Since the area east of Torne River was ceded to Russia in 1809, the language spoken on the western side of it developed in partial isolation from standard Finnish.

In 1826, the state Church of Sweden appointed the priest and amateur botanist Lars Levi Laestadius to be the Vicar over the Karesuando parish, which is situated along the Muonio River north of the Arctic Circle on the border of Finland in Swedish Lapland.

An opinion of that period, as reflected in contemporary fiction, was that the Sami and the Finnish populations belonged "more closely to Russia than to Scandinavia".

When minority languages first became taught in Swedish schools, Meänkieli was still classified by Sweden as a form of Finnish and children who spoke it natively were taught the standard Finnish literary language in school instead of their more native Tornedalian variant, causing the students to become demotivated.

However, in 1977 some schools began to make materials specifically designed for speakers of Meänkieli which did not use standard Finnish.

[8] On April 1, 2000, Meänkieli became one of the now five nationally recognized minority languages of Sweden, which means it can be used for some communication with local and regional authorities in the communities along the Finnish border.

People with Meänkieli roots are often referred to as Tornedalians although the Finnish-speaking part of Norrbotten is a far larger area than the Torne River Valley; judging by the names of towns and places, the Finnish-speaking part of Norrbotten stretches as far west as the town of Gällivare.

The author Mikael Niemi's novels and a film based on one of his books in Swedish have improved awareness of this minority among Swedes.

[citation needed] Today there are grammar books, a Bible translation, drama performances, and there are some TV programmes in Meänkieli.

However, on pure linguistic grounds, Meänkieli may be classified as a group of Northern Peräpohjola dialects of Finnish.

However, according to Harri Mantila (a professor at the University of Oulu), the independent status of Meänkieli is important to many of its speakers as it has increased its linguistic prestige which has been historically very low due to the process of Swedification, thus helping to create a stronger cultural identity for the Tornedalians.

[15]Meänkieli has an official status in: Pajala, Övertorneå, Haparanda, Gällivare, Luleå, Kalix, Kiruna, Umeå and Stockholm.