Salo (ˈsɑlo) is a town and municipality of Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

.

It is located in the province

Provinces of Finland

The state of Finland consisted of six provinces between the years 1997 and 2009. The provincial authority was 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...

 of Western Finland

Western Finland

Western Finland was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2010. It bordered the provinces of Oulu, Eastern Finland and Southern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Bothnia towards Åland.- History :...

 and is part of the Finland Proper region

Regions of Finland

Finland consists of 19 regions called in Finnish and in Swedish. 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 municipality has a population of and covers an area of km2 of which km2 is water. The population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 is PD/km2.

In Finnish salo means woodland, backwoods but also a wooded island. It is thought that Salo has meant the island that over thousand years ago existed to the South of the current town but is today a hill, not even very close to the sea.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

.

Salo has existed as a centre of rural commerce since at least the 16th century, grewn in the location where the Great Costal Road, the important East-West road, crossed River Salo; the river provided the fairway to the sea. In 1887 Salo officially became a market town and, in the beginning of 1891, an independent municipality. The area of the municipality was initially very small, only 0.65 km². In 1932 it grew to 18 km² when areas from neighbouring Uskela and Halikko were annexed to Salo. Eventually Salo became a town in 1960. Today its main claim to notability is as a developing and manufacturing plant for Nokia

Nokia

Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...

, and can therefore be considered as the original home town of Nokia phones. Nokia also is one of biggest employers in this region.

Salo is located between the capital Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 and the provincial capital Turku

Turku

Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...

, making it a busy small city. The short distance from these bigger cities keeps the Salo region and its business life growing. Farming also plays a considerable part in the area.

The municipality of Uskela

Uskela

Uskela is a former municipality of Finland. It was merged to Salo in 1967. Uskela was the oldest congregation of its region; it was formed in the 12th century. Surrounding municipalities were divided from Uskela. The last one was Salo as a market town in 1887. In 1967 Uskela and part of Halikko...

 was consolidated with Salo 1967. The municipalities of Halikko

Halikko

Halikko is a former municipality of Finland that existed until December 31, 2008. On January 1, 2009 the municipality was merged with the larger neighboring Salo. Before the merge Halikko had become a rapidly urbanizing rural area....

, Kiikala

Kiikala

Kiikala is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Salo on January 1, 2009.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality had a population of 1,872 and covered an area of 245.35 km2 of which 5.23 km² is water...

, Kisko

Kisko

Kisko is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Salo on January 1, 2009.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality had a population of 1,869 and covered an area of 284.13 km² of which 30.98 km² is water...

, Kuusjoki

Kuusjoki

Kuusjoki is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Salo on January 1, 2009.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality had a population of 1,781 and covered an area of 122.57 km² of which 0.11 km² is water...

, Muurla

Muurla

Muurla is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Salo on 1 January 2009.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality had a population of 1,455 and covered an area of 83.16 km² of which 3.00 km² is water...

, Perniö

Perniö

Perniö is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Salo on January 1, 2009.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality had a population of 6,026 and covered an area of 407.79 km² of which 9.91 km² is...

, Pertteli

Pertteli

Pertteli ; ) is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Salo on January 1, 2009.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality had a population of 3,833 and covered an area of 156.08 km² of which 1.93 km² is...

, Suomusjärvi

Suomusjärvi

Suomusjärvi is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Salo on January 1, 2009.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality had a population of 1,321 and covered an area of 176.53 km² of which 16.38 km² is water...

 and Särkisalo

Särkisalo

Särkisalo is a former municipality of Finland, located mostly on Särkisalo island. It was consolidated with Salo on January 1, 2009.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality had a population of 710 and covered an area of...

 were consolidated with Salo in the beginning of 2009.

Twin towns — sister cities

Salo has seven sister cities: Anija, Estonia Elva

Elva, Estonia

Elva is a town and a municipality in Tartu County, Estonia. It has a population of 5,762 and an area of 9.92k m².Elva has two larger lakes. Lake Verevi has a sandy and well-developed beach area that is very popular in the summer and is host to many outdoor events. Lake Arbi has wet reed grown shores...

, Estonia Katrineholm

Katrineholm

Katrineholm is a locality and the seat of Katrineholm Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 21,386 inhabitants in 2005.-Early history:The name Katrineholm comes from a ducal residence with this name, after Catherina Gyllenhorn who lived there...

, Sweden Vennesla

Vennesla

Vennesla is a municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. Vennesla was separated from Øvrebø in 1861. Øvrebø and Hægeland were merged with Vennesla again on 1 January 1964...

, Norway Odder

Odder

Odder is a town in the Odder municipality just south of Aarhus, located in Region Midtjylland. Odder is more or less a satellite town of Aarhus today and with a population of 11,375...

, Denmark Rzhev

Rzhev

Rzhev is a town in Tver Oblast, Russia, southwest of Staritsa and from Tver, on the highway and railway connecting Moscow and Riga. It is the uppermost town situated on the Volga River. Population:...

, Russia Nagykanizsa, Hungary Puchheim

Puchheim

Puchheim is a city near Munich in the district of Fürstenfeldbruck, in Bavaria, Germany. It has about 20,000 inhabitants, and is located at .Puchheim is divided into two parts: the old and rural part called Puchheim-Ort and the new part of Puchheim that was founded when the S-Bahn was built....

, Germany St. Anthony, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, China Thai Nguyen

Thai Nguyen

Thái Nguyên is a city and municipality in Vietnam. It is the capital and located in center of Thai Nguyen province, in northeastern Vietnam. This is the largest city and often considered as center of Northern midlands and mountain areas...

, Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

External links

• Town of Salo – Official website
• Satellite photo from May 2002
• Service Directory with maps