History of the town Karis, Karjaa - earliest date for the origin of the name and meaning of Karis Thank you

The history of Karjaa is long and impressive. The earliest population dates back to the stone age, about 10 000 years back. Between 500 B.C. and 900 A.D. Karjaa was one of the most densely populated areas in Finland.

For the first time Karjaa was mentioned in script in 1326 A.D. The name was spelled "Kariis". Later on it was also spelled "Karis", "Karisa" and "Caris".

Unfortunately the philologists disagree on the origin of the name. It looks like that the Swedish name "Karis" is a translation of the Finnish name "Karjaa". Where does this come from, nobody knows reliably. The archaelogists say that there was a very strong influence from Estonia, especially from Saaremaa Islans, where there is a county called "Karja" (= Carries).

According to another theory Karjaa comes from a Finnish word "karja", which has two meanings 1) cattle and 2) army; troops.

Karjaa church, a triple aisled greystone church from 1470, is dedicated to St. Catherine.

1560 Gustav Wasa, King of Sweden founded Mustio Iron Works in Karjaa.

1873 Karjaa was connected to the railroad.

Sources: Finlandssvenska bebyggelsenamn / Lars Huldén, 2001. ISBN 951-583-071-0

http://www.karis.fi/kariskarjaa/nahtavyydet/historiaa/index.html