Kekri

Not much is known about Finland's early history, with archaeologists still debating when and where a tribe of Finno-Ugric speakers cropped up. The earliest certain evidence of human settlement is from 8900 BC. Roman historian Tacitus mentions a primitive and savage hunter tribe called Fenni in 100 AD, though there is no unanimity whether this means Finns or Sami. Even the Vikings chose not to settle, fearing the famed shamans of the area, and instead traded and plundered along the coasts. In the mid-1100s Sweden started out to conquer and Christianise the Finnish pagans in earnest, with Birger jarl extending its rule from Finland Proper to Tavastia in the 13th century. The expansion continued, competing with the Orthodox of Novgorod. While the population was Finnish-speaking, the Swedish kings installed a Swedish-speaking class of clergy and nobles in Finland, and enforced Western Christianity, succeeding in eliminating local animism and to a large part even Russian Orthodoxy.