View source for Ingria

{{Short description|Historical region in northwestern Russia}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect2|Izhora (region)|Inkeri|other places|Izhora (disambiguation)|the given name and surname|Inkeri (name)}}
{{Expand Russian|topic=ego|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox historic subdivision
| Name                   = Ingria
| subdivision_type       = [[Historical region]]
| AltName                = 
| image                  = Ingria in Saint Petersburg and its surrounding region.svg
| image_caption          = Ingermanland (yellow) in St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region and Gatchina (red point), the administrative center of Leningrad region
| image_coat             = 
| arms_link              = 
| image_flag             = 
| flag_link              = 
| demonym                = {{unbulleted|[[Izhorians]]|[[Votians|Votes]]|[[Ingrian Finns]]|[[Russians]]|[[Estonians]]}}
| common_name            = Ingria
| native_name            = Izhora
| coordinates            = {{Coord|59|38|N|29|18|E|source:kolossus-nowiki_type:country|display=title,inline}}
| today                  = {{flag|Russia}}
}}

'''Ingria'''{{efn|{{langx|ru|Ингрия, Ингерманландия, Ижорская земля|Ingriya, Ingermanlandiya, Izhorskaya zemlya}}; {{langx|fi|Inkeri, Inkerinmaa}}; {{langx|sv|Ingermanland}}; {{langx|et|Ingeri, Ingerimaa}}}} is a historical region in what is now northwestern [[European Russia]]. It lies along the southeastern shore of the [[Gulf of Finland]], bordered by [[Lake Ladoga]] on the [[Karelian Isthmus]] in the north and by the [[River Narva]] on the border with [[Estonia]] in the west. The earliest known modern inhabitants of the region were indigenous [[Baltic Finnic peoples|Finnic]] ethnic groups, primarily the [[Izhorians]] and [[Votians]], who converted to [[Eastern Orthodoxy]] over several centuries during the late [[Middle Ages]]. They were later joined by the [[Ingrian Finns]], descendants of 17th century [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] [[Finnish people|Finnish]] immigrants to the area. At that time, modern [[Finland]] proper and Ingria were both part of the [[Swedish Empire]].

Ingria as a whole never formed a separate state; however, [[North Ingria]] was an independent state for just under two years in 1919–1920. The inhabitants of Ingria cannot be said to have comprised a distinct nation, since the population is made up of several different ethnic groups, despite the [[Soviet Union]] recognizing Ingrian as a nationality. The indigenous peoples of Ingria, like the [[Votians]] and [[Izhorians]], are today close to extinction, together with their [[Ingrian language|languages]]. This notwithstanding, many people still recognize and attempt to preserve their Ingrian [[Cultural heritage|heritage]].<ref name="kurs">
Kurs, Ott (1994). [https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00810142 "Ingria: The broken landbridge between Estonia and Finland"]. ''[[GeoJournal]]'' 33.1, 107–113.</ref>

Historic Ingria covers approximately the same area as the [[Gatchinsky District|Gatchinsky]], [[Kingiseppsky District|Kingiseppsky]], [[Kirovsky District, Leningrad Oblast|Kirovsky]], [[Lomonosovsky District, Leningrad Oblast|Lomonosovsky]], [[Tosnensky District|Tosnensky]], [[Volosovsky District|Volosovsky]] and [[Vsevolozhsky District|Vsevolozhsky]] districts of modern [[Leningrad Oblast]] as well as the city of [[Saint Petersburg]].

==History==
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2023}}
[[File:Carta Marina.jpeg|thumb|350px|Ingria may be seen represented in the easternmost part of the {{lang|la|[[Carta Marina]]}} (1539).]]

In the [[Viking Age|Viking era]] (late [[Iron Age]]), from the 750s onwards, [[Staraya Ladoga|Ladoga]] served as a bridgehead on the [[Varangian]] trade route to Eastern Europe. A mixed slavic-varangian [[aristocracy]] developed that would ultimately rule over [[Novgorod]] and [[Kievan Rus']]. In the 860s, the warring [[Baltic Finns|Finnic]] and [[Slavic peoples|Slavic]] tribes rebelled under [[Vadim the Bold]], but later asked the Varangians under [[Rurik]] to return and to put an end to the recurring conflicts between them.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xj83PbqdvyUC&q=An+ancient+tradition+speaks+vaguely+of+a+revolt+against+Rurik+the+Old+under+the+hero+Vadim+.+Sviatoslaf+,+the+conqueror+of+the+Bulgaria+of+the+Danabe+,+undertook+to+govern+her+by+mere+agents+,+but+Novgorod+insisted+on+having+one+of+his+sons|page=129|title=History of Russia from the Earliest Times to 1882|volume=1|author=Alfred Rambaud|publisher=AMS Press|year=1970|isbn=978-04-04-05230-0}}</ref>

The Swedes referred to the ancient [[Novgorod]]ian land of [[Votians|Vod people]] as ''Ingermanland'', Latinized to ''Ingria''. The origin of the name is uncertain, but there are several possible explanations. One explanation is that the name comes from the [[River Inger]], a southern tributary of the [[Neva|Neva River]]. Another explanation is based on the Norwegian [[Eymund's saga]], which tells the story of the Swedish princess [[Ingegerd Olofsdotter]], who married [[Yaroslav the Wise]], Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev in 1019. According to the saga, she received Ladoga and the surrounding lands as a wedding gift from Yaroslav, and the region came to be known as ''Ingegerd's land'', or ''Ingermanland''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inkerinmaa |url=https://tietava.finlit.fi/inkerilaiset/1000-vuotta-inkerin-historiaa/inkerinmaa/ |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Inkeri ja inkeriläisyys |publisher=[[Finnish Literature Society]] |language=fi}}</ref> The lands were administered by Swedish [[Jarl (title)|jarls]], such as [[Ragnvald Ulfsson]], under the sovereignty of the [[Novgorod Republic]].

In the 12th century, Western Ingria was absorbed by the Novgorod Republic. There followed centuries of [[Swedish-Novgorodian Wars|frequent wars]], chiefly between Novgorod and Sweden, and occasionally involving [[Denmark]] and [[Teutonic Knights]] as well. The Teutonic Knights established a stronghold in the town of [[Narva]], followed by the Russian castle [[Ivangorod]] on the opposite side of the Narva River in 1492.

With the consolidation of the [[Kievan Rus]] and the expansion of the [[Republic of Novgorod]] north, the indigenous Ingrians became [[Eastern Orthodox]]. Ingria became a province of Sweden in the [[Treaty of Stolbovo]] in 1617 that ended the [[Ingrian War]], fought between Sweden and Russia. After the Swedish conquest of the area in 1617 the [[Ingrian Finns]], descendants of 17th-century [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] emigrants from present-day [[Finland]], became the majority in Ingria.
In 1710, following a Russian conquest, Ingria was designated as the Province of St. Petersburg.

In the [[Treaty of Nystad]] in 1721, Sweden formally ceded Ingria to Russia.

In 1927 the Soviet authorities designated the area as Leningrad Province. [[Deportations of the Ingrian Finns]] started in late 1920s, and [[Russification]] was nearly complete by the 1940s.

In the modern era, Ingria forms the northwestern anchor of Russia—its "window" on the [[Baltic Sea]]—with [[Saint Petersburg]] as its centre.

==Swedish Ingria==
{{Main|Swedish Ingria}}

Although Sweden and Novgorod had fought for the Ingrian lands more or less since [[the Great Schism]] of 1054, the first actual attempt to establish Swedish dominion in Ingria appears to date from the early 14th century, when Sweden first founded the settlement of [[Vyborg|Viborg]] in [[Karelia]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLpiAAAAMAAJ&q=Torkel+Knutsson+founded+Vyborg+Castle+in+1293+as+a+base+of+the+Swedish|page=67|title=Memories of My Town: The Identities of Town Dwellers and their Places in Three Finnish Towns|author=Åström Anna-Maria|author2=Korkiakangas Pirjo|author3=Olsson Pia|publisher=Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura|year=2018|isbn=978-95-17-46433-8}}</ref> and then the fortress [[Nyenschantz|Landskrona]] (built in 1299 or 1300) at the confluence of the [[Okhta River (Neva basin)|Ohta]] and [[Neva]] rivers. However, Novgorod re-conquered Landskrona in 1301 and destroyed it. Ingria eventually became a [[Dominions of Sweden|Swedish dominion]] in the 1580s, but the [[Treaty of Teusina]] (1595) returned it to [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]] in 1595. Russia in its turn ceded Ingria to Sweden in the [[Treaty of Stolbova]] (1617) after the [[Ingrian War]] of 1610–1617. Sweden's interest in the territory was mainly strategic: the area served as a [[buffer zone]] against Russian attacks on the [[Karelian Isthmus]] and on present-day Finland, then the eastern half of the Swedish realm; and Russian Baltic trade had to pass through Swedish territory. The townships of [[Ivangorod]], Jama (now [[Kingisepp]]), Caporie (now [[Koporye]]) and Nöteborg (now [[Shlisselburg]]) became the centres of the four Ingrian counties ([[län|slottslän]]), and consisted of citadels, in the vicinity of which were small boroughs called ''hakelverk'' – before the wars of the 1650s mainly inhabited by Russian townspeople. The degree to which Ingria became the destination for Swedish deportees has often been exaggerated.{{by whom|date=February 2017}}

Ingria remained sparsely populated. In 1664 the total population amounted to 15,000. Swedish attempts to introduce [[Lutheranism]], which accelerated after an initial period of relative [[religious tolerance]],<ref>{{cite journal |first=A. |last=Pereswetoff-Morath |title='Otiosorum hominum receptacula': Orthodox Religious Houses in Ingria, 1615–52 |journal=Scando-Slavica |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=105–129 |year=2003 |doi=10.1080/00806760308601195 }}</ref>
met with repugnance on the part of the majority of the [[Russian Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] peasantry, who were obliged to attend Lutheran services; converts were promised grants and tax reductions, but Lutheran gains were mostly due to voluntary resettlements by [[Finns]] from [[Savonia (historical province)|Savonia]] and [[Finnish Karelia]] (mostly from [[Äyräpää]]).<ref name="kurs"/><ref name="matley">
{{cite journal
  |title = The Dispersal of the Ingrian Finns
  |last = Matley
  |first = Ian M.
  |journal = [[Slavic Review]]
  |issn = 0037-6779
  |volume = 38
  |issue = 1
  |year = 1979
  |pages = 1–16
  |doi = 10.2307/2497223
  |jstor = 2497223
|doi-access = free
  }}
</ref>
The proportion of Lutheran Finns in Ingria ([[Ingrian Finns]]) comprised 41.1% in 1656, 53.2% in 1661, 55.2% in 1666, 56.9% in 1671 and 73.8% in 1695, the remainder being Russians,<ref name="matley"/> [[Izhorians]] and [[Votians|Votes]].<ref>''Inkeri. Historia, kansa, kulttuuri''. Edited by Pekka Nevalainen and Hannes Sihvo. Helsinki 1991.</ref> Ingermanland was to a considerable extent enfiefed to [[Swedish nobility|noble]] military and state officials, who brought their own Lutheran servants and workmen. However, a small number of Russian Orthodox churches remained in use until the very end of the Swedish dominion, and the forceful conversion of ethnic Russian Orthodox forbidden by law.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3giAQAAIAAJ&q=forceful+conversion+of+ethnic+Russian+Orthodox+forbidden+by+law|page=138|title=Russian Nationalism from an Interdisciplinary Perspective: Imagining Russia|author=Daniel Rancour-Laferriere|publisher=E. Mellen Press|year=2000|isbn=978-07-73-47671-4}}</ref>

[[Nyenschantz|Nyen]] became the main trading centre of Ingria, especially after Ivangorod dwindled, and in 1642 it was made the administrative centre of the province. In 1656 a Russian attack badly damaged the town, and the administrative centre moved to [[Narva]].<ref name="kurs"/>

==Russian Ingria==
[[File:Stpetegub.jpg|thumb|350px|Map of [[Saint Petersburg Governorate]] in 1900]]

In the early 18th century the area was reconquered by Russia in the [[Great Northern War]] after having been in Swedish possession for about 100 years. Near the location of the Swedish town [[Nyen]], close to the Neva river's estuary at the Gulf of Finland, the new Russian capital [[Saint Petersburg]] was founded in 1703.

[[Peter I of Russia|Peter the Great]] raised Ingria to the status of a duchy with [[Prince Menshikov]] as its first (and last) duke. In 1708, Ingria was designated a governorate ('''Ingermanland Governorate''' in 1708–1710, '''[[Saint Petersburg Governorate]]''' in 1710–1914, '''Petrograd Governorate''' in 1914–1924, '''Leningrad Governorate''' in 1924–1927).

In 1870, printing started of the first Finnish-language newspaper in Ingria, ''Pietarin Sanomat''. Before that Ingria received newspapers mostly from Viborg. The first public library was opened in 1850 in Tyrö. The largest of the libraries, situated in Skuoritsa, had more than 2,000 volumes in the second half of the 19th century. In 1899 the first song festival in Ingria was held in Puutosti (Skuoritsa).<ref name="kurs"/>

By 1897 (year of the [[Russian Empire Census]]) the number of [[Ingrian Finns]] had grown to 130,413, and by 1917 it had exceeded 140,000 (45,000 in Northern Ingria, 52,000 in Central (Eastern) Ingria and 30,000 in Western Ingria, the rest in [[Petrograd]]).

From 1868 [[Estonians]] began to migrate to Ingria as well. In 1897 the number of
Estonians inhabiting the [[Saint Petersburg Governorate]] reached 64,116 (12,238 of them in [[Saint Petersburg]] itself); by 1926 it had increased to 66,333 (15,847 of them in Leningrad).

As to [[Izhorians]], in 1834 there were 17,800 of them, in 1897—21,000, in 1926—26,137. About 1000 Ingrians lived in the area ceded to Estonia under the [[Treaty of Tartu (Russian–Estonian)|Peace Treaty of Tartu]] (1920).<ref name="kurs"/>

==Estonian Ingria==
[[File:Men of the Ingrian Battalion (Er.P6) giving their oath to Finland, East Kannas, Leininkylä, 27 April 1944. Colorized by Julius Jääskeläinen.jpg|thumb|An Ingrian battalion that served in the [[Finnish Defense Forces]] during the [[Continuation War]], giving their oath to Finland in the [[Karelian Isthmus]], 27 April 1944.]]
Under the Russian-Estonian [[Treaty of Tartu (Estonia–Russia)|Peace Treaty of Tartu]] of 1920, a small part of West Ingria became part of the [[History of Estonia (1920–1939)|Republic of Estonia]]. In contrast to other parts of Ingria, Finnish culture blossomed in this area, known as {{ill|Estonian Ingria|ru|Эстонская Ингерманландия|et|Eesti Ingeri}}. This was to a large extent due to the work of '''Leander Reijo''' (also Reijonen or Reiju) from {{ill|Kullankylä|fi}} on the new border between Estonia and the Soviet Union, who was called "The King of Ingria" by the Finnish press. Finnish schools and a Finnish newspaper were started. A church was built in {{ill|Kallivieri|fi}} in 1920 and by 1928 the parish had 1,300 people.<ref>Johannes Angere, Kullankylä (1994) Swedish magazine Ingria. (4), pages 6–7</ref><ref>Johannes Angere, Min hemtrakt (2001) Swedish magazine Ingria (2), pages 12–13.</ref>

In 1945, after the [[Second World War]], Estonian Ingria, then in the [[Soviet Union]], was transferred to the [[Russian SFSR]] and incorporated into the [[Leningrad Oblast]]. Since Estonia reclaimed its independence in 1991, this territory has been disputed. As Russia does not recognize the Treaty of Tartu, the area currently remains under Russian control.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

==Soviet Ingria==
{{See also|Revolt of the Ingrian Finns|Genocide of the Ingrian Finns}}
[[File:Votic language map.png|thumb|right|350px|Finnic settlements in Western Ingria throughout the 20th century]]
After the 1917 [[October Revolution|Bolshevik revolution]] in Russia, the [[Republic of North Ingria]] ({{langx|fi|Pohjois-Inkerin tasavalta}}) declared its independence from Russia with the support of Finland and with the aim of incorporation into Finland. It ruled parts of Ingria from 1919 until 1920. With the Russian-Finnish [[Treaty of Tartu (Finland–Russia)|Peace Treaty of Tartu]] it was re-integrated into Russia, but enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy.

At its height in the 1920s, there were about 300 Finnish language schools and 10 Finnish language newspapers in Ingria.<ref>[http://www.inkeri.fi/Historia.htm "Inkerinsuomalaisten kronikka"], Tietoa Inkerinsuomalaisista (Information about Ingrian Finns), [https://web.archive.org/web/20080213111809/http://www.inkeri.fi/Historia.htm archived] at the [[Wayback Machine]], 13 February 2008 {{in lang|fi}}</ref>

The [[First All-Union Census of the Soviet Union]] in 1926 recorded 114,831 Leningrad Finns, as Ingrian Finns were called.<ref name="kurs"/> The 1926 census also showed that the Russian population of central Ingria outnumbered the [[Baltic Finns|Finnic peoples]] living there, but Ingrian Finns formed the majority in the districts along the Finnish border.<ref name="matley"/>

In the early 1930s the [[Izhorian language]] was taught in the schools of the [[Soikinsky Peninsula]] and the area around the mouth of the [[Luga River]].<ref name="kurs"/>

In 1928 [[collectivization in the USSR|collectivization of agriculture]] started in Ingria. To facilitate it, in 1929–1931, 18,000 people (4320 families), [[kulaks]] (independent peasants) from North Ingria, were deported to [[East Karelia]], the [[Kola Peninsula]] as well as [[Kazakhstan]] and Central Asia.

The situation for the Ingrian Finns deteriorated further when in the fall of 1934 the [[Border Security Zone of Russia|Forbidden Border Zone]] along the western border of the Soviet Union was established, where entrance was forbidden without special permission issued by the [[NKVD]]. It was officially only 7.5&nbsp;km (5 miles) deep initially, but along the Estonian border it extended to as much as 90&nbsp;km (60 miles). The zone was to be free of Finnic and some other peoples, who were considered politically unreliable.<ref name="matley"/><ref name="martin">{{cite journal
  |title = The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing
  |last = Martin
  |first = Terry
  |journal = [[The Journal of Modern History]]
  |issn = 1537-5358
  |volume = 70
  |issue = 4
  |year = 1998
  |pages = 813–61
  |doi = 10.1086/235168
  |jstor = 10.1086/235168
  |s2cid = 32917643
 |url = https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/1/3229636/2/Martin%201998.pdf
  }}</ref> On 25 March 1935, [[Genrikh Yagoda]] authorized a large-scale deportation targeting Estonian, [[Latvian people|Latvian]] and Finnish [[kulak]]s and [[lishentsy]] residing in the border regions near Leningrad. About 7,000 people (2,000 families) were deported from Ingria to Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the [[Ural (region)|Ural region]]. In May and June 1936 the entire Finnish population of the parishes of [[Valkeasaari]], [[Lembolovo|Lempaala]], [[Vuole]] and [[Miikkulainen]] near the Finnish border, 20,000 people, were resettled to the areas around [[Cherepovets]] and Siberia in the next wave of deportations. In Ingria they were replaced with people from other parts of the [[Soviet Union]], mostly [[Russian people|Russians]] but also [[Ukrainian people|Ukrainians]] and [[Tatar people|Tatars]].<ref name="kurs"/><ref name="matley"/>

In 1937 Lutheran churches and Finnish and Izhorian schools in Ingria were closed down and publications and radio broadcasting in Finnish and Izhorian were suspended.

Both Ingrian Finnish and Izhorian populations all but disappeared from Ingria during the Soviet period. 63,000 fled to Finland during World War II, and were required back by [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] after the war. Most became victims of [[Soviet population transfer]]s and many were executed as "[[enemies of the people]]".<ref name="kurs"/><ref name="matley"/><ref name="martin"/> The remainder, including some post-Stalin returnees (it was not until 1956 that some of the deported were allowed to return to their villages), were outnumbered by Russian immigration.

The 1959 census recorded 1,062 Izhorians; in 1979 that number had fallen to 748, only 315 of them around the mouth of the [[Luga River]] and on the [[Soikinsky Peninsula]]. According to the [[Soviet Census (1989)|Soviet census of 1989]], there were 829 Izhorians, 449 of them in Russia (including other parts of the country) and 228 in Estonia.<ref name="kurs"/>

==See also==
*[[Ingrian War]]
*[[Leningrad Oblast]]
*[[Saint Petersburg Governorate]]
*[[Tuutari (parish)]]
*[[North Ingria]]
*[[Swedish Ingria]]
*[[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria]]
*[[Postage stamps and postal history of North Ingria]]

== Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Kurs, Ott (1994). [https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00810142 Ingria: The broken landbridge between Estonia and Finland]. ''[[GeoJournal]]'' 33.1, 107–113.
* [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03468755.2017.1349576 Kepsu, Kasper. 2017. The Unruly Buffer Zone: The Swedish province of Ingria in the late 17th century. ''Scandinavian Journal of History''.]
* [http://www.inkeri.com/english.html Site of the Ingrian Cultural Society in Helsinki]
* [http://www.ing-spb.narod.ru Ingermanland and St-Petersburg]
* {{SLS Q|Q113529885}}
* {{SLS Q|Q113529971}}

==External links==
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ingria| ]]
[[Category:Fennoscandia]]
[[Category:Historical provinces of Finland]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Russia]]
[[Category:History of Leningrad Oblast]]
[[Category:Members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization]]
[[Category:Swedish Empire]]
<!--
Note to bot operators: The iw link to ru-sib:Ингерманландия has been rejected by editors of this page. Bots re-adding it will be blocked. Please run your interwiki.py bot only with the "-neverlink ru-sib" option when operating on English Wikipedia.
-->
<!--[[vo:Ingria]]-->