Övertorneå Municipality

Övertorneå Municipality
Övertorneå kommun
Municipality

Coat of arms
Country Sweden
County Norrbotten County
Seat Övertorneå
Area[1]
 • Total 2,492.29 km2 (962.28 sq mi)
 • Land 2,362.07 km2 (912.00 sq mi)
 • Water 130.22 km2 (50.28 sq mi)
  Area as of January 1, 2014.
Population (June 30, 2016)[2]
 • Total 4,576
 • Density 1.8/km2 (4.8/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code SE
Province Norrbotten
Municipal code 2518
Website www.overtornea.se

Övertorneå Municipality (Swedish: Övertorneå kommun, Meänkieli: Matarengi, Finnish: Ylitornion kunta; sometimes also referred to as Matarengin kunta by northern Finnish press to avoid confusion with the similarly named Finnish municipality Ylitornio) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in Övertorneå.

Until the Finnish War (1808–1809) Övertorneå and the Finnish Ylitornio were a single paarish. Following the war, the eastern part of the municipality was ceded to Russia as a part of Finland. In 1870 a minor part of Övertorneå Municipality was split off, forming the rural municipality Korpilombolo (now part of Pajala Municipality). In 1969 Övertorneå and Hietaniemi municipalities were merged, forming the present municipality.

Many places in the municipality have both a Swedish and a Finnish name, in the local dialect of Finnish known as Meänkieli, one of the minority languages of Sweden.

Localities

There are four localities (or urban areas) in Övertorneå Municipality:[3]

# Locality Population
1 Övertorneå 1,965
2 Juoksengi 401
3 Hedenäset 285
4 Svanstein 207

The municipal seat in bold

Smaller localities

There are nine smaller localities in Övertorneå Municipality:[4]

# Smaller locality Population
1 Pello 193
2 Kuivakangas 125
3 Aapua 122
4 Poikijärvi 107
5 Rantajärvi 102
6 Neistenkangas 93
7 Pudas 85
8 Haapakylä 59
9 Jänkisjärvi 52

Sights

Two old wooden churches in Övertorneå and Hedenäset. The church in Övertorneå has an organ from the 17th century.

Juoksengi is intersected by the Arctic Circle and is known as the "Arctic Circle Village" (Polcirkelbyn).

References

  1. ↑ "Statistiska centralbyrån, Kommunarealer den 1 januari 2014" (Microsoft Excel) (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. Retrieved 2014-04-18.
  2. ↑ "Folkmängd i riket, län och kommuner 30 juni 2016" (in Swedish). Statistics Sweden. August 17, 2016. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005
  4. ↑ Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005 (Swedish)
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Coordinates: 66°23′N 23°40′E / 66.383°N 23.667°E / 66.383; 23.667

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