Treaty of Nystad

Signing of the Treaty of Nystad

The Treaty of Nystad, or the Treaty of Uusikaupunki,Template:Efn was the last peace treaty of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. It was concluded between the Tsardom of Russia and the Swedish Empire on Template:OldStyleDate in the then Swedish town of Nystad (Template:Lang, in the south-west of present-day Finland). Sweden had settled with the other parties in Stockholm (1719 and 1720) and in Frederiksborg (1720).

During the war Peter I of Russia had occupied all Swedish possessions on the eastern Baltic coast: Swedish Ingria (where he began to build the soon-to-be Russian capital of St. Petersburg in 1703), Swedish Estonia and Swedish Livonia (which had capitulated in 1710), and Finland.

In Nystad, King Frederick I of Sweden formally recognized the transfer of Estonia, Livonia and Ingria to Russia, while granted toll-free export of grain from Livonia up to a value of 50 000 rubel annually. In addition, Southeast Finland (Kexholms län and part of Karelian Isthmus) was transferred to Russia in exchange for two million silver riksdaler, while Russia returned the bulk of Finland to Swedish rule which happened within four weeks after the treaty was ratified.<ref>Template:Langx Original handwritten text of the Treaty of Nystad in Russian</ref><ref>Template:In lang Ништадтский мирный договор между Россией и Швецией, 30 августа 1721 г. Text of the Treaty of Nystad in Russian</ref>

The Treaty enshrined the rights of the ceded territories to maintain their financial system, their existing customs border, their self-government, their Lutheran religion, and for the German Baltic nobility within Estonia and Livonia, the German language; this special position in the Russian Empire was reconfirmed by all Russian Tsars from Peter the Great (reigned 1682-1725) to Alexander II<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (reigned 1855-1881).

Russia was given the right to mediate the conflicts between Sweden and Poland, while guaranteeing an non-interference policy towards the Swedish crown and succession. Lastly, it was agreed that all prisoners of war on both sides, including civilians, were to be released and allowed to return to respective country after personal debts had been settled or made bail for.<ref>Template:Cite book, s. 316–318, 320–321</ref>

Nystad manifested the decisive shift in the European balance of power which the war had brought about: the Swedish imperial era had ended; Sweden entered the Age of Liberty, while Russia had emerged as a new empire.

Legacy

In pre-1917 Saint Petersburg, in the Vyborgsky district (relatively nearest to Russo-Finnish border) one of the thoroughfares (now Lesnoy prospekt) was named after the Nystad treaty (Nystadt Street, Rus. Ништадтская улица).<ref>Лев Успенский. Записки старого петербуржца. (Lev Uspenskii. Zapiski starogo peterburjca.) Any edition.</ref> The district also houses a church commemorating the first Russian victory in the Great Northern war, the Battle of Poltava – St. Sampsonius' Cathedral.

See also

• List of treaties

External links

• Freden i Nystad – Ништадтский мир 1721 – Uudenkaupungin rauha 1721. Trilingual source publication (Swedish, Russian, Finnish) of the documents concerning the peace treaty from The Russian Foreign Ministry Archives. Published by Agricola – The Finnish History Network publication series number 10. 2014 (Heidi Pitkänen red.)
  • Template:Cite web
  • Ништáдтский мир 1721 :: Agricola ::, Archived from the original on 2 Jan 2015.
  • Uudenkaupungin rauha 1721.
• International conference ‘The Border of the Treaty of Nystad – Peter the Great’s Line’ dedicated to the Tercentenary of the Great Northern War’s end and the making of the Treaty of Nystad. Vyborg, Leningrad Region. October 7-8, 2021 The Conference is dedicated to the Tercentenary of the Great Northern War’s, making of the Treaty of Nystad and demarcation of the border between Russia and Sweden in 1722. The aim of the conference is to thoroughly study the history of the border demarcation between Russia and Sweden, its influence on the historical and cultural heritage in the borderline territories, to draw attention to the problems of preservation of monuments dated back to the Peter the Great’s period as well to expand co-operation between Russian and European researchers in studying Peter I’s period.

Vyborg, Leningrad Region. October 7-8, 2021