Kokkola is a town and
municipality||-|The municipalities represent the local level of administration in Finland and act as the fundamental, self-governing administrative units of the country. The entire country is incorporated into municipalities and legally, all municipalities are equal, although certain municipalities are called...
of Finland.
The town is located in the
provinceThe state of Finland consists of 6 provinces . The provincial authority is part of the central government's executive branch, not directly elected. The system was created in 1634, and its makeup was changed drastically in 1997, when the number of the provinces was reduced from 12 to 6...
of
Western FinlandThe Province of Western Finland is a province of Finland. It borders the provinces of Oulu, Eastern Finland and Southern Finland. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia towards Åland.- Former provinces :...
and is part of the
Central OstrobothniaCentral Ostrobothnia is a region in Western Finland. It borders to the regions Ostrobothnia, Northern Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Southern Ostrobothnia.- Historical Provinces :For History, Geography and Culture see: Ostrobothnia...
regionFinland is divided into 20 regions . The regions are governed by regional councils, which serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of a region. The main tasks of the regions are regional planning and development of enterprise and education. In addition, the public health services are...
. The town has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
is . The municipality is bilingual with being
FinnishFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a Finnish dialect, are spoken...
and
SwedishFinland Swedish is a general term for the closely related cluster of dialects of Swedish spoken in Finland by Swedish-speaking Finns as their mother tongue...
speakers.
- By bus: The town of Kokkola lies in the middle of Finland on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia
The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the Åland Islands, between the Sea of Åland and the Archipelago Sea.-Name:...
. There are main roads from Turku, Jyväskylä, Kajaani and Oulu to Kokkola.
Kokkola is a town and
municipality||-|The municipalities represent the local level of administration in Finland and act as the fundamental, self-governing administrative units of the country. The entire country is incorporated into municipalities and legally, all municipalities are equal, although certain municipalities are called...
of Finland.
The town is located in the
provinceThe state of Finland consists of 6 provinces . The provincial authority is part of the central government's executive branch, not directly elected. The system was created in 1634, and its makeup was changed drastically in 1997, when the number of the provinces was reduced from 12 to 6...
of
Western FinlandThe Province of Western Finland is a province of Finland. It borders the provinces of Oulu, Eastern Finland and Southern Finland. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia towards Åland.- Former provinces :...
and is part of the
Central OstrobothniaCentral Ostrobothnia is a region in Western Finland. It borders to the regions Ostrobothnia, Northern Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Southern Ostrobothnia.- Historical Provinces :For History, Geography and Culture see: Ostrobothnia...
regionFinland is divided into 20 regions . The regions are governed by regional councils, which serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of a region. The main tasks of the regions are regional planning and development of enterprise and education. In addition, the public health services are...
. The town has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
is . The municipality is bilingual with being
FinnishFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a Finnish dialect, are spoken...
and
SwedishFinland Swedish is a general term for the closely related cluster of dialects of Swedish spoken in Finland by Swedish-speaking Finns as their mother tongue...
speakers.
Getting there
- By bus: The town of Kokkola lies in the middle of Finland on the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia
The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the Åland Islands, between the Sea of Åland and the Archipelago Sea.-Name:...
. There are main roads from Turku, Jyväskylä, Kajaani and Oulu to Kokkola. Between Kokkola and JakobstadJakobstad is a town and municipality in Ostrobothnia, Finland.- History :The town was founded in 1652 by Ebba Brahe, the widow of the military commander Jacob De la Gardie, and was granted city privileges by Queen Christina of Sweden. The Swedish name literally means Jacob's City or Jacob's Town...
along the coast is also the scenic '7 Bridges Archipelago Road' road 749.
- By air: From Helsinki there are daily Finnair
Finnair Plc is Finland's largest airline and the flag carrier, with its headquarters in Vantaa, Finland, and its main hub at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Finnair and its subsidiary companies dominate both the domestic and international air travel markets in Finland. The largest owner is the Government...
flights to Kruunupyy Airport, which is situated from Kokkola. There is a bus connection to the departures, 60 min before from Mannerheiminaukio.
- By train: You can also get to Kokkola by train, the train station is in the very centre of Kokkola. Express trains from Helsinki to Kokkola take 4 hours, there are also fast Pendolino-connections daily (3 h 54 min).
- By ferry: The nearest ferry connection to Sweden is via Vaasa
Vaasa is a city on the west coast of Finland. It received its charter in 1606, during the reign of Charles IX of Sweden and is named after the Royal House of Vasa...
—UmeåUmeå is a university city in Västerbotten, Sweden.Umeå is the biggest city in Norrland, the capital of Västerbotten County and the seat of Umeå Municipality. The city proper has 75,645 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 112,728 ....
.
History
The town of Kokkola was chartered in 1620 by
kingA monarch is the person who heads a monarchy, a form of government in which the country or entity usually ruled or controlled by an individual who usually rules for life or until abdication...
Gustav II Adolf of Sweden (Finland at that time being a part of Sweden). Kokkola was founded as a shipping port for the
tarTar is modified resin produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. It is a viscous black liquid. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving and...
trade. It also became an important shipbuilding centre in Finland. As a result of tar trade and shipbuilding industry Kokkola was for a time the richest town in Finland.
An interesting historical affair, known as the Skirmish of Halkokari, occurred at the town of Kokkola in May 1854 during the
Crimean WarThe Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of the British Empire, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. British marines from
HMS VultureHMS Vulture was a steam-powered second-class paddle frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 21 September 1843 and was used in the Baltic theatre of the Crimean War....
and
HMS OdinHMS Odin was a steam-powered first-class paddle frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1846 and was used in the Baltic theatre of the Crimean War....
tried to come ashore to ransack the town, but were repelled by local defenders, of which many were civilians armed with hunting rifles. One of the 9 smaller British craft (a
gunboatA gunboat is literally a boat carrying one or more guns. The term is rather broad, and the usual connotation has changed over the years .- Age of sail :...
) fell into the hands of the defenders. As such, this boat was the only Royal Navy vessel still in foreign possession in 1914. The boat is still today a museum-object and can be seen in Kokkola's English Park. The town council has refused to return the boat despite several requests by the United Kingdom, most recently by
John Stuttard Sir John Boothman Stuttard was Lord Mayor of the City of London in 2006/2007.Stuttard was educated at Shrewsbury School and Churchill College, Cambridge, before joining Cooper Brothers in 1967, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1970 and becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered...
, the Lord Mayor of London. The British Treasury annually pay a small sum for the maintenance of nine graves of nine marines killed in action during the skirmish to the local church congregation.
The city had a Swedish-speaking majority until 1933.
In 1977, the surrounding municipality of Kaarlela was consolidated into Kokkola (Swedish until then: ). In 2009, the municipalities of
LohtajaLohtaja is a former municipality of Finland. Lohtaja was condolidated with the city of Kokkola on 2009-01-01.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The former municipality had a population of 2,900 and covered an area of 289.26 km² of...
,
KälviäKälviä is a former municipality of Finland. Kälviä was consolidated with the city of Kokkola on 2009-01-01.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The former municipality had a population of 4,475 and covered an area of 682.36 km² of which...
and
UllavaUllava is a former municipality of Finland. Ullava was condolidated with the city of Kokkola on 2009-01-01.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The former municipality had a population of 1,037 and covered an area of 177.03 km² of which...
were consolidated with Kokkola.
The name of the town
The Finnish name
Kokkola means 'The place of bonfire' or 'The place of eagle' since the Finnish word
has two meanings: bonfire and
white-tailed eagleThe White-tailed Eagle , also known as the Sea Eagle, Erne , or White-tailed Sea-eagle, is a large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which includes other raptors such as hawks, kites, and harriers...
(the
suffixAn affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
'-la' denotes a location). The town was known in Swedish by the name
until January 1, 1977 when the surrounding land municipality of Kaarlela was consolidated with Kokkola, and the town took over the Swedish name of
.
means 'old',
Karl means 'man' or 'peasant' and
by means 'village'. So it literally means
Old village of peasants. The Latin name was Carolina Vetus.
Economy
Kokkola is the capital and only city in the region of
Central OstrobothniaCentral Ostrobothnia is a region in Western Finland. It borders to the regions Ostrobothnia, Northern Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Southern Ostrobothnia.- Historical Provinces :For History, Geography and Culture see: Ostrobothnia...
. The
chemical industryThe chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. It is central to modern world economy, converting raw materials into more than 70,000 different products.-Products:...
is a major employer. An industrial area and a port is located in Ykspihlaja.
OMGOMG may refer to:*Oh My God, Oh My goodness, or Oh My Gosh, a common abbreviation used in SMS and Instant Messaging*omg!, a celebrity news and gossip website run by Yahoo!...
has a
cobaltCobalt is a hard, lustrous, gray metal, a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. Although cobalt-based colors and pigments have been used since ancient times for making jewelry and paints, and miners have long used the name kobold ore for some minerals, the free metallic cobalt was...
plant and
BolidenBoliden is a locality situated in Skellefteå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 1,515 inhabitants in 2005. It lies 28,5 kilometers from Skellefteå City....
has a
zincZinc , also known as spelter, is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
plant in there.
KemiraKemira is a chemical industry group that consists of three main segments. Kemira is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland.Kemira’s main shareholder is Oras Invest Oy and its owners, members of the Paasikivi family. Former main owner, the State of Finland, sold largest part of its holding to Finnish...
, a chemical conglomerate, built an industrial park that is now divided between several corporations. The area has
KemiraKemira is a chemical industry group that consists of three main segments. Kemira is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland.Kemira’s main shareholder is Oras Invest Oy and its owners, members of the Paasikivi family. Former main owner, the State of Finland, sold largest part of its holding to Finnish...
's own
sulfuric acidSulfuric acid, , is a strong mineral acid. It is soluble in water at all concentrations. Sulfuric acid has many applications, and is one of the top products of the chemical industry. World production in 2001 was 165 million tonnes, with an approximate value of US$8 billion...
plant, a
Kemira GrowHowKemira GrowHow is a fertilizer producer headquartered in downtown Helsinki, Finland. Its products are sold in over 100 countries but it has market stronghold in Northern Europe. Most of the revenue comes from Western Europe, particularly from the UK and Ireland . Kemira Growhow was a division of...
site, KemFine's
fine chemicalsFine chemicals are pure, single chemical substances that are commercially produced with chemical reactions into highly specialized applications. Fine chemicals produced can be categorized into active pharmaceutical ingredients and their intermediates, biocides, and specialty chemicals for technical...
plant, Tetra Chemicals
calcium chlorideCalcium chloride, CaCl2, is a common salt. It behaves as a typical ionic halide, and is solid at room temperature. It has several common applications such as brine for refrigeration plants, ice and dust control on roads, and in concrete...
plant and a
NordkalkNordkalk is the leading manufacturer of limestone-based products in Northern Europe. Nordkalk operates at more than 30 different locations in 8 countries.-History:...
plant. In addition, industries represented in the town include metalworking, casting, textiles, plastics, food and carpentry. Largest employers are as follows:
- The city of Kokkola approx. 2,080
- Regional Central Hospital 1,140
- Boliden Kokkola (zinc) 640
- Health care centre 450
- OMG (cobalt) 375
- KPO
Meanings of KPO:* Knowledge process outsourcing.* KPÖ , Communist Party of Austria.* Kommunistische Partei-Opposition, Communist Party Opposition.* KPO, a San Francisco radio station that later became known as KNBR....
group (retail) 355
- Halpa-Halli (retail) 300
- KemFine (fine chemicals) 170
The port of Kokkola is located in Ykspihlaja, approximately from the city center, and it is one of the most trafficked ports in Finland. Oil, ore and limestone are imported, refined products and timber are exported, and iron ore is transited. Kokkola is located on the main railway connecting
OuluOulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the province of Oulu and the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It is the largest city in Northern Finland and the sixth largest city in the country. Its population growth rate is almost comparable with that of the Helsinki Metropolitan...
and
HelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it the most populous municipality in Finland by a wide margin...
via
SeinäjokiSeinäjoki is a city located in Southern Ostrobothnia, Finland. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bruk iron and gunpowder factories founded in 1798. Seinäjoki became a municipality in 1868, market town in 1931 and town in 1960...
and
TampereTampere is a city in southern Finland located between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi. Since the two lakes differ in level by , the rapids linking them, Tammerkoski, have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity...
.
See also
- Kokkolan Palloveikot
KPV is a Finnish football club, based in Kokkola. It currently plays in the Finnish First Division . The club's manager is Jarmo Korhonen, and it plays its home matches at Kokkolan keskuskenttä....
- Gamlakarleby Bollklubb
- Älvkarleby
Älvkarleby is a locality situated in Älvkarleby Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 1,648 inhabitants in 2005. It is not the seat of the municipality, a function uphold by Skutskär 7 km to the north.- References :...
(Sweden)
- Nykarleby
Nykarleby is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality is bilingual, with the majority speaking Swedish and the minority Finnish ....
External links