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Lower Deatnu/Tana History 1700-1900 (Part 1) by Nils Evald Biti  Vardø Harbor with Russian and Norwegian boats Although there are historical documents from Lower Deatnu from the end of the 1500s, this view covers the period from 1700 under Danish rule until 1814 when Denmark, after the Napoleonic wars, had to give Norway to Sweden, and further through the dissolution of the union with Sweden in 1905. The largest battles of the war took place in south Scandinavia. Very few places in Finnmark were involved in the events of the war, but Hammerfest was attacked and plundered by several English warships. Even though the war subjected Norway/Denmark to trade blockades of long duration, with food shortages, inhabitants – Sami, Kven and Norwegians – were used to hunger and flour shortages during the entire trade monopoly which did not end until 1789. The population had for more than 100 years been subjected to prices set by the monopoly of Bergen merchants, where many not so serious merchants would outbid each other for the rights to trade on the Finnmark coast. Even the right to fish salmon at the mouth of the Deatnu river was submitted by the king for bidding among the officials and merchants from Bergen. Even in the narrowest valley and smallest arm of the fjord where there was a settlement, there were shortages throughout the 1700s of goods and flour. Often year-round access to wine, liquor and tobacco was a big negative, when purchasing power was minimal among the people. Big profits were to be made without any great loss, as opposed to flour and potatoes which could spoil, and on occasion would even be omitted from an order. It was not unusual for the monopolists to complain about the profitability of the Finnmark trade from the very first year. If the fishing was poor it was natural that the merchants could not turn around their newly purchased wares, with the great shipping costs added. At several smaller trading centers, like Gullholmen at the mouth of the Deatnu river, where there was only one merchant, the inhabitants were at the mercy of the merchants' solvency, even if they had purchased the necessary flour. Furthermore, the trading center was only open during the summer for many decades into the 1700s. Additionally there was a revolving door of one merchant after another at this small place during the time of the monopoly. If the population of Finnmark and the Deatnu fjord area had not had access to Russian flour through illegal smuggling in the 1700s by Russian fishermen from Arkangelsk and the White Sea, hunger and starvation would have taken a larger toll, like all the various epidemics which wrecked havoc in the province throughout out the 1700s: smallpox, typhus, typhoid fever, etc., often with reoccurring outbreaks. It was maintained that it was the Russians who had spread the infectious epidemics to the province. The truth was rather that the Russians from Arkangelsk and the area around the White Sea were just as isolated from these epidemics. Most of these epidemics more likely came from shipping, the small cargo boats from Bergen, and larger craft from Northern Europe, which for a long time had purchased various kinds of fish in Finnmark and on the Russian coast long before 1700. East Finnmark and Deatnu valley did not escape these epidemics, but were not as hard hit as west Finnmark. One of the reasons was that the population of East Finnmark was more sparse than other places, and had less contact with people from outside the province. Deficiencies such as scurvy were very widespread on the Finnmark coast because of a very inadequate and limited diet. Most Sami avoided this poor nutrition since they had a long tradition of using leaves and stalks of sorrel grass in their diet. Sorrel was gathered in large quantities as a food supplement for the winter and was preserved with cultured milk. When epidemics came to small settlements, and offers to idols did not seem to help, the Sami went to the mountains, and could be gone for months. In this way, they avoided being hit when the epidemics were at their worst. At the largest settlements, the death rates were so high after the worst epidemics that the authorities needed to take measures to repopulate. People were promised no taxes for many years, and prisoners from Denmark and south Norway had their sentence stayed if they established residence. A commandant at Vardø fortress in 1700 suggested various measures, including special privileges for soldiers and officers if they settled in Vardø and eventually married there or the surrounding area. When the population went dramatically down in the Vardø area after a long epidemic, the local minister denied marriage between the fort’s officers and soldiers with local women since he feared further reductions in the population when their service was over and they left for the south with their wives and children. The fort’s officers were usually foreigners or from the south. The Russian fish trade and Pomor (a Russian word for coast dwellers) trade on the coast of Finnmark increased in scope from 1740 even though it wasn’t entirely legal. Only when the monopoly was lifted in 1789, were local merchants allowed to trade with the Pomors, and in 1796 that was extended to the general population. The general population’s trade was only raw fish from July 15th to August 15th. This was the so-called “worm time” when it was difficult to preserve and store fish without having flies lay eggs on them. Even though this trade only lasted a month, the Russian’s rye flour was valued as gold. It is told that occasionally the Deatnu and Varanger area was so flush with Russian rye flour that even the farm animals got a few fistfulls, when fishing was good during the trading time. Free trade was a time of flowering, both for seller and buyer. The period for the legalized trade, and the Russians’ right to fish along the coast, was extended several times through the 1800s, ceasing only in 1913. Even though it was called trade, increasingly many of the goods were paid for in cash, as the year passed and the assortment grew. From the Ting on Gullholmen in Deatnu (the Ting were legal proceedings held during late spring and in the fall when a notary was present) it was annually asked and recorded how much Russian flour had been brought into the area, either by boat or reindeer. Since the 1600s, Gullholmen, at the mouth of the Deatnu river, had been a seasonal trade center for the valley and fjord. People brought their fish all the way from Kárášjohka and Ohcejohka (Utsjoki) on the Finnish side, mostly salmon. Gullholmen became more important when “The Sami’s Apostle” Thomas von Westen asked the Sami to build a church at the mouth of the Deatnu river. Westen did not want the church built too close to the trading center, “where the Devil’s cup is raised at the same time as the Lord’s cup.” Westen was very pietistic, and was referring to the liquor the merchants sold to the heathen residents during church services. It didn’t turn out as Westen had hoped, when the church was built and consecrated in 1718 it was about 120 meters from the trading center on Gullholmen. Deatnu was at that time part of Kjøllefjord municipality, and all the building materials were salvaged from the old and crumbling Skjøtningberg church a few miles northeast. The materials were brought by sea, and the church was build at no cost to the mission. During the consecration, Westen had with him some converted Sami who he used as examples in his attempt to convert the gathered Sami and others. The church was 5.5 meters by 12.5 meters and had seating for 75. |
