After the recent news about Russia and Ukrania, TheGrandma has been readingabout the Treaty of Stolbovo,a treaty between the Russian Tsardom and the Swedish Empire that was signed on a day like today in 1617.
The Treaty of Stolbovo, in Swedish Freden i Stolbova, was a peace treaty that ended the Ingrian War (Ingermanländska kriget), which had been fought between the Swedish Empire and the Russian Tsardom between 1610 and 1617. After nearly two months of negotiations, representatives from Sweden and Russia met at the now-derelict village of Stolbovo, south of Lake Ladoga, now in Volkhovsky District.
The meeting took place on 9 March [O.S. 27 February] 1617. From the outset, Sweden had gone into the negotiations with very high ambitions and hopes of fulfilling the old dream of making all Russian trade pass through Swedish territory. As a consequence of that ambition, the Swedes originally demanded far-reaching territorial gains into western Russia, including the important northern port of Arkhangelsk.
However, King James I of England sent a delegation to mediate, and the United Provinces did the same, mostly to ensure that Arkhangelsk did not fall into Swedish hands, which would have made the extensive trade between Western Europe and Russia far more difficult.
Arkhangelsk did not change hands in the resulting treaty, partly because of the Dutch and the English efforts but mostly because Russia finally managed to unite under Tsar Michael I of Russia.
As word reached Russia that the Swedish war against Poland might soon be over, the Russians really became serious in the negotiations to avoid Sweden's renewal of the war effort on only one front.
The Kingdom of England was officially credited with brokering the peace through its mediator, John Mericke (c.1559-1638/9), but the Dutch efforts were also very important. After the war, the leader of the Dutch delegation, Reinoud van Brederode (1567–1633), was granted the title of baron and given the barony of Wesenberg (Rakvere) in Estonia by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.
In the resulting peace treaty, the Russian tsar and Swedish king agreed to the following terms:
-Sweden gained the province of Kexholm in Karelia and the province of Ingria, including the fortress of Nöteborg, now Shlisselburg, Russia.
-Russia renounced all claims to Estonia and Livonia and would pay Sweden war indemnities of 20,000 rubles.
-Novgorod and other Swedish territorial gains during the war would be returned to Russia.
-Sweden had the right to keep all spoils of war collected before 20 November 1616.
-The city of Gdov was to remain in Swedish hands until the peace had been confirmed and the borders fully established.
-Sweden recognised Michael Romanov as the rightful Russian tsar and ended further Swedish claims in the Russian throne.
-Russia was allowed free trade at normal trade tariffs, which ensured that Sweden would not completely cripple Russia.
-Russia was allowed to establish merchant houses in Stockholm, Reval (Tallinn) and Viborg, and Sweden was allowed to establish merchant houses in Novgorod, Pskov and Moscow.
Today, The Watsons and The Grandma have continued preparing Rennette's candidature for Eurovision Song Contest. Although the Contest has been cancelled because of the COVID19, the family has decided to go on with this project and wait for the moment that things can be better. It is an interesting manner of thinking in other things and not in this pandemic.
The Grandma, who is in Hogwarts, is in total contact with The Watsons, who are in Barcelona, thanks to new technologies that connect people fast, well and efficiently. They have been talking about Eurovision winners to take ideas, compare projects and improve proposals.
ABBA is a Swedish pop supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-FridLyngstad.
The group's name is an acronym of the first letters of their first names.They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982.
ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest. They are the most successful group to have taken part in the competition.
During the band's main active years, it was composed of two married couples: Fältskog and Ulvaeus, and Lyngstad and Andersson. With the increase of their popularity, their personal lives suffered which eventually resulted in the collapse of both marriages. The relationship changes were reflected in the group's music, with latter compositions featuring darker and more introspective lyrics.
After ABBA disbanded, Andersson and Ulvaeus achieved success writing music for the stage, while Lyngstad and Fältskog pursued solo careers. Ten years after their disbanding, a compilation, ABBA Gold was released, which became a worldwide bestseller.
ABBA
In 1999, ABBA's music was adapted into the successful musical Mamma Mia! that toured worldwide. A film of the same name, released in 2008, became the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom that year.
A sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, was released in 2018. That same year it was announced that the band had recorded two new songs after 35 years of being inactive.
Estimates of ABBA's total record sales are over 380 million, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. ABBA were the first group from a non-English-speaking country to achieve consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
They have a joint eight consecutive number-one albums in the UK. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin America, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.
ABBA were honoured at
the 50th anniversary celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005,
when their hit Waterloo was chosenas the best song in the
competition's history.
The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2015, their song Dancing Queen was inducted
into the Recording Academy's Grammy Hall of Fame.
Benny Andersson (born 16 December 1946 in Stockholm, Sweden) became (at age 18) a member of a popular Swedish pop-rock group, the Hep Stars, that performed covers, amongst other things, of international hits.
Björn Ulvaeus (born 25 April 1945 in Gothenburg, Sweden) also began his musical career at the age of 18 (as a singer and guitarist), when he fronted the Hootenanny Singers, a popular Swedish folk–skiffle group.
Agnetha Fältskog (born 5 April 1950 in Jönköping, Sweden) sang with a local dance band headed by Bernt Enghardt who sent a demo recording of the band to Karl Gerhard Lundkvist.
ABBA
Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad (born 15 November 1945 in Bjørkåsen in Ballangen, Norway) sang from the age of 13 with various dance bands, and worked mainly in a jazz-oriented cabaret style.
In 1973, StigAnderson started to refer to the group privately and publicly as ABBA (a palindrome).
ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of each group member's first name: Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid. The earliest known example of ABBA written on paper is on a recording session sheet from the Metronome Studio in Stockholm dated 16 October 1973. This was first written as Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Frida, but was subsequently crossed out with ABBA written in large letters on top.
Their official logo, distinct with the backward B, was designed by Rune Söderqvist, who designed most of ABBA's record sleeves. The ambigram first appeared on the French compilation album, Golden Double Album, released in May 1976 by Disques Vogue, and would henceforth be used for all official releases.
ABBA won their nation's hearts on Swedish television on 9 February 1974, and with this third attempt were far more experienced and better prepared for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest on 6 April 1974 and singing Waterloo in English instead of their native tongue gave ABBA the chance to tour Europe and perform on major television shows; thus the band saw the Waterloo single chart in many European countries.
Today, The Grandma wants to talk about Akkala Sámi, a Sámilanguage.
Sámi languages are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sámi people in Northern Europe, in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme north-western Russia.
The Grandma loves languages. They represent the most beautiful and exciting demonstration of a community, of its culture, traditions and history. Protecting languages must be an obligation for all the governments around the world, especially minority languages that are in danger of being supplanted by other with more speakers. Minorities must be respected and protected as treasures of our past, our present and our future. A community that respects their minorities is a stronger and more democratic one.
On a day like today in 2003, Maria Sergina –the last fluent native speakers of Akkala Sámi- died. When a language dies, a community dies and with it all its culture and history.
Akkala Sámi is a Sámi language that was spoken in the Sámi villages of A´kkel, Ču´kksuâl and Sââ´rvesjäu´rr, in the inland parts of the Kola Peninsula in Russia.
Formerly erroneously regarded as a dialect of Kildin Sámi, it has recently become recognized as an independent Sámi language that is most closely related to its western neighbor Skolt Sámi.
Akkala Sámi is the most endangered Eastern Sámi language. On December 29, 2003, Maria Sergina –the last fluent native speakers of Akkala Sámi– died. However, as of 2011 there were at least two people, both aged 70, with some knowledge of Akkala Sámi. Remaining ethnic Akkala Sámi live in the village Yona.
Although there exist a
description of Akkala Sámi phonology and morphology, a few published
texts, and archived audio recordings, the Akkala Sami language remains
among the most poorly documented Sami languages.
Sámi Family in Finland, 1936
Akkala Sámi has eight cases, singular and plural: nominative, genitive-accusative, partitive, dative-illative, locative, essive, comitative and abessive. Case and number are expressed by a combination of endings and consonant gradation:
-Nominative: no marker in the singular, weak grade in the plural
-Genitive-accusative: weak grade in the singular, weak grade + -i in the plural
-Partitive: this case exists only in the singular, and has the ending -tti͔
-Dative-illative: strong grade + -a, -a͕ or -ɛ in the singular, weak grade + -i in the plural
-Locative: weak grade + -st, -śtˑ in the singular, weak grade + -nˑ in the plural
-Essive: this case exists only in the singular: strong grade + -n
-Comitative: weak grade + -nˑ in the singular, strong grade + -guim, -vuim or -vi̮i̭m in the plural
Sámi languages, in English also rendered as Sami, are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sámi people in Northern Europe, in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme north-western Russia.
There are, depending on the nature and terms of division, ten or more Samilanguages. Several spellings have been used for the Sámi languages, including Sámi, Sami, Saami, Saame, Sámic, Samic and Saamic, as well as the exonyms Lappish and Lappic. The last two, along with the term Lapp, are now often considered pejorative.
The Sámi languages form a branch of the Uralic language family. According to the traditional view, Sámi is within the Uralic family most closely related to the Finnic languages. However, this view has recently been doubted by some scholars, who argue that the traditional view of a common Finno-Samiprotolanguage is not as strongly supported as had been earlier assumed, and that the similarities may stem from an areal influence on Samic from Finnic.
In terms of internal
relationships, the Sami languages are divided into two groups: western
and eastern. The groups may be further divided into various subgroups
and ultimately individual languages.
Sámi People, Norway
Parts of the Sami language area form a dialect continuum in which the neighbouring languages may be mutually intelligible to a fair degree, but two more widely separated groups will not understand each other's speech. There are, however, some sharp language boundaries, in particular between Northern Sami, Inari Sami and Skolt Sami, the speakers of which are not able to understand each other without learning or long practice.
The evolution of sharp language boundaries seems to suggest a relative isolation of the language speakers from each other and not very intensive contacts between the respective speakers in the past. There is some significance in this, as the geographical barriers between the respective speakers are no different from those in other parts of the Sami area.
The Sami languages are spoken in Sápmi in Northern Europe, in a region stretching over the four countries Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, reaching from the southern part of central Scandinavia in the southwest to the tip of the Kola Peninsula in the east.
The borders between the languages do not align with the ones separating the region's modern nation states.
During the Middle Ages and early modern period, now-extinct Sami languages were also spoken in the central and southern parts of Finland and Karelia and in a wider area on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Historical documents as well as Finnish and Karelian oral tradition contain many mentions of the earlier Samiinhabitation in these areas. Also, loanwords as well as place-names of Sami origin in the southern dialects of Finnish and Karelian dialects testify of earlier Sami presence in the area. These Sami languages, however, became extinct later, under the wave of the Finno-Karelian agricultural expansion.
The Proto-Samic language is believed to have formed in the vicinity of the Gulf of Finland between 1000 BC to 700 AD, deriving from a common Proto-Sami-Finnic language.
However, reconstruction of any basic proto-languages in the Uralic family have reached a level close to or identical to Proto-Uralic. According to the comparative linguist Ante Aikio, the Proto-Samic language developed in South Finland or in Karelia around 2000–2500 years ago, spreading then to northern Fennoscandia.
The language is believed
to have expanded west and north into Fennoscandia during the Nordic
Iron Age, reaching central Scandinavia during the Proto-Scandinavian
period ca. 500 AD. The language assimilated several layers of unknown
Paleo-European languages from the early hunter-gatherers, first during
the Proto-Sami phase and second in the subsequent expansion of the
language in the west and the north of Fennoscandia that is part of
modernSami today.
Sámi Flag
At present there are nine living Sami languages. The largest six of the languages have independent literary languages; the three others have no written standard, and of them, there are only a few, mainly elderly, speakers left. The seven written languages are:
-Northern Sami (Norway, Sweden, Finland): With an estimated 15,000 speakers, this accounts for probably more than 75% of all Sami speakers in 2002
-Lule Sami (Norway, Sweden): The second largest group with an estimated 1,500 speakers
-Ume Sami (Norway, Sweden)
-Southern Sami (Norway, Sweden): 500 speakers (estimated)
-Inari Sami (Enare Sami) (Inari, Finland): 500 speakers (estimated)
-Skolt Sami (Näätämö and the Nellim-Keväjärvi districts, Inari municipality, Finland, also spoken in Russia, previously in Norway): 400 speakers (estimated)
-Kildin Sami (Kola Peninsula, Russia): 608 speakers in Murmansk Oblast, 179 in other Russian regions, although 1991 persons stated their Saami ethnicity (1769 of them live in Murmansk Oblast)
The other Sami languages are critically endangered or moribund and have very few speakers left.
Pite Sami has about 30-50 speakers, and a dictionary and an official orthography is under way. A descriptive grammar has been published. Ume Sami likely has under 20 speakers left, and ten speakers of Ter Sami were known to be alive in 2004.
The last speaker of Akkala Sami is known to have died in December 2003, and the eleventh attested variety, Kemi Sami, became extinct in the 19th century. An additional Sami language, Kainuu Sami, became extinct in the 18th century, and probably belonged to the Eastern group like Kemi Sami, although the evidence for the language is limited.
Adopted in April 1988, Article 110a of the Norwegian Constitution states: It is the responsibility of the authorities of the State to create conditions enabling the Sami people to preserve and develop its language, culture and way of life.
The Sami Language Act went into effect in the 1990s. Sámi is an official language alongside Norwegian in the administrative area for Sámi language,that includes eight municipalities in the northern half of Norway, namely Kautokeino, Karasjok, Gáivuotna -Kåfjord- Kaivuono, Nesseby, Porsanger, Tana, Tysfjord, Lavangen and Snåsa.
In 2005 Sámi, Kven, Romanes and Romani were recognised as regional or minority languages in Norway within the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
On 1 April 2000, Sami became one of five recognized minority languages in Sweden. It can be used in dealing with public authorities in the municipalities of Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk, and Kiruna.
In 2011, this list was enlarged considerably. In Sweden the University of Umeå teaches North, Ume and South Sami, and Uppsala University has courses in North, Lule and South Sami.
In Finland, the Sami language act of 1991 granted the Northern, Inari, and Skolt Sami the right to use their languages for all government services.
The Sami Language Act of 2003 made Sami an official language in Enontekiö, Inari, Sodankylä and Utsjoki municipalities. Some documents, such as specific legislation, are translated into these Sami languages, but knowledge of any of these Sami languages among officials is not common. As the major language in the region is Finnish, Sami speakers are essentially always bilingual with Finnish.
Language nest daycares have been set up for teaching the languages to children. In education, Northern Sami, and to a more limited degree, Inari and Skolt Sami, can be studied at primary and secondary levels, both as a mothertongue -for native speakers- and as a foreign language -for non-native speakers.
In Russia, Sámi has no official status, neither on the national, regional or local level, and no formal recognition as a minority language. Sámi has been taught at the Murmansk University since 2012; before then, Sámi was taught at the Institute of Peoples of the North (Институт народов севера) in Saint Petersburg.
