Salo, Finland

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Salo
City
Salon kaupunki
Salo town centre by night

Coat of arms
Location of Salo in Finland
Coordinates: 60°23′10″N 023°07′30″E / 60.38611°N 23.12500°E / 60.38611; 23.12500Coordinates: 60°23′10″N 023°07′30″E / 60.38611°N 23.12500°E / 60.38611; 23.12500
Country Finland
Region Finland Proper
Sub-region Salo
Market town 1887
City rights 1960
Government
 • City manager Antti Rantakokko
Area(2011-01-01)[1]
 • City 2,168.27 km2 (837.17 sq mi)
 • Land 1,986.49 km2 (766.99 sq mi)
 • Water 181.78 km2 (70.19 sq mi)
Area rank 36th largest in Finland
Population (2014-01-31)[2]
 • City 55,231
 • Rank 18th largest in Finland
 • Density 27.8/km2 (72/sq mi)
 • Metro 1,000,333
Population by native language[3]
 • Finnish 94.6% (official)
 • Swedish 1%
 • Others 4.4%
Population by age[4]
 • 0 to 14 16.9%
 • 15 to 64 64.5%
 • 65 or older 18.6%
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Municipal tax rate[5] 18.75%
Website www.salo.fi

Salo (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈsɑlo]) is a town and municipality of Finland.

It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality has a population of 55,231[2] (January 31, 2014) and covers an area of 2,168.27 square kilometres (837.17 sq mi) of which 181.78 km2 (70.19 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 27.8 /km2 (72 /sq mi).

Salo is located between the capital Helsinki and the provincial capital Turku, 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.

Today its main claim to notability is as a developing and manufacturing plant for Nokia[citation needed], and can therefore be considered as the original home town of Nokia phones.[citation needed] Nokia also is one of biggest employers in this region.[citation needed]

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.[6]

Salo is the birthplace of the president of Finland Sauli Niinistö.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

History

Salo has existed as a centre of rural commerce since at least the 16th century, emerging in the location where the Great Costal Road,[7] 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.[8] 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. The municipality of Uskela was consolidated with Salo 1967. The municipalities of Halikko, Kiikala, Kisko, Kuusjoki, Muurla, Perniö, Pertteli, Suomusjärvi and Särkisalo were consolidated with Salo in the beginning of 2009.

International relations

Main article: List of twin towns and sister cities in Finland

Twin towns — eleven cities

Salo has eleven sister cities:

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Area by municipality as of 1 January 2011" (PDF) (in Finnish and Swedish). Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 9 March 2011. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "VÄESTÖTIETOJÄRJESTELMÄ REKISTERITILANNE 31.1.2014" (in Finnish and Swedish). Population Register Center of Finland. Retrieved 11 February 2014. 
  3. ↑ "Population according to language and the number of foreigners and land area km2 by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 29 March 2009. 
  4. ↑ "Population according to age and gender by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 28 April 2009. 
  5. ↑ "List of municipal and parish tax rates in 2011". Tax Administration of Finland. 29 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011. 
  6. ↑ Paikkala et al. (2007). "Suomalainen paikannimikirja", p.398. Karttakeskus: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus. ISBN 978-951-593-976-0.
  7. ↑ Salminen, Tapio (1993). "Suuri Rantatie", Tielaitos. ISBN 951-37-1044-0.
  8. ↑ Alifrosti, Kari (1996). "Salon ja Uskelan historia 1869-1990", Salon Kaupunki. ISBN 951-96152-1-0.
  9. ↑ "Välissuhted" (in Estonian). Elva linn. Retrieved 23 July 2011. 

Photo gallery

  • Municipal library. The new library building has been designed to fit in the environment of old wooden houses.

  • Nokia premises in Salo.

  • Art gallery in the old locomotive shed.

  • A VR Class Vr1 steam locomotive no. 656 "Kana" ("Hen") on a turntable outside Salo Art Museum

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Salo.
Municipalities
Former municipalities
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