NOVGOROD, TREATY OF

(June 3, 1326), the peace treaty ending decades of Russo-Norwegian hostilities in the extreme northern area of present-day Norway and Russia's Kola Peninsulathen generally known as Finnmark (including the present Norwegian province of Finnmark). The treaty, rather than delimiting a clear frontier between Norway and the principality of Novgorod, created a buffer zone, the common districts. Nominally under Norwegian sovereignty, the buffer zone offered Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, and Russians taxing rights over the indigenous Sami and freedom to exploit the fish and fur of the region. This arrangement remained in effect until the present Norwegian-Russian frontier was established in 1826.