Already about A. D. 860, they had re
duced to their power certain villages
in East Karelia, and from then on ex
peditions of robbery were carried on
still farther, to the regions of Lake
Ladoga and Lake Onega and to the
strip between Lake Ladoga and the
Gulf of Finland and to the shores of
the White Sea on the north. In the
year 1265 Karelia had not been finally
conquered and it did not belong to
the domains of Novgorod. Prior to
this, however, efforts had been made
to convert the Ka.relians to the Greek
Catholic faith, with the idea that
these Finns could then be reduced to
the subjection of the Slavs more eas
ily. However about the same time,
the Swedes were conducting their
work of converting the Finns from
the west, in this way extending her
power further and further to the
east. This made Karelia a bone of
contention between Sweden and Rus
sia. After many wars and continual
raids from both sides a treaty of
peace was concluded by these two na
tions at Pahkinalinna in 1323, by the
terms of which Karelia, the land in
habited by Finns, was divided by
these foreign powers the entire west
ern shore of Ladoga and the regions
of uie east and north were awarded
to Russia. In this way the freedom
and independence of the Karelians
was ended. In the ISth century these
Finns were made still more dependent
on the mighty empire of Novgorod
which had first treated them as vas
sals but later as subjects, liable to
taxation. Dissatisfied with their treat
ment the Karelians rose in revolt sev
eral times in behalf of their freedom.
