Urbanisation in the North: Archaeology in Early Modern Finnish Towns

Urbanisation is a fairly young phenomenon in Finland. In the Middle Ages (ca. 1150- 1520 AD) only six towns existed. The first post-medieval stage of intensive urbanisation began in the mid-16th century during the regime of Gustav Vasa and his sons (the so-called Old Vasa Period). It was not until the period of Sweden's greatness in the 17th century that urbanisation finally broke through; however, less than 3% of the country's population lived in towns.