Inari, Finland

Inari
InariAanaarAnárAanar
—  Municipality  —
Inarin kunta
Lapland Shop in Inari in 1975

Coat of arms
Location of Inari in Finland
Coordinates:
Country Finland
Region Lapland
Sub-region Northern Lapland
Charter 1876
Government
 • Municipal manager Reijo Timperi
Area(2011-01-01)[1]
 • Total 17,333.77 km2 (6,692.6 sq mi)
 • Land 15,052.36 km2 (5,811.7 sq mi)
 • Water 2,281.41 km2 (880.9 sq mi)
Area rank Largest in Finland
Population (2011-01-31)[2]
 • Total 6,779
 • Rank 152nd largest in Finland
 • Density 0.45/km2 (1.2/sq mi)
Population by native language[3]
 • Finnish 92.7% (official)
 • Swedish 0.2%
 • Sami 5.9% (official)
 • Others 1.1%
Population by age[4]
 • 0 to 14 13.8%
 • 15 to 64 68.8%
 • 65 or older 17.4%
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Municipal tax rate[5] 19%
Website www.inari.fi

Inari (Inari Sami: Aanaar, Northern Sami: Anár, Skolt Sami: Aanar, Swedish: Enare) is Finland's largest, sparsely populated municipality with four official languages, more than any other in the country. Its major sources of income are lumber industry and nature maintenance. With the museum Siida in the village of Inari, it is a center of Sami culture. The airport in Ivalo and the country's key north-south European Route E75 (Finland's National Road 4) bring summer and winter vacationers who look for resorts with access to well-preserved, uncrowded outdoors.

Contents

Demographics

Population

The municipality of Inari has a population of 6,779 (31 January 2011).[2] The population density is 0.45 inhabitants per square kilometre (1.2 /sq mi).

Its two largest villages are Ivalo and Inari. Other villages are Törmänen, Keväjärvi, Koppelo, SevettijärviNäätämö, Saariselkä, Nellim, Angeli, Kaamanen, Kuttura, Lisma, Partakko, and Riutula.

Languages

The municipality has four official languages: Finnish, Inari Sami (ca. 400 estimated speakers), Skolt Sami (ca. 400 speakers), and Northern Sami (ca. 700 speakers). The estimates of how many people have some command of each of the Sami languages differ from the number of people who list them as their mother tongues. Of the total population of 6,863 in 2010, 6,366 people registered Finnish as their mother tongue and 400 one of the Sami languages. 97 inhabitants were native speakers of other languages.

Citizenship

Only about 1%, 78 persons, were citizens of countries other than Finland in 2010.

Geography

Inari is the largest municipality in Finland. Located in Lapland, it covers an area of 17,333.77 square kilometres (6,692.61 sq mi),[1] of which 2,281.41 km2 (880.86 sq mi) is water. With an area of 1,043 km2 (403 sq mi), Lake Inari is the third largest lake in Finland, 40 km2 (15 sq mi) smaller than the country's second largest Lake Päijänne.

Finland's largest National Park Lemmenjoki is partly located in Inari, as is the Urho Kekkonen National Park. Vast parts of the municipality are designated wilderness areas: Hammastunturi, Muotkatunturi, Paistunturi, Kaldoaivi, Vätsäri, and Tsarmitunturi.

The village of Inari is Finland's northernmost holiday resort. The airport is located in the nearby village of Ivalo.

Politics

Results of the Finnish parliamentary election, 2011 in Inari:

History

The municipality was established in 1876.

In popular culture

The trilogy His Dark Materials by the English writer Philip Pullman, which takes place in an alternative world somewhat similar to our own, features a prominent character, Serafina Pekkala, who is a witch queen from a tribe near Lake Inari. A character in The Snow Queen, a fantasy novel by the American author Mercedes Lackey, enters the Underworld and comes across a group of villagers from Inari. A thriller written by Gavin Lyall (1965, The Most Dangerous Game) acts in and around Inari.

References

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Inari Inari] at Wikimedia Commons