Korela

an ancient Baltic Finnic tribe, first mentioned in a Russian chronicle under the year 1143. The tribe originally lived on the Karelian Isthmus in the northern part of the Lake Ladoga area.

Between the 12th and 14th centuries some Korela groups migrated northward, settling in the area between the White Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia. In the 12th century they came under the rule of the Novgorod Republic and took an active part in the Novgorodians’ struggle against Swedish and German invasions. In 1187, crossing the Baltic Sea, Korela forces stormed and destroyed Sigtuna, the political center of Sweden. A feudal system was established in the lands of the Korela between the 12th and 14th centuries. The capital of the territory inhabited by the tribe was Korela (modern Priozersk), founded on the Karelian Isthmus in the tenth century and first mentioned in chronicles in the late 13th century. The modern Karelians developed from the merging of the Korela and northern groups of Veps.