All the castles mentioned so far were erected by the Swedish Crown in order both to defend Finland as part of the Kingdom, and to organize administration and taxation through the bailiffs.
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The first Finnish castle to be built for use in the era of firearms was Olavinlinna (Olofsborg in Swedish) in the wilderness of northern Karelia. The castle lies on an island in a system of lakes and inland waterways, and building work started in 1475 under the Swedes, mainly as a demarcation of the frontier.
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Kastelholm in the Åland islands, where work probably began in 1384, also had the double purpose of administration and defense. Åland was separated from the castle county of Turku and the Åland islanders were reluctantly subjected to a bailiff who ruled over them ‘at close quarters’.
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We now know that Raseborg, which is a big, almost square granite ruin with a round corner tower, was probably founded in 1374. It was the seat of a bailiff who was an administrator for the western half of the south coast of Finland.
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Turku Castle was probably founded in 1280, i.e. at the very time when an old trading site on the Aura River developed into a town, the oldest, and for a long time the biggest, in Finland.
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