boundaries have always and will always exist. In the Barents Region, however, people travel and cultures meet. The friendliest national border in the world runs through our Torne Valley. Language and culture know no boundaries or limits here.
Penned by Rolf Johansson
