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Finland is celebrating 100 years of independence from Russia this year — and some of its yearlong celebration is already happening in Minnesota.

After 700 years of Swedish rule, the area known as Finland served as a battlefield for Russian-Swedish conflicts, and it fell into Russian hands in 1809. However, as an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian Empire, it was allowed to develop politically, eventually leading to independence in the turmoil surrounding the Russian Revolution in 1917.

In June 1997, Minnesota Public Radio reporters Mary Losure and Dan Olson produced a documentary about the Finns who came to northern Minnesota in the early 1900s. Their explanation of 

 they chose to focus on the Finns in Minnesota was just as relevant 20 years ago as it is today:

The full story

The voices of early immigrants come from taped interviews preserved in historical archives. 

Listen to an excerpt of the story, called "Finland Was A Poor Country," by clicking the audio player above — or 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

MPR News Staff

Author

A look back at the history of Finns who came to northeastern Minnesota for jobs in the iron mines and the chance to homestead a farm of their own.

This is an excerpt of a 1997 MPR News feature about the Finns who came to northern Minnesota at the turn of the century. The voices of early immigrants are from taped interviews preserved in historical archives.

As Finland marks a century, a look at Finns' lives on the Iron Range

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