Map of the Karelian Isthmus. Shown are some important towns, the current Finnish-Russian border in the North-West and the pre-Winter War border further South.
The Karelian Isthmus (Russian: Карельский перешеек, romanized: Karelsky peresheyek; Finnish: Karjalankannas; Swedish: Karelska näset) is the approximately 45–110-kilometre-wide (30–70 mi) stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva.[1] Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the westernmost point of Lake Ladoga, Pekonlahti. If the Karelian Isthmus is defined as the entire territory of present-day Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast to the north of the Neva and also a tiny part of the Republic of Karelia, the area of the isthmus is about 15,000 km2 (5,800 sq mi).
The isthmus' terrain has been influenced dramatically by the Weichselian glaciation. Its highest point lies on the Lembolovo Heights moraine at about 205 m (670 ft). There are no mountains on the isthmus, but steep hills occur in some places.
The isthmus is mostly covered by coniferous forests formed by Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Norway spruce (Picea abies), with numerous lakes (e.g. Lake Sukhodolskoye and Lake Glubokoye) as well as small grass[clarification needed], fen and Sphagnumraised bogs. Forests cover approximately 11,700 km of the isthmus, more than three quarters of its total area. Swampy areas occupy 5.5 percent of the territory. In the large contiguous area along the shore of Lake Ladoga in Vsevolozhsky District, in the southeastern part of the isthmus, bogs occur much more frequently than in other parts. The same was once true of the lowland along the Neva River, which has since been drained.[4] The soil is predominantly podsol, which contains massive boulders, especially in the north and northwest, where large granite rocky outcrops occur.
The climate of the isthmus is moderately continental, with 650–800 mm (25–32 in) average precipitation per year, long snowy winters lasting from November through mid-April and occasionally reaching about -40 °C (-40 F), moderately cool summers and short frost-free period. Compared to other parts of the Leningrad Oblast, the winter here is usually milder due to the moderating influence of the Gulf of Finland, but longer.
The city of Vyborg and the town of Priozersk are situated on the northwestern part of the isthmus.
A 20–35 km wide stretch of land in Vyborgsky District and Republic of Karelia to the west of the Vyborg–Hiitola railway, as well as the islands and shores of the Gulf of Vyborg, belongs to the strictly guarded zone of the border control, reaching the shore of Lake Ladoga at Hiitola. In 1993–2006 the zone was formally 5 km wide, although in fact it has always been much wider.[7] Visiting it is forbidden without a permit issued by the FSB (by KGB during the time of the Soviet Union).
Geologically the Karelian Isthmus lies on the southern edge of the Baltic Shield's crystalline bedrock. During the final part of the last Weichselian glaciation, deglaciation in the central parts of the Isthmus started as early as 14000 BP, when it formed the bottom of a large lake dammed by the surrounding ice sheet. During further deglaciation, at the time of the Baltic Ice Lake, an early high water stage of the Baltic Sea, when the ice sheet retreated to Salpausselkä, the upland area of the Isthmus remained a large island and many upland lakes emerged.[8]
Prior to 12650 BP, the land was characterized by harsh Arctic conditions with permafrost and sparse vegetation. Steppe-tundra complexes developed after this point. Around 11000 BP climate began to warm and became humid, first pine and birch forests were established.[9]
Around 9000 BP Ancylus Lake, another stage of the Baltic Sea, retreated, and many lowland lakes were also isolated in depressions formed earlier by glacial exaration and fluvioglacial activity. Lake Ladoga was separated from the sea as well. Due to land uplift, around 5000 BP the River Vuoksi started emptying into Lake Ladoga as a new outlet of Lake Saimaa. Lake Ladoga transgressed, flooding lowland lakes and the Vuoksi, and became connected with the sea at Heinjoki (now Veshchevo), to the east of present-day Vyborg. Around 3100–2400 BP the Neva River emerged, draining Lake Ladoga into the Baltic Sea.[10] Ladoga level gradually sank from 15–18 m to its modern position of 4–5 m above sea-level, and lowland lakes were isolated again. However, the Vuoksi still had a significant direct outflow connection to the Bay of Vyborg, possibly as late as in the 12th century AD.[8][11] The connection disappeared due to ongoing land uplift in the 2nd millennium AD.
In 1818 a canal, which was dug to drain spring flood waters from Lake Suvanto (now Lake Sukhodolskoye, a 40-km long narrow lake in the eastern part of the Isthmus) into Lake Ladoga, unexpectedly eroded and turned into the Taipaleenjoki (now Burnaya River). The Taipaleenjoki started draining Suvanto and decreased its level by 7 m. Originally waters of Lake Suvanto flowed into the Vuoksi River through a waterway at Kiviniemi (now Losevo), but as a result of the change, the waterway dried out. In 1857 the canal was dug there, but the stream reversed direction, revealed rapids and rendered navigation at Kiviniemi impossible. Since 1857 Suvanto and the Taipaleenjoki have constituted the southern armlet of the Vuoksi River, which has decreased the level of the original northern armlet emptying into Ladoga near Kexholm (now Priozersk) by 4 m, isolating it as a separate river basin.
Apart from the old towns of Vyborg and Priozersk, and churches on the Konevets island of Lake Ladoga, since the late 19th century a number of other archaeological sites have been discovered on the isthmus.[12] Numerous archaeological remnants of the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age occur all over the isthmus. The eastern part of the Karelian Isthmus hosts a number of medieval remnants. There are many grave pits of Karelians of the 10th–15th centuries with metal and ceramic artifacts along the northern armlet of the Vuoksi, near Lake Sukhodolskoye and in a few other places in Priozersky District.[13][14] On the southern shore of Lake Sukhodolskoye small medieval burial mounds are abundant as well. A lot of large cult stones have been found along these bodies of water, as well as agglomerations of cairns. Remnants of several rural settlements were also discovered there as well as on the shore of Lake Ladoga. Remnants of the Tiuri (Tiversk) town (10th–15th centuries) were excavated on a former island in the northern Vuoksi armlet near the Tiuri village (now Vasilyevo). A few treasures of silver adornments and medieval Arabian and Western European coins have also been found, as the isthmus laid on the Volga trade route (at that time, the Vuoksi River had a distributary emptying into the Bay of Vyborg).
During 17th century Sweden gained the whole isthmus and also Ingria. In this time many Karelians escaped to Tver's Karelia.
From 1721–1917 the isthmus belonged to the Russian Empire, won in the Great Northern War that started with the Russian conquest of Ingria where the new imperial capital, Saint Petersburg, was founded (1703) in the southern end of the isthmus, in place of old Swedish town Nyenskans. Then in 1812, the northwestern half was transferred, as a part of Old Finland, to the Grand Duchy of Finland, created in 1809 as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire.
Due to its size, favorable climate, rich fishing waters and proximity to Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, the Karelian Isthmus became the wealthiest part of Finland once the industrial revolution had gained momentum in the 19th century. The railroads Saint Petersburg–Vyborg–Riihimäki (1870), Vyborg–Hiitola–Sortavala (1893), Saint Petersburg–Kexholm–Hiitola (1917) crossed the isthmus, contributing to its economic development. By the end of the 19th century the nearby areas along the Saint Petersburg–Vyborg section had become popular place of summer resort for wealthy Saint Petersburgers.
Ingrian flag
When Finland declared its independence in 1917, the isthmus (except for the territory roughly corresponding to present-day Vsevolozhsky District and some districts of Saint Petersburg) remained Finnish, part of the Viipuri province with its center in Viipuri, the fourth largest Finnish city. A considerable part of the remaining area populated by Ingrian Finns seceded from Bolshevist Russia as the Finland-backed Republic of North Ingria, but was reintegrated with Russia in the end of 1920 according to the conditions of the Treaty of Tartu. In 1928–1939 parts of the isthmus which belonged to Russia constituted the Kuivaisi National District with its center in Toksova, with Finnish as the official language, according to the policy of national delimitation in the Soviet Union. However, in 1936 the entire Finnish population of the parishes of Valkeasaari, Lempaala, Vuole and Miikkulainen along the Finnish border was deported[where?] by the Soviet government.[15]
December 1939. Soviet tanks advancingDecember 1939. Karelian evacuees from Muolaa municipality on their way to West-Finland
A number of defensive lines crossed the isthmus during the Soviet-Finnish hostilities in World War II, such as Mannerheim Line, VKT-line, VT-line, Main line (Finnish) and KaUR (Soviet), and fronts moved back and forth over it.[16]
In November 1939, the Soviet Union staged the Shelling of Mainila and invaded Finland in what became known as the Winter War, which took a disproportionally heavy death toll on the Red Army. Only in February 1940 did the Soviet forces manage to penetrate the Mannerheim Line across the isthmus, the strength of which is often exaggerated.[17] Finland ceded the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia to the Soviet Union in the Peace of Moscow of 12 March. According to the protocol appended to the Moscow Peace Treaty, the fighting was ended at noon (Leningrad time) on 13 March and by 26 March the Finnish troops had been completely withdrawn.[18] The entire Karelian population of the ceded areas of about 422 thousand people was evacuated to other parts of Finland (see Evacuation of Finnish Karelia). On 31 March most of the ceded territories were incorporated into Karelo-Finnish SSR by a decision of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union (in the Karelian Isthmus the districts of Jääski, Kexholm and Vyborg). The districts of Kanneljärvi, Koivisto and Rautu as well as the town of Terijoki were, however, included into Leningrad Oblast.[19]
Finnish defensive lines of the Continuation War
In 1941, during World War II, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. A few days later was the beginning of the Continuation War as it is known in Finland. (It is considered to be a front of the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and Russia.) Finland initially regained the lost territory, reaching the Russian side of the border of 1939 in what was seen by the Russians as indirectly contributing to the Siege of Leningrad (see Finnish reconquest of the Karelian Isthmus (1941)). Some 260,000 Karelian evacuees returned home.
On 9 June 1944, strong Soviet forces opened the Vyborg Offensive and pushed the front from the pre-1939 border to Vyborg in ten days. The returned Karelians were evacuated to Finland again. In the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, 25 June–9 July, the Finns concentrated their military strength and brought the offensive to a halt at the River Vuoksi, in the northwesternmost part of the isthmus, at the closest point only 40 kilometres from the border of 1940. The Moscow Armistice ending the war was signed on 19 September 1944. The entire isthmus became Soviet, although most of it had never been captured by the Soviets in battles. This time the ceded territories of the Karelian Isthmus (including the districts of Jääski, Kexholm and Vyborg) were incorporated into Leningrad Oblast (unlike Ladoga Karelia, which remained within the Karelo-Finnish SSR). The border of the Moscow Peace Treaty (1940) was recognized by Finland again in the Peace of Paris, 1947.
As a result of the war, the population of the Karelian Isthmus was almost completely replaced. After the war the isthmus was included in the Leningrad Oblast and people from other parts of the Soviet Union, mostly Russians, were settled there. The vast majority of the old Finnish toponyms in the conquered territories were renamed to invented Russian ones by the government around 1948.[19] The Finnish toponyms of the territories included within Karelo-Finnish SSR and of the southern part of the isthmus (albeit assimilated) mostly remained. A lot of youth summer camps were built all over the isthmus during the time of the Soviet Union. Some of them still exist.
Also on the Karelian isthmus are all lines of the St. Petersburg metro.
Industry
The pulp-and-paper, timber and woodworking industries (JSC Svetogorsk, pulp and paper mill in Svetogorsk, Vyborgsky Pulp and Paper Mill in Vyborg, Priozersky Furniture and Woodworking Industrial Complex and Priozersky Woodworking Factory in Priozersk, as well as other smaller enterprises all over the isthmus) are well developed in Vyborgsky and Priozersky Districts. The pulp and paper industry, however, affects the environment adversely. The predecessor of the Priozersk facilities, Priozersky Pulp and Paper Mill, a major polluter of Lake Ladoga constructed in 1931, was closed down in 1986. Northern and western parts of the isthmus are also an important reserve of granite (quarries in Kuznechnoye, as well as a number of others along the Vyborg-Hiitola railroad).[20]
The population of the Karelian isthmus today is slightly less than 3.1 million inhabitants. Of these, about 2.4 million live in St. Petersburg and a little less than 700 thousand in the Leningrad region. The population is growing solely due to migration, as the mortality rate is much higher than the birth rate, but the migration attractiveness of St. Petersburg and the surrounding areas of the Leningrad region is very high. Thus, about 40% of the population of St. Petersburg and about 30% of the population of the Leningrad region live on the Karelian isthmus. There is strong growth in population in all the districts of the Karelian isthmus in addition to the Vyborg district and Priozersk district .
^Доронина А. Ю. Сосудистые растения Карельского перешейка (Ленинградская область). [Doronina A. Vascular plants of the Karelian Isthmus (Leningrad Region)] Moscow: КМК, 2007. ISBN978-5-87317-384-6.
Балашов Е. А. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Юго-западный сектор, часть 1: Кивеннапа – Териоки (Первомайское – Зеленогорск). СПб.: Новое время, 1998. ISBN5-93045-016-1.
Балашов Е. А. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Юго-западный сектор, часть 2: Уусикиркко (Поляны). СПб.: Новое время, 2000. ISBN5-87517-022-0.
Балашов Е. А. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Юго-западный сектор, часть 3: Каннельярви – Куолемаярви (Победа – Пионерское). СПб.: Новое время, 1998. ISBN5-93045-017-X.
Балашов Е. А. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Часть 2–3. Юго-западный сектор: Уусикиркко – Куолемаярви – Каннельярви (Поляны – Красная Долина – Победа). 2-е изд., перераб. и доп. СПб.: Нива, 2002. ISBN5-86456-124-X.
Шитов Д.И. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Часть 4. Восточный сектор: Рауту – Саккола (Сосново – Громово). СПб.: Нордмед-Издат, 2000. ISBN5-93114-040-9.
Балашов Е. А. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Часть 5. Западный сектор: Койвисто (Приморск). СПб.: КультИнформПресс, 2002. ISBN5-8392-0216-9.
Балашов Е. А. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Часть 5 – 6. Западный сектор: Койвисто – Йоханнес (Приморск – Советский). 2-е изд., испр. и доп. СПб.: Нива, 2003. ISBN5-86456-102-9.
Орехов Д.И., Балашов Е. А. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Часть 7. Центральный сектор: Муолаа – Яюряпяя (Красносельское – Барышево). СПб.: Нива, 2004. ISBN5-86456-078-2.
Орехов Д.И., Балашов Е. А. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Часть 8. Восточный сектор: Метсяпиртти (Запорожское). СПб.: Нива, 2005. ISBN5-86456-116-9.
Балашов Е. А. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Часть 9. Центральный сектор: Валкъярви – Вуоксела (Мичуринское – Ромашки). СПб.: Нива, 2005. ISBN5-86456-065-0.
Шитов Д.И. Карельский перешеек: Земля неизведанная. Часть 10. Северо-восточный сектор: Ряйсяля (Мельниково). СПб., 2006. ISBN5-86456-118-5.
Иллюстрированный определитель растений Карельского перешейка / Под ред. А. Л. Буданцева, Г. П. Яковлева. – СПб: СпецЛит, 2000.
