Karelia is a first-level division of Russia, in Asia. Its mapped cities centre on 63.4585° N, 34.4454° E.

What is the largest city in Karelia?

Petrozavodsk is the largest city mapped in Karelia, with a metropolitan population of about 265,025.

How many cities are in Karelia?

YearMaps maps 5 cities and towns in Karelia, with a combined metropolitan population of about 358,733. This counts mapped settlements, not every municipality.

What is the largest lake in Karelia?

The largest lake mapped in or beside Karelia is Lake Onega, at about 10,104 km².

Karelia Map — Cities & Geography, Russia

Interactive Map of Karelia

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About Karelia

Karelia (; Karelian and Finnish: Karjala [ˈkɑrjɑlɑ]; Livvi: Karjal; Russian: Каре́лия, romanized: Kareliya [kɐˈrʲelʲɪjə], historically Коре́ла, Korela [kɐˈrʲelʲə]; Swedish: Karelen [kɑˈreːlen]) is a cultural region and area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is divided between northwestern Russia (the federal subjects of the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast) and Finland (the regions of South Karelia, North Karelia, and the eastern portion of Kymenlaakso).

Summary adapted from Wikipedia: Karelia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Karelia, Russia — Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Karelia in Depth

History

During the Early Middle Ages, settlers from western Finland mixed with the local population to form the Karelian ethnic group. Possible migration from elsewhere may also have contributed to the Karelian ethnic composition.

Archeological evidence indicates that Karelian inhabitation was highest along the western shore of Lake Ladoga and the Karelian Isthmus, with multiple cemeteries and other archeological discoveries dating from AD 600 to AD 800. In South Karelia, the number of archeological discoveries from this time period is lower, though permanent inhabitation was nonetheless present. Lappee, South Karelia has been continuously inhabited for approximately 2,000 years. In North Karelia, only one archeological discovery from this time period has been found, dating to the eighth century.

Geography

Karelia stretches from the White Sea coast to the Gulf of Finland. It contains the two largest lakes in Europe, Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. The Karelian Isthmus is located between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. The highest point of Karelia, the 576-metre-high (1,890 ft) Nuorunen, is located on the Russian side of the Maanselkä hill region.

The border between Karelia and Ingria, the land of the closely related Ingrian people, had originally been the Neva River itself but later on it was moved northward into the Karelian isthmus to follow the Sestra River (Russian: Сестра), today in the Saint Petersburg metropolitan area, but in 1812–1940 the Russo-Finnish border.

Demographics

On the Finnish side, the area is Finnish-speaking. The South Karelian dialects of the Finnish language (closely related to the Karelian language) are spoken in South Karelia. The eastern Savonian dialects are spoken in North Karelia, part of the group of dialects spoken in Eastern and Central Finland.

Ingrian Finnish dialects are spoken in Ingria, an area around St. Petersburg between the Estonian border and Lake Ladoga. Ingrian Finns settled in the region in the 17th century after the Swedish conquest of the area. The settlers spoke Karelian and Savonian dialects of Finnish. The older inhabitants of Ingria, the Ingrians, have their own language which is related to the Karelian language and the south-eastern dialects of Finnish.

Tourism

Russian Karelia is a regular destination for international tourism due to its unique architectural, cultural and historical sites such as Kizhi and Valaam. The region is visited by tourists in both summer and winter when possible activities include riding in a sled behind a dog team and running from the banya to an ice hole and back. Summer hikers can visit the Kivach waterfall or the Demon's Chair plateau.

In South Karelia, Lappeenranta is a popular destination for Russian tourists, with 1.5 million visiting annually.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Karelia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

History of Karelia: Empires and States

The atlas records 6 polities whose mapped territory included part of Karelia, from Novgorod Republic in 1056 CE to 2024 CE. They are listed in the order they first appear.

Polities that held Karelia, in chronological order
Polity	Period here
Novgorod Republic	1056–1474 CE
Grand Principality of Moscow	1475–1546 CE
Tsardom of Russia	1547–1720 CE
The Russian Empire	1721–1916 CE
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics	1922–1991 CE
Russian Federation	1992–2024 CE

Historical Maps of Karelia

Karelia on the world map in each year one of these states held it:

Derived by testing mapped cities against dated territorial polygons. Dates are when the polygons cover this place, not the polity's whole lifespan, and polities absent from the source dataset are not listed.

Visiting Karelia

Karelia (Karelian and Finnish: Karjala) is a region in Northwestern Russia, known as the country of lakes. It has a strong cultural connection with Finland, with the ethnic Karelians closely related to the Finns. Much of the Finnish national epic Kalevala was collected here.

Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Karelia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Largest Cities in Karelia

5 cities mapped. Ranked by metropolitan population. A port city's harbour is written up on the page of its sea.

Largest Cities in Karelia
#	Name	Population	Region	Role
1	Petrozavodsk	265,025	Karelia	Admin-1 capital
2	Kondopoga	34,360	Karelia	Populated place
3	Segezha	33,354	Karelia	Populated place
4	Kem	13,829	Karelia	Populated place
5	Belomorsk	12,165	Karelia	Populated place

Largest Lakes in Karelia

5 lakes mapped. Ranked by mapped surface area. A lake on a border is listed under each country it lies in, with the area of the whole lake. Assigned by the nearest mapped city, so features near the boundary may belong to a neighbouring division.

Largest Lakes in Karelia
#	Name	Surface Area	Type
1	Lake Onega	10,104 km²	Lake
2	Lake Vygozero	1,386 km²	Lake
3	Lake Segozerskoye	864 km²	Lake
4	Engozero	429 km²	Lake
5	Ondozero	194 km²	Reservoir

Ports in Karelia

1 port mapped. Ranked by approach channel depth, the figure that limits which ships can call. Harbours link to their write-up on the page of the sea or coast they lie on. Assigned by the nearest mapped city, so features near the boundary may belong to a neighbouring division.

Ports in Karelia
#	Name	Channel Depth	Class	Sea	Max Vessel
1	Rabocheostrovsk	49.4 m	Small	Norwegian Sea & European Arctic	point_of_interest

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Karelia

3 World Heritage Sites mapped. Listed by year of inscription, earliest first. Sites shared with another country appear under each. Assigned by the nearest mapped city, so features near the boundary may belong to a neighbouring division.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Karelia
#	Name	Inscribed	Type	Criteria
1	Kizhi Pogost	1990	Cultural	(i) (iv) (v)
2	Solovetsky Islands	1992	Cultural	(iv)
3	Petroglyphs of Lake Onega and the White Sea	2021	Cultural	(iii)

Karelia: Quick Answers

Where is Karelia?: Karelia is a first-level division of Russia, in Asia. Its mapped cities centre on 63.4585° N, 34.4454° E.
What is the largest city in Karelia?: Petrozavodsk is the largest city mapped in Karelia, with a metropolitan population of about 265,025.
How many cities are in Karelia?: YearMaps maps 5 cities and towns in Karelia, with a combined metropolitan population of about 358,733. This counts mapped settlements, not every municipality.
What is the largest lake in Karelia?: The largest lake mapped in or beside Karelia is Lake Onega, at about 10,104 km².