Duchy of Ingria

Infobox Former Country
native_name = "Hertigdömet Ingermanland"
conventional_long_name = Duchy of Ingria
common_name = Ingria
continent = Europe
region = Baltic
status = Vassal
empire = Sweden
status_text =

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image_map_caption = Baltic provinces of Swedish Empire in the 17th century.
capital = Narva
common_languages = Swedish, Ingrian
religion =
government_type = Principality
leader1 = John III
year_leader1 = 1568–92
leader2 = Sigismund
year_leader2 = 1592–99
leader3 = Gustav II Adolf
year_leader3 = 1611–32
leader4 = Frederick I
year_leader4 = 1720–51
title_leader = King of Sweden
representative1 = Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm
year_representative1 = 1617–
representative2 = Simon Grundel-Helmfelt
year_representative2 = 1659–1673
title_representative = Governor-General
stat_year1 = 1644
stat_pop1 = 15000

The Duchy of Ingria ( _sv. Hertigdömet Ingermanland) was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1580 to 1595 and then again from 1617 to 1721, when it was ceded to the Russian Empire in the Treaty of Nystad.

Ingria was ceded to Sweden by Russia togeather with the County of Kexholm by the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617. It consisted of the area along the basin of the river Neva, between the Gulf of Finland, the Narva River, Lake Peipsi in South-West, and Lake Ladoga in North-East. Bordering to Kexholm and Swedish Karelia by the Sestra "(Rajajoki /Systerbäck)" rivulet in North-West.

Ingria fell to Sweden in the 1580s, was returned to Russia by the Treaty of Teusina (1595), and again ceded to Sweden in the Treaty of Stolbovo (1617). Sweden's interest of the territory was strategical: as a buffer zone against Russian attacks on the Karelian Isthmus and present-day Finland; and Russian trade was to pass through Swedish territory. In addition, Ingria became the destination for Swedish deportees.

Ingria remained sparsely populated. In 1664 the population was counted to 15,000. Swedish attempts to introduce Lutheranism were met with repugnance by the Orthodox peasantry obliged to attend Lutheran services; converts were promised grants and tax reductions, but Lutheran gains were most of all due to voluntary resettlements from Savonia and Karelia. Ingria was enfeoffed to noble militaries and state officials, bringing their own Lutheran servants and workmen.

Nyen became the trading centre of Ingria, and in 1642 was made its administrative centre. In 1656 a Russian attack badly damaged the town, and the administrative centre was moved to Narva. [Kurs, Ott (1994). [http://www.springerlink.com/content/r5302p2n2802g742/fulltext.pdf Ingria: The broken landbridge between Estonia and Finland] . "GeoJournal" 33.1, 107-113.]

In the early 1700s the area was reconquered by Russia in the Great Northern War after a bare century in Swedish possession. On the place of the Swedish town Nyen or in Finnish "Nevanlinna" (Castle of Neva) close to the Neva river's estuary at the Gulf of Finland, the new Russian capital Saint Petersburg was founded in 1703.

Governors-General

*Carl Carlsson Gyllenhielm (1617-)
*Heinrich Matthias von Thurn-Valsassina (1629-)
*Bengt Oxenstierna (1634-1643)
*Simon Grundel-Helmfelt (1659-1673)
*Gustaf Adam Banér (1678-1681)
*Göran von Sperling (1683-1690)

References

See also

*Nöteborg
*Ingria