Karelia is the land of the Karelian and Finnish peoples and is a vast inhabited area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Finland, Russia, and Sweden. It is currently divided between the Russian Republic of Karelia, the Russian Leningrad Oblast, and two Regions of Finland, South Karelia and North Karelia.In the Karelian, Finnish, and Estonian languages, Karelia is called Karjala; in Russian ???????; and in Swedish Karelen.
History
Karelia was bitterly fought over by Sweden and the Novgorod Republic during the 13th-century Swedish-Novgorodian Wars. The Treaty of Nöteborg (Finnish: Pähkinäsaaren rauha) in 1323 divided Karelia between the two. Viborg (Finnish: Viipuri) became the capital of the new Swedish province.The Treaty of Nystad (Finnish: Uudenkaupungin rauha) in 1721 between Imperial Russia and Sweden ceded most of Karelia to Russia. After Finland had been occupied by Russia in the Finnish War, parts of the ceded provinces (Old Finland) were incorporated into t