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Karelia

 

Contents

Flag

Historical Flags

Meaning/Origin of the Flag

Coat of Arms

Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

Map

Numbers and Facts

History

Origin of the Country's Name



Flag

Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
National flag,
ratio = 2:3,
Source, by: Flaggen Enzyklopädie



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Historical Flags

Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1918,
First flag of the Republic (draft),
ratio = 2:3,
Source, by: Wikipedia (ES)




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1920–1922,
Flag of the bourgeois Republic of Uhtua,
ratio = 3:5,
Source, by: Wikipedia (ES)




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1920,
Karelia uses the flag of the RSFSR,
Source, by: World Statesmen




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1920–1937,
Karelia uses the flag of the RSFSR,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: World Statesmen




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1937–1938,
Flag of the autonomous soviet republic,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: World Statesmen




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1938–1940,
Flag of the autonomous soviet republic,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: World Statesmen




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1940–1953,
Flag of the soviet republic,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: World Statesmen




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1941–1944,
Flag in areas controlled by Finland,
ratio = 3:5,
Source, by: Wikipedia (ES)




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1953–1956,
Flag of the soviet republic,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: Wikipedia (ES)




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1956–1978,
Flag of the autonomous soviet republic,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: World Statesmen




Flagge Fahne flag Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
1978–1991,
Flag of the autonomous soviet republic,
ratio = 1:2,
Source, by: World Statesmen




look also:
Flag history of the soviet republics of the USSR

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Meaning/Origin of the Flag

The flag today's flag of Karelia was introduced on 16th of February in 1993 and shows three horizontal stripes in red blue and green. In this way is obviously continued the tradition of the last flag of the Karelo-Finnish Socialist Soviet Republic (1940–1956). With the three horizontal stripes it is also formed after the model of the Russian tricolor. Red is the national colour of the Finns, blue stands for the lakes of the country and green for its woods. A first flag for an independent, bourgeois Republic of Karelia was designed in 1918 by the Finnish artist Jonas Heyska. It was a single-coloured blue flag with a representation of the Big Dipper's constellation in the upper left corner. The flag did not prevail and was never officially used. The second flag for an independent, bourgeois Republic of Karelia (Republic of Uhtua) was created in 1920 by the Finnish artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela. It showed a Scandinavian design with a black cross with a red border on a green background. The flag was used only until 1922, when the Soviet power prevailed after the Civil War and the Republic of Karelia ceased to exist. The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within Soviet Russia was founded in 1923. A first relevant flag was created not until 1937. It was, of course, a red flag that featured the Initalia of Russia (RSFSR) in Russian, Karelian and Finnish. The name of the republic (Karelian ASSR) appeared in the same order of languages. In a major "purge" in 1937 fell victim the Finnish language, which had have equal rights until that point in time, and many here living Finns as well. The lines in Finnish were removed from the flag. In 1940, the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed to the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, Finnish was allowed as a language again and Finland had to cede large areas to the Soviet Union after the "Winter War" (1939-1940). The Karelian language is now defined with Cyrillic letters. Thus, the inscriptions on the flag – which was adopted in 1940 – appeared in Latin script (Finnish) and in Cyrillic script (Russian). During World War II, between 1941 and 1944, Finland succeeded in bringing some areas of Karelia under its control. However, they were not annexed. The Finnish administration of these areas used the flag of the bourgeois Karelia, which had been used until 1922. On 13th of March in 1953 a new flag was adopted for the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic. It followed the trend of that time to supplement the monochrome red flags of the Soviet republics with colored elements, often colored horizontal or vertical stripes, and to remove the inscriptions. The red area with hammer, sickle and star in gold has been supplemented at the bottom with a blue and a green stripe. They represent the lakes and forests of the country. On 16th of July in 1956 the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was abolished again and replaced by the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within Soviet Russia (Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic). The flag was changed again. On 20th of August in 1956 the flag of Soviet Russia was introduced – as usual for the autonomous republics within Russia – supplemented by an inscription in gold below hammer and sickle. Initially, there were only the initials KASSR and KASNT, which were supplemented in 1978 by the complete name of the country, in Russian and Karelian.

Source: Flaggen Enzyklopädie, Wikipedia (ES), Volker Preuß

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Coat of Arms


Wappen coat of arms Karelien Karelija Karelia Karjala
Coat of arms of Karelia,
Source: Wikipedia (ES)

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Meaning/Origin of the Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Karelia shows an in a golden ornament surrounded blazon in the colours of the Karelian flag. In the middle a stylized lion, which goes back to the Republic of Uhtua.

Source: Wikipedia (ES), Volker Preuß

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Map

geographical position within Russia:

Source: Freeware, russiamap.org, modyfied by: Volker Preuß
enlarge – click or tap here

Map of the country:

Source: Russiatrek

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Numbers and Facts

Area: 69.699 square miles

Inhabitants: 643.500 (2010), thereof 79% Russians, 7% Karelians

Density of Population: 9 inh./sq.mi.

Capital: Petrosawodsk, 262.000 inh. (2010)

official Language: Russian

National Languages: Karelian, Wepsian and Finnish

Currency: Russian currency

Time Zone: GMT + 3 h

Source: Wikipedia (DE)

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History

7th–9th cent. · The Karelians settle in the today's Karelia

11th cent. · Karelia comes under supremacy of the Rus of Novgorod

14th cent. · Karelia comes to the Great Principality of Moskow (Russia)

1617 · Peace of Stolbowa, Russia cedes Karelia to Sweden, the hristian-orthodox Karelians flee in the following years mainly to Russia because of the evangelical missionaries from Sweden

1721 · Peace of Nystad, Sweden cedes Karelia to Russia

1917 · establishment of the Soviet Dictatorship, the Karelian language gets written and laid down for the first time, however in Cyrillic letters

1923 · establishment of the Karelian Autonomous Socialistic Soviet Republic within Sowjet Russia (Russian Socialistic Federative Soviet Republic)

1930 · the Karelian language gets written and laid down in Latin letters

1939–1940 · Winter War of the Soviet Union against Finland in Karelia

1940 · dissolution of the Karelian Autonomous Socialistic Soviet Republic, proclamation of the Karelo-Finnish Socialistic Soviet Republic, Finland has to cede territories to the Soviet Union, which get partially incorporated into the Karelo-Finnish Socialistic Soviet Republic, the Karelian language gets written and laid down again in Cyrillic letters

1941 · Finland joines the Axis Mights and trys in the Second World War to get back the in the Winter War the to the Soviet Union lost territories, and invades deep into Karelia

1944 · Finland surrenders and has to cede the region of Petsamo to the Soviet Union

16th of July 1956 · dissolution of the Karelo-Finnish Socialistic Soviet Republic, transformation into the Karelian Autonomous Socialistic Soviet Republic within Sowjet Russia (Russian Socialistic Federative Soviet Republic)

13th of November in 1991 · proclamation of the Republic of Karelia

31st of December in 1991 · the Soviet Union dissolves, the constitution of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR, Russia), a former substate of the Soviet Union, remains in force for the time being

25th of December in 1993 · a new constitution for Russia (Russian Federation) comes into force, and the relationships with the members of the federation is re-regulated in this way

Source: Atlas zur Geschichte, World Statesmen, Russiatrek, Die Völker der Erde

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Origin of the Country's Name

The name Karelia goes back to the people of the Karelians, belonging to the Finns. The Finnish word "karjalaiset" means "shepherd", so Karelia would be "Shepherd's Land".

Source: Atlas der wahren Namen

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