Scandimerica: the Real American Vikings
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2024
- Who are the modern American Vikings? Today let's discuss a region of the United States and Canada that has been dubbed "Scandimerica" clearly a nod to the area's heavy Scandinavian heritage and influence, having the largest number and percentage of people of Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish and Icelandic descent in the world outside of Europe.
Although the Greenlandic Vikings may have failed in their endeavors to conquer the mainland of America, their distant Scandinavian cousins made somewhat of a home for themselves out in the middle of nowhere. Let me know your thoughts on this very interesting region and community in the Midwest. Thanks for watching!
Song: Du Gamla, Du Fria (Swedish National Anthem) / @pewdiepie
Sources:
rynerohla.com/i...
www.loc.gov/tea...
factfinder.cen...
www.economist....
www.wiscontext...
worldpopulation...
![АЛАУДИНОВ у Скабеевой: эти их ВСУ нас НЕ ДОГОНЯТ 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/an0anqU4WGQ/mqdefault.jpg)
My great grandma was a third generation American. She lived in a Norwegian enclave in North Dakota. She didn’t speak anything other than Norwegian until she started school.
Have You ever heard of Nordic Nightmare ? He IS a Boxer waiting for a Heavyweight - match - this Summer ! He IS on UA-cam vs at previous matches ! Thanks to Your name !
I am from Sweden and my family still have contacts with our Swedish family in Minnesota
Hahah!!! I am Norwegian and Swede and live in Minnesota 💕
do you talk with them in Swedish or English?:)
I wish I had contact with my European family if they’re still there.
Isn't Madsen Danish Surname?
@Vis Vers Lol! Or you simply use bluetooth ;)
Finns don't like to be too far from a lake just in case they get the urge to build a sauna and throw themselves in the water.
Baz theblue This is true! I live right on the shore of lake superior at the most northern point of upper Michigan... (under many many feet of snow 7-8 months out of the year lol). Every time I've tried to move the lake calls me back, it's like taking a shot of valium and heroin when I reunite with it😌
Or snow.
doubleheadergr Do you live in the keweenaw?
doubleheadergr Interesting. I'm in Laurium right now. Most of the people from here seemed to have moved to lower Michigan, it was the smart thing to do, its not easy living up here, the only way I can live here is to work moving freight across the lake to Canada.
Johnny Rep Cool. I meet a lot of people who once lived or their parents lived up here when I travel to lower Michigan. I'd say 50% of the homes up here have a sauna, they even had a sauna parlor in Laurium up until the early 2000's, I'm building a portable one on a flat bed trailer right now, trying to finish it before the snow starts flying!
Scandinavia = Norway, Sweden, Denmark. Only. When including Finland and Iceland it is called The Nordics .
And greenland
Same reaction here. Recently discovered from DNA test that I am primarily of the Norsk DNA community. Scandinavians are primarily of Germanic origin which migrated into Scandi after ice age while Finns primarily of Russian ancestry. My parents and older bro from Minn while DNA indicates we are from early pre Revolution metro NY and Northeastern coast that were also first settlers into Northwest.
you're both kinda right, there's a difference between political scandinavia and geographical scandinavia - i also think the finland argument is on thin ice (pun intended) because for a vast majority of history it was actually just a region in sweden so you can't just surgically remove it that easily.
it's not really worth debating which version is the most correct because reality is a little more dynamic than that.
I thought the same until AncestryDNA made the distinction via DNA groups. They include the Danes with the Swedes and Norwegians in Scandinavia but report Finland as a separate genetic group. My own report was only Norsk for Scandi (along with GB and Ireland for me) while they reported separately the Finland/Northern Russian >1
Gryphon no he is not wrong. I am
Of Finnish Sami and Norwegian blood. And it’s called Fennoscandia when Finland and Russia is included.
As someone who lives in Minnesota, the Scandamerican culture is still pretty strong. Many towns hold on to their culture (one town in Particular being Lindström) and in many of them you will regularly hear a north Nordic language being spoken. Many parents in the state (whether rural or not) will have their kids learn these languages as well. Growing up, many of my friend knew one and would speak them at school. While it's not like it was several centuries ago, it's still quite dominant.
@Yoshifan9511 I've never heard anyone from the cities (besides tourists or culture festival goers) speak them, I've heard them in the small towns (increasingly less and less as time goes on, though.) Although, I went to school in a suburb of Minneapolis and that's where I was hearing them, but only because the parents were teaching them it as a way to keep their heritage/seem prestigious, I'm guessing.
Yeah, from what I've heard the languages where quite strong till WW1 or so but went into decline together with German...
But it's nice to know that there's still communities where the languages are alive =)
Snakker du Norsk selv forresten?
@@Luredreier yeah it's the sad truth. German is still alive in some parts (like New Ulm), though.
Jeg snakker ikke norsk :( I used to, but lost it unfortunately
+McMill
Prøv å høre på Norsk Radio og TV.
tv.nrk.no/
radio.nrk.no/
www.listenlive.eu/
Det kan være at du trenger en proxy for at noen av disse skal fungere for deg.
Uansett, det kan hjelpe deg å øve opp norskferdighetene dine. =)
McMill er norsk snakket av norsk-amerikanere veldih annerledes enn norsk fra norge?
Swedish American here. Thank you very much for creating and posting this video! 🙂My maternal grandparents (God rest their souls) taught me Swedish when I was just a little boy and I in turn have passed the language on to my kids.
Häftigt! Känner du dig någonsin som en svensk i någon annans land, eller känner du dig som en integral del av USA? Jag tycker att det är fascinerande med denna stora alternativa svenska befolkningen som bor i Amerika.
@@TheBcoolGuy Jag är född och uppvuxen här i USA. Jag är född i staten Montana, men flyttade till staten Washington när jag var sju år gammal. Min mor är också född här, men min mormor och morfar utvandrade hit ifrån Vinslöv / Bromölla i Skåne. Jag känner mig helt och hållet som amerikan, men är glad och stolt över mitt svenska påbrå. Min far har tyskt, serbiskt och svenskt påbrå, men hans släkt har varit här i betydligt fler generationer, varvid mycket språkkunskap, seder och bruk har gått förlorade med tiden. Jag har fortfarande en hel del släkt i Skåne, en storebror samt en moster som har flyttat tillbaka till Skåne.
Hei! Scandimerican here! Nice video, although I think you missed a few interesting things. Scandinavian Americans, in particular Norwegians, have an extremely higher number of traditions from Scandinavia which they celebrate even at the 3rd and 4th generation levels. For example, almost everyone here in Western Minnesota makes Lefse, celebrates Syttende Mai and has a few Norwegian words and expressions which they’ve imported into English. The social code of Janteloven has also strongly persisted, although slightly changed and is now referred to as “Minnesota Nice”. This has even permeated the other white groups such as the Germans here in Minnesota to become the dominant social code. Takk for videoen!
Ningi626 butter or olive oil?
Grandmaster Dinner Roll this butter not be a trap
As a Norwegian: Always use butter, olive oil just isn't the same.
I finally found it's best to not use butter(or other very isolated fat), except maybe in winter, otherwise it causes inflammation in the body.
As a 3/8ths Scandamerican who was born and for the most part raised in California, and to a great degree by non relatives, I feel like I've been culturally robbed :(
The Finnish influence in Hancock, MI is remarkable. Many still speak the language, and there is a small university (Finlandia... formerly Suomi College) interwoven with Finn heritage. Those who speak the language in this area even have their own dialect they brought with them over 160yrs ago, which has since died out back in Finland.
Which Part of Finland did they come from? I think that they former their own dialect in america
Many Finns left - Thanks to that They Didnt want to FIGHT at RUSSIAN WARS ! 1809 Napoleon was around with His Famous Horse !
Nordic American here (Swedish & Finnish), I’m actually able to trace a slight bit of my genealogy back to the New Sweden colony, specifically in Swedesboro, New Jersey. Kinda crazy considering eventually my family ended up down here in Georgia:)
I recently found out that my grandmother is half Norwegian, and that her grandparents were the ones to first come to Minnesota, near Fargo. Thank you for sharing more about this group of people!
Welcome to the family! ☮️💟
Minnesotan here, we straight up Scandinavian up here.
Spencer Anderson for sure. That accent of northern Minnesota...I’m glad I didn’t pick it up and we moved out of the north when I was still fairly young.
So thats why you guys give an Eh :)
Jasså?
Brunost og lutefisk. Och lite surtrömming atåt!
*broderick* have some surströmming. That'll teach you the right way to speak right quick.
I live in northern Minnesota guess where my great grand parents came from, yep sweden
Twax agone my like 2nd great grandma came from Finland
@A Man Of Truth only in the big cities
When my ancestors first came to Minnesota from Sweden they were potato farmers, then my grandpa learned Blacksmithing and then went to Ww1. He had a strong accent.
Lots of Scandinavians settled in the Pacific Northwest region as well as Alaska. Shipping, fishing and logging were things Scandinavians were very good at. The Norwegians were especially good at floating timber and fishing.
Growing up in north western Wisconsin I was brought up with a lot of Scandinavian as well as German traditions. My grandmother who was half German and half Norwegian with maybe some Swedish in there read us stories about trolls and used the phrase Uff Dah a lot! I’ve been celebrating the traditional Saint Lucia Day since I was little and know the whole song in Swedish. I’m also a Lutheran and enjoy smoked salmon and lingonberry jams and other Scandinavian foods. I’m very proud of my heritage.
You are a good mix!
Just out of curiosity, what does “Uff Dah” mean? My wild guess is “Usch då” which sort of mean “oh no” or “yikes” maybe, is that correct?
@@ake_lindblom That's right Åke ! I bought 2 "Uff da" T-shirts in the "Uff da - shop" in a town on the Mississippi in Minnesota the last time I was there 5 years ago. Do you know which town ?
@@ake_lindblom In my experience it is something old women say when they struggle with arthritis to get out of their plush chair after an afternoon of watching public television. So I think “Usch då” is probably correct?
haha, I have never seen "Uff Dah" spelled before, I always assumed it was spelled "Oofta" 😄
Im Scandamerican and my family came here in the 1820’s and I’m the first generation in my family not to speak Norwegian as a first language. We didn’t live in an exclusive community, just everyone in town was Norwegian so speaking it just kind of carried on.
That's about the same time my ancestors came here(to Norway) from Britain, yet neither I - nor anyone in my family - speaks a single word of English.
Saft Suse but your british ancestors intermarried with Norwegians though right? So you're what 1/8th british?
Anti Antiwhitism
That's the part of what I said that you take issue with? Not the part where I said I don't speak English? :P
Do you know any Norwegian?
Saft Suse I didn't buy your claim of english illiteracy. Alle nordmenn kan engelsk.
I’ve heard that the largest amount of Danish Americans were actually labeled as German on paper. That’s because a big part of the Danish population in the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein migrated to America after Denmark lost the areas to the Prussians in 1864.
Interesting to see Northern Europeans (including Germans, Dutch and Polish etc) settle to up north, it does make sense considering agriculture. A Swedish farmer knows how to work the land up north and a Spanish farmer would know what to do down south.
If you split Europe into north and south you can, but anyway, that's what "including" was for...
Generally speaking, in ye olden times immigrants to this country were looking for a more idealistic version of home. There's a reason Germans settled in the rolling glacial hills of Pennsylvania, you know.
Not that everyone was a farmer but Pennsylvania is very similar to Germany in climate and geography.. Plenty of people did go for something different though
I'm talking about agriculture, not the ethnic makeup of Latin America. Spanish and Italian people are both Mediterranean and live in very similar climates (they're ethnically similar as well), which seems to translate to similar areas in the Americas, where a farmer of those countries is more likely to prevail than someone from Sweden for example. I don't know what would possibly be ignorant about that... I didn't claim Latin Americans to be ethnically anything. Iberian people settled Latin America and I know that obviously a lot of people have immigrated since. I highly doubt Spanish people only 1 or 2% like you claim, but Italians are a indeed big group of immigrants. Both are just considered white, I haven't seen studies on their ethnicity beyond "white European", it probably wouldn't show much after mixing and being closely related anyway.
I believe that it is due only to particular circumstances. If we think about the climate and the land, the north of the US is not so different from the north of Spain or Italy. While the South of the east coast of the US has a totally different climate to the south of Europe. Spain expanded to the south because its conquerors went to the regions where there was gold, mainly in the two great American empires, Aztecs and Incas, and then expanded into surrounding areas.
As a descendant of Swedes, I have to say your Scandimerican flag is missing some yellow. I'm blaming the norwegians because my grandfather told me to 😜
Norway and Denmark agrees Swedes are the scapegoat, Born and breed in Skandinavia ;-)
I'm just glad you try to forget that lust for gold :)
He taught you well... ;)
*As a Norwegian, all I can say is:* Heard about the Swede who thought it was so cold in winter, that he stood up against a corner because it was 90 degrees there?
Judge in a swedish court of law: - You can choose between three months in jail or 10000 kroner. - Great, I'll take the money of course!
A Swede ran to the doctor and yelled - Doctor, Doctor! I have to change my ass! - Why? - There's a crack in it!
@@Sinekyre14 That's Finn's they always build square saunas, because it's 90 degrees in the corners.
Norweigians always build round houses to prevent dogs peeing on the corners.
Norwegian, Swedish, and German descendent here. I'm from southern New Jersey and there are many local place names that derive from the Swedes and Finns of the old colony on the Delaware.
A few examples:
Swede's Run is a small creek nearby, named for a famous Swedish man and his family who owned the land surrounding the creek. Mullica township and the Mullica River are one of only a few examples of a Finnish place name in the area.
I'm a Scandimerican. Norwegian is my first language. It makes me really happy that you made a video about us.
R Picifica
I'm sad my people are going extinct
@@elizabethjarrett8914 Yes, I'm aware of the migrant crisis. I agree it is really sad. I hope they will be smart about their decision. What is going on in parts of Europe they will be feeling for generations. Good luck ❤
R Picifica
Us Normans like me
We are conquers
My Blue Eyes make people back off
Plus being 6ft 8 Tall tends to help as well.
R Picifica
I have been to the Near East to study the Land of Sumer ie Sumerians
As I'm
55% European
41% Middle Eastern
My ancestors went to the Near East to study the Near East and it's people
I'm European and Near Easterner
Elizabeth Jarrett Eh k.
I was born in North Dakota from a German from Russian father and a Norwegian/Danish mother. My mothers family was more liberal than my fathers side, but my fathers side had more of a deep respect for family, and you always got together for holidays no matter what silly little matter was going on.
There's actually a very simple reason why Scandinavian people settled in the northern midwest - birch trees. Many of them were carpenters and knew how to work the wood (birch is very versatile). And for the most part birch grows in flat, colder lake regions of the world, so the midwest was a feasible choice for them for economic reasons.
I’m from South Dakota, and this is probably the first time I heard my State mentioned at all on UA-cam.
"Hail, South Dakota!"
@@Robert-Herman shut up North Dakota is best dakota
I'm partially Scandinavian by heritage, I'm also Irish, German and English to a lesser extent.
Translation: If the sun is out for more than 15 minutes, I can expect to get a sunburn.
You got Irish skin so cos Irish people don't tan
Scandinavians do actually get tan because we get more sun during the summers compared to the rest of northern Europe
Fun Story:
Actor Peter Stormare said when they were in on break filming Fargo in 1995, they'd explore rural Minnesota. One time in a small town an old man practiced his limited Swedish with Stormare. Stormare told him that his accent was from Skora. The old man said "Yes...Skora...That is where my grandparents came from."
There's no place in Sweden called Skora. I guess it's Skåne that it's referring to. A region in the southern part of Sweden, with distinct accents, as a cross between Danish and Swedish.
thepufred *skara* duh
Yes, Skara, most likely.
Skånska - was part of Danmark - that the language is Danish ! Skåne ! I Dont know / what They were fighting for ?
The Swedish town of Skara most likely
My little town has a large percent of population of Norwegian & Danish descent. There is even a Danish Brotherhood hall in town. They are totally assimilated. Dairy farming, lake fishing, & farming in general were the main occupations. Topography probably played a role too( right on Lake Michigan). Timber cutting was a role also, when Michigan was being logged off over 100 years ago.
Three of my Great-Grandparents immigrated from Sweden in the 1860's. While on the ship, they met my Great-Grandmother who was from Germany and she married into the family. They first settle in Chicago and later moved Rock Island, IL where they established Augustana College. My grandmother was the Dean of Women in the 1930's-50's. A lot of Swedes still live there and on the other side of the Mississippi River in Iowa.
"Jag ses nästa gång" translates to "I'm seen the next time". I'm gonna go ahead and guess you wanted to say "I'll see you next time" which would be said more like "Vi ses igen nästa gång" meaning "we'll see each other again next time".
Du har rätt
@@annetteericsson266 han har rätt
Here he thought he had it licked, damn!😧
Or simply say: "På återseende!"
Vi syns ! We are to be seen !
Funny: in general they settled in the same relation to each other as they did in Europe:
Finns in the Easternmost part, and by a lake, of course.
Swedes West of them - in the middle (for the pleasure and inconvenience of the others).
Norwegians the most Western by the fjords. Wait! Those guys had to go to the Cascadia, Alaska, and the Canadian West Coast.
Icelanders close to the Norwegians, where their roots are - and in the coldest area, as Iceland apparently is colder than even Northern Norway, for the Golf stream by their coast.
If the coldest isn't the Lake Superior side. Well cold lakeside for the Finns: an opportunity for some avanto fishing and swimming. Avanto is an opening in the ice.
And the Danish settled the most Southerly of them. This time they decided to get rid of the others, once and for all - mingle more with the Central Euorpe, uhm, USA.
And the Germans including the Amish in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which has a climate more like Germany I am told.
@A Man Of Truth we seem to tolerate heat fairly well. My family is Dane in ancient origin and N Germanic more recently, with immigration to America in the last 100 years. We first settled in Ohio and are now mostly in Florida.
@Amalie Olsdatter I'm sure you're right, inland Norway can get pretty cold. Not that the slightly warmer but wet and windy weather here on the west coast is preferable.
This is pretty common with everyone.
People often forget the large pockets of Swedes near Brattleboro Vermont. My relatives immigrated there in about 1890.
Hej! My great-grandparents came from Sweden to Brattleboro in 1907.
Mine came in 1892.
Are They running away from Surströmming eating ?
The Great Lakes region.
Finno-murican Lakes*
There’s barely any Finns dude mostly Germans
@@Diskode48 they said there were a lot of them on the west side of that lake
I'm from northern Illinois and have done a lot of traveling around Wisconsin and surrounding areas, but I've hardly met any Finnish people. Mostly Germans, Swedes, Norwegians, etc., and Poles have also been migrating out of the Chicagoland area (which has been overrun with Latinos and blacks) to move up north.
+LankyAlpaca I was born in Chicago, sadly ;c I am going on a nice vacation in November though. Nice of you to follow me around though. I'm interested in where this is going.
As somone with finnish blood in the upper peninsula of michigan i will say that finnish culture is much more ingrained here then you may think
Finnish culture is similar to Native culture.
Many times around the Keweenaw Peninsula you'll see the Finnish flag flown or on license plates/bumper stickers either alone or in conjunction with the American flag. That identity runs deep.
@@Wolf741000Finnish culture is similar to other north est europeans and in America is close to white americans
The Vikings mascot is offensive to my people as we never wore horned helmets, girly braids, or porn staches. Also, personally I am not a fan of the color purple.
But uhhhh in Skyrim they wore those helmets so its obviously true
Bork bork bork
Swedish chef as new mascot for Minnesota Vikings.
Prince was also from Minnesota, so the purple ain't goin' nowhere!
Where did all the porn staches go? They never really happened in the first place,… except maybe mostly in the 1890's.
I had designed a flag for this cultural region, which I dubbed Nordshenia (from Norwegian for Northern Lake), which had the typical Nordic Cross design, with the background being Swedish Blue and the cross itself being white with a red border. Then in each of the quarters of the background, centered on the cross, I had one large star which doubly represented the 4 Scandinavian countries (excluding Finland), and the 4 "states" that constitute the region: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Dakota, and Upper Michigan.
Scandamerican here, as well. My mother’s family came from Denmark in 1901 and also from Norway. I did one of those dna ancestry tests and it came back that I’m over 40% Scandinavian, with the heaviest concentrations in Hordaland, Norway and Ribe, Denmark. Skål!
I'm from Swedesburg Iowa, we have a cool museum
There's a large population of Scandinavians and Finnish in Seattle, I'm one of em.
I went to a mid-summer festival in Poulesbo, WA...just to the west of Seattle. I was SHOCKED at the number of Scandahoovians that "flew in" from Scandahoovia to attend. Absolutely (you betcha) Seattle is WAY Scandahoovian.
Parker Call I’m from Finland and it’s wierd to think that there are Finns living somewhere outside of Finland. Or of course you are not Finns anymore, but have the ancestory. Do you have any traditions or anything left from Finland?
Dank Jumala
When we built our summer cabin, the first building raised was the sauna. My parents built a sauna in the basement of every home we ever owned. In my home town, our parents-all born in the U.S.-spoke Finnish whenever they didn’t want “the kids” to know what they were saying. We had pulla with coffee, my Mummu never spoke English. I still make tarts every Christmas, still go to Midsummer’s at the cooperative park.
@@officialbs5114 Don't know if you see American programs like those of the traveling chef, Andrew Zimmer. He has one presentation of the people who live in Northern (UP) of Michigan, of Finnish descent. WAY Finnish with WAY Finnish traditions.
I'm from MN, grew up in a large Norwegian group in rural MN. One of my favorite stories of my ancestors was my g-g-g-grandfather/mother... When the group of them arrived in MN to settle, they decided to leave the group in MN and travelled to Seattle. Grandpa so loved the beautiful trees and climate. Grandma thought the trees "made everything too dark, and depressing." The compromise was to take lumber from those beautiful trees and take them back to the Minnesota and build a home to live in there. I grew up in that pretty victorian home, but didn't learn this story until decades after growing up!
As a Swede this was quite interesting to watch :)
I remember Cree elders telling me that they didn't believe that Finns were Europeans. Ojibway elders often felt the same way. "They're just like us. They have the Sweat Hut. They know how to live and hunt in the forest. They know how to tell stories the right way." Despite looking a little peculiar, the Elders insisted that the Finns must be First Nations who "got lost for a while, or something, and then came back here." The Sweat Hut = Sauna was the dealbreaker. There was seldom conflict between them, and when I was a child, I remember hearing both the tales from the Kalevala and the tales of Glooskap and Nanibozh. I know that around Thunder Bay, Ontario, and in Minnesota and Wisconsin, many families were known as "Findians," who not only intermarried, but built a distinctive fusion culture similar to the Canadian Metis, with great pride in both heritages.
Very proud of my Norwegian heritage
I live in Western Wisconsin right on the border on Minnesota and many people have the traditional Scandinavian and Icelandic sweaters.
One of the oldest and largest centralized populations of Icelanders is on a small island on Lake Michigan called Washington Island too, very cool place
Lots of Norwegian sailers in New York City back in the days. Bay Ridge area in Brooklyn used to be Norwegian pretty much♥️🇳🇴
Proud Swedish and Finnish American! 🇸🇪🇫🇮
Pactura Norway is bettet
The interesting part is when you mention the age of those who speak their ancestors language at being in their 60s. I noticed on my trip to Scotland that the scottish people who still use norse-influenced words in their vocab generally were around that age as well, and younger generations are phasing it out to just a general scottish accent. Seems like the last "generation" in the western world to speak something of an older language is a dying one. And that's a shame honestly, it's wicked cool to hear completely different cultures having the same or strong influences of a bygone era.
Can you do a video on the Celtic groups in America? Or maybe the Portuguese speaking peoples of America?
BR?
And include Melungeon with that too, Portuguese is a part of that
Another 90 days to change this I meant the Portuguese speaking groups in the US
+Spencer O'Dowd Hawaii has a lot of Portuguese descendants and influence, enough for the ukulele to be famous too (it's a Portuguese derived instrument).
The Longest Bridge In The World Goes Straight From Rhode Island To Portugal! (That's A Joke.)
My Finnish-American grandfather grew up in Hancock, Michigan, having been born nearby south of the Houghton Canal.
I’m Danish/German/Cherokee. I still speak some Danish. I went to a German Lutheran School when I was young. But I like to primarily identify as American with all my ethnicities included.
My great grandfather came over from Norway in the early 1900s worked in the timber forest to pay for his trip and then built a house in north Minneapolis
West UP of Michigan has a large population of people of Finnish decent. A lot of the old Finnish culture is still very dominant in northern part of that region. They have a college called Finlandia university. A lot of elderly in that area still speak Finnish. In that region there is a language that is sort of a cross between Finnish and English that is referred to as Finlander. Many town festivals in the area have Finnish themes as well. In the UP and norther lower of the mitten of Michigan there are pockets of people who are of Norwegian and Swedish decent. Their ancestors came to Michigan during the lumber boom of the late 1800s
My paternal great-grandma was the daughter of Danish immigrants. She died two years before I was born. I was told that she used to leave candy out for the fairies. Other than leaving out candy, she would make little outfits and little houses for them too.
I literally chuckle for the entirety of the first 2 mins. Really enjoy your writing style and wit dude. Having lived in Minnesota for a few years, this video is gospel to my ears. Thanks!
Minnesotan here, my heritage is mostly from latin america, but i would always love to visit Finland, ive always considered it the minnesota of Europe
I guess the word "Scandinavia" have a different meaning in the US and in english speaking countries... here (in Scandinavia) we often refer only to the 3 monarchies: Sweden, Denmark and Norway as "Scandinavia".
Most of the time we use the broader term "the Nordic coutries" (Norden) its easier and more including..
Sorry for all horribel spelling
I live in Minnesota and my great grandparents were from Norway and Sweden. Like you I was always taught that Finland was Nordic but not Scandinavian. Minnesotans know, but the rest of Americans don't.
Although Finland was part of Sweden, and thus part of Scandinavia, for more than six-hundred years.
Your English is great......
Doing my ancestry my family is from Iceland but Norway before that. So icelandic isn't consideres Scandinavian? I'm pretty sure it's Norse Scandinavian
Can you do one on Slavic America? It can be like an ongoing series or something, Arab America, Italian America, Vietnamese America, etc.
We have a lot of people of Slavic descent in Minnesota and Wisconsin also
Luke Irrgang Poles are the largest in Minnesota
I'm from a mix of Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, and Transylvanian Saxon ancestors and from Minnesota. Scandinavian culture has influenced our state a great deal, especially Norwegians who make up about half the Scandinavian descended population. Good video, agree with most of it, except the "middle of nowhere" comment at the beginning, Minnesota has a population of almost 6 million and a little more than half of that lives in metro areas and is near Wisconsin and Michigan which have even higher populations. Maybe he meant it was the middle of nowhere over 120 years ago when our ancestors started coming here en mass, that would be true enough.
The stuff about religion is true, but I would point out that Lutherans of Scandinavian decent tend to be a bit more mellow and often borderline agnostic, event the ones who go to church regularly, a very different vibe than the religious people of the deep south, although some German Lutherans can be "hardcore" about it.
More or less correct about the politics, but in Minnesota there is a tendency to be left leaning in terms of national politics but more moderate in local politics. Minnesota has cast its electoral votes for the Democrat candidate every election for over 40 years including this last election, although in the last election all of our surrounding States voted Republican
MidKnightblue0013 - "The stuff about religion is true, but I would point out that Lutherans of Scandinavian decent tend to be a bit more mellow and often borderline agnostic, event the ones who go to church regularly, a very different vibe than the religious people of the deep south, although some German Lutherans can be "hardcore" about it."
That's the difference between ELCA (liberal-progressive) Lutheran, often rather laid back, more a live-and-let-live, don't-want-to-talk-about-religion attitude, and Missouri Synod Lutheran (think in terms of that rabid nut case Michele Bachmann).
I'm also Minnesotan, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, plus four others going back to multiple English lines from the Mayflower and forward in colonial New England. After the minister lied to me in confirmation class, I read the Bible cover-to-cover - twice - and then lots of histories..., and eventually became an atheist. After all the religious crap being shoved down our throats via politics and government (all counter to the separation of church and state!), particularly since 2000, I find I have no more patience with faux religiosity.
Yeah as a Norwegian myself i was disappointed by Minnesota going blue once again. Toss in a vote for President Trump for me in 2020 to honer your families roots please :) The most Norwegian thing you can do is to go against corruption and the democrats sure reeks of it
Many of those that left the Nordic countries for America left for religious reasons. Sweden lacked freedom of speech and religion, having a strong and very enforced national church. Many left very poor, rural and conservative areas of the country, especially in Sweden, and they never really got to enjoy our new way of life. The social democrats came to power in the 1920s, after the large wave of emigration had surpassed. They can be compared to the puritans of England or the Anabatists of Germany, being "extremists" and rejected from mainstream society. So the chance for them to bring with them Nordic "socialism" (How Americans see it atleast) is as large as for 1800th century Germans bringing with them nazism.
If you’re including Finland, then technically you should be referring to them as the Nordic countries. Finland is not part of Scandinavia. Other than that, great video! Proud to be a descendant of those that settled on this part of the map!
Finland became politically "Nordic" after WW2 for political reasons but they are Uralic. Finns, Sami and Greenlandic Eskimos live in "Nordic" countries but are not ethnically Nordic
Rasmus Vohlakari Finland is a Nordic Country, Finns are an Uralic people, it's all semantics though, but in the ethnic term of the word "Nordic" = North-Germanic, which excludes Finns, Sami and Greenlandic Eskimos, even though they live in politically Nordic countries.
what do you mean "related", if you mean that your recent ancestors moved to Finland from Sweden then yes, you are related to ethic Swedes, in fact you are an ethnic Swede technically.
I'm not sure what your point is. Blue eyes and blonde hair is common in Scandinavia, Baltic, Northern Russia, it's not just a Germanic thing. And yes, Finnic people have been in Finland for a long time... alright, not sure what your definition is, Finnic peoples are Finnic, not ethnically Nordic(as in North-Germanic).
I am pretty sure that Finns are more germanic than Uralic at this point after all the intermixing with swedes. They have kept the language though. I think the same goes for Hungarians, Ethnically more Germanic than their language would suggest.
The upper peninsula is overwhelmingly Finnish, as someone who lived there its wierd that an Irishman can stick out in America
I have the "mark of Cain" double stamped on my forehead...one of which came from the UP. Scandinavian on one side. Irish on the other. A favorite point of discussion when both families got together (and were drunk) was the participation of both areas in WWII. A favorite expression: "The peace loving Irish...and the cowardly Swedes". At Christmas eve parties the Swedish Lu-turns had ham drenched in brown sugar....the Irish Catholics got "Lutefisk" (because they had to remain "meat free" before holy communion at midnight mass). You can TELL which side decided the menu!
Dont Real Irish talk GAELIC ! It is DIFFERENT than English ?
Multiple counties there are plurality or even majority Finnish, but there’s also a lot of Germans and English, and some French and Italians, which is kind of strange.
I spent most of my childhood summers in Northern Wisconsin near the Michigan Upper Peninsula border and I can attest that they are quite proud of their Scandinavian background.
Strange thing is how a majority of Norwegians moved to Minnesota, Swedes to Wisconsin and Finns to the upper peninsula, in a very similar fashion to their homelands.
We can't move that far from each other :)
Norwegians to the West, Finns to the East, and Swedes in the middle - as it's supposed to be.
More Swedes moved to Minnesota than Norwegians, and quite a few Norwegians moved to WI as well. I think the Finns just stayed around Lake Superior :D Lol
Norwegians mainly Montana the Dakotas then Minnesota ! While Swedes start from Minnesota to Wisconsin !! And then the Finns further East in Michigan !!!
Great job, Great coverage of the distinct Nordic history in America! Did you know the Swedes proposed the unification of the five Nordic countries into one nation during the 1800’s. Unfortunately the majority didn’t think it was a good idea.
Thanks Masaman. I grew up near Bergen, Minnesota named after Bergen, Norway. Integration back then meant getting the Swedes, Norwegians, and Germans to work together. There was some discrimination I was aware of also.
My great grandfather was sponsored by a family to work a farm just outside of Buxton, ND. He made 12 Americans with his wife before passing at 54. He first went to Canada and back to Norway before getting to the States. They were an awesome generation. That was a cool video. Thanks for making that video.
Very interesting video. I'm myself a Finn and it's always nice to know about the history. I hope to visit the Finnish American regions one day.
I'm Minnesotan of Norwegian decent. It's not always cold here. Our summers get pretty hot and very humid.
luke lee yea but the winters in the upper Midwest are a bitch. I’m from Iowa it’s the same here. It can get hot as fuck in the summers but in the winters it is _brutal_ lol
@@antonioperez4796 I'll gladly take the cold winters. I'm not a fan of the heat though
Be proud of your ancestors!
@@erikthorvaldsson992 I see little point in that
You clearly don't know what you're talking about. It's rarely 50 F in Minnesota during the summer. Why do you lie? It's usually closer to 95 F.
Very cool video. My father arrived from Stavanger, Norway in 1925, thru Ellis Island at ten years old. Settled in the heavily populated Norwegian area of Bayridge, Brooklyn and Sunset Park Brooklyn, NY. Now there are not that many Norwegians left in the area, but there are enough to have the May 17th Norwegian Independence Day and parade thru Leif Erickson Park every year still. Our family now lives on Long Island, New York, where there are a few Sons of Norway organizations left, as well as a Norwegian Seaman’s Church in Manhattan, NY (Sjømannskirken New York).
I visited New York City a number of times between 2012-2016. One time while there, I was checking out Brooklyn and I had on a Norwegian 'lue' (winter knit hat) with its Norwegian flag pattern on it. I was in Carrolton Gardens and an older man (+65) noticed it told me that he liked it. We struck up a conversation. I told him that I was curious about "Norwegian-Brooklyn" as I was from Minnesota and had heard about how they celebrate Syttende Mai there (as we do here and they do out in Seattle). He introduced himself as "Henriksen" and said that he was from the neighborhood. I sat with him a while while he told me all about that neighborhood and how things were in Brooklyn in former times (I think he owned or managed the property there where we sat). He told me about Bayridge and how I could find it, but mentioned that most of the Norwegians had moved away and that the Syttende Mai celebration had shrunken considerably. It was a very nice memory and conversation. I hope Mr. Henriksen is still alive and kickin(ass😉) in Brooklyn today.
My maternal heritage is Norwegian from Minnesota.
My mom (a beautiful blue eyed, blonde) grew up in a small town of 200 people on the Minnesota prairie. Her Great Grand father, was born in 1837 in Norway; came to Minnesota in the early 1870's with some children (including her grandfather other children were born in the US.)
Her Great Grand father lived to be 104yo and lived three houses up from her. She remembers him as a child.
This family history is documented and bound in a book (of which I have a copy) full of photos and fascinating stories. One of which tells of their motivation to come to America - it was the abolition of slavery and the liberty that it represented that inspired them.
Speaking as a Norwegian from North Dakota, I think what we share best with our counterparts in the Old World, is our talent for making the best for what little we have and for finding happiness in our families and communities.
The color map of the different Scandinavian groups was bang on,I could even recogize some counties where my Scandinavian relatives were from, from the Danes to the swedes, my grandfather was swedish in a heavily Danish area in that northeast corner of Nebraska, but his father and mother came down from the corner of North Dakota that bordered Minnesota and canada borders that was heavily swedish.
10:18 that actually a cool design of the America flag best one I seen so far in my opinion
My favorite flag irl was the old Spanish one.
The one that somewhat looks like the flag of Florida.
I'm not sure the Swedes will like it as much. Not enough yellow.
Awesome Flag! that better be posted up on vexillology reddit page! (www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/)
@@kebman sant det skär i mina svenska ögon med så många sträck kring det nordiskt kors. Men det värsta är alla stjärnor som ligger på korset som inre ännu har något syfte och som du sa inget gult. To conclude it's one of the ugliest flags I have seen, too much of a joke in my opinion
@@turkialmutairi378 which language is that?
Having grown up in sw Minnesota where integration meant getting the Norwegians, Germans, and Swedes to agree on things, I appreciate the background info you bring Masaman.
I just moved to the black hills of South Dakota and really identify with the people here and it has been fun embracing scandanavian heritage
Scandinavia's oldest ethnic group is the Saami?
No, that is not true. The Norwegian culture goes back at least 10 000 years in archaeology.
The Saami showed up 2000 years ago.
Lots of people get this wrong, and it's understandable in many ways.
They came from Finland, and The Finns had migrated from West Siberia to Finland.
The Saami do have 'Indigenous' status, but that is actually based on their lifestyle which is nomadic reindeer herding, much the same as in the Stone Age, but now with snowmobiles and mobile phones and drones.
And most Saami live like regular Norwegians and have jobs and houses and mortgages.
Saami seem to have 50 % Norse Y chr so they are mixed with the coastal Norse population since they arrived in Norway 2000 years ago.
But it seems no Norse women married a Saami, because the mtDNA is completely Finnish still.
Masaman, are you still doing research for your video on the Hui people? Please let me know.
Still working on it my friend. Will be done in a couple weeks or so.
Masaman thank you very much for responding to my comment.
Allah bless!
I found your channel through the German American video so I naturally enjoyed this one a lot as well. Keep up the great work :)
Largest somali community in NA is in the most Swedish state swedes really like somalis don't they
It's the reverse. Those Swedes have been in Minnesota for over 100 years. The Somalis have come relatively recently in comparison. Evidently it's Somalis who follow Swedes. I mean Somalis risk they're lives to move to Sweden whereas a Swede wouldn't move to Somalia if you payed them.
@Yoshifan9511
Or Uganda
@Yoshifan9511 yes your lives matter a lot
@@vladtheimpaler5200 agree
both somalis and swedes are foreign to that NATIVE AMERICAN LAND
_"jag ses nästa gång"_
Admit it, Masaman, that was google translate :D
the right words should be " vi ses nästa gång", not jag
Indeed.
The funny thing is, if he had used google translate into Norwegian he would have got it right :P
Vi IS We - Jag IS I - Jag ser Dig as I see You - but Vi ses båda varann - We both see eachother ! Lät som Fan att kunna Svenska !
There was little to no opposition to Scandinavians immigrating in large numbers to the upper Midwest. The were protestant Northern Europeans who very quickly assimilated into Anglo society.
To be honest, the flag of Scandamerica is the coolest ypu have created so far!!
Keep the good work Masaman
I remember being young and meeting the old Swedes in my family. It's funny now, my parents moved to the South for work and I look so ethnically different from the Scotts-Irish etc here, foreigners often ask me if I'm from Europe/Nordic.
Swedes love Somalis so much they must also have them in Minnesota. Interesting.
I’m danish, and i actually have some relatives in South Dakota.
Nikolaj S. I am danish and Finnish, and Swedish and have relatives in Minnesota, Iowa, and I have recently found distant cousins still living in Scandinavia that I didn't even know about.
Shane Sorensen cool, just realized that I ment to say North Dakota :P Anyway my relatives in North Dakota visited my family ones, on one of those “heritage trips”. My home town is called Skagen btw, and it is the most northern town in Denmark.
I’m from Norway, I don’t have contact with the distant relatives in America, but I know I have some in Alaska. I remember my grandma used to say there was a street called after on of them.
From my own experience in a Swedish/Danish American home, many Scandinavians that were first and second generation born in American wanted to assimilate and forget the old ways. But, with each successive generation, the grandson wants to learn what his grandfather wanted to forget. I read an article from a Twin Cities newspaper from 1908. He stated that communion was given in 20 plus languages in Twin City churches every Sunday. It was a call to unify. Many Scandinavian people wanted to assimilate to being American even before a real pattern of what was American could be ascertained. MN and the Twin Cities certainly were a melting pot. The Scandinavian groups were predominant at least in the last of 19th century and beginning of the 20th century.
Minnesotan, Scandinavian, and Lutheran here. Great video! Would have been great to showcase Lindström though, probably the most scandinavian town outside of Europe.
Even in my mom's town of Starbuck they still fly Norwegian flags in the city center. Dala horses and viking statues are all over the place. And when Christmas comes around we love to make Lutefisk and lefse 😋
Dala horses are from Sweden. Viking statues are only valid if they do NOT have those silly horns as depicted in some old opera. There are lots of Norwegian-American communities who hold Syttende Mai parades (Seventeenth of May - the day the Norwegian constitution was signed in 1814 - comparable to our July 4, minus the militarism, accent on children and fun for kids). I watch Syttende Mai parades in Norway live online; they're very colorful, especially when people dress in their regional bunads.
Try Ribbe or Pinnekjøtt this christmas. Fish on christmas is an old tradition that for the most part probably died hundreds of years ago. you may be surprised to know that more people eat turkey (4%) on christmas than lutefisk (3%). If you want to go even further into more relevant Norwegian traditions I would even switch out Lefse with Grøt (rice-porridge), as lefse is not really that christmassy but more of an year round snack. But of course tradition is tradition, do what you like best, just some suggestions :)
Just WHY does Americans think lutefisk and lefse is typical Norwegian? We ate that hundred years ago, not today. Typical Norwegian food of today is taco and frozen pizza.
@Woiller- Relic not the same. Lefse and lutefisk _is_ Norwegian, but it's not common food to eat today. Still, many Americans think we do.
@Woiller- Relic lutefisk is mainly made of dried and salted cod marinated in lye. Lute means lye, and Fisk is fish. It's primarily Norwegian but it's also eaten in Sweden and Finland. It's very traditional, but very few actually like it. The texture is like gelato and salty flavor. I haven't eaten it in 40 years.
Original New Sweden colonists........we're still here and numbering in the + million. From what I understand it was mostly Swede soldiers to man the fort and Finns that were given the choice of Capital Punishment or the Colony with their families in tow. They were a rebellious sort, anti-establishment and self determining. See the petition against governor Johann Printz, the Long Finn rebellion and the term "burnbeaters" to get a grasp of their character. The local Lenni Lenape indians referred to the Finns as "those most like us".
nj1639 Finns are the best
Rebellious ? I think That Americans were Rebellious vs The British Rule ? At Boston TEA PARTY - Something Happened ?
I am one of those millions
Nowegians have not forgotten their history. We celebrate it.
Scandinavians traveled over 4000 miles in search new lands shaped like a phallus. Florida should be on the lookout for vikings
Great video and it reflected a lot of what I saw when visiting Thunder Bay and it's Finnish community.
You skipped the Pacific NW, which to this day has a strong scan influence. You still find Lutafisk in the grocery store at xmas in Astoria.
It's why we have an NFL team called the Minnesota Vikings based in Minneapolis, Minnesota at U.S. Bank Stadium and even before that the Metrodome and Bloomington Stadium.
The reason the Nordic settlement in Greenland vanished was the plague that tormented Europe and left the population incapable to sail over to Greenland, so most likely, the Green landers went to the nearest land that could support them, further to the vest and America, given their small number they probably fell victim to the native tribes or they were assimilated into the tribes and disappeared.
Where I live in South Dakota, it’s a predominantly German background, especially with the Hutterite colonies dotted about, but I’d say Scandinavian lineage is the 2nd leading group. In fact, I even have both ancestries myself, both on my dad’s side, but the Norwegian on his dad’s side and the Hutterite German (mixed with some Russian, since the religious group did live there before coming to America) on his mom’s side
Minnesota is Scandinavian
More like Somali nowadays
Dewang you look like a Swede😂😂😂
You fucking idiot asians make 4% of the population double size of somali. How can somebody so stupid like you. We are being invaded by chinese asians around the world while your busy of some muslims somalis........
@@ghostofthelostcause2744 Just like Scandinavia
+AKP Star Would you rather have a Korean or Somali as your neighbor?
I'm not Scandiamerican but I'm glad they still hold onto their culture, I'm German/Irish American and I wish I could speak German or retain some German culture
This is a help to end the discussion of what is Scandinavia and Nordic Countries (from Wikipedia):
Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties. The term Scandinavia in local usage covers the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
The Nordic countries, or the Nordics, are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic, where they are most commonly known as Norden (literally "the North"). The term includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, as well as Greenland and the Faroe Islands-which are both part of the Kingdom of Denmark-and the Åland Islands and Svalbard archipelagos that belong to Finland and Norway respectively, whereas the Norwegian Antarctic territories are often not considered a part of the Nordic countries, due to their geographical location.
Great work on the video. I am a Norwegian living in North Dakota, so this one is very intriguing to me. I love the research you do and I was so happy to stumble across your channel. Thank you!
I’d like to see a video just about the Finns here in Minnesota. They are almost like an ethnic minority and the way they live there life is almost like the Amish but not quite as strict
They're probably Apostolic, we've got a lot of them in the UP as well.
anorexic anarchist yes
The Finns in Minnesota are nothing close to Amish lol. Yes, they celebrate their roots and culture, but they are mostly homogenized to the American way of life. One of my best friends growing up was a Finn and we visited his relatives in Finland, so I was able to get a lot of exposure to that community.
You have to understand that the Icelandic population is just about 300 000, Sweden about 10M, Norway and Denmark about 5M each. So the part of the population that migrated were huge.
Loved seeing the Northwood Equity Elevator Company grain elevator at 9:09! My paternal grandfather was born there and all of his kin descended from homesteaders around that area down to Great Falls and over to Fargo. Tusen tak!