| | | Finnish Immigration to America Timeline | |
| | 1150 | The Christianization of the Finnish people during the Crusades of the Medieval period and the adoption of the Roman Catholic religion. | |
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| | 1323 | Finland was conquered by Sweden and the history of the two countries was combined. | |
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| | 1638 | 50 Finnish and Swedish colonists established the first small colony in Delaware Bay that was called New Sweden (Nya Sverige). | |
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| | 1653 | The Finnish Captain Hans Ammundson Besk was awarded a huge tract of land in Delaware by Queen Christina of Sweden (1626 – 1689). | |
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| | 1654 | Martti Marttinen joined the New Sweden Colony and was the ancestor of the politician John Morton who signed the United States Declaration of Independence. | |
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| | 1655 | The areas of lands of the New Sweden colony fall to the Dutch. | |
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| | 1657 | The American colonies owned by the Dutch and previously the Swedish fall to the English. | |
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| | 1696 | A devastating famine in Finland (1696-1697) wiped out almost a third of the population. | |
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| | 1700 | The Great Northern War (1700–1721) led to the deaths of many thousands. | |
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| | 1710 | 66% of the inhabitants of the city of Helsinki died of the Bubonic plague. | |
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| | 1809 | Finland was ceded to Russia by Sweden and political unrest led to people wanting to emigrate from Finland. | |
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| | 1810 | Finnish traders traveled to Alaska including Arvid Adolf Etholén and Johan Hampus Furuhjelm. | |
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| | 1866 | The Finnish Famine of 1866 - 1868, the "suuret nälkävuodet" led to the deaths of 15% of the entire population. The famine and following disease prompted the first major wave of Finnish immigrants. | |
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| | 1873 | The financial panic of 1873 hit the US lasting for 6 years halting the flow of migration to the United States. | |
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| | 1880's | Anti-Finnish policies of the Russian government led to the Great Migration from Finland as Finns saw the opportunities for a new life due to the the industrialization of America. | |
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| | 1882 | Immigration levels to the US reached massive levels. Between 1881 - 1890 5,246,613 immigrants arrived in the United States. The government were forced to take action and a restrictive law was passed called the 1882 Immigration Act. | |
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| | 1892 | The Ellis Island immigration center was opened where immigrants from Europe, including Finland, were required to undergo medical and legal examinations. Less than 2% of immigrants from Finland were turned away. | |
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| | 1917 | Finland obtained independence during the 1917 Russian Revolution. | |
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| | 1919 | Finland became a republic in 1919. | |
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| | | Finnish Immigration to America has declined from this time. | |