Finnish view of history tends to be that we were the victims of colonialism, held by Sweden for half millennium, with foreign language and religion forced upon us while taxed and recruited for their military campaigns. And that is part of the truth.
But by the 18th century there were people (if mostly of Swedish origin) in Finland drinking Indian tea from Chinese cups. We weren't isolated from the pattern of European colonization of world.
And as part of Sweden, we did for some amount benefit of Atlantic slave trade. (A book was just published on the issue, inspiring me to write this.) Aside small short-lived colonies in Africa and North America, Sweden held for a century Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy (then returned to France), starting 1784. While the island wasn't fitting for farming, it became a profitable free port, especially at some points and after the Napoleonic Wars when Sweden became neutral and unaligned between the major European powers. Around the end of 18th century, there were decades when Finnish industry through imported cotton and sugar can be said to have benefited from slavery.
Sweden abolished slavery 1847.
Re: History of Finland Today it is 80 years since war came over Finland, a war unlike any seen before. Our most terrible and proudest moment.
It's hard to understand that that happened closer to my birth than today is.
Re: History of Finland This video is an amateur colorization project, showing variety of clips from 1930's Vyborg/Viipuri, the largest city Finland lost to Soviet Union in WWII.
Re: History of Finland I've lately been looking into Northern Crusades and I have to say here's an area where my education has failed.
Here's a fun fact: 1237 pope Gregory IX authorized crusades against Tavastians - Hämäläiset, the tribe of Finns I could count myself into. This meant that anyone fighting Tavastian pagans in Finland earned same gains, both physical and place in heaven, as crusades in Holy Land fighting Muslims.
Re: History of Finland Another hole in my history knowledge is the Novgorod Republic.
I've always considered it more or less interchangeable with Russia and/or Kievan Rus' - and considering the complicated history of medieval Russia, that's not far-fetched simplification.
Still, this was a country that existed over 300 years right in neighbor of modern day Finland. In fact a tiny bit of old Novgorod is within Finland.
So we should have better knowledge of it.