The great forest and lake country of the Finnish interior north of the farming lands: Central Finland (Keski-Suomi), northern Savonia round Kuopio and Iisalmi, North Karelia round Joensuu and Pielinen, Kainuu and inland Ostrobothnia.
In 1200 it has no farming settlement: it is the Sami's country, shared with Finnish and Karelian hunters, trappers and fishers who come on long expeditions from Tavastia, Satakunta, Savonia and Karelia and claim distant fishing waters and hunting grounds. The Sami 'inhabited all of Finland and Eastern Karelia for a long time' and were later absorbed into the Finnish and Karelian peoples (en.wikipedia History of the Sami). Finnish settlement of northern Savonia, Kainuu and the interior comes mainly in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Who holds it
- Name
- none named
- Title
- the siida of the forest Sami (none named)
- Confidence
- high
No siida of the Finnish interior is named in any source for 1200; the later lappmark siidas (Kitka, Maanselkä and others) are 16th-century names.
Overlord
None. Finnish and Karelian hunters use the same forests; Karelian tribute-taking is likely but not attested for 1200.
What it holds
- Central Finland
- northern Savonia
- North Karelia north of Kitee
- Kainuu
- inland Ostrobothnia
How things stand that morning
Sami forests with seasonal Finnish and Karelian use; no lord, no farming settlement.
Wealth
Furs, fish, elk and wild reindeer.
Threats
- Finnish and Karelian hunters pressing into the Sami grounds (a slow, long process)
Law and courts
The siida's own customs over hunting, fishing and grazing grounds, kept by its elders and its assembly of families (later evidence).
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 15th-16th centuries (after this year)Finnish settlers from Savonia and Tavastia take the interior.
Places of note
- Kajaani: Kainuu lakes
- Kuopio: northern Savonian lakes
- Jyväskylä: the northern Päijänne
- Joensuu: North Karelian lakes
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: General statements on Sami presence in the Finnish interior; no source for 1200.
On the map: A broad judgement: in 1200 the line between the Sami's grounds and the farmers' wilderness claims did not exist; the eastern edge follows roughly the modern Finnish border, beyond which East Karelia is left to later sheets (outside).
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.