Kvenland - Kvenland and Kvens Later in Historical Time

Kvenland and Kvens Later in Historical Time

Besides the above-mentioned texts, there is no reference to Kvenland in the medieval or earlier sources. There are also no other Icelandic sagas or old Norwegian sources that would mention "Finland" in a Norwegian context. As a name for a country, Kvenland seems to have gone out of ordinary usage around the beginning of the second millennium, unrecognized by scholars by the 14th century. As the first known written Swedish account, Eric's Chronicle, came out as late as the 14th century, the terms "Kvenland" and "Kven" are not found in Swedish literature. Finland as an independent geographical region, however not yet a state, ceased to exist in the 13th century along with the Swedish conquest that incorporated it to Sweden as provinces. However, Norwegians kept using the word "kven" at least for those Finns who started moving to northern Fennoscandia around the time of the Swedish conquest. Norwegians, unlike their neighbors, already used the word "finn" for the Sami people who were the indigenous people on the same area. Today, the name Kven is used in Norway as the name of the descendants of Finnish speaking people that immigrated to present-day Northern Norway from the 16th century up to World War II.