Tankavaara

Tankavaara is a village and a tourist attraction in the municipality of Sodankylä in Lapland, Finland. It is located by the E75 highway 90 kilometres north of Sodankylä and 30 kilometers south of the Saariselkä ski resort. Tankavaara is famous of its gold prospecting that started in the 1930s. Since the 1970s, the village has been a tourist attraction including hotel, restaurants and the Gold Prospector Museum.[1]

History

The Tankavaara gold was found in 1934 by the Sami people of the nearby Purnumukka village. The discovery attracted several gold prospectors Finland as well as some foreign mining companies. Since 1950 the Tankavaara area was used for research work by the Geological Survey of Finland and the tourism finally started in 1970.[2]

The Battle of Tankavaara was fought during the Lapland War in 26–31 October 1944 between the retreating German troops and the Finnish Army.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Welcome to Tankavaara Goldvillage Tankavaaran Kultakylä. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  2. ↑ A SHORT GOLD HISTORY OF FINLAND Gold Prospector Museum. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Tankavaaran taistelu 26. – 31.10.1944 War Memorials in Finland. Retrieved 1 October 2015. (Finnish)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tankavaara.

Coordinates: 68°10′45″N 27°05′40″E / 68.17917°N 27.09444°E / 68.17917; 27.09444

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, October 01, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.