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- Disambiguation: This article is about contemporary Kvens. For ancient Kvens, see Kvens of the past
The Kvens (alternate spellings: Cwen, Kveeni, Kvæn) are a Norwegian ethnic minority descended from Finnish speaking peasants and fishermen who emigrated from the northern parts of Finland and Sweden to Northern Norway in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1996 the Kvens were granted minority status in Norway, and in 2005 the Kven language was recognized as a minority language in Norway.
The term Kven
The term Kven has been continuously in use in Norway, from the middle age up to present age, to describe descendant of Finnish speaking people who immigrated to Northern Norway from the 16th century up to World War II.
The origin of the term Kven is disputed. Based on descriptions in "Egils saga", Vahtola Vahtola, J. (1994), Kvenerne – vem var de ursprungligen? I: Torekoven Strøm (red.), Rapport fra seminaret ”Kvenene – en glemt minoritet?” Mandag 14.11.94 ved Universitetet i Tromsø/Tromsø Museum. Vahtola, J. (2001), Folk och folkgrupper inom det nordliga rummet över tid. I: Tedebrand, L.-G. & Edlund, L.-E. (red.), Tre kulturer i möte. Kulturens frontlinjer. Skrifter från forsknings-programmet Kulturgräns norr, 27. Skrifter utgivna av Johan Nordlander-sällskapet, 23. Umeå. believe it is from the Old Norse word ‘hvein’, which means flat and humid, and that it was used to describe an area around the Bay of Bothnia were Kvenland was supposed to be. The fate of the medieval Kvens is also been disputed, and there is little evidence that modern Kvens are descendants of the medieval Kvens.
Due to the discrimination and suppression by the Norwegian authorities the term Kven became derogatory in the late 19th century. Therefore, many Kvens, preferred to be called 'suomalaiset' (finns) http://odin.dep.no/kkd/norsk/dok/andre_dok/rapporter/043041-220005/dok-bn.html Kenneth Hyltenstam & Tommaso Maria Milani: Kvenskans status: Rapport för Kommunal- og regionaldepartement och Kultur- og kirkedepartement. 2003. But with the revitalization of the Kven culture in the 1970s Kvens themselves started using the term. However, even in the 1990s there was a debate whether the terms 'finne', 'finsk', or 'finskætted' (respectively a Finnish person, Finnish, and of Finnish origin) should be used instead Olsen, V. (1985), Inngruppe- og utgruppe i kommunikasjon mellom etniske grupper. En teoretisk tilnærming til etnologisk analyse av kulturelle former. Arbeidsrapport nr. 2 fra prosjektet Finsk kulturforskning i Nord-Norge. Tromsø: Tromsø Museum/IMV. Universitetet i Tromsø. Norges allmennvitenskaplige forskningsråd. . However, today the term Kven is accepted and used for example in the name of the Kven organization in Norway (Norske Kveners Forbund).
Demography
The Kvens were registered as a separate group in the Norwegian censuses in the period 1845 to 1930. From the 18th century the Kvens started to comprise a significant part of the population in Northern Norway. In 1845 13.3% of the population in Finnmark, and 3.2% in Troms, considered themselves as Kvens. In 1854 the numbers increased to respectively, 19.9% and 7.0%. The peak was in 1875, with respectively 24.2% and 7.7%. The ratios were reduced to respectively 20.2% and 3.7%, in 1890, and 13.8% and 2.0% in 1900 (all numbers from Niemi, E. (1978), Den finske kolonisasjon av Nordkalotten – forløp og årsaker. Ottar, 103. 49-70.). In the 1930 census there were 8215 registered Kvens in Troms and Finnmark. While in 1950 1439 people reported that they used the Finnish language in Troms (58 people) and Finnmark (1381 people) http://www.ub.uit.no/arkiv/maanedens/1999/199906e.htm.
In 2001, the number of Kvens was estimated to be about 10,000 to 15,000 in a Parliamentary inquiry on national minorities in Norway. St.meld. nr. 15 (2000-2001) " http://odin.dep.no/krd/norsk/dok/regpubl/stmeld/016001-040003/hov005-bn.html Om nasjonale minoriteter i Norge. However, estimating the number of Kvens is difficult since there is no official definition of a Kven. Therefore, other studies have estimated the number of Kvens to be about 50-60,000, based on the criteria that at least one of the grandparents spoke Finnish Saressalo, L. (1996), Kveenit. Tutkimus erään pohjoisnorjalaisen vähemmistön identiteetistä. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran Toimituksia, 638. Helsinki.. But many of these may consider themselves to be Norwegian or Sami (or all three).
Kven migrations
The Kvens are an old ethnical group in Northrn Norway. Their history is closely interlinked with the history of the Sami people, who were the indigenous people of Northern Norway. In the middle ages there are records of Kvens paying tax to Norway Niemi, E. (1994), Kvenene og staten – et historisk riss. I: Torekoven Strøm (red.), Rapport fra seminaret ”Kvenene – en glemt minoritet?” Mandag 14.11.94 ved Universitetet i Tromsø/ Tromsø Museum.
The Kven immigration can be divided into two periods. Niemi, E. (1978), Den finske kolonisasjon av Nordkalotten – forløp og årsaker. Ottar, 103. 49-70. . The first large immigration was from about 1720 to 1820, when Finnish speaking people from the northern Finland and Tornedalen in Sweden moved to river basins and fjord-ends in Troms and the western parts of Finmark, to places such as Polmak, Karasjok, Porsanger, Alta and Lyngen. The immigration can be seen as a continuation of Finnish farmers colonizing Finnish and Swedish Lapland.
The second, larger, immigration was from about 1820 to 1890 to the coastal areas of eastern Finnmark, motivated by the blooming fishing industry in Northern Norway. Also, it was easier to get to America from Northern Norway than Northern Finland, therefore many people first moved to Finnmark before moving to America. The immigration ended, due to problems in the fishing industry, population pressure, emigration to America, and problems for Kvens buying land and obtaining Norwegian citizenship.
Note that the term immigration may not be applicable for this period, since the border between Norway and Sweden was not established until1751, and the Norwegian Russian border in 1826.
Assimilation Policy
The Norwegian government attempted to integrate the Kvens into Norwegian main stream society by targeted policies and laws from the 1860s on. The use of the Kven language was forbidden in schools and government offices. Land purchase was prohibited for those who did not acquire Norwegian family names. Eventually, selling land to non-speakers of the Norwegian language became prohibited. On national level, the Kvens even became to be considered a national "security risk" ("Finske fare"). Accordingly, the Norwegian Defense Ministry in 1870 demanded that all Kven names ("foreign names") to be removed from maps.
Thus, despite of what their own preferences might have been, the Kven population of Norway largely became integrated into the Norwegian main stream society during that period. In traditional Kven communities, such as Vadsø, where the Kvens had formed the majority of the population, they soon considered the Norwegian cultural identity as a standard.
However, the last few decades have brought a significant change in this respect. The Kven language received a legal minority language status in 2005, and the original Kven communities have been granted their old place names back.
Finnic peoples | History of Finland | Scandinavian history | History of Norway
"Kven"