Treaty of Nöteborg divides Finland between Sweden and Novgorod

1323

On a Karelian island, Swedish and Novgorodian envoys drew the first fixed border in Nordic history, splitting the Finnish wilderness between Catholic west and Orthodox east. The treaty demarcated a line running from the Gulf of Finland inland to the northern wilderness. The boundary would echo through centuries of Swedish-Russian rivalry and leave Finland forever balanced between two civilizational worlds.