I think we need to define this project before we get to much further.
Karelia is not JUST the lost territories, as i understand it North and South Karelia are still provinces of Finland and other parts of Karelia have "never" been a part of Finland (not even at the height of the Swedish kingdom).
So we need to define exactly which Karelia we are looking at.
Current division:
- South Karelia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Karelia
- North Karelia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Karelia
- Entire Karelia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karelia
I'm not sure how the definitions have changed during the history.
So we shall look at North Karelia, South Karelia, Karelia Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia (as shown on the map on the project)?
I think that includes all areas of Karelia that have ever been Finnish/Swedish, although it has changed so many times and i don't claim to be an expert.
I actually find all the Wikipedia articles quite confused (at least the English versions)
I modified this map that shows the "Karelia" that was lost after the Winter War and added South and North Karelia. Do we like red? I can change to blue without too much difficulty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Finnish_areas_ceded_in_1944.png
I've written a more descriptive introduction.
I think i've summarised the history and definition and our intentions well but please remember that i am 50% Croatian, 25% German and 25% Dutch, I have never been to Karelia or even Finland, I can't read or write Karelian or Finnish and had never even heard of Karelia before maybe 4 years ago. That is to say, I am no expert so if u disagree with what i write/say please say so.
If anyone wants to translate what i've written into Finnish or Swedish (or even Karelian) feel free.
I only intend to use the english "Karelian" but if you want to make the entire project tri-lingual i have no problem with that.
If any of you prefer to add information into the project in a language you are more comfortable with than english please do so and i will translate to english. If my translations aren't very good i apologise and hope that other collaborators will fix my mistakes.
Lars,
Some people disagree with you, i've come across many references to Karelian as a language, apparently there is even a dictionary.
I even found one article that described how the Eastern dialect is dying out because the Russian education system doesnt have any structure in place to train teachers in that language ( i think the eastern dialect has no alphabet).
Of course this is all just "stuff" that i read on the internet!
Dinner tonight with wife's parents, i shall ask mother-in-law if she speaks Finnish or Karelian, see how she reacts.
My problem is to find the profiles I made quick. Therefore I always use the project "Western Finnmark in Norway pre 1720 ..." to add some profiles for people born before 1720. I find the profiles there in this project and can work with the tree more easy this way.
I shall not add all the profiles of Karelian born people which is on Geni to the "Karelian" project. Only selected profiles of people born before 1720. If this is ok for you.
I know this book "Animal farm 1983 of George Orwell . Do you want to join this project -> http://www.geni.com/projects/Authors-of-Great-Literature/475
I stand corrected regarding the Karelian language, I found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karelian_language . Where I was born, in Lappeenranta, we spoke the karelian dialect of finnish. Lappeenranta hasn't, according to the map on the above page, belonged to the area where "true" Karelian was spoken.