Saima (newspaper)

Saima was founded by Johan Vilhelm Snellman, a Swedish-origin Finnish politician, in 1844.^[1] Its first issue appeared on 4 January 1844.^[3][4] Snellman was also the editor-in-chief of the paper which was one of the earliest examples of the active and critical publications.^[5][6] The paper was headquartered in Kuopio^[7][8] and came out weekly.^[9] It addressed the Swedish-speaking upper and middle classes.^[10] Soon after its start Saima became one of the leading publications in the country.^[10]

Snellman published articles on nationality, language and literature in the paper.^[11] He argued in an article in the second issue of Saima dated January 1844 that Finland did not have a national literature.^[11] The paper ceased publication in 1846 when it was banned by the Russian Governor General Aleksandr Mensjikov due to its liberal political and cultural stance which were considered to be a threat to the rule of Grand Duke of Finland, Nicholas I.^[6][8][10] The last issue of Saima appeared on 31 December 1846.^[3]