DOI: 10.15201/hungeobull.66.4.1Merovuo, J. HungarianHungarian Geographical Geographical Bulletin Bulletin 66 (2017) 66 (4) 2017 283–293. (4) 283–293.283

‘Divided and validated’? The institutionalization of the Russo-Swedish border region in the 1743 peace treaty

Jenni MEROVUO1

Abstract

In this article, I analyse the institutionalization of the border region between Sweden and Imperial Russia presented in the peace treaty signed in Åbo (now Turku) in 1743. The Russo- Swedish war of 1741–1743 was disastrous for Sweden. Instead of regaining the losses suf- fered on the eastern front in the previous war (1700–1721), Sweden ceded more territory to Russia shifting the state border westwards again. The new border located in the middle of the present-day eastern Finnish countryside followed no religious or linguistic divisions. The peace treaty was a top-down measure. However, one must recognise that regions were institutionalised in several parallel and interactive processes. I apply the approach of insti- tutionalization of regions to categorise the peace treaty according to the four dimensions of the approach. The aim is to untangle the official re-establishment of the new regional order to indicate the room for the local influencing. I conclude that the peace treaty did not extensively define the shape of the border region, which led to challenges in reshaping and further developing the border region in the local practices. Classifying the region building process according to the dimensions of the regional institutionalization – though intertwined in practice – provide comparativeness for the local progressions foregrounding their distinc- tive and consistent characteristics.

Keywords: border studies, borderlands, re-bordering, institutionalization of regions, Sweden, Russia, state building

Introduction demarcation of a modern political territory based partially on strategic grounds. The The Russo-Swedish war also known as The idea of the territorial state had developed War of the Hats (1741–1743) concluded with stronger in the Nordic context since the late shifting the border between the Russian 17th century. Therefore, it was now possible Empire and the Swedish realm westwards. to demarcate the new borders without con- Per the peace treaty of 1743, Imperial Rus- sidering the local circumstances to remark- sia gained an area on the northeast shore able extend (Katajala, K. 2010). Neverthe- of the Gulf of Finland. The new borderland less, the power had to be legitimised and ran through the countryside of the present- established at the borderland, a process that day eastern Finland. The demarcation of the can be called the institutionalization of re- border was not based on cultural, linguistic gions. In this paper, I apply the regional in- or religious grounds. It was a new kind of stitutionalization approach on the research

1 Department of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern Finland, Yliopistokatu 2, 80100 Joensuu, Finland. E-mail: [email protected] 284 Merovuo, J. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (4) 283–293.

of this 18th century borderland. The aim is to the official border shift and the actual process analyse how the institutionalization of the of forging regional consciousness. By reacting new border region between the two states to the changing territorial situation, the locals can be seen in the peace treaty of 1743. affected the region building process proving A region exists in a certain cultural and tem- the peace agreement to be an impulse in the poral context. Further, it emerges in a combi- process rather than resolution. I concentrate nation of intersecting interests or claims form- on the document that officially determined ing it into an institutional structure of power. the regional disintegration and triggered re- Therefore, a region is not created merely by actions from the local level. To complete the drawing lines on a map (Massey, D. 1995; analysis of the peace treaty of 1743, it is sig- Paasi, A. 2011). In the formation of historical nificantly important to employ the previous borderlands, Readman, P. et al. (2014) put the Swedish-Russian peace treaty signed in 1721. emphasis on control, demand and interaction. Geography scholars have utilised the in- The methodological and theoretical view- stitutionalization of regions framework by points of human geography considering the geographer Anssi Paasi on researching emer- spatial dimensions have become increasingly gence and dissolving of regions, regional relevant in social and cultural sciences in the and place identity, regional transformation, past three decades. The spatial turn has di- and re-establishing historical regions (e.g. rected the attention of scholars towards spaces Paasi, A. 1986; MacLeod, G. 2001; Sepp, V. and places, both physical and abstract. In his- and Veemaa, J. 2010; Zimmerbauer, K. and toriography, space has been the connecting Paasi, A. 2013; Semian, M. and Cromý, P. theme of several symposiums in recent years 2014; Vaishar, A. and Zapletalová, J. 2016). (e.g. Lamberg, M. 2011; Hallenberg, M. and Paasi, A. (1986, 1999, 2011) introduces the in- Linnarsson, M. 2014; Stock, P. 2015). Still, I stitutionalization of regions as a process dur- believe that the research of the early modern ing which a place transforms into a region era could benefit on further invocation of the and the collective consciousness of it emerg- geographical approaches on region building. es. The process consists of four dimensions: In studying the building process of border- forging of (1) the territorial, (2) symbolic and lands, many history scholars have concentrat- (3) the institutional shape of the region, and ed on nascent national identities and ethnic (4) the region emerging in the spatial struc- grouping. Peter Sahlins, in his well-known ture of the society. As commonly in critical research demonstrated how national identities geographical approaches, the theory suggests developed and eventually bloomed contrast- that regions are social constructions, shaped ing ‘the other’ on the Pyrenees between Spain in conceptualising, networking, and actions. and France (Sahlins, P. 1989). Research of the Thus, a region is not eternal but historically borderlands between Sweden and Denmark- constructed (Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. Norway has concentrated on the state inte- 1967; Paasi, A. 1986, 2002; Hacking, I. 1999; gration process, state building from below, Zimmerbaum, K. and Paasi, A. 2013). linguistic distinctions and perceptions of be- Regions are collectively remembered and longing among commoners. The scholars find forgotten but the historical progress is by no that one of the crucial factors of the process means a self-directed temporal development. is interaction, and as Hallenberg and Holm To legitimise the desired status or shape, the point out, there is significance in the dynam- retrospective evaluation of the regional his- ics of top-down ruling and the reactions from tory may be inspired by the future goals. below (Edgren, M. 2001; Hallenberg, M. and Therefore, the questions of birth, dissolu- Holm, J. 2016; Lerbom, J. 2017). tion, and the transformation motivate the I concentrate on the becoming of the border research of regional institutionalization. If an region. By focusing on the institutionalization attempt to institutionalize or deinstitutional- of regions I approach the dynamics between ize a region is very dramatic, argue Paasi, A. Merovuo, J. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (4) 283–293. 285

and Zimmerbaum, K. (2013), demonstrations I focus on the establishment of the border promoting counter identity may occur. These region. By enlarging on the institutionaliza- actions are often collective and temporary. tion process, it is possible to emphasize the The process of regional institutionalization socio-spatial aspects on the development of proceeds simultaneously at multiple com- historical state peripheries. The institutionali- munal levels. A political decision alone can- zation of regions is employed as an analytical not deinstitutionalize a region. Even though tool. By categorising the establishment of the demolished from the regional administrative border region in the transcript, I demonstrate map, divided into pieces or merged into a that a top-down perspective is not enough of a bigger unit, a region can continue existing viewpoint for the process of building a region. in symbolic and mental form. Thus, the pro- cesses are not always cohesive, or unanimous in practice. Therefore, a region may appear The peace treaty of 1743 fuzzy in territorial shape, lifespan, and au- thorization (Paasi, A. 1986, 1999, 2002; Paasi, On the 7th of August 1743, Frederick I of A. and Metzger, J. 2016). Sweden, and the empress Elisabeth of Rus- The peace treaty of 1743 was a significant sia signed the peace treaty between Sweden act in forging the localities into the border re- and Russia after long negotiations. The terms gion. Can we see it as a disintegration of the had been agreed with the parties earlier in the region, though? I categorise the peace treaty summer and the Russian troops had started transcript per the dimensions of the institu- withdrawing from the territory they annexed. tionalization of region framework. I study During the war, the seizure of the Russian the aims of the peace treaty by content analy- troops reached the Gulf of Bothnia. It was sis, foregrounding the intended shape of the in their interest to pursue further territorial borderland. A question of whether this bor- conquest but as Sweden agreed to nominate der region became something fixed and then Elisabeth’s favourite as the successor to the emerged in the social process, or if the social throne, most of this territory was restored un- construction refers to the forging of the shape der Swedish domination. The war had broken peculiar to the region in addition, is onto- out from the Swedish heat for revenge after logically essential to the research (Paasi, A. the great defeat in the wars between 1700 and 2002; Stock, P. 2015; Paasi, A. and Metzger, 1721. However, the treaty of 1743 brought only J. 2016). I believe presuming fixed outcome more territory losses for Sweden (Cederberg, may impede the true motives. Re-bordering A.R. 1942; Villstrand, N.E. 2012). the state does not necessarily mean complete The 18th century was a time of the expan- regional redefinition. Therefore, I consider sion of the Russian empire while the Swedish the borderland communities as cases. In realm was territorially reducing. The so- practice, the interacting dimensions of the called Great Northern War (1700–1721) institutionalization process intertwine, and marked the end of Imperial Era in Sweden. In therefore do not fall into the categories easily. the peace treaty of 1721 with Russia, Sweden The complexity of the actual region and the ceded Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, partially experience of different individuals and inter- the Province of Kexholm, and the Karelian est groups of the past is hard to grasp in total. Isthmus from her eastern realm. The war of However, the institutionalization framework 1741–1743 ended with a similar outcome as gives shape to the study that enables com- the border shifted westwards again. In the parative analysis of the multifaceted progres- treaty of 1743, Sweden ceded more terri- sions of the local communities along the bor- tory to Russia, along with three fortresses derland. It also foregrounds the interaction (Cederberg, A.R. 1942; Paaskoski, J. 2005). between social groups, regions, and centrum Deciding on the new borderline, the nego- and periphery, for closer examination. tiators were concerned of their defence strat- 286 Merovuo, J. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (4) 283–293.

egies ignoring the local circumstances. The The transcript defines the approximate border ran through altogether seven parishes course of the borderline ribboning directly dividing villages and estates. In the division, across the landscape without considering three of the parishes split in half, leaving the customary borders in the region, such significant parts on both sides of the bor- as village or estate limits. To avoid miscal- der. In four parishes, only minor parts were culation, the measurement was specified separated from the main part of the parish. as the Swedish mile, but it was not precise Recomposing of localities brought tension to enough of a definition, for the point of de- the institutionalization process of the border parture was ambiguous. region (Cederberg, A.R. 1942). ––The fourth section begun from the south- eastern side of the fortress following the former state border of 1721 (Swedish Establishing the borderland Nystadske Freden fastställa Gräntzen, §7). From Porajärvi (Russian Porosozero) north- Territorial shape wards the border followed a line agreed in the peace treaty of 1617. The essential part Paasi. A. describes the emergence of the of the state border in my research compris- boundaries of a region as a development es the first three sections. of social practices. The borders, physical as From the 17th century, a territorial compre- well as mental, provide grounds for social hension of the state became predominant. classification. In other words, the regional The territorial shape of the state partly over- consciousness requires ends for the imagi- came the interests towards the population nary reference group of inhabitants (Paasi, (Sunderland, W. 2007; Katajala, K. 2010). A. 1986). In the peace treaty, the border was Amnesty was declared for all prejudicial acts described in four sections: during the war by the second article of the ––The demarcation departed from the north- peace treaty of 1743. More importantly, it ern shore of the Gulf of Finland as a natural stated that above all it is necessary to have boundary, following River Kymmene north- the border ‘divided and validated’ (§7) to wards. Natural shapes have been exploited avoid further mistrust, for that would truly abundantly in history (Katajala, K. 2010). secure the peace. However, the peace nego- ––The second section started at the meeting tiators retained from dictating details of the place of the River Kymmene and the border exact demarcation leaving them for the bor- of the County of Tavastland. The state border der commissions to define. The Swedish and followed county demarcation that had taken Russian border commissions, delegated to root at least a century before. In the docu- agree on the details, delayed the physical de- ment, this second section of the border is re- marcation of the boundary for years. Later, as ferred to as the ‘common borders’ (Swedish the officials proceeded from negotiations to vanlige Gräntzer,§7). The customary borders demarcation issues between the states, defin- facilitated the shift of administration. ing the borderline became even more difficult ––The third section, located at the Saimaa (Mielonen, A. 1993). In certain parts, the par- lake district, was called the new border ties never fully agreed on the demarcation. (Swedish Nya Gräntze-linien, §7). The de- The vagueness of the peace treaty left much marcation was planned to follow no cus- room for interpretation, which the border tomary borders but it was determined commission failed to seal. It is conclusive, by measurements on military strate- that the peace negotiations did not define gic grounds. It was to circle the Nyslott the border region practices to detail for the fortress at a range of 2 Swedish miles. treaty, but demonstrated the attempt to re- Landowners who forfeited part of their define the territorial composition within the estate were entitled to compensation. area. The commissions’ task was to validate Merovuo, J. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (4) 283–293. 287

the state border locally as they demarcated historical and traditional conceptions of the it. By implication, this referred to interaction region and society. Therefore, the region can with the local mediators. The Swedish border be built simultaneously on several levels of commissioner Stiernstedt’s reports reveal that society (Paasi, A. 1986). peasants operated as experts on local geog- The transcript repeatedly referred to two raphy and old borders (Border documents territorial entities on the border: the side of 1743–1747). It is interpreted that locals took the Royal Sweden, and the side of Imperial advantage of the disorganised situation as Russia. The emphasis on the spatial domi- consensus was unaccomplished. For exam- nance is notable and the rulers connect ple, the vague demarcation was used against closely to the territory. The king of Sweden the officials to avoid taxationMielonen, ( A. and the empress of Russia signed the peace 1993). This shows how the local common peo- treaty of 1743 on behalf of ‘the realms, lands, ple benefitted from the porous governance. subjects and inhabitants’. It was a contract Due to the unstable foreign affairs, the obligating not only the rulers but also people commissions’ task took years. Especially the living within certain territories (Katajala, contention over the strategic places of Pyttis, K. 2010; Liikanen, I. 2014). In the territories Puumala sound and the Nyslott castle sur- Sweden ceded, the agreement relieved the roundings disturbed the fluency. In Savonia, population of the oath of allegiance to the the Swedish and Russian border commissions king. Equally, the oath of allegiance to the drifted into disagreements from the beginning empress given during the occupation be- and marked their own versions of the border. came void for the inhabitants of the restored Two clearly disputed areas, which both states areas after the seizure ended (Cederberg, had demands on were left in the middle of A.R. 1942). The subservience was dissoci- Kerimäki parish. The areas were declared as ated from the status of inhabitant per the ‘no man’s land’, a territory of neither state in peace treaty. People had different positions 1744 and they remained disputed until the and allegiances (Sunderland, W. 2007), next border shift. The population of these but the peace agreement validated people disputed lands was free of crown taxation not on the grounds of citizenship, but their until 1809. (Border documents 1743–1747; whereabouts. A soldier or a trader was to Mielonen, A. 1993; Gustafsson, H. 2007). obey the laws of the province he was visit- Despite its reputation as a wild free state it was ing. However, they were not necessarily sub- not a seedbed of decadence but much attached ordinated under the same legal institution. to the surrounding society. Nevertheless, as Soldiers were under the military laws and a third space between Swedish and Russian legal actions against foreigners were prob- territories, this strip of land was to operate as lematic to execute. The border did not aim to a channel for smuggling (Mielonen, A. 1993; block the social interaction, but the popula- Koskivirta, A. 2015). The tension between the tion’s position was administratively incom- states introduced the population possibilities patible, which decreased the legal security. In to exploit their position more uninhibitedly to cross-border cases it was not as likely to win protest, for example. justice (Koskivirta, A. 2003, 2015). Despite the composition of two sovereigns, two states and two territories presented in the Symbolic shape peace treaty, the negotiating parties were asym- metrical in many senses. Firstly, the rulers’ The symbolic or conceptual shape of a region authority differed from each other. Elisabeth develops most significantly in language. The was an autocrat representing the absolute au- inhabitants express their regional conscious- thority. In Sweden, the so-called Age of Liberty ness that may not always correlate with the (1718–1772) had reduced the king’s author- outsiders’ comprehension. It draws from the ity in relation to the estates (Gustafsson, H. 288 Merovuo, J. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (4) 283–293.

1994). Therefore, the Swedish Realm (Swedish Finland now. After the border shift, the grand Sveriges Rike, §1, §3) authorised the agreement duchy was continuously understood to reach in addition to the Royal Majesty. In fact, in the from the Gulf of Bothnia to the eastern end Age of Liberty, the phrase Royal Majesty did of the Karelian Isthmus, including Åland is- not refer to the king in person, but to the rul- lands. ‘Finland’ denoted unity historically and ing power of the state: the diet and the king geographically, but politically it was divided together. It included the administrative system into separate units located in two realms. combining the king’s authority that operated Ostrobothnia that often was not perceived through the representative government in the as part of the geographical Finland was also Council of the Realm (Gustafsson, H. 1994). paired with the so-called grand duchy (§5). Sweden can be called rather a geographi- Historian Jonas Nordin has argued that the cally unified state in the 18th century, while the special position of Finland within the Swedish Russian Empire, expanding to Europe in the realm and the geographical shape that in- west, and across Siberia to the Pacific Ocean in cluded Ostrobothnia is read from the sources the east, was very much a conglomerate with from the 18th century onwards, an interpre- territories under different political systems. tation that has been welcomed with criti- Since the era of Peter I, the peripheral prov- cism (Nurmiainen, J. 2003; Nordin, J. 2010). inces of the northwest conquered during the However, there are some signs supporting the century, and Siberia, were distinguished from viewpoint. The historical nature of the region the historical core of the empire. Therefore, becomes evident from the peace treaty. Both despite the increased control over different parties agreed to refrain from the claims to- parts of the empire, the empress faced dif- wards the other side of the grand duchy for ferent symbolic roles within territories that eternity, no matter with which name this ter- operated under different administrative sys- ritory would be known as in the future. The tems (Gustafsson, H. 1998; Sunderland, W. Russian empress acknowledged the Swedish 2007). For example, in Estonia, Livonia and domination over the part of the province of Karelia, seized by Russia at the beginning of Kexholm, ‘that belonged to Russia in the old the 18th century, Elisabeth was a duchess, yet times’ (§6, §8). The Swedish state forced to the empress of the whole realm as well. The accept a greater defeat. The ceded regions Swedish king’s title does not suggest Finland were incorporated to Russian empire ‘for being separate from the core areas of Sweden. now and forever’ (§4). The remoulding of the Heraldic references to the grand duchy of region went beyond the immediate border. Finland were not actively used between 1718– The parishes and villages that the border 1802 (Paaskoski, J. 2005; Eng, T. 2008). Still, divided were not renamed by the state offi- both parties acknowledged that the border cials in the establishment process. However, shift happened in the territory referred to as the church needed to distinct the subservi- ‘Finland’, inhabited by ‘Finns’. ence in their bookkeeping, so the clergy One of the primary regional symbols is the found it necessary to rename some parts of name (Paasi, A. 1986). Interestingly, the peace villages or estates. (Population registers of treaty mentions the Grand Duchy of Finland Kerimäki 1743–1805; Kerimäki congregation, as an entity. A grand duchy refers to a po- communion books 1748–1801.) litically uniformed entity (Liikanen, I. 2014). However, the peace treaty suggests another way of defining ‘the grand duchy of Finland’, Institutional shape as a bipartite region, with a Swedish and a Russian side (Figure 1). Per the peace treaty, The formal institutions as well as practices af- all the occupied areas included in the grand fect the institutional shape of the region. Inter- duchy. Further, ‘historically Russian’ territo- action – social, economic, and political – forges ries Karelia and Kexholm interconnected with the shape of the region and builds its character Merovuo, J. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (4) 283–293. 289

Swedish-Russian border 1743 Grand Duchy of Finland 1743 Eastern border of Vyborg Governorate

0 100 km

RUSSIA

ÖSTERBOTTEN a

i

n

SWEDEN h

t

o

B KEXHOLM

f SAVOLAX

o TAVASTLAND

f KARELIA Vyborg l KYMMENEGÅRD Fredrickhamn

u nd St. Petersburg Borgå inla G NYLAND f F f o Åbo ul G ÅLAND

Stockholm

Fig. 1. The Grand Duchy of Finland after the peace treaty of 1743 (edited by the author)

(Paasi, A. 1986). The treaty confirmed the in- schools would continue operating and the stitutional unification of the Kymmenegård Greek Orthodox Church would gain equal and Vyborg provinces guaranteeing to sustain rights to operate. Thus, the annexed provinc- rights, privileges and benefits for the subjects es were not subordinated under Russian core and inhabitants. The Lutheran Church and areas, but they maintained their old Swedish 290 Merovuo, J. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (4) 283–293.

legislation forming a separate institutional cross-border parishes indicate how wavering entity. In the 18th century Russia, the idea of the top-down institutionalization of the bor- a historically bound core state and surround- der region was in the beginning. The peace ing peripheral provinces populated by non- agreement did not concentrate on the local Russians was the prevailing conception of the level. The only parish the peace agreement empire (Sunderland, W. 2007). mentions is Pyttis by the Gulf of Finland. It Paralleling the annexed provinces in the states that Imperial Russia gained ‘…the part peace negotiations prefigured the establish- of Pyttis located on the other and Eastern side ment of the Vyborg Governorate in 1744. It of the last arm of Kymmene or Keltis River, the consisted of two provinces attached to the stream that floats between Great and Small Ah- Russian Empire in the Peace of 1721 – half venkoski [...] with the harbours, places, districts, of the Kexholm province and the province shores, and all from the same arm till the passage of Vyborg –, the newly seized province of to the south-eastern islands...’ (§5, §6). Pyttis’ Kymmenegård and parts of the Savonia division was defined in the peace treaty, province. The governorate was founded as which stresses the importance of its location. a part of the Imperial Russia with restricted Other divided parishes were not speci- autonomy much like the Reval and Riga fied in the peace treaty. Mäntyharju had Governorates in the Baltics. The governorates been split between three Swedish counties were combined under the College of Justice to begin with. The parishioners already at- for Livland, Estland and Finland. However, tended district court and places of registra- though changes from Swedish to Russian rule tion in their own directions. Located on the seem modest, it was not a uniform institution- second section of the border where the divi- al system (Paaskoski, J. 2013; Räihä, A. 2014). sion followed the county demarcation, the As the peace treaty acknowledged the ter- eastern part of the parish, submitted under ritorial cross-border connection to ‘Swedish the provincial administration of the province Finland’, it also connected the annexed ter- of Kymmenegård, was cut across the border ritory to the Vyborg and Kexholm Provinces (Favorin, M. 1975). The rest of the divided that Russia seized in the treaty of 1721. The parishes were located on the ‘new border’ peace treaty paralleled these two territories, with straight demarcations, which followed and therefore the peace treaty of 1721 was no customary demarcations (Soininen, A. repeatedly referred to. Especially the tenth 1954; Lappalainen, P. 1971; Mielonen, A. article of the act refers to the previous treaty. 1993; Seppänen, P. 1999). Equal to the article 12 in the treaty of 1721, the The peace treaty describes Pyttis’ divi- empress secured the proprietorship rights to sion, but the parishes not mentioned never the lands for the subjects of the annexed terri- fully diverged institutionally. Therefore, tories. The article was reconfirmed in the next their administrative circumstances shaped peace agreement in 1743. The inhabitants who in various ways, depending on the local cir- had fled the war could return to their estates. cumstances. The congregations continued operating across the border and balance with twofold local government (Favorin, M. 1975; Position in the spatial system Mielonen, A. 1993). This introduced several directions of influence to pursue local mat- The final parallel dimension of the regional ters that forged the cross-border parishes’ institutionalization process is the emergence individual shape. of the territory in a spatial structure of the The crown’s local administration was or- society. It is interconnected with the rest of ganised independently on both sides of the the dimensions since the territorial, symbolic state border, but the practices overlapped and institutional shape provide the region partially through the ecclesiastical system. its identifiable shape (Paasi, A. 1986). The The congregations, Pyttis excluded, con- Merovuo, J. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (4) 283–293. 291

tinued operating unified across the border. habitants and land use. The border commis- The commoners continued visiting the same sions received authority to arrange the local church and marrying mostly within their circumstances according to the given guide- own parish. The priests read the announce- lines, but failed to reach a conclusive settle- ments, kept a population register and lead the ment with each other as well as between the parish assemblies as usual (Lappalainen, P. states and the locals. In Pyttis, where the bor- 1971; Favorin, M. 1975; Mielonen, A. 1993). der was defined more precisely, the division This placed the clergy in an administrative was executed more intensely. Geographical double role mediating between the two states significance influenced the institutionalization and gradually forging the practices. process. It was not consistent throughout the border region, which became more evident in time. Further north from the Gulf of Finland, Conclusions the local level had more room to interpret the conditions. The cross-border congregations In this article, I have categorised the peace and the local community bound the border treaty of 1743 between Sweden and Russia region together. per the dimensions of the institutionaliza- I see the peace treaty as a mere arrest of the tion of regions. The case of the state border ongoing process. It portrays an overview of of 1743 is an interesting example of the so- the significant regional transformation pro- cial development that challenges the clear- cess where the parish communities sought cut drawings on the late-18th-century maps. their shape as the new border region as well The peace treaty discussed the location of as cross-border region. Understanding the the state border and the institutional circum- border region as a historical entity with a stances of the seized areas, as well as defined beginning and an end, I recognise that after the position of the seized territory and inhab- ratifying the peace treaty of 1743, the border itants within the Russian empire. However, region ‘was’ not, but it was in the process of as the peace negotiators divided the territory ‘becoming’, referring to the perpetual adapta- on new grounds, the regional understanding tion of regions from their establishment to dis- about ‘Finland’ remained border-crossing appearance (Paasi, A. and Metzger, J. 2016). and the boundaries further defined. As a framework, I find the institutionali- The peace treaty of 1721 was confirmed zation of regions to bring focus to different and paralleled with the status quo. Together, dimensions of regional transformation. My these two peace treaties defined the regional attempt is not to claim that the idea of insti- borderland. One can also see how history tutionalization of regions proceeded as a con- was acknowledged in shaping the region. scious project in the 18th century. However, I The regional understanding about ‘Finland’ argue that establishing the borderland was was politically bipartite. The territories socially constructed in several parallel pro- seized by Russia were not considered the cesses. The political language, interaction, heartland of Imperial Russia but conquests. conflict and state building all are included They were not desirable for intense integra- in the process of institutionalization. In this tion policies, and therefore maintained the article, I only concentrated on the peace treaty essentials of the Swedish political system in- of 1743. To deepen the understanding of the stead. The peace treaty paralleled the seized regional institutionalization process, though, territories that formed into the governorate further attention must be directed beyond the of Vyborg in the following year. political settlements, in the interaction and Little attention was given to local details that the networks of the borderland. The dimen- provided much room for local interpretations sions of the regional institutionalization ap- of cross-border practices. The negotiating proach provide a consistent tool for further parties’ interests lay in territory over the in- investigations. A customary network might 292 Merovuo, J. Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 66 (2017) (4) 283–293.

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