Finnveden or Finnheden is one of the ancient small lands of Småland. It corresponded to the hundreds of Sunnerbo Hundred, Östbo Hundred and Västbo Hundred. Finnveden had its own judicial system and laws as the other small lands. Finnveden is situated around lake Bolmen and the river Lagan. Most runestones in Finnveden describe men who died in England. Finnveden is today divided and is a part of Hallands län, Kronobergs län and Jönköpings län.
It was first mentioned by Jordanes when he referred to its population as the Finnaithae (derived from an old form of Finnheden, Finn(h)aith-) when describing the nations of Scandza in Getica.
The Scandinavian placenames Finnveden, Finnmark and the province of Finland (which gave name to Finland) are all thought to derive from Finn, an ancient Germanic word for the Finnic people inhabiting areas of Fenno-Scandia and Scandinavia. The connection between the names Finnveden, Finnmark and Finland is not entirely clear. However, it is known that in addition to the Uralic Sami people, the Finnic tribe of Kvens have historically inhabited areas of Scandinavia which today are part of Norway and Sweden. According to Emeritus Professor Kyösti Julku,[1] in the area of Tromsa, Norway, alone there are 12 prehistoric Kven place names.
Whereas the Finnic tribes historically inhabiting the modern-day area of Finland and the surrounding areas (Kvens, Tavastians, Savonians, Karelians, etc.) are known to have represented a farming culture for several last millennia, the Finno-Ugric Sami people were still "hunter-gatherers" during the first millennia AD. Thus, when the Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus describes the "Fenni" in his account 'Germania' in 98 AD, he is believed to have meant the Sami. Most historians see Tacitus' reference to the "Sitones" to mean the Finnic/Finnish Kvens:
However, in medieval texts thereafter the Sami are referred to as "skridfinns" (Skridfinnar, Screrefennae, Scridefinns, etc.) meaning "skiing Finns". The ancestors of the average modern-day Finns on the other hand are referred to either as "Finns" (with varying spellings) or they are simply discussed under the names of the various Finnic/Finnish tribes, such as Kvens, Karelians, etc. The earliest known written text making a clear separation between these two different peoples under these terms, the "Scridefinns" (Sami) and the "Finns" (ancestors of the average modern-day Finn) is Widsith, written in Old English, the earliest version of which is believed to have been from the 6th or 7th century AD.
Although the earliest people inhabiting Fenno-Scandia were hunter-gatherers, using stone tools,[3] the first pottery appeared in the area of today's Finland already in 5200 BCE when the Comb Ceramic culture was introduced.[4] The arrival of the Corded Ware culture in southern coastal Finland between 3000–2500 BCE may have coincided with the start of agriculture.[5] Yet, even with the introduction of agriculture, hunting and fishing continued to be important parts of the subsistence economy.
In 750 AD (c.), according to Norna-Gests þáttr, the king of Denmark and Sweden, Sigurd Ring, still fought areal battles against the Curonians (Baltic Tribe) and Kvens in today's southernmost Sweden: "Sigurd Ring (Sigurðr) was not there, since he had to defend his land, Sweden (Svíþjóð), since Curonians (Kúrir) and Kvens (Kvænir) were raiding there."
In 1216 AD, the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus writes in 'Gesta Danorum' about Finnish and Kven kings and about the Scandinavian royal families. Grammaticus' account shares likeness, many characters and stories with the writings of Snorri Sturluson. According to both, many heroic Scandinavian figures have Finnish/Kven roots. In reference to the legendary Battle of Bråvalla (c. 750), where the Swedes fought the Geats, Grammaticus names a few such heroes: Now the bravest of the Swedes were these: Arwakki, Keklu-Karl ...".
In 1220 AD, in the Ynglinga Saga, the Icelandic Snorri Sturluson discusses marriages and wars of Finnish and Swedish royal families. The saga tells about the Ynglings, who are the oldest known Scandinavian dynasty, a semi-legendary royal Swedish clan during the Age of Migrations (300–700 AD). The clan's many kings descended from Kven kings. Such descendants included King Ongenpeow (d. c. 515 AD) and his sons Onela and Ohthere:
In 1220 AD (c.), in the Skáldskaparmál section of Edda, Snorri Sturluson discusses King Halfdan the Old, Nór's great-grandson, and nine of his sons who are the forefathers of various royal lineages, including "Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended". Sturluson then again points to the Finnish-Kven origin of the royal Ynglings by stating:
In 1230 AD, the Orkneyinga Saga provides information about the royal lineage of Fornjótr, the King of Finland, Kvenland and Gotland and the conquest of Norway by his descendant, Nór.
In 1387 AD, Hversu Noregr byggðist traces the royal descendants of the primeval Finnish/Kven king Fornjótr to the Swedish kings.
In 2007, the DNA research project by Dr. Andrzej Bajor of Poland, under the auspices of the Family Tree DNA Rurikid Dynasty Project, by FamilyTree DNA company, testing 191 men claiming to be Rurikid descendants indicates that most (68%) of the them had haplogroup N1C1, formerly designated N3a1, typical for Finnic people.
Based on some medieval sources, Rurik was born on the Roslagen seashore, north of Stockholm in the modern-day Sweden. The rule of the Norse and Sveas at the time of Rurik's birth[6] still covered only the very southernmost tips of Scandinavia.
Thus, Rurik's DNA would be explained by the view of the historians who claim that the rest of Scandinavia – including Haalogaland with Nor's Kvens and their descendants – was inhabited only by the Kvens and the Sami.