Kven: Encyclopedia II - Kven - The people

Kven - The people

The term Kven (a.k.a. Kveeni, Kvaen, Cwen, Quen, Quain, Qwaen) - Kainulainen in Finnish) - refers to the northern Scandinavian people, who are of a pre 20th century Finnish origin. In modern terminology, however, only those of Finnish background living in Northern Norway are refered to as Kvens.

The towns and communities around the Varanger Fjord in notheastern Norway still today possess the most visible and strong Kven (Cwen, Kveeni) culture, traditions and population anywhere. In many ways, the Varanger Fjord area nearby today's border between Norway and Russia indeed is the center of today's Kvenland - a.k.a. Cwenland or Quenland (Kainuunmaa or Kainu in Finnish) -, i.e. the land traditionally inhabited by the Kven population - Kainulaiset in Finnish.

E.g., such places by the Varanger Fjord (a vast bay of water, connected to the Arctic Ocean - Varangerfjorden in Norwegian - in northeatern Norway) as Bugoynes (Pykeija in Finnish), Vadso (Vesisaari in Finnish), Kirkenes (Kirkkoniemi in Finnish) and Vardo (Vuoreija in Finnish) are perfect examples of today's remaining Kven centers in north-eastern Norway.

The following further distinguishion between the Finnic Kvens and the Finnic Samis must be made:

In the Scandinavian languages the term Kven (Kveeni in Finnish) has never been meant to refer to the Sami people (traditionally - up to recent times - known as Lapps in Finland) eventhough they too are members of the Finnic (a.k.a. Finno-Ugric or Fenno-Ugric) group of peoples, and eventhough they have - throughout the known history - inhabited the same norhtern Scandinavian territories with the Kvens.

Furthermore, the people of a Finnish background outside today's borders of Northern Norway - within the Finnish, Swedish or Russian boundaries - in the modern day terminology are usually not referred to as Kvens, but instead simply Finns, regardless of how many generations they may have been living in their areas, and despite of the fact that their areas still during the Middle Ages were part of the territory commonly referred to as Kvenland.

In the modern terminology the word Kven usyally refers only to the Finnish people - and their descendants - who settled in Northern Norway before the 20th century and who today inhabit the extreme norhernmost coastal areas of the Scandinavian peninsula, by the Arctic Ocean and its Barents Sea, in areas that today belong - for the most part - to Norway, but some also to Russia (the Finns on the Russian side, however, are usually not referred to as Kvens by the locals). In the past, also Sweden-Finland and - later - Finland had posessions (e.g. Petsamo) in the areas in question.

Due to the mixing of populations and cultures in the historical Kvenland territories, the descendants of Kvens e.g. in the Gulf of Bothnia and the White Sea areas are usually no longer referred to as Kvens by the local residents. Only the Kvens of Northern Norway by the Arctic Ocean and particularly its Barents Sea in north-eastern Scandinavia - who up till the latter part of the 20th century have been rather isolated of the rest of the society aroun them - still today proudly and visibly carry the Kven title, traditions and heritage.

Pretty much everywhere else the representatives of the Kven culture and people have become more or less invisible in many ways and mixed up with the local populations and traditions, due to many migration waves and settling of newcomers during several centuries, beginning in the latter part of the Middle Ages.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The people", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki