The Åland Islands Emigrant Institute

The Åland Islands form an archipelago situated between the South western tip of Finland and east of Sweden. The Åland Islands have been under the Russian and Swedish rule but have now become a autonomous province of Finland that is primarily Swedish speaking. As has been discussed in past posts, boundaries of countries, counties, provinces, etc. have changed throughout time which can provide a challenge when doing genealogical research.



The Åland Islands Emigrant Institute indicates that the largest number of emigrants occurred during the period of 1893 - 1924, when roughly 25% of the Åland Island population held passports. Although this database is relatively small, if you have ancestors from this region, it would be worth your time researching in their on-line database.



While trying to use the database search engine, I found it to be difficult if you are unsure of the spelling of a name. I then tried searching by the locality and found this to be helpful. The extracted information that is obtained from the database include name, birth and death date and place, occupation, and the destination of the individual and much more.



If you would like to research in this database, click The Åland Islands Emigrant Institute. Have fun!