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Vaasa
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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. Today, Vaasa has a population of , and is part of the administrative province of Western Finland and is the regional capital of Ostrobothnia.
The city is bilingual with of the population speaking Finnish as their first language and speaking Swedish. The city is an important centre for Finland-Swedish culture.
the years, Vaasa has changed its name several times, due to alternative spellings, political decisions and language condition changes.
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Encyclopedia
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. Today, Vaasa has a population of , and is part of the administrative province of Western Finland and is the regional capital of Ostrobothnia.
The city is bilingual with of the population speaking Finnish as their first language and speaking Swedish. The city is an important centre for Finland-Swedish culture.
History
Name
Over the years, Vaasa has changed its name several times, due to alternative spellings, political decisions and language condition changes. At first it was called or after the village where it was founded in 1606, but just a few years later the name was changed to Wasa to honor the royal Swedish lineage. The city was known as Wasa between 1606 and 1855, (Finnish) and (Swedish) between 1855 and 1917, (Finnish) and (Swedish) beginning from 1917, with the Finnish name being the primary name from ca 1930 when Finnish speakers became the majority in the city.
Foundation
The history of Korsholm (Mustasaari in Finnish) and also of Vaasa begins in the 14th century, when seafarers from the coastal region in central Sweden disembarked at the present Old Vaasa, and the wasteland owners from Finland Proper came to guard their land.
In the middle of the century Saint Mary's Church was built and in the 1370s the building of the fortress at Korsholm, Crysseborgh, was undertaken, and served as an administrative centre of the Vasa County. King Charles IX of Sweden founded the town of Mustasaari/Mussor on October 2, 1606 around the oldest harbour and trade point around the Korsholm church approximately seven kilometres to the southwest from the present city. In 1611 the town was chartered and renamed after the Royal House of Vasa.
Thanks to the sea connections, ship building and trade, especially tar trade, Vaasa flourished in the 17th century and most of the inhabitants earned their living from it.
In 1683 the three-subject or 'trivial' school moved from Nykarleby to Vaasa and four years later a new schoolhouse was built in Vaasa. The first library in Finland was founded in Vaasa in 1794. In 1793 Vaasa had 2,178 inhabitants, and in the year of the catastrophic town fire of 1852 the number had risen to 3,200.
The Massacre of Vaasa
During the Finnish War, fought between Sweden and Russia in 1808–1809, Vaasa suffered more than any other city. In June 1808 Vaasa was occupied by the Russian forces, and some of the local officials pledged allegiance to the occupying force.
On June 25th 1808 the Swedish colonel Johan Bergenstråhle was sent with 1,500 troops and four cannons to free Vaasa from the 1,700 Russian troops who were led by generalmajor Nikolay Demidov. The Battle of Vaasa started with the Swedish force disembarking north of Vaasa in Österhankmo and advancing all the way to the city where they attacked with 1,100 troops, as some had to be left behind to secure the flank. There was heavy fighting in the streets and in the end the Swedish forces were repelled and forced to retreat back the way they came.
Generalmajor Demidov suspected that the inhabitants of Vaasa had taken to arms and helped the Swedish forces, even though the provincial governor had confiscated all weapons that spring, and he took revenge by letting his men plunder the city for several days. During those days 17 civilians were killed, property was looted and destroyed, many were assaulted and several people were taken to the village of Salmi in Kuortane where they had to endure the physical punishment called Running the gauntlet. The massacre in Vaasa was exceptional during the Finnish war as the Russian forces had avoided that kind of cruelty that far. It was probably a result of the frustration the Russians felt because of intensive guerilla activity against them in the region.
On June 30th the Russian forces withdrew from Vaasa, and all officials that had pledged allegiance to Russia were discharged, and some were assaulted by locals. On September 13th the Russian forces returned and on the next day the decisive Battle of Oravais, which was won by Russia, was fought some further north. By winter 1808 the Russian forces had overrun all of Finland, and in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn (September 17, 1809) Sweden lost the whole eastern part of its realm. Vaasa would now become a part of the newly formed Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire.
Town fire
The mainly wooden and densely built town was almost utterly destroyed in 1852. A fire started in a barn belonging to district court judge J.F. Aurén on the morning of August 3. At noon the whole town was ablaze and the fire lasted for many hours. In the evening most of the town had burned to the ground. Out of 379 buildings only 24 privately owned buildings had survived, among them the Falander–Wasastjerna patrician house (built in 1780–1781) which now houses the Old Vaasa museum.
The Court of Appeal (built in 1775, nowadays the Church of Korsholm), some Russian guard-houses along with a gunpowder storage and the buildings of the Vaasa provincial hospital (nowadays a psychiatric hospital) also survived the blaze. The ruins of the greystone church, the belfry, the town hall and the trivial school can still be found in their original places. Much of the archived material concerning Vaasa and its inhabitants was destroyed in the fire. According to popular belief, the fire got started when a careless visitor fell asleep in Aurén's barn and dropped his pipe in the dry hay.
The new town
The new town of Nikolaistad (Nikolainkaupunki in Finnish, after late Tsar Nicholas I) rose in 1862 about seven kilometres to the northwest from the old town. The town's coastal location offered good conditions for seafaring. The town plan was planned by Carl Axel Setterberg in the Empire style. In the master plan the disastrous consequences of the fire were considered. Main streets in the new town were five broad avenues which divided the town into sections. Each block was divided by alleys.
The town was promptly renamed Vasa (Vaasa) after the Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown in 1917.
Site of Government
During the Finnish Civil War, Vaasa was the capital of Finland from January 29 to May 3, 1918. As a consequence of the occupation of central places and arresting of politicians in Helsinki the Senate decided to move the senators to Vaasa, where the White Guards that supported the Senate had a strong position and the contacts to the west were good.
The Senate of Finland began its work in Vaasa on February 1, 1918 and it had four members. The Senate held its sessions in the Town Hall. To express its gratitude to the town the senate gave Vaasa the right to add the cross of freedom, independent Finland's oldest mark of honour designed by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, to its coat of arms. The coat of arms is unusual not only in this respect, but also because of its non-standard shape and that decorations and a crown are included. Because of its role in the civil war Vasa became known as "The White City". A Statue of Freedom, depicting a victorious White soldier, was erected into the town square.
The language conditions in the city shifted in the 1930s, and the majority became Finnish. Therefore the primary name also changed from "Vasa " to "Vaasa", according to Finnish spelling.
University City
Vaasa has three universities. The largest one is the University of Vaasa, which is located in the neighbourhood of Palosaari. Palosaari is a peninsula near the center of Vaasa, connected to it by bridges. The other two universities are Åbo Akademi, headquartered in Turku, and the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, or Hanken, headquartered in Helsinki. Unique to Vaasa is the Finland-Swedish teachers training school, part of Åbo Akademi. University of Helsinki also has a small unit, specialized in law studies, in the same premises as Vaasa University.
The city has two Universities of Applied Sciences: Vaasa University of Applied Sciences (former Vaasa Polytechnic), located right next to the University of Vaasa, and Swedish University of Applied Sciences (former Swedish Polytechnic).
Major employers
Vaasa is generally speaking an industrial town, with several industrial parks. Industry comprises one-fourth of jobs. There is a university (University of Vaasa), faculties of Åbo Akademi and Hanken, and two Universities of Applied Sciences in the town. Many workers commute from Korsholm (Mustasaari), Laihia, and other municipalities nearby.
Major employers, in order:
- City of Vaasa
- ABB Strömberg – industrial and power electronics and automation equipment
- Vaasa Central Hospital
- State institutions
- Wärtsilä – diesel engines
- Vacon – frequency converters
- KWH Group – plastics, abrasives and logistics services
- TeliaSonera – telephony
- Vaasa Engineering
- Posti – mail
- Anvia (old Vaasa Area Telephone)
- Kemira Chemicals
Notable people from Vaasa
- Olli Ahvenniemi – Basketball player
- Fanny Churberg (1893–1944) – Painter
- Annika Eklund – Singer
- Seppo Evwaraye – Professional American football player
- Marika Fingerroos (born 1979) – Yellow press favourite
- Rabbe Grönblom – Businessman
- Kenneth Haglund (*?) – author of computer programme YAWC
- Jarl Hemmer – Author
- Edvin Hevonkoski – Sculptor
- Mikaela Ingberg – Javelin thrower
- Alexander Ivars – Musician
- Fritz Jakobsson – Painter
- Vesa 'Vesku' Jokinen – Musician
- Mikael Jungner – MD of Yleisradio
- Heli Koivula-Kruger – Athlete
- Susanna 'Suski' Korvala – Singer
- Björn Kurtén – Paleontologist, author
- Joachim Kurtén – Businessman, politician
- Toivo Kuula – Composer
- Artturi Leinonen – Newspaperman, politician, author
- August Alexander Levón – Industrialist, businessman
- Nandor Mikola – Painter
- Jorma Ojaharju – Author
- Oskar Osala – ice hockey player
- Pekka Puska – Doctor, expert on public health
- Viljo Revell – Architect, works included Toronto City Hall in Canada.
- Carl Axel Setterberg – Architect, creator of the new Vaasa
- Pekka Strang – Actor
- Jacob Tegengren – Poet
- Frithjof Tikanoja – Businessman
- Jani Toivola – Actor, television host (Finnish Idols 2007, The Voice TV)
- Allu Tuppurainen – Actor, creator of Rölli
- Jenny Wilhelms – Musician
- Carl Gustaf Wolff – Businessman
- Mathilda Wrede – "Friend of the inmates"
- Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen (Georg Zacharias Forsman) – Politician, professor, fennoman
Cooperation cities
, Vaasa has town twinning treaties or treaties of cooperation signed with nine cities.
Trivia
- Television programmes and films shot in Vaasa include Strömsö, Falkensvärds möbler, N.D.A., Colorado Avenue and Headhunters.
- The seventeenth century ship Regalskeppet Vasa, on display in the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, has no other connection with the Finnish city besides from being named after the same royal family - the House of Vasa.
- The Kotipizza chain was established in Vaasa by enterpreneur Rabbe Grönblom.
Pictures
External links
- – Official website
- – Official website
- – Official website *
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- Vaasa history timeline, old maps and aerial photos, many galleries, housing exhibition.
Maps
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Media
- – local newspaper
- – local newspaper
- – local radiostation
- – Regional public service radio in Finnish (part of Radio Suomi)
- – Regional public service radio in Swedish (part of Radio Vega)
- – Monthly paper for the students at Vaasa University
- – Local "townblog" and message-board.
Education
*
Sports
- – the largest Airsoft club in Vaasa
- – the biggest football club in Vaasa
- – football club
- – football club
- – football club
- – icehockey team
- – basketball club
- – Finnish baseball club
- – archery club
- – bowling club
- – climbing club
- – athletics club
- – tennis club
- – ultimate club
- – golf club
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