County of Kexholm

Kexholms län Käkisalmen lääni Kexholm County County of the Swedish Empire ← 1634–1721 →   → Coat of arms Provinces of the Swedish Empire around the Gulf of Finland in the 17th Century. Capital Kexholm History  - Treaty of Nöteborg August 12, 1323  - Established 1634  - Great Northern War 1700–21  - Treaty of Nystad August 30 1721

Kexholm County (Swedish: Kexholms län, Finnish: Käkisalmen lääni) was a county of the Swedish Empire from 1617 to 1721, when the southern part was ceded to the Russian Empire in the Treaty of Nystad.

History

The county was ceded to Sweden by Russia together with Ingria by the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617. The county extended to the parishes of Lieksa in North and to Hyrsylä in the East. In the South, the county was bordered by Viborg and Nyslott County.

Following the Great Northern War parts of the southern parts were ceded to Russia in 1721, and the territory that remained was reconsitituted into the Savolax and Kymmenegård County (Swedish: Savolax och Kymmenegårds län, Finnish: Savonlinnan ja Kymenkartanon lääni), with the remainder of the Viborg and Nyslott County. In 1743 following a new conflict another part in the south was ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Åbo.

The ceded territory became part of the Russian Vyborg Governorate, which also was known as Old Finland. After the Russian victory in the Finnish War in 1809, Sweden ceded all its territory in Finland to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn, where it came to constitute a separate grand duchy. In 1812 Russia made the Vyborg Governorate part of the new Grand Duchy of Finland.

The capital of the county was Kexholm (Finnish: Käkisalmi, Karelian: Karjala), which today is Priozersk.

See also

• Vyborg Governorate