13th Monkey

Forest Finns were ethnically cleansed in Scandinavia through displacement and executions. Their farms and property were destroyed under Queen Christina of Sweden. A proclamation by the Fryksdal Hundred assembly in 1646 ordered the burning of houses and the targeting of Finns who refused to learn Swedish and wanted to keep speaking their own language. Thousands of Forest Finns were forcibly sent or pressured into migrating to the New World during the 17th century. They became a foundational population in New Sweden — 'Nya Sverige'; a short-lived colony established in 1638 along the Delaware River valley, encompassing modern-day Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. When Sweden first launched the colony, very few ethnic Swedes wanted to move to the rugged American wilderness. To populate the colony, the Swedish Crown turned to the Forest Finns, who were already being actively criminalized for practicing slash-and-burn farming on their own lands. The Swedish Crown weaponized colonization both to clear out the "troublesome" Forest Finns from Scandinavian woodlands and to exploit their unique skills to build its "American empire." The now-iconic "American" log cabin was not an English invention. It was based upon the classic Finno-Karelian smoke cabins — the Savupirtti — and introduced to North America by the Forest Finns, who brought their expert woodshaping and logbuilding traditions to the Delaware Valley.