The Suprising History of Finndians
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ส.ค. 2024
- #ancestry #findingyourroots #ancestrydna #dnatest #finns #findians #familyhistory #genealogy
The Finn-Native connection, affectionately known as "Finndian," represents a unique cultural fusion between Finnish immigrants and Native Americans, particularly evident in regions like Minnesota. This relationship was nurtured by shared values such as a profound respect for nature, communal living, and a history of facing adversity and exclusion. Despite their diverse origins, Finns and Native Americans discovered common ground in their traditions, such as the sauna and sweat lodge, and their mutual struggle against marginalization. This blending of cultures has led to a rich tapestry of shared heritage, symbolizing resilience, unity, and the creation of a distinctive identity that spans generations.
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SOURCES AND REFERENCES:
University of Minnesota, Duluth:
www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/tro...
• Fintiaanit trailer
• Honoring Immigrant and...
www.saunajaapo.fi/saunan_histo...
www.nationalparks.fi/en-US/ev...
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Danielle, can you research how in the 1500s, many Asian people from China, Japan and the Philippines were brought over to America as slaves, and later those Asian people were given Native status by the government. And how the Indigenous American Indian people of color that taught the freed Asians their ways, were later enslaved themselves and reclassified as Black, Negro, Molotto, and African. While the Asians that were brought to America, then began to be called Native Americans. Many of those same Asian natives married immigrants from Germany, Poland, and FINLAND.
To clarify, Finns are not from Mongolia, that is very outdated info, but they do have a small percentage of genetic ancestry that can be traced to Northern Siberia - also American "indians" can be traced to siberia.
At your video how finns became "white"you have saamiphoto, Finns are white and has been for thousands of years, they have the most % of blonde hair and blue eyes in Europe.
@@Sgsgssgsgsgs Citation please.
Saisiko Suomenkielisen tekstityksen videoon?
As a finn I am proud that our people have good relations with native americans.
same here, this video made me feel really good. :3
Now it makes perfect sense why I sympathized more with natives than the John Wayne-types in western movies. Also, calling us the sauna people is spot on!
im proud that we were not welcome
Same! Never heard of this before but it makes me happy!
@@janemiettinen5176Niin mäkin!
I love that the name for Finns by the Natives was basically just ”Sauna People”❤😂 It is so on brand for Finns.
I think, noone actually understand The Sauna as finnish people do.
Really is could have only been two options: sauna people or salt-candy people haha
I totally thought the same with a big smile.
It is actually touching to hear that Finnish immigrants were respectful and similar to native Americans and how they were able to find common ground in their world views and habits ❤️ this is a legacy to be proud of, the legacy of decency and respect, and the legacy of being connected to nature - and also enjoying sauna
Something a bit similar happened in southern Africa, in Namibia. Finns started a Lutheran mission work in Ovamboland, in northern Namibia, in the late 1800s. Again, Finns get along with the local Ovambo people pretty well, so well the ruling Germans called Finns "the white blacks" :) The connection between Finland and Namibia has lasted for over150 years, Finns even had a noticeable role in the peace process and negotiations for independence of Namibia. There still are Ovambos who have Finnish first names, many have studied in Finland. When I was a kid, we had a couple of Namibian students in the neighborhood, they were the first people of color I met :)
It was former President Ahtisaari, who was negotiating there (before his presidential term). In the Finnish newspapers there was lightharted bantering toward him about Martti being very common first name in some areas of Namibia back then.
🙏🌷🩵🌷🙏
How interesting,,,,,
First black person who ever arrived to Finland was a servant to mission working family. She became a teacher. Certainly curiosity for her looks, but from servant to a teacher says something. I don't remember exact year when that was, but I believe it was also in 1800s or very early 1900s.
Herman Toivo Ja Toivo. Toivo is Finnish first name (meaning Hope).
Key points in finnish culture, besides sauna, are things like "you stand behind your words" and "you keep your promises". Also a lot of freedoms and rights to the land, but you must respect the land when you exercise your freedoms. I think this was the link between native americans and finns back then. The respect for the land. It was still the time, when people lived off the land mostly, while industrial revolution was taking it's place in heavily populated areas.
Indeed. Finnish society is based and built on trust. It seems to be changing a bit nowdays tho unfortunately. Hope we can keep it and not take too much influence from other cultures.
@@danq2656Mistäköhän kulttuureista sä puhut? 😏
As a born and raised Finn, it's easy to see the similarities. We love nature and even in modern days, many of us have very nature oriented hobbies, like hiking, collecting berries, mushrooms, swimming in lakes, roaming forests and backcountry skiing. We take time to disconnect from the cities and spend time at our cottages near lakes and enjoy peace and silence. Most Finnish people try to preserve nature and it's inhabitants, to be able to enjoy spending time there.
You forgot Fishing,Hunting are very close to our Heart's too.
I would think enjoying the silence is one too. If there is nothing to say, it’s ok to just sit in silence, no need to fill every pause with meaningless chit-chat, just because. And saying what you mean, meaning what you say/keeping promises, we don’t fare well with lip service.
@@janemiettinen5176 Niin.
Well, I thinks its a bit too much To say most Finns... puupelto ei ole metsää. Even though there is a lot of forests here they are very poor in biodiversity due to the forest indistry, as an example
@@ruut1448 It's not ideal, but compared to a lot of other European countries it's still significant. Even coming from as close as Estonia, i wasn't used to the level of naturalness in Finland. At first i thought it was "untidy" that the fallen trees didn't get cleaned up but then i learned that it's actually necessary for biodiversity. And then i even met a flying squirrel, which is endangered in Estonia because they live in old forests but Estonia manages their forests too tightly to have that.
Even when you fly over Finland, you can notice that people try pretty hard to live between trees rather than houses. It's surprisingly easy to find a place to live where there is a lot of nature nearby. That's how i met the flying squirrel as well, in my apartment building. The population is so spread out around Helsinki because of this. If you look at Germany or its neighbouring countries while flying, they look like a horror compared to Finland.
I grew up in northern MN. My grandparents were Finnish and many of my friends were Finndians. I recently found out that my ancestors were actually Sami as well.
You look so much like a finnish person too. You are lucky to have grown up there, I was considering moving to the states as well but after I got sick it wasn't an option anymore.
@@kuutti6777 And it has always been my dream to move to Finland! I never learned to speak Finnish but would love to one day. I grew up hearing it spoken on a daily basis, but my grandmother as a young woman wanted her children to assimilate so didn’t pass it on. Later I think she regretted it. She was so proud of her heritage and spoke with all the “old timers” in Finn. I used to beg for her to sing and speak to me and Finnish which she happily obliged.
@@caseykrawczyk You know what they say.. grass is always greener on the other side 😂 but that's awesome I wonder I know the songs she sang. I can see the sami in your eyes ( I live in Lapland, Finland)
@@beatnik6806 oh wow! I’m an artist and it is my dream to paint the Lapland sky. She sang the sauna song…everyone saunas in Minnesota. She sang Little Lisa, Finnish hymns and would recite the Lords Prayer.
@@caseykrawczyk Never too late to learn something new! One tip for picking up the language: learn how to pronounce the vowels! It's something English-speaking folks in particular really struggle with, but is actually really simple once you get it.
I am a native Finn, living in Finland, just being shown this on my feed for some reason. I can literally sense the Finnishness in these people: they are in a good way reserved, thinking, calm, intelligent, humble and not at all obnoxious, like so many other nationalities are.
Unless they are drunk, when they they are the worst
Exactly.
I'm Finnish, and I never knew about Findians! What a great video. It's fascinating and heartwarming. Much respect and love to every indigenous American.
As a Finn I feel honoured to hear, that indicinous Americans see us somewhat similar to them. I still warm my sauna with wood and go to any forest to pick berries and mushrooms. :) Our cultures must go on!
Casino's is the culture of Native Americans except poor rural tribes where drugs and alcohol have damaged the culture. Not to many berry pickers left
@@danielcraft3727Cultures always change and develop to better fit their time. Also here in Finland tourism has taken a big role as a source of livelihood for native people and their culture.
Old ways can and should still be preserved even by state funding if necessary, I think. But would be unrealistic to expect them to hold their old major role.
Of course adverse effects of universally common human shortcomings are a non desired thing. But something everyone just needs to try to help keeping at minimum.
@@danielcraft3727 Finland has plenty of suicide, drug use, alcoholics so its not too different from Native Americans.
I live in a state with a lot of Ojibwe people who have Finn, or Scandinavian ancestry. I took a lot of Ojibwe instruction in college and learned how the Scandinavian culture connected with indigenous art. Very cool especially woodland patterns.
Finnland isn't Scandivanian country. It is Nordic country.
@@marinak7483 Finland is both of them
@@petrisyrja-kokkila7103Well, only a part of Finnish Lappland is in Scandinavia, so technically a bit but not really. Fennoscandia includes Finland too. 😊
@@marinak7483And that distinction was made in the comment. Relax by getting upset by this. As a Finn I don’t get how easily people get offended by something so trivial.
Greetings from Finland!
You Indians and Finndians are not known as arrogant people. It makes it easy to get along with and like you.
Yes,,they use to say that we are humble and thrusted hardworkers.
I had heard that there were a lot of Scandinavian immigrants in Minnesota and Michigan's UP but never heard of the Finns settling with Native Americans. Im fascinated by you uncovering a lot of America's history that doesnt get told. Excellent work Danielle keep it up! "Like"
☺️it was new to me until just a few months ago!
A lot of my relatives live in Michigan. They left Finland already in the early 50s.
Findians are good looking people.
I am partly Haudenosaunee and "Dutch" (genetically identified as Danish) because my family history, like that of a heck of a lot of people's, traces back to Colonial America and when the Dutch owned frontier area of New York to Albany.
Ahem, Finns are not Scandinavian but Finnic. There is a big difference between Scandinavian and Finnic people. 😊
Thankyou for telling these stories. It is amazing to see more people learn about Findians. As a Finn and a history enthusiast, I would like to add some things and more context as much as I can.
Most likely very little amount of Sami people moved to America during this time. They usually live/lived in the northern parts of Finland called Lappi or Lapland, were very poverished and faced a lot of discrimination. They only way to leave Finland to immigrate would have been by ship, which would have only happened on the southern side of Finland, which would have added to the difficulties of immigrating. Most immigrants from Finland to America were farmers and workers from Ostrobothnia trying to flee famine and poverty. Also during this time Russia, which our nation belonged under, started to try to oppress and control our country more. It is true that most Finnish people in America were not considered as "white men" so some of them had to move close to reservations.
The lakelands of Great Lakes very much represent and remind us Finns of home, our nation is called the land of thousand lakes. The immigrants were farmers, people who lived next to or in woods already so the area around the great lakes would be natural for most Finns. On top of saunas, our people are also known for our log cabins especially if you live in the woods. These cabins have been our homes for hundreds of years and from my understanding Finns taught native americans how to built them too.
Sauna as a place and a concept is not only a form of purification. For Finns, it is a symbol of the circle of life. We used to give birth in saunas, bathe our entire lives in saunas, wash our dead in saunas and there is a common phrase in Finland that if someone is planning to kill you, they will "take you to the back of the sauna"
There is common ground in having oral history, as there was not many people in Finland for a long time who could read. Our collected national oral stories and myths are combined in an epiic called Kalevala. Singing and storytelling used to be the way for us to share history. Our connection to nature is also very, very deep. Our inidigedious pagan religion that was our main religion before Christianity is very much based in and around the forest and nature. We believed in many gods, spirits and beings that were aspects of the nature and nature in itself was seen as something holy. Our people used to believe to be descended from bears and elks and those animals were sacred.
Your video was amazing and so informative. I always love hearing these stories and for more people to hear them too.
Thank you for adding so much context!
And due to the long lasting oppression under Sweden and Russia combined with the harsh conditions Finns were more communal compared to other Europeans.
Dont forget the Tornio Valley Finns from the Swedish side of the river. They got mixed with the other finns in America. But the had a significant mark on the accent etc from what i have heard. And some of them also had Sami roots aswell.
@@anul6801 it's true, but also if we start counting all finnic tribes that also covers 2/3 of russia, as pretty much everything (excluding southern russia) from finland to slightly past ural used to be indigenous finnic tribes for ~7000 years since ice age ended, until around 1000 years ago the rus invaded from south and stole the lands of finnic tribes. (someone claimed earlier russia wasn't a colonial power, which shows either pure historical ignorance or just blind faith in putin's rewriting of history in the last 20 years.)
@@babstra55 Thank you. im from the Kven-tribe. The culture here still feels more Finnish than Swedish even if the language is lacking compared to 50 years ago.
My brother did his Ancestry DNA, and Finland showed up in our DNA. I was pretty shocked, but this helps it make sense. We are mixed with many things, we even had China show up. I am now even more interested in tracing my family’s lineage. Thank you for this video.
Finndian.... weird...
Don't people know that Finno-Ugric tribes all originate from Urals/Siberia
Native americans have 50% siberian dna...
Finndians seems complete ignorance of history to me... typical americans i guess who don't know anything outside of their little bubble they live in....
people literally dont know that Estonians and Finns are not even "white race" , but Central-Asiatic in origin. Shows how multiculturalism and occupations can destroy the demographic or genetic makeup of peoples... "diversity is strenght" , whatever
Many years ago I visited a historic Finnish homestead in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula and was struck by how similar they were to the local Ojibwe in the way they used certain materials like birchbark. The guide said "yes, we get a lot of people from Finland who notice the same thing. The Finns are absolutely fascinated by our Ojibwe." It doesn't surprise me to learn that the two groups intermarried, although I'd never heard the term Finndian before this video. The same thing happened with the French from Quebec, which is how the Metis people originated. Although I am not Metis, there are Metis branches in my family. We don't hear as much about how Native and European cultures intermingled as we should.
I am of Finnish-American descent. I grew up in the UP of Michigan. These stories are familiar to me.
There is a Finnish book by Katja Kettu and Maria Seppälä about this, named Fintiaanien mailla, "In the lands of the Finndians". They made it their project to get to know the people with both Finnish and Anishinaabe heritage and track down their Finnish relatives so they could get to know each other.
Soo interesting,,,My family is Finnish and most Finnish people are very pale skinned but we are yellow-browned.
@@sisutytto2563 some finns are dark aswell.
Katja Kettu also wrote a novel that is based on a Finndian community, Rose on poissa (eng. Rose is gone)
Thank you very much for this look into Finndian life and history ❤ I am Finnish myself, and it warms my heart that such a beautiful fusion of cultures was able to occur, in such brutal and relentless times. I have deep respect and admiration for all native peoples. I think what touches me most is the shared connection to nature and ancient spiritual practices that Finns, Sámi, and other Ugric communities have with indigenous people all over the world.
I dearly hope that our civilization can manage to learn the lessons we need and have forgotten, by forging brotherhood and solidarity, in peace and in spirit and in sync with the planet ☮️💗🌳 All the best from lake Lippajärvi, in Southern Finland 😊
P.S. I highly recommend the book and documentary, by photographer Meeri Koutaniemi and director Maria Seppälä, called "Fintiaanien mailla" (In the lands of the Finndians).
I’m an American, born in New York City and living in Texas. My DNA is: 55% Scandinavian, 28% Irish, 10% German, and 7% Finn.
Just talk to the annoying people in your family who know stuff. Do not pay to become the product for those sites.
Yep those test sites are complete bs
You may have Delaware colonialists roots or perhaps something more recent.
Vitu amerikkalaiset
Thanks for the interesting info! My grandfather was Finnish and grand mother Creek Indian. It’s amazing how connected we are. The music the Sami play is just like Native American 🤗
Oh wow! I missed the music side
@@nytn May I recommend: Hildá - Muittut (music video)
I think Sami people would get along with Indians even today. They are keeping the traditions alive as good as they can in this modern world. You should visit Finnish lapland (I should too).
Sami people and Am. natives seem to be in same genetic poole bc in those DNA- tests many northern ppl in Finland (sami ppl live in northern Finland, Russia,Sweden and Norway) have got am. native in their DNA-results even none of their ancestors ever visited USA.
@@nytn Angelin Tytöt - "Giddat" (Girls of Angeli - "In Spring") th-cam.com/video/Fn6I0Byg83M/w-d-xo.html
@@margit6521 Interesting,,,my Finnish family has a strong dna with yellow-brown skin.
100% accurate video. My mother was 100% Finnish. My grandfather emigrated to the US to avoid being drafted into the Russian Army, my grandmother was of a second-generation Finnish ancestry. My grandmother's family name rumor has that the name was changed by grandmother's schoolteacher that could not pronounce the Finnish name. I have been able to locate my great grandparents' graves.
My mother was one of the youngest of her 13 siblings that survived to adulthood. Being one of the youngest cousins I did not learn the Finnish languish. My older cousin can speak Finnish and were bullied in school due to their Finnish accents. My mother and siblings together made a decision that none of us younger cousins would learn Finnish.
Not learning Finnish now, a problem for me. Finland has a policy that persons with a Finnish parent or grandparent can reclaim their Finnish citizenship. The problem is that to claim Finnish citizenship you must be able to speak Finnish Swedish or Finnish Sigh Language.
Finn's were not considered to be white. Northern Minnesota in the early 1900 had very few people of color so someone had to be at the bottom. Finn's were at the bottom.
Yes, someone always “has” to be at the bottom. Its sad. Thanks for sharing this!
Finnish is a language that almost cannot be learned!
It is so complicated you have to be raised with it in order to speak it.
Besides outside of Finland no one speaks it..
If you want a finnish passport marrie a finnish wife, probably way easier to get one;)
Swedish would be easier to learn for english speaker, so you could try studying swedish in order to claim citizenship?
@@tobiasphilippwittlinger8753 Yes Finnish language can be hard to learn but it seems it also depends on your mother tongue. A Japanese guy who lives in Finland said for him it has been easier to learn Finnish than English, one thing is Finnish and Japanese pronunciation have similarities. I've been studing English for decades but I still make some simple mistakes, like I easily mix he/she. That's because Finnish grammar is 100% gender neutral, we have only one personal pronoun for all humans and it seems my brain wants to keep it that way :)
It's not as difficult to learn as people often say, Finnish is just different and one just needs to understand some key principles to learn it in one year and become fluent speaker in two years.
Anishinaa boozhoo Danielle,
I am a member of the L'Anse reservation where these people are admixed. I myself am a multigenerational mixed Ojibwe, with Gaelic, Acadian, Norwegian roots (This is the Fu Trading Admixture). I am seen as an Ojibwe myself because of the location I live in and am not of Finish admixture. This admixture and name came from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where it is not a derogatory word btw and neither the word indian for those who want to battle that. Finndians are all over and their culture is going strong. Many of our relatives are Finndians and if you would like to meet them, just come to the L'Anse o Baraga. We Ojibwe are known to be heavy mixers for inbred sake. I love this video as I watch you all the time and find it crazy that you are doing a video on this majority on my rez and minority in the world as a whole.
This is so interesting,,Im a Finnish.
That was very nice history. It warms my heart.
Greetings from Finland.
This was really good Danielle! The way you deliver is honest and genuine,and you letting others speak for themselves is refreshing. Long ago a medicine man mentioned that many didn't understand the human being,once we find that true meaning we all could live in harmony❤🌏🌞
Thank you, that’s really kind.
@@nytnI found your channel just last week and so far it's help me find answers within my own family tree Thank You
As a Finnish-American, I don't think her comments are very honest or genuine at all. It feels disrespectful to me. Maybe she should stick with people she knows and understands.
🤯I have never heard of this group of people - the Finndians. I love how both groups embraced each other and enjoyed their differences as much as their similarities so much that they became one people. 🤩💖
Thank you for sharing. ❤
You've produced some really, really good work in this journey, but for whatever reason this episode has stood out the most to me. Wow! Great stuff.❤
Wow, thank you. It is a really beautiful story, and it’s always great to hear that side of the human experience
Such a great example of people with common ancestry can so smoothly reconnect after being apart for thousands of years.
Great Video❤
I am so thankful to have found your channel, dating back to the original Finding Lola days till now. No matter what is happening in my life or what kind of day I’m having seeing one of your videos always transforms me to a magical place. ❤
Finland is also one of the last nations in Europe that became christian. I think tht most of the finns are more of an atheistic and non believers. Many of us have spiritual side and before i even ever heard of findians, i told one foreigner that i am like native americans and respect the nature and earth. When i heard about findians few years ago and saw few videos about them i tought that this makes sence. The mindset is so similar for our culture and heritage.
As i was growing up, i were always respecting the culture of native americans. I was so sad that the greedy europeans that immigrated America stoled the land from them and claimed to be owners of those conquered lands. Such a shame and dark times of the history.
You are definitely crating THE most interesting content on youtube right now; I'm learning new things every time I watch your channel.
I'm a finnish viewer watching here in Finland. I find this video interesting 😊👍
Another fascinating episode on ancestry and ethnicity. I love what you're doing and I hope more people will tune into your channel.
Some 30 years ago i red an article in Finnish newspaper about Finnish immigrants in Canada. It was written by a Canadian professor, an indigenous man himself. I dont remember his tribe. But they had the same - People who are like us - How they descriped Finns and only the Finns according the professor. They did not have a name for stranger so other ones were called - people who are not like us -.
Hi from Finland!🇫🇮👋🏻 I find a lot of new information from this channel. Thank you!
I know I've said this before, but if the schools could or would use an approach like yours to teach history and social studies our world would be a much healthier place. Thank you again ❤
Oh thank you! I didn’t last long as a classroom teacher, it crushed my soul a little bit every day.
Sad, but it's happening. 🙁@@nytn
Good morning Danielle. Another piece to the puzzle of US history. Thank you!
Good morning! It was such a nice story, which is a nice change 😅
Back in the late 90's my dad took me to a Russian history exibit in the city I'm from and I remember noticing in some of the images and even with some of the artifacts (Blankets, the weaving style, and the carbed figures) the close similarities in the way that the various Uralic tribes of Russia and northeastern Europe had with the old native American tribes of north America. I remember how it gave me such a strong feeling of discovery and curiousity. And this is coming from a proud Black American. The Khanty, the Sami, the Mansi and many many others were all in the presentation. Just more proof that the human family even when it's seperated by thousands of miles still finds a way prove that we're one family...
I love this! I am from northern europe and I found our traditional needlework and flower embroidery ro be very similar to native Guatemalan handiwork
Thank You! I find the history of the Finndians so interesting, especially our natural understanding of the Right to Public Access. This right also exists now in all Nordic countries, and I believe this collectivity is one of the reasons for the "happiness" of the Nordic people. And, of course, Sauna -a place for meditation and purification.
The Right of Public Access, known as "Joka miehen oikeus - Allemansrätte" (literally "All men's rights"), is a principle in all Nordic countries that allows everyone to freely enjoy nature. This includes activities like walking, cycling, riding, skiing, camping, kayaking, and foraging for berries, mushrooms, and flowers, all of which are free of charge.
However, this right also comes with the responsibility to respect nature, wildlife, landowners, and others and to care for and protect the environment. This balance between rights and duties makes this right unique.
Å
This is super interesting. Thank you for this episode. Fascinating history.
Yay! Finland mentioned! We Finns usually get very excited whenever we see us mentioned in any way by the rest of the world!! Thank you for this video! I never knew about this before. 😍
I literally just heard this term last week. How interesting. Thanks for covering.
Very interesting, and so refreshing, groups of humans coming together not because of outward appearance but because of shared values. Which if, frankly, where we should all be, remembering that values too can differ and not necessarily in a hierarchical way, we can be different without having to be superior or inferior but can have shared respect for difference too. These stories are good to know.
You always summarize things so beautifully!
Indeed very well said🙌
The first Finns arriving to the Americas is supposed to be forest-Savonians, not Sami. The hack 'n slash farmers who had migrated over the centuries from Savonia to Sweden which caused Swedes issues and hence were transported to New Sweden where they made up most of the population of Swedish colonies.
Finns and Sami are not the same. There is Sami in Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Sami was not well treatet. But for Swedes to be Finn vas not mutch better than being Sami. Very sad story.
Yeah, Sami and Finns are more like cousins. They split off somewhere in the Urals and arrived in what is modern Finland and Northern Scandinavia at roughly the same time, living along each other much like many Native tribes in the Americas did. Finns just assimilated better into the Swedish and Russian cultures which were hostile to the ”indigenous”(not the correct word but get what I mean) tribes in Scandinavia, Finland and Russia.
Speaking Swedish at the wrong place can get you in a lot of trouble in Finland. It wasn't a long time ago since a man was attacked and fell in to coma for speaking Swedish with his girlfriend at the Helsinki metro
@@DecibelAlexWhat? I'm from Finland and in Finland we have two native languages Finnish and Swedish. I speak both fluently. Why would anyone be attacked for speaking Swedish in Helsinki?
@@user-ui1oe4tg5s that is a good question
I'm Finn born in Finland and I always - since I was a child - been interested in Native Americans. My brother bought me books like Dee Brown's books Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Creek Mary's Blood. I was so thrilled to find something different about Native Americans. What I learned from history lessons sounded so wrong. I was maybe 11 or 12. I cried my eyes out when I was reading, but those are still my favorite books. I have always seen similarities between Finn's and Native Americans. I was just nodding my head while I was listening your video. I'm definitely going to follow your chanel and want to hear more. Thank you so much!
Thank you for sharing the history of so many cultures in our American story.
as an native finnish, we are familiar about finnish people migrating to America, and having good relations with natives, since our cultures are very similar.
Thanks a lot, this is a fascinating subject, and I would love to hear more!
Thanks for this very interesting video. My dad was first generation Finnish/Swedish American who settled in the UP of Mich. On a family vacation, to the Grand Canyon, way we stopped in the Navajo reservation for a rest.
We stepped up to enter a shop with my 3 year old little sister in the lead. We stopped her as the door opened and we waited for a family to walk through the doorway. A 3 year old Navajo girl steps out and the two little girls are now face to face.
You could hear the exclamations around us. They looked exactly the same. Height, body type, eyes, nose, even the bob haircut nearly the same. Like twins except my sister had almost white blond hair in contrast to this little girl’s beautiful pitch black hair.
My mom had researched my dad’s heritage and had fun explaining about the Sami people in Finland. Watching this I realize the similarities go further than I thought. My mom would have been fascinated by this. Thanks again.
Congratulations on getting this out so fast! When you first mentioned doing this video - was it last week or so? - I expected it would take at least a month. Such high quality, too. You are a marvel!
That’s so kind of you! It was just so fascinating…
Do one on both the Ainu and Sami people
WOW! Thanks for sharing . Makes so much sense.
You are so welcome!
As a Finn I feel immense joy and pride in the fact that my forefathers got along so well with the historically oppressed Native Americans. I would love to someday visit some Native American reservations and meet some of the people, i bet that would be interesting.
I remember seeing a documentary in the 90s discussing the shared culture and symbolism Nordic/Viking's and those northern native tribes. They were hypothesizing a trading relationship even a possible colonization attempt. This story isn't surprising to me.
Northern Europeans and Siberian cultures share blood and culture in some way or another. This is very true of Baltic and Finns less so in Scandinavians but scandi do have some connections and that is north Eurasian components.
There's a world heritage site called L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada, which is considered probably one of the earliest Norse settlements in North America.
@@rocketreindeer that was in the documentary. They also evidence of colonization in the Dakota's and Michigan.
@@pete6300 I've heard some people say they don't think Vikings left Europe but they haven't educated themselves. We just know they were here, but it may have been going on for a long time.
@@rocketreindeer I have even seen Mexican archeologists saying the stories of pale red haired gods sailing up to shore on dragons is possible evidence of contact. Nearly every tribe in the gulf of Mexico has a similar tale. It's pretty interesting.
I am a Finn and don't easily use the word "love", but I have to say, sauna is something I love. I go to sauna every Saturday. I have done so ever since I was a child, when I lived in a house that was owned by the factory my father worked in. We rented the house. There were four identical houses, with identical yards, next to one another and at the end of the dirt road along which we lived in, there was a communal sauna. Each family took turns to go there every Saturday. I recommend sauna to everyone. It really is a simple pleasure that makes you feel good. Have a few sauna beers and a "vihta" made of birch branches to get the circulation flowing and you will feel renewed!
thank you for adding to this!
Wow, you are educating me. I just looked at some pictures of the Sami people. Fascinating! How can some people have blond hair and asian eyes. The world is truly a beautiful place.
I agree. It’s beautiful and refuses to fit neatly into OUR categories. My kids are obsessed with platypuses right now. That was a rabbit hole of refusing categories 😅
This is very common in Russia.
Some of the most beautiful women I have seen were from Siberia with such attributes.
Tall, pale and blonde but with asian eyes.
Amazing❤
Finns are Native peoples of Northern Europe .
True, however they tend to look almost Asian in their countenance.
they came from Western Asia , @@jed-henrywitkowski6470
@@jed-henrywitkowski6470 No we don't 😂
@@garycooper9207Plenty of Finns do look asian, especially from eastern and northern parts of Finland, in comparison to the rest of the Nordics or Europe.
@@JuhoPurola Yes up north where there's Sami people. I am from Eastern Finland and non of my family nor friends look Asian. I have met Sama people and many look Mongolian
Thank you for sharing this. I learned a great deal.
Here in Canada "cultural fusion" between Native Canadians , the Irish and French Canadians has been ongoing for centuries. I am descended from all three . Good episode!
Is that considered “Metis”?
@@nytn Not sure if Irish and Native would be considered Metis but the inter marriage of the two and Highland Scots is pretty common.
Canadians, irish and french😂 that was a poor compare😂 french has been privilidge allways😂 Peter Green lacks in IQ and moral😂
Siberian neolithic ancestry in Finns is absolutely wild to me! It's very nice to see a lot of the traditions from the Proto Finno Ugric tribes are still in Finnish culture today. I was wondering Danielle, why don't you take a Illustrative DNA test or really any test that breaks down your ancestry further? I think it would be quiet a interesting endeavor to see how your ancestry has added up over thousands of years. Since your Irish too, I wouldn't be surprised if you had a little bit as well. Maybe it would be worth a shot to look at.
This is such interesting info!
In Alaska the term "Alaska Native "is used because of Eskimo and Indian living in the state are of different peoples, and cultures.
Not different origins nor different people. Just different cultures
FYI, Eskimo is a derogatory term given by Europeans. In Alaska, they are more likely to be Inuit and Yupik, but Sami and a few others are also possible. Alaskan natives came from the same ancestral lineage as the rest of North and South American. They all came over from the Bering Straight when there was a land bridge/ice during an ice age that sunk sea levels, and they slowly traveled down and expanded all over north and South America. There are some traces of Australasians in the indigenous peoples of the Amazon region, but the rest of Native Americans, from Alaska down are descended from Siberian origins
Not in french @@rachelann9362
@@rachelann9362 First time I've heard of this. I am finish. We have ice-cream called eskimo. When I was a small boy, my father asked: "Do you know how eskimo's say hello? They rub their noses like this!" He would then push his nose against mine and move his head left to right, so our noses collided and rubbed against one and other. To me that doesn't sound very derogatory and never thought as such. Must be a thing in NA.
@@Jansmaaa Possibly. We have a TON of related indigenous groups that have languages that branched off. I’ve seen the Cree being mentioned a lot in those discussions.
Makes sense that Finns would be open to sharing the land, since in Finland it's been a custom (and a law) that you may forage for example berries and mushrooms without a permission from the landowner. It's called "jokamiehenoikeudet", everymansright or "jokaisenoikeudet" nowadays.
an exciting video, thank you, and greetings from Finland :)!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Pretty cool video..I've heard of this history before but I haven't seen any interviews and people speaking on this at all. Very interesting and informative content NYTN.
The Finns have been here a LOOONNNGGGG time. The Swedes brought a lot of their (then) Finnish subjects to their holdings in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US in the 17th Century.
They had a big influence on the Dutch, the English and the Southern Iroquoians and Muskegon First Nations peoples. That most ubiquitous aspect of early American culture, the Log Cabin, was a Finnish/Sammi artifact.
The Finns apparently were prone to wander away from the Swedish Holdings in what is now Delaware, NJ and Pennsylvania, going into the Dutch Holdings in what is now NY, the English Holdings in New England and VA (and eventual British Holdings in NY, after 1664 and 1707) and Southwest of the Mountains in the Cherokee, creek and Choctaw lands.
Another very interesting presentation, Danielle. Thanks to all who comment. I learn so much from everyone.
You are so welcome! Glad you are here
Very appealing discovery, new to me. I arrived from Karjala with my parents in 1958. I live north of Lake Huron in northern Ontario. Foresting has been my practice for many years, tenting alone in remote north woods locations to try to sustain my inherited ancestral spirit. The soul of the taiga is my heartfelt gain of living a silent wellness. Best wishes to you.
As Finnish, my father always admired Native Americans and i have the same view. We both love nature and respect it
I grew up in northern Wisconsin in the 50's. All my grandparents were Finnish, born there. But I never heard of this. The biggest event was that one of aunts married a German-origin man, who was nominally Catholic.
Interesting. Not sure if you know but the indigenous people of Scandinavia and Finland are the Sami, and their history parallels that of Nat Ams.
Indigenous in what sense? Europeans have been in Scandinavia before the Saami.
Saami are indigenous to north Sweden/north Norway/parts of Finland. But Scandinavians (e.g. Swedes, Norwegians, Danes) are indigenous to south Scandinavia (south Sweden, south Norway, and Denmark) - indigenous in the sense of being the first peoples of the area (that are still there today). The Saami did not traditionally/historically live in south Scandinavia (or much of central Scandinavia). The Finns (who are related to the Saami) are indigenous to other parts of Finland. Scandinavians are also the first (remaining) peoples to settle Iceland and the Faroe Islands (Irish monks may have visited there prior), and thus would be indigenous there as well.
Not so. The Sami were the first arrivals, barring the dead Neandertals. What you just did is a perfect example of rewriting. Sami were pushed farther and farther north over the centuries, as territories were taken from them, just like the Nat Ams. Like Nat Ams they were to be Scandinavianized and sent to schools to teach them non-native lingos. The main nations then looked to exploit lands for profit and it takes lawsuits to stop the despoiling. All 3 of these things are considered elements of genocide- spec cultural genocide.
@@danschneider7531 Not exactly. South Scandinavia/northernmost Germany was the homeland of the proto-Germanic culture from which Scandinavians derive. There may have been some shifting north, but Sami were never in Denmark or southernmost Sweden/southernmost Norway. The Sami and Finns belong to the Uralic language family, which does not originate in the Finland/Scandinavia region (but further east) - though they descend from a mix of early Uralic peoples (from the east) and native European hunters gatherers who were probably indigenous to an area adjacent to Finland/Scandinavia, i.e. south Finland/nearby Russia (and the Saami, and to a lesser extent Finnish, language contains many words that are not Uralic or Indo-European and may come from those languages).
The original Scandinavian hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic-early Mesolithic did not survive. But they descended from a mixture of the native Eastern European hunters gatherers (known as "EHG" in the genetic literature) and native Western European hunters gatherers ("WGH"), which are groups that contributed a lot to the ancestry of both Scandinavians (and many other Europeans - the proto-Indo-Europeans were half EHG) as well as to the Saami and Finns.
(And various European groups, including the ancestors of proto-Germanic peoples, also mixed with local European hunter-gatherers)
See the map "spread of the Saami" at the "Sami peoples" Wikipedia article (under the section "history"). The historical Sami homeland was in the north, not the south (of Scandinavia)
@@skellagyook Nothing you wrote is in conflict with what I wrote- Sapmi. or Lappland, though, was inhabited long before The Danes or Swedes were peoples. And Sapmi was once larger, and it was the encroachment of Scandinavians that shrunk their lands, hence why they parallel Nat Ams.
Most interesting!
Lovely video, inspired and optimistic :)
I've never heard of these people. Thanks for educating us, Danielle.
Never stop learning. 🤓
This was fascinating!❤
I saw a documentary about the Sami of the Arctic circle region of Finland. They were not treated well. Their language and culture is disappearing.I had no idea there were Sami immigrants to the USA. This channel always educates me. Thank you.
They were not but they survived and the tables habe turned.
These days their culture is not just recognized but supported.
Yeah, the Swedish and Russian Christianized governments of Finland as well as one influenced by them the early last century were not good to the Sami because they refused to assimilate like the rest of the Finnish tribes. Fortunately things are better now, but a new issue of ethnical purity has risen in the Sami courts(the Sami government), which I can understand, but it seems a bit too much like eugenics rather than cultural preservation.
What a cool story! Sometimes people far from each other can discover things in common.
As a finnish fellow, I found this video really interesting to watch. Thank you for making this, didn't know anything about finns and native americans co-history.
it’s also significant that they intermixed because Finn’s don’t mix. Their genetics don’t have much admixture… not like someone who lives in France or America… If they like you that much that is a big thing… they also are very strong people, like Native American tribes… having SISU is a huge national cultural pride point… Please do more stories on Finndians… I am part Finn, but mostly Swedish and Norwegian.. While Finns are not considered a Scandanavian country, they all have a shared love for nature and the land and sauna and ice baths… they also all have laws that landowners must allow anyone to walk thru the lands… sharing is a huge thing up that way…
I have also spent the last few decades very involved ally of First Nations and been living in several different Coast Salish communities… We share worldviews and values… I understand this process of lifestyle and cultural harmonies first hand.
The Finnish language is not, I believe, Indo-European but Ugro-Finnic, I think it's called. They are speculated to have originated in the Urals.
Vikings
@@Itzpapalotl. No. Vikings were Norsemen.
Finns have Asian admixture, other European ethnicities are less mixed than Finns.
@@kev2494 it really depends on which Europeans you are talking about.. my information is that Finns have very low admixture… I haven’t heard the Asian thing before… they are definitely more Eastern European… but some of the Finno-Urgric language groups go pretty far east to almost Mongolia…
Us Finns are very much forest people originally. I can imagine the values of us and the native people in North America have been pretty similar. Interesting videos on your channel Danielle. You are very beautiful.
Finns were the last people in Europe to be converted to christianity. Our original spiritual beliefs were animistic and shamanistic - same as American Native people - and those old beliefs still heavily influence our culture and mentality. The Sami people held on to their religious practices even longer.
Most Finns are Lutherian christians today but most don't practice actively and even those who are "true believers" many don't go to church. They say "the forest is my church". For us nature is holy. Although sadly people keep furthering away from a connection to nature and the land.
Finnish are today quite mixed with other Europeans - Scandis and Baltics especially - but the Finnish people originally migrated from around the Ural mountains where people used to be purely Asian. The Sami came from a bit more north and before the finnic people and later mixed also. But the Sami and Finnic people were related to begin with. And yes, we do share tiny amounts of common ancestry with native americans as well.
Arne Vaino here might look 100% native to many, but his features might as well come from his Finnish side. He looks a lot like my dad and myself. The cheekbones, eyes, mouth, shape of his face.
Finns are really down to earth, straight forward and honest, friendly but shy people. Our society has always been less classist than for instance the British and big on equality. I am not at all surprised native americans and finnish immigrants got along well. The Finns also wouldn't have freaked out about not having a nowhere near common language, because we never have that with anyone 😀
To add - a lot of Finns have a fascination with Native American cultures and feel a connection to them.
One belief finnic people had was that a/the bear is our forefather. Basically that we used to be bears or that bears are sorta human. Hard to explain in english for me.
This is personally interesting for me, because bears visit my dreams and have spiritual significance to me.
Excellent video!
Fascinating!
So wonderful to here that the Finns and Native American had this connection. We still live close to nature and respect nature. As a tourist guide here I often speak about our connetion to nature here, and I didn't really think it could be so strange because it is normal for me and others who live here. Everyman's right is practiced in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Greetings from Finland!
This is fascinating stuff! It's such an unlikely mix, but when you hear about the cultural similarities it makes perfect sense. Sauna is indeed the great equalizer and uniter.
I've never heard of this culture. Very interesting. Beautiful people. I have heard of the Sami people though. I've heard that they claim Renee Zellweger to be a descendant.
They do because her Mother is/was from Norway yet her father is/was Swiss.
Zellweger is a typical Swiss name from the Northeast.
@nursemom101casteel7 -
Renee Zellweger had the epicanthic fold of her eyes removed by plastic surgery. She doesn't even look like the same person afterwards and there was a huge uproar when she reappeared looking totally different. Apparently Finnish or Scandinavian people with the asiatic type eyes were denigrated for it as it marked them as Sami. She wouldn't even admit that's what she had done and just wants to pretend nothing was done.
A very interesting video. If the stoic stereotype of Native Americans is at all true, it might provide another cultural connection with the Finns. Even today, and much more so in the past, many Finns prefer to stay silent if they don't have anything useful to say. In other words, small talk is often no talk. And that is ok. My British wife has a great photo of me sitting on a bench next to my brother whom I had not seen for several years. We are obviously not talking. She calls the picture "Finnish conversation". I have no comment...
Greetings from Finland🇫🇮, My Granddad was workimg in Michigan, 5 years. Working in coppermine.
Arne Vaino looks a lot like my grandfather, Savonian Finn (Finnish who are from Savo area in Finland) who had no other ethnics mixed in (as far as DNA test shows for past 400 years). Arne's forehead and nose are a bit different, but eyes, cheeks, mouth area, chin and roundness of face are the same. So yes, I can most definitely see a Finn in him!
Interestingly my family is from Finland and we are yellow- brown skinned.
Thank you for this lovely video. Waiting to see more
Yours:Hannu Loijas
The Finnish immigrants to USA were not Sami people, they were from the Bothnia and Savonia area, or further South. Those Finnidians shown have clear Finnish face features.It's quite easy to understand the similarity between Finns and native Americans living in areas like Minnesota.
Some part of them must've been. Also plenty of inbreeding between ethnic Finns and Sami people. I did notice the same thing about the facial features.
@@daemon816 "inbreeding" LMAO. When two different peoples mix, the word for that is the literal opposite of inbreeding.
Have You ever heard of Swedish Lapland ? At Kiruna They have been mining for a quite a long time ! So many of these Sami People knew the mining already ! We dont share / Havent shared anything with Sami - be honest - You just dont know their history !
Danielle is one of the prettiest women on TH-cam, I love her critical thinking, genuine search for knowledge, & her openness to having her mind changed. That’s true intellectualism & humility.
Not surprised that folks made a connection between the sweat lodge and the sauna.
There was once a story about Isle Royale in the local newspaper. On an old map of Isle Royale there was a place called the same as where I am from in Finland. I was quite surprised I have to say. I carry the name of the place as my surname. It is so rare that nowadays everybody with that name are related. It was however not likely a realtive as there were originally two families living at the same penninsula. I base that on that I have a relatively full family tree back to early 17th century through extensive ancestry reasearch done by a relative. I do have relatives in both Minesota and Canada though who migrated in early 20th century. No records of anyone marrying a native American but who knows.
Very interesting! 👍🏼
Thank you so much for looking into this I had a Finnish great grandmother and her dad donated a huge chunk of land in Alberta which is a memorial park now I believe in his name with a sauna by the lake
👏👏👏 as always
As a Finnish man I never knew this, but I hoped to see some results about when Finnish people immigrated there but this is beyond what I imagined. I'm also very happy to hear that the natives and finnish people found something similar, which is nature. And looking back how things are now, Finnish people are closer to nature than they ever was, it is important, it is part of us. Sauna is a great tradition that I think everyone should experience. I do not talk about electric saunas or whatnot, hand made or woodlit sauna, that has a meaning to everyone that has Finnish background, it feels special. I have now a STRONG urge to visit these Finadians or even invite them here to Finland.