Borovichi Karelia

In the 17th century, the exodus of Karelians from Korela district, which was seized from Sweden by Sweden under the Treaty of Stolbovsky in 1617, ended. Having forever left their ancestral “nest” in the northern Ladoga area, a part of the Karelians went to the Zaonezhsky and Lopsky pogosts, and the other part settled to the south - mainly, in the vast Novgorod district at that time, performing in the southeast beyond its limits to the adjacent counties of the Zamoskoy region : Bezhetsky (Bezhetsky Top), Kashinsky, Tverskaya and Novotorzhsky, including the north-western outskirts of Uglich and Yaroslavl counties near the Mologa River.

Thus, the majority of Karelians fled to Tver, where they settled, later creating the Karelian National District. However, leaving a large trail throughout their territory. The book [Kirkinen et al., 1998, 132] shows an interesting map of Karelian resettlement to Russia in XVII century. The author of this card is Professor Veio Salojimo from the University of Joensuu (Finland). The map shows the locations of the Karelian exodus from the Karelian county (Kexholm Lena under the Swedes) and the areas of their study in Russia. The numbers on the map represent the number of people. In particular, the number of Karelian families who fled to the Novgorod land: Novgorod - 282; Staraya Russa - 548; Valdai - 477; Tikhvin –342; Borovichi - 1796; (and for comparison: Bezhetsk - 1943). However, the data of the map under consideration for Borovichi can be regarded as conditional or, perhaps, as a temporary pattern of the migration process, since the final resettlement of the Karelians ended only in the next, XVIII century.

Population in the 18th Century

Karel Settlement Card 1834 year.

According to the census of parishes and landlords:

• - Mid XVII century. - no more than 10 people. male
• - Last quarter of the XVII century. - about 250 people. male
• - 1765 - at least 800 people. male (according to exemption

books)

• - 1795 - at least 980 people. male (according to the recruiting

statements)

Their final settlement continued in the second half of the 18th century, and by that time they had become fully accustomed to business in their new homeland, and despite the fact that most of them were in serfdom (on rent), they continued to manage confidently and even arbitrarily.

Population in the 19th Century

The general picture of the Karelian settlement in the Novgorod province in the first half of the XIX century can be seen on the unique Ethnographic Map of European Russia, compiled by academician Peter Köppen.

The first edition of this map was published in 1851. In the explanations for the first and second editions of the map, the total number of Karelians in the Novgorod province is 27076 people.

1897 census

• Novgorod-97
• Borovichsky - 1076
• Belozersky - 571
• Valdai - 5808
• Demyansky - 525
• Kirillovskiy - - -
• Krestetsky - 424
• Starorussky - 35
• Tikhvin - 1371
• Ustyuzhensky - 73
• Cherepovets - - -

Total for the province - 9980

1926 census

According to the census of 1926 in the Novgorod and Cherepovets provinces, there were no more than 3,000 inhabitants by native language. So in the Novgorod one there were 884 people, and in the Cherepovets district there were -2135 people.

Subsequent censuses

In the subsequent censuses, the number of Karelians in the Borovichi province steadily decreased, at the moment according to the 2010 census, not a single person called himself a Karelian.

In the early 1990s, Karelians, a mother and a son, spoke Karelian language in the village of Sutoko-ryadok.

In the Borovichsky district on the map [Köppen, 1855] there are six nests of Karelian villages. Of these, one nest is of medium size and five small. The first nest of medium size was located in the north-west of the county 15–18 km east of the large northern bend of the Msta river. A group of villages were named here: Simantaya, Dolbeevo, Kapina Gorusha, Peshanitsa , Kamenka and Ushkovo.

In the same way, the other eight Karelian villages on the map were identified [Köppen, 1855]. Here are the names of these villages in the spelling of Köppen:

• 2nd nest - villages of Erzovka and Goli of Nikandrovsky volost,
• 3rd nest - the villages of Oparino and Krepugino of Konchansky volost,
• 4th nest - the village of Konchansko of the parish of the same name,
• 5th nest - the villages of Bireg and Kristova Ryadovskoy parish,
• The 6th nest is the village of Kniazheva Pirussky parish.
• The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th nests were located one after the other in the direction from north-west to south-east and generally were located north of Borovichi. The 5th and 6th nests were located south of Borovichi near the border with the Valdai district.

Undoubtedly, Peter Köppen had information about a much larger number of Karelian settlements. It was simply impossible to place them on this small map [Köppen, 1852] with a scale of 75 miles in one English inch.

From Karelians, the current Borovichi residents have a lot left, so typical Karelian cuisine is popular among the local population, in many villages and villages there are old houses resembling Karelian or repeating them. Among the old-timers are those who remember how their fathers spoke Finnish. Many as before, they lead the typical Karelian way of life by doing fishing and hunting.

Tver Karelians

Tver Karelia

Valdai County

Tikhvin County

Konchan-Suvorov

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