raivausmaa

raivausmaa refers to cleared or cultivated land in Finland, particularly areas where forests have been removed to prepare for agricultural use or settlement. Historically, this term was commonly used to describe land that had been newly cleared for farming during Finland's internal migration period in the 19th and early 20th centuries. During this time, many families moved from the more densely populated western coast to the less developed eastern and northern regions, where they would clear forest areas to establish farms. The process of creating raivausmaa was labor-intensive, requiring the felling of trees, removal of stumps, and burning of debris before the land could be suitable for cultivation. These newly cleared areas often had poor initial fertility and required years of improvement to become productive farmland. The concept of raivausmaa represents an important chapter in Finland's agricultural history and the expansion of settlement across the country. Today, while the term is less commonly used in everyday language, it remains part of Finland's historical vocabulary describing the transformation of forested landscapes into agricultural land.