Abstract Based on an integrated study of geological and geophysical data, a tectonic model for the Palaeoproterozoic evolution of the Svecofennian orogen within the Fennoscandian Shield at the northwestern corner of the East European Craton is proposed. The Svecofennian orogen is suggested to have formed during five, partly overlapping, orogenies: Lapland-Savo, Lapland-Kola, Fennian, Nordic and Svecobaltic. The Svecofennian orogen evolved in four major stages, involving microcontinent accretion (1.92-1.88 Ga), large-scale extension of the accreted crust (1.87-1.84 Ga), continent-continent collision (1.87-1.79 Ga) and finally gravitational collapse (1.79 and 1.77 Ga). The stages partly overlapped in time and space, as different processes operated simultaneously in different parts of the plates. In the Lapland-Savo and Fennian orogenies, microcontinents (suspect terranes) and island arcs were accreted to the Karelian microcontinent, which itself was accreting to Laurentia in the Lapland-Kola orogeny. The formation of the Svecofennian orogen was finalized in two continental collisions producing the Nordic orogen in the west (Fennoscandia-Amazonia) and Svecobaltic orogen in the SSW (Fennoscandia- Sarmatia). The collisions were immediately followed by gravitational collapse.