Korsnäs

This article is about the municipality of Finland. For other uses, see Korsnäs (disambiguation).
Korsnäs
Municipality
Korsnäs kommun
Korsnäsin kunta

Coat of arms

Location of Korsnäs in Finland
Coordinates: 62°47′N 021°11′E / 62.783°N 21.183°ECoordinates: 62°47′N 021°11′E / 62.783°N 21.183°E
Country Finland
Region Ostrobothnia
Sub-region Vaasa sub-region
Charter 1887
Government
 • Municipal manager Anita Ismark
Area (2011-01-01)[1]
 • Total 1,424.71 km2 (550.08 sq mi)
 • Land 235.65 km2 (90.98 sq mi)
 • Water 1,189.06 km2 (459.10 sq mi)
Area rank 73rd largest in Finland
Population (2014-11-30)[2]
 • Total 2,223
 • Rank 280th largest in Finland
 • Density 9.43/km2 (24.4/sq mi)
Population by native language[3]
 • Swedish 91.2% (official)
 • Finnish 3.2% (official)
 • Others 5.5%
Population by age[4]
 • 0 to 14 14.8%
 • 15 to 64 61.4%
 • 65 or older 23.8%
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Municipal tax rate[5] 19.75%
Website www.korsnas.fi

Korsnäs is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region.

Location

Korsnäs covers an area of 1,424.71 square kilometres (550.08 sq mi) of which 1,189.06 km2 (459.10 sq mi) is water.[1] Korsnäs is the most western mainland municipality in Finland. It has a long, rocky coastline along the Gulf of Bothnia. The three largest islands are Halsön, Bredskäret and Södra Björkön, all used as important recreation areas for urban dwellers.[6]

Population

The municipality has a population of 2,223 (30 November 2014).[2] The population density is 9.43 inhabitants per square kilometre (24.4/sq mi). The municipality is bilingual with Swedish as the majority language and Finnish as the minority language.[7] Until 2014 Swedish was the sole official language. 91.2% of the population speaks Swedish, 3.2% Finnish and 5.5% other languages as their first language.[3]

History

Due to the post-glacial rebound, most of the area that today forms the municipality of Korsnäs stood under water until around 1000 A.D. The first settlement in Korsnäs is assumed to stem from the 13th century.[8] Some place names of Finnish origin (such as Molpe (Moikipää) and Taklax (Takalaksi)) indicate a Finnish-speaking presence in the 13th century, although it is disputed if these people (probably from Häme) only used the area for fishing on a seasonly basis[9] or if they established a proper, but sparse, settlement.[10] Swedish-speaking settlers came to the area in the 13th or 14th century.

Politics

In the 2012 Municipal elections Swedish People's Party got 95 percent of the vote.[11]

Name

Korsnäs is the municipality's official name in both Swedish and Finnish. The Finnish names Korsnääsi or Ristitaipale[12] are known to have been used historically in some contexts.

Korsnäs was first mentioned in historical documents is 1442, and some individual villages, like Molpe (then called Moikipä) was first mentioned in 1490, and Harrström (then called Harffuaström) in 1494. Korsnäs became an independent municipality in 1887. Prior to that, the area belonged to Närpes.[13]

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 30.11.2014" (in Finnish and Swedish). Population Register Center of Finland. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "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. ↑ "Korsnäs". archipelago.nu. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
  7. ↑ Korsnäsista ja Luodosta kaksikieliset kunnat, YLE 30 December 2014, accessed 1 January 2015.
  8. ↑ Johan Ulfvens: "Korsnäsbor och korsnäsbyar". In: Korsnäs historia. Korsnäs 1981, pp. 9–25, p. 16.
  9. ↑ Olov Ahlbäck: "Österbottnisk medeltid". In: Svenska Österbottens historia I. Vasa 1977, pp. 45-56.
  10. ↑ Lars Huldén: "Vad berättar ortnamnen om den svenska bosättningens uppkomst i Finland?" In: Ann-Marie Ivars and Lena Huldén [eds.]: När kom svenskarna till Finland?. Helsingfors 2002, pp. 63–80, p. 69
  11. ↑ Kuntavaalit 2012, YLE tulospalvelu, accessed 1 January 2015.
  12. ↑ See .
  13. ↑ Website "Turism Österbotten" angående Korsnäs historia

External links

Media related to Korsnäs at Wikimedia Commons