History of Karelia

Items from the Neolithic sites of Karelia. Hermitage collection.

The territory of Karelia began to be populated after the ice sheets disappeared in the postglacial time - in the 7th – 6th millennium BC. e. The main occupations of the most ancient inhabitants were hunting and fishing . Mesolithic monuments of the Kizhi and South Stag Island islands are part of the Obonezh culture and date back to the 6th - the middle of the 5th millennium BC. e. The culture of sperrings in southern Zaonezhie includes 11 settlements, which date back to the 5th - the middle of the 4th millennium BC. e. Cultural monuments of pit-comb ceramics date back to IV millennium BC. e. ^[one]

In the I millennium BC. e. iron production was mastered, the beginnings of agriculture and animal husbandry appeared .

The ethnic composition of the population has been known since the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. By this time, tribes of the Finno-Ugric group lived on the territory of the region: on the Karelian Isthmus and in the Northern Ladoga area - Korels , between the Ladoga and Onega lakes - Vepsians , and further to the north - the Sami ( lop ). At the beginning of the second millennium e. part of the Karelians advanced to the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia and the White Sea . At the same time, the Slavic population penetrated the northern and eastern Obonezhie and on the White Sea coast, contributing to the development of agriculture, salt production and marine industries.

There is a hypothesis that the earliest mention of Karelians is found in Jordan ’s dated VI century book “ On the Origin and Deeds of the Getae, ” where “Thiudos in Aunxis” is present in the list of peoples conquered by the Ostrogoth King Germanarchus (according to F. Brown's “ alien olonetskaya ”) ^{[2 ]} .

• 7th century - in the “Fragment of the Konungs”, based on the lost “ Skjёлldunga Saga ” created at the end of the 12th century, it is reported that the king of Danes Ivar Shirokie Ubyam comes with the army “east to Kiryalabotnar” (that is, “Karelian Bays”), where "The state of King Radbard began " and there he perishes ^[3] .

• X century - In the "Saga of Halvdan , the son of Eystein" Kiryalabotnar is mentioned, where a certain Grim rules ^{[4] [5]} .

• 1015 - the Saga of the Holy Olav mentions the visit by the Norwegian king of Karelia and the Karelian valite ^[6]

• 1065-1085 - the first Novgorod written source mentioning the Korel - Novgorod birch bark letter No. 590 , which refers to the attack of the Lithuanians on Karelia ^{[7] [8]}

• 1187 year . Karelians together with Novgorod's ushkuniki attacked the ancient capital of Sweden - the city of Sigtuna (about 30 km north of modern Stockholm ). They thoroughly ravaged and plundered the city, which after this attack permanently lost its capital functions ^[9] .

There is a hypothesis of the candidate of geographical sciences V.I. Paranin supported by some local historians that during the Viking era the Karelian Isthmus in the north and south cut two channels from Lake Ladoga to the Baltic Sea and it corresponded to the island of Rus of Arab sources ^{[10] [11]} .

The Korel land ( Karelian land ) is an ethno-territorial and economic-cultural entity that formed along Vuoksa ^{[12] [13] [14]} .

Karelian land - since the XIV century, autonomy within the Obonezh and Votsky pyatins of the Novgorod Republic , which existed from the XI century to 1338. Under the year 1227, the Lavrentievsky Chronicle tells of the baptism of the Korel tribe: “I sent Yaroslav Vsevolodovich , baptize many Korels, few are all people” ^[15] .

In the middle of the XIII century, the Obonezh , Votskaya and Izhora lands were firmly part of the Novgorod state.

In 1277-1278, almost immediately after the epoch, the Prince of Novgorod, Dmitry Alexandrovich , who at first had to make a lot of efforts to strengthen his position in Novgorod, went with the army to Korel’s land and “executed Korela and took their land to the shield”. There could be several reasons for the punitive expedition: the independence of the Korel tribal nobility in collecting tribute, and in trade affairs, and in contacts with Western neighbors, and participation in the princely struggle in Novgorod among Dmitry’s opponents.

The military campaign entailed some administrative measures. The tribal territory of the Korela, consisting of 10 graveyards, began to be called the Korel land, the center of which at the beginning of the XIV century was the town of Korela . For the first time, the term "Korel land" is found in Russian chronicles under 1278 and 1293. Management was carried out by the Russian administration (perhaps with some participation of the Korela). At the head of the Korel land were placed a service prince and governor .

The first prince was Boris Konstantinovich from the Tver princely family. But he turned out to be a short-sighted politician and ruler. As a result of the oppression of the prince, part of the Korela rebelled and took the side of the Swedes. The verdict of the Novgorodians sounded harsh: let him leave the Novgorod volost and not feed him Novgorod bread anymore.

Anti-feudal demonstrations in the Korel land were complicated by Swedish aggression . The next uprising took place in 1314-1315. In Korel, Russian citizens were killed, and then the Swedes were allowed into the city. But as soon as the Novgorodians, led by the governor Fedor, approached the city, the Karelians sided with the Novgorodians. The Swedes and Karelians - “re-associates” (traitors) were executed.

The uprising in Korel is not an accident. It was preceded by peasant movements in Finland. A swept wave of uprisings forced the official circles of Sweden and Novgorod to hurry up with the peace talks in 1323. In 1323, at the source of the Neva from Lake Ladoga, Novgorodians built the Orekhov fortress . In the same year, a peace treaty was concluded in the newly-built fortress, according to which the Novgorodians ceded three parishes in western Karelia to the Swedes. The agreement essentially fixed the seizure made by the construction of Vyborg .

In 1337–1338 a new uprising took place. There are two versions of him. According to the Novgorod annals , the rebels with the help of the Swedes killed many Novgorod and Ladoga merchants and other Christians living in the King, then fled to Vyborg, where Christians also suffered from their hands. The Sofia Chronicle sets forth events in a slightly different way. The Swedes approached the King, and the governor Valit Korelyanin surrendered the city to the Swedes. Only in early July did the Novgorodians approach the fortress, and Valit switched to the side of the strong, in this case, the Novgorodians. The Swedes were punished.

Caught between two fires (Novgorod and Sweden), the Karelians tried to play on the contradictions of the warring parties in order to achieve the most favorable position (for example, the subordination of foreign merchants in Karelia to local jurisdiction, rather than Novgorod). Occasionally, the Karelians even attempted to achieve political independence ^[16] .

From 1333 to 1335, Ladoga, Oreshek, all Karelian land and half of Koporye were fed by the Lithuanian prince Narimont , but the governors of the prince were until 1348. Novgorodians gave land to the Lithuanian princes due to a conflict with the Moscow prince. From that time until the beginning of the 15th century, the descendants of Narimont and his Lithuanian relatives repeatedly received these lands for feeding ^{[17] [18]} .

In the winter of 1338/39, the Novgorodians sent ambassadors to the Swedes of Vyborg for peace talks, which, however, were unsuccessful. In 1339, the ambassadors found the Swedish king in Murmansk land, “in the city of Ludovli” (probably Lödös ^[19] ) and made peace according to old letters.

At the end of the 1530s - beginning of the 1550s. the government introduced a reform of local government called the “labia” . Lips - police - investigative districts. In Novgorod land, the reform was carried out on the basis of a military-five-prince structure. Oreshkovsky, Ladoga and Korel counties formed a single labial district - the Korel half of the Vodskaya Pyatina of Novgorod land. Zaonezhsky pogosts entered the Zaonezhskaya half of the Obonezhskaya pyatina ^[20] .

The Karelian Duchy is a duchy divided into counties and counties, as part of the Kingdom of Sweden.

After the creation of the Ingermanlad province in 1708, the territory of Karelia became part of it. Since 1710 - as part of the St. Petersburg province .

In 1721, in the Nishtad peace that ended the Northern War , all Karelia was annexed to Russia. With the separation in 1727 of a separate Novgorod province , Olonets Uyezd became a part of its Novgorod province .

In 1743, after the Russo-Swedish war of 1741-1743, the Russo-Swedish border moved westward along the Aboyan Peace - Kyumenigord Flax with the Neishlot Fortress was annexed to Russia. By a personal decree of August 24 (September 4), 1776, Novgorod governorate was formed, which included the creation of the Olonets region , which included five counties: Olonets , Petrozavodsk (the former Petrozavodsk department), Vytegorsky , Padansky district (the former Lopsky Padansky commissar) and Kargopol district . In 1780, Onega County was created from the Turchasov camp of the Kargopol district , which entered the Vologda governorate .

On December 11 (22), 1781, the Olonets region was transferred from Novgorod governorate to St. Petersburg province . On May 12 (23), 1782, the city ​​of Petrozavodsk was approved as the administrative center of the region (instead of Olonets ). The center of the Padansky district was moved from Padana to Povenets , and the Padansky district was renamed to Povenets .

By a personal decree of May 22 (June 2), 1784, the Olonets region was separated from the composition of the St. Petersburg province and transformed into an independent Olonets governorship .

By the personal decree of May 16 (27), 1785, as a part of governorate, Lodeinopolsky , Kemsky and Pudozhsky counties were additionally formed. At the same time, part of the territory of the Onega district of the Arkhangelsk governorate was transferred to the Olonets governorship, as a result of which the Olonets governorship received access to the White Sea .

By a personal decree of December 12, 1796, the Olonets governorship was abolished.

XIX century

By the registered decree of September 9 (21), 1801, the Olonets province was formed. The Senate decree of October 10 (22), 1802 defines the administrative center of the province - the city of Petrozavodsk .

In 1809 , after the Russo-Swedish Finnish War , the whole of Finland entered the Russian Empire, having received the status of the Grand Duchy of Finland . In 1812 , as a gesture of goodwill, Alexander I annexed Old Finland to the Principality.

According to the data of 1875 , Karelians lived in the southern part of Finland and the northwestern provinces of Russia: in the Olonets province - everywhere, by the masses in the districts: Povetsky , Petrozavodsk , Olonets , Lodeynopolsky and Vytegorsky , in the Tver province - everywhere, in the Novgorod province , in the Arkhangelsk province in the Kemsky district , in the St. Petersburg province - in the districts of St. Petersburg and Shlisselburg . In addition, the settlements of Karelians were in Kaluga province ( Medynsky district ), Yaroslavl province ( Mologsky district ), Vladimir province ( Suzdal district ), Tambov province ( Morshany district ), Vologda province ( Vologda district ) and Smolensk province ( Gzhatsky district ) ^] .

XX century

According to the census of 1902, 67% of all land in Karelia belonged to the treasury, monasteries, churches and landlords, most of the remaining 33% of the land belonged to the kulaks; literate Karelians were only 14.5%, and among women even fewer ^[22] .

In 1914, Russia entered the First World War . Since the Black and Baltic Seas were blocked by the enemy, in Russia it was decided to build a railway from Petrozavodsk to Murman and at the same time a port on the ice-free Kola Bay in order to be able to uninterruptedly deliver military supplies from allies along the Entente .

February Revolution (1917)

On February 27 ( March 12 ), an armed uprising began in Petrograd. On March 2 (15), Tsar Nicholas II , while in Pskov , abdicated the throne for himself and his son Alexei .

Only at the beginning of March did the authorities of the Olonets province decide to tell the population about the revolutionary events in the country. On the evening of March 3, during a concert in the building of the Public Assembly of Petrozavodsk, a group of Baltic sailors announced a manifesto on the abdication of the king. The next morning, sailors and soldiers began to disarm the police and the gendarmerie, arrested the head of the gendarmes, Colonel A.K. Vadetsky. Workers at the Alexandrovsky plant, soldiers of the railway battalion and students staged a rally and demonstration. A notification of the fall of the autocracy and the formation of the Provisional Government was sent to the counties of the province.

On March 3, in Petrozavodsk, an interim public safety committee (BSC) was assembled from representatives of the city duma, clergy, intelligentsia, soldiers and workers of the city. The KOB Presidium was headed by the Social Democrat-Internationalist railway engineer L.V. Nikolsky. KOB was the only authority in the city, several commissions functioned in its composition. They obtained from the factory administration an increase in wages, the introduction of an 8-hour working day, and began to take into account products and basic necessities (a norm was set for the release of products from commercial establishments in the city). From volunteers, workers and gymnasium students, police were created.

On March 5, Bishop of Petrozavodsk and Olonets Ioanniky served a thanksgiving service on the occasion of the overthrow of the tsar, and a few days later - a memorial service in memory of the victims who fell in Petrograd during the February Revolution ^[23] .

The Olonets provincial commissioner of the provisional government, instead of the ousted governor, was appointed chairman of the provincial zemstvo council Kuchevsky I.F. ^[24] .

In early March, in the district town of Kem in the Arkhangelsk province, a BER was formed from representatives of the old administration and workers, in the city of Lodeynoye Pole, Olonets province, an executive committee for the protection of public order from representatives of the Zemstvo and representatives of the local bourgeoisie, BERs were created in Pudozh , Povenets , Kholmogory . The chairmen of the county zemstvo administrations became county government commissars. ^[25]

October Revolution (1917)

Held on October 26 (November 8), 1917 in Petrozavodsk, the joint meeting of the Olonets Provincial Council, the Main Road Committee of the Murmansk Railway and representatives of the soldiers' committees of the Petrozavodsk garrison adopted a resolution in which it expressed support for the overthrow of the Provisional Government in Petrograd and the new government being created. At the same time, the resolution expressed the demand for a Constituent Assembly. The next day, the second joint meeting was held, at which the "Regulation on the Organization of Government in the Olonets Province" was adopted, according to which the highest government in the province was transferred to the Olonets Provincial Council. V. M. Kudzhiev was elected Chairman of the Council, N. V. Komarov and M. A. Kaplan as Vice-Chairmen.

In November 1917, elections to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly were held in the Olonets province, where the Menshevik M.D. Shishkin and the Social Revolutionary A.F. Maximov won.

Representatives of the soldiers' committees of the Petrozavodsk garrison and workers of the Aleksandrovsky plant in December 1917 demanded the resignation of all the leaders of the Olonets Provincial Council. On January 5, 1918, the Bolshevik V.M. Parfyonov headed the Provincial Council. The Olonets Provincial Council began active and consistent implementation of the decrees of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars in the Olonets province.

Civil War (1918-1920)

In 1919 ^[26] , the 6th Army (RKKA) ^[27] opposed the White Guard forces of the Northern Army ^[27] , the Onega military flotilla acted on the Onega and Ladoga lakes.

In 1919-1920, on the territory of five volosts of the Arkhangelsk province , now the territory of the subject of the Russian Federation - the Republic of Karelia. The Ukhta Republic was proclaimed. The capital of the North Karelian state was the village of Ukhta (now the town of Kalevala ).

On June 8, 1920, the Karelian Labor Commune was created - national autonomy within the RSFSR. It was created along the border with Finland on the territory of part of the Olonets and Arkhangelsk provinces. At the same time, Petrozavodsk became the “double” capital - the main provincial city and the center of Karelian autonomy. The government of the labor commune was led by a former member of the Council of People's Commissioners of Finland, Edward Gulling .

In the fall of 1921, the Karelian uprising began. Karelians against the Bolsheviks and Soviet power received support from Finland. By the end of December 1921, rebel forces supported by Finnish volunteers controlled a significant part of Northeast Karelia, and only then did the Soviet leadership decide to form the Karelian Front, headed by A. I. Sedyakin , where a number of Red Army units of up to 20 thousand were transferred . person. By mid-February 1922 , when the last stronghold of the rebels — the village of Ukhta — was occupied by the Reds, the resistance of the Karelian-Finns was finally broken. About 30 thousand Karelian refugees left for Finland.

On July 25, 1923, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a decree on the transformation of the Karelian Labor Commune (CPC) into the Autonomous Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic (ACSSR) . The control apparatus was formed of Karelians and Finns. The Finns who arrived after the defeat of the workers' revolution in Finland took up leadership positions in government, economy and culture.

Finnish emigrants from all over the world, including from the USA and Canada, began to call for permanent residence in Karelia - they came to the CPC to build Soviet Finland as an alternative to neighboring bourgeois Finland.

In 1925, on a vacant land in the vicinity of Olonets, a group of working Finnish emigrants from Canada founded one of the first agricultural production associations of the Sjade (Luch) commune in Karelia. ^[28]

In 1928, the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy was adopted. He demanded a significant increase in the number of workers. The solution to this problem was seen by the leadership in the active recruitment of workers from outside the sparsely populated Karelia, which led to their variegated national composition. Thus, natives of the USSR, the Baltic states, Italy and China worked at the construction site in Kondopoga . The Finnish immigrants from North America and Canada also made up a large diaspora, whose active recruitment began in 1931 .

Disposal of money (1930-1931)

In the course of the forced collectivization of agriculture in the USSR in 1928-1932 , one of the directions of state policy was the suppression of anti-Soviet actions of the peasants and the related “liquidation of the kulaks as a class” - “dispossession”, which implied the forcible and judicial deprivation of wealthy peasants, using wage labor, all means of production, land and civil rights, and eviction to remote areas of the country. Thus, the state destroyed the main social group of the rural population, capable of organizing and financially supporting resistance to the measures taken.

On January 30, 1930, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks adopted the Resolution "On measures to eliminate kulak farms in areas of continuous collectivization . "

As of April 1, 1931, there were 592 “ kulak ” enterprises in Karelia. Out of 19 districts of the republic, only in four (Olonets, Zaonezhsky, Pryazhinsky, Pudozhsky) the number of conditional “kulak” farms ranged from 55 to 136. Most of them were middle peasants and even poor peasants, and the gross income of the farm did not exceed 1 thousand rubles. At the beginning of 1931, about 20% of the so-called “kulak” enterprises were dispossessed in Karelia. But even then, at the initial stage of dispossession, the main repressions were brought down on the middle or poor farms. In the spring and summer of 1931 a repressive wave of dispossession swept through all the districts of Karelia. It was carried out in a strict form and encompassed all groups of the "kulaks": from "anti-Soviet elements", "farmers, traders, officials of the tsarist regime" to the poor. Dekulakis in the first category were evicted outside Karelia ^[29] .

In April 1938, Kandalaksha received the status of a city, and in May 1938, the Kandalaksha region was allocated from the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and transferred to the Murmansk region ^[30] .

At the end of November 1939, the Soviet-Finnish “winter” war began .

Mass Repression (1937-1938)

In 1937 - 1938 a wave of mass repressions took place throughout the Soviet Union, including in the KASSR.

“The repressions in Karelia took place according to the general plans of the Center, on the basis of decisions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and orders of the NKVD of the USSR.” Like all republics and regions of the USSR, Karelia was let down from above its special “limit”, which had to be fulfilled. In 1937, the "limit" in total was supposed to punish 3,700 people (2,800 - I category, execution; 900 - II category, imprisonment) ^[31] .

During these years, the following were arrested and executed: party and economic leaders of Karelia - Edward Gylling , Gustav Rovio , Peter Irklis , Pavel Bushuev , Nikolai Arkhipov , employees of the Karelian Research Institute ^[32] . S. A. Makaryev, E. A. Haapalainen , N. N. Vinogradov, N. V. Khrisanfov , E. P. Oshevenskaya and many others.

In the 1990s, in the vicinity of Petrozavodsk (in the areas of Besovets and Sulazhgorsky brick works), group excavations were discovered during earthworks. The remains of more than two hundred repressed were reburied in a mass grave at the Zaretsky cemetery .

In July 1997, burials of victims of political repressions were discovered in the Sandarmokh tract near Medvezhyegorsk . Here, over 9,500 people were secretly shot and buried. ^[33] .

In 1997, in the forest of Krasny Bor near Petrozavodsk, burials of victims of political repression were discovered. Here, 1,196 people were secretly shot and buried.

The Karelian-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic is a union republic within the USSR.

The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - autonomy within the RSFSR / USSR that existed in the years 1936-1940. and 1956-1991.

1960-1980

• December 31, 1965 - Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding the KASSR with the Order of Lenin.
• June 5, 1970 - Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on awarding the KASSR with the Order of the October Revolution.
• December 29, 1972 - in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the USSR, the Karelian ASSR was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.

1980-1990

In April 1984, the first secretary of the Karelian Regional Committee of the CPSU, Ivan Senkin, was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Karelian ASSR. The Karelian Regional Committee of the CPSU was headed by Vladimir Stepanov . In January 1986, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the KASSR was headed by Kuzma Filatov .

In March 1985, the USSR was headed by Mikhail Gorbachev , the policy of perestroika began to be implemented in the USSR, aimed at reforming the political and economic system of the USSR. During this period, for the first time since 1947 , in connection with a sharply increased commodity deficit, a card system for distributing food and industrial goods for the population was introduced.

On June 12, 1990, the first Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Russia . The " parade of sovereignty " began. A number of ethnic conflicts flared up on the territory of the USSR. The Union and autonomous republics of the USSR (including the KASSR) announced the priority of their republican laws over the Union and announced the cessation of taxes to the Union budget.

On August 9, 1990, the Supreme Council of the KASSR adopted the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the KASSR.

On July 4, 1991, the Supreme Council of the KASSR decided to participate in the signing of the Treaty on the Union of Sovereign States .

On August 18, 1991, a group of senior government leaders of the USSR made an unsuccessful attempt to preserve the Soviet state system.

August 23, 1991 B. N. Yeltsin signed a decree on the suspension of the CPSU in the Russian Federation ^[34] .

On August 26, 1991, the Presidium of the Supreme Council of Karelia suspended the activities of the bodies and organizations of the Communist Party and declared its property state property of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

On November 13, 1991, the Supreme Council of the KASSR decided to rename the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic to the Republic of Karelia .

The Republic of Karelia (Karelia, Karjala) ( Karel. Karjalan tazavaldu , Karjalan respubliekku is also possible) - an administrative-territorial unit from November 13, 1991 (initially - as part of the RSFSR / USSR, December 25, 1991 - as part of the Russian Federation / USSR, December 26, 1991 - as part of the Russian Federation).

• March 31, 1992 - the delegation of Karelia signed the Federal Treaty . In accordance with the Federal Treaty and the Declaration on State Sovereignty of the RSFSR, Karelia received the status of a sovereign state within the Russian Federation.
• November 28, 1992 - the Supreme Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan approved a new version of the first article of the Constitution of Karelia : “The Republic of Karelia is a sovereign state within the Russian Federation, possessing the full state (legislative, executive, judicial) power in its territory, except for the powers transferred to management of federal government bodies of the Russian Federation in accordance with the Federal Treaty "
• February 16, 1993 - the new (three-color) State flag of the Republic of Karelia was established .
• April 6, 1993 - the National Anthem of the Republic of Karelia was approved.
• September 28, 1993 - the new State Emblem of the Republic of Karelia was established .
• December 24, 1993 - the new edition of the Constitution of the Republic of Karelia was adopted. The current representative and sole legislative body in Karelia has become the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia , consisting of two chambers: the House of the Republic, where deputies worked on a permanent basis, and the House of Representatives. The post of the Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan was introduced.
• February 12, 2001 - the new edition of the Constitution of the Republic of Karelia was adopted. The post of the Head of the Republic of Karelia is being introduced; The Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Kazakhstan becomes unicameral.
• In accordance with the latest edition of the Constitution of the Republic of Karelia of June 5, 2006
  • The Republic of Karelia is a republic (state) within the Russian Federation with a republican form of government.
  • The status of the Republic of Karelia is determined by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Constitution of the Republic of Karelia.
  • The border of the territory of the Republic of Karelia cannot be changed without the consent of the population of the Republic of Karelia expressed by referendum.
  • The names "Republic of Karelia", "Karelia", "Karjala" are equivalent.
  • Historical and national features of the Republic of Karelia are determined by the residence of Karelians on its territory.
  • The Republic of Karelia has in its territory the entirety of state power, with the exception of those powers that are the exclusive responsibility of the Russian Federation or the joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and its constituent entities.
  • The Republic of Karelia independently resolves issues of the administrative-territorial structure.
  • The administrative-territorial units of the Republic of Karelia are regions and cities of republican significance.
  • The state language in the Republic of Karelia is Russian. The Republic of Karelia has the right to establish other state languages ​​on the basis of the direct will of the population of the Republic of Karelia expressed by referendum.
  • In the Republic of Karelia, the peoples living on its territory are guaranteed the right to preserve their native language, create conditions for its study and development.
  • The capital of the Republic of Karelia is the city of Petrozavodsk .
  • The Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia consists of 50 deputies elected on the basis of universal equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. The term of office of deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia of one convocation is five years.
  • Executive power in the Republic of Karelia is carried out by: The Head of the Republic of Karelia, the Government of the Republic of Karelia headed by him and other executive bodies headed by him.
  • In accordance with federal legislation, a citizen of the Russian Federation is vested with the powers of a senior official of the Republic of Karelia upon the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation by the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia in the manner prescribed by federal law and the Constitution of the Republic of Karelia.
  • The term of office of the Head of the Republic of Karelia is five years.

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• Acts of the socio-economic history of the North of Russia at the end of the XV — XVI centuries: Acts of the Solovetsky Monastery, 1572-1584. / USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute of History. Leningra. Dep. Comp. I.Z. Liberson; Editorial: A.I. Kopanev (ed.) And others .-- L .: Science. Leningra. Dep. 1990 .-- 328 s.
• Acts of the socio-economic history of the North of Russia at the end of the XV — XVI centuries: Acts of the Solovetsky Monastery, 1479-1571. / USSR Academy of Sciences. Institute of History of the USSR. Leningra. Dep. Comp. I.Z. Liberson; Editorial: A.I. Kopanev (ed.) And others .-- L .: Science. Le Ningre. Dep. 1988 .-- 274 p.
• History of Karelia of the 16th – 17th centuries in documents: Asiakirjoja Karjalan Historiasta 1500-ja 1600-luvuilta. T. 1. / preparation. to the oven. I. A. Chernyakova, G. M. Kovalenko, V. Saloheimo; under the editorship of A.I. Kopaneva, A.G. Mankova. - Petrozavodsk; Joensuu, 1987 .-- 625 p.
• History of Karelia of the 16th – 17th centuries in documents. Part 2. The Land Book of Kexholm Lena 1637: Asiakirjoja Karjalan Historiasta 1500-ja 1600-luvuilta. T. II Käkisalmen läänin maakirja vuodelta 1637 / Prep. to the oven. and ed. I.A. Chernyakova, K. Katayala. - Petrozavodsk; Joensuu, 1991. — 758 p.
• History of Karelia of the 16th – 17th centuries in documents. Part 3. [The scribe book of the Zaonezhskaya half of the Obonezhskaya pyatina 1582–83; The census book of Tiurole graveyard 1629]: Asiakirjoja Karjalan Historiasta 1500-ja 1600-luvuilta. T. III / preparation. to the oven. and ed. I.A. Chernyakova, K. Katayala / KSC RAS. Institute of languages, lit. and stories. - Petrozavodsk, Joensuu, 1993-510 pp., Ill.
• Pashkov A.M. Coats of arms and flags of Karelia - Petrozavodsk: Kareko, 1994 .-- 351 pp., Ill.
• Scribe books of Novgorod land. T.1. Compiled by Baranov K.V. - M., "Ancient Storage", "Archaeographic Center", 1999
• Karelian ASSR in the eleventh five-year period. - "Karelia", 1981
• The history of Karelia from ancient times to the present day / Scientific. ed. N. A. Korablev , V. G. Makurov , Yu. A. Savvateev , M. I. Shumilov - Petrozavodsk: Periodika, 2001 .-- 944 pp., Ill. ISBN 5-88170-049-X
• Dubrovskaya E. Yu., Korablev N.A. Karelia during the First World War 1914-1918. - St. Petersburg: "Nestor-History", 2017. - 432 p.

• Portal Karelia official. Story
• Portal Karelia official. Video archive
• Karelia on a map of medieval Europe
• Written news about the Karelians (X — XVI century). Old Norse written sources.
• The population of Karelia in the XV-XVII centuries. Historical and demographic analysis
• N. Ya. Ozeretskovsky "Journey through the lakes of Ladoga and Onega", 1785
• G. R. Derzhavin Fragments from The Day Note
• Ancient Karelia in the second half of I - the first half of II millennium BC e. origin, history and culture of the population of the annalistic Karelian land topic of the dissertation and abstract on the Higher Attestation Commission 07.00.06, doctor of historical sciences Saksa, Alexander Ivanovich
• The struggle of Russia against the Swedish expansion in Karelia the end of the XIII - the beginning of the XIV century.
• Karelia in written sources
• S. I. Kochkurkina, A. M. Spiridonov, T. N. Jackson Written news about Karelians (X — XVI centuries)
• Center of National Cultures and Folk Art of the Republic of Karelia
• Site “Indigenous Peoples of Karelia”
• Novgorod land in the 12th-early 13th centuries
• Lists of settlements of the Olonets province [1879,1907, JPG
• Library Tsarskoye Selo, books on the history of the Olonets province (Commemorative books), PDF
• Map of the Olonets province from the Atlas of A. A. Ilyin in 1876 (viewed on the Google engine on runivers.ru)
• Report of the Regional Institutions of the Karelian Labor Commune of SNK and STO on October 1, 1921. - Petrozavodsk, 1922 (electronic copy of the book)
• History of Karelia // Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov . - 3rd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
• Karelians. The birth of the people.
• Under the rule of Sweden. Exodus.
• Cards.
• Report of the Head of the Republic of Karelia S. L. Katanandov “60 years of the Great Victory”.
• 80 years of the Republic of Karelia
• History of the statehood of Karelia
• List of museums in Karelia
• National Archives of the Republic of Karelia
• Objects of historical and cultural heritage of Karelia
• Photogallery “Old postcards”
• Stolypin reform in Karelia
• Industry of Karelia under Peter I
• Civil war in Karelia
• Monetary reform of 1947 in Karelia
• Construction business in Karelia (XIV — XVII century.)