Different Peripheries

Two Examples from Russia and Sweden

Abstract

In this article two outland areas, generally considered as peripheral, are compared with the focus on the Vking Age and Early Middle Ages. It should be noted that the peripheral position of the areas is in relation both to the central authorities of the period and to the academic institutions of today. The two areas, the Beloozero area in northern Russia and northern Värmland in western Sweden, are quite different as regards the natural and the cultural landscapes. Settlements, productive land and burials were organized differently, and there was an important urban, trading centre in the Beloozero area, whereas there were no such centres in northern Värmland. There were also similarities. In both areas freeholding farmers appear to have been an influential social group, who used the outland for production of goods for sale during the period of interest in this article. The hypotheses are put forward that the freeholding farmers were part of larger trade networks on the basis of the products of the outland, and that they achieved considerable wealth, which they expressed differently. During the 13th century the production of goods on the outland diminished and changed character, and the economy in both northern Värmland and the Beloozero region became more agrarian.