Kotka

For other places with the same name, see Kotka (disambiguation).
Kotka
City
Kotkan kaupunki

The centre of Kotka

Coat of arms

Location of Kotka in Finland
Coordinates: 60°28′N 026°56.5′E / 60.467°N 26.9417°E / 60.467; 26.9417Coordinates: 60°28′N 026°56.5′E / 60.467°N 26.9417°E / 60.467; 26.9417
Country Finland
Region Kymenlaakso
Sub-region Kotka-Hamina sub-region
Charter 1879
Government
 • City manager Henry Lindelöf
Area (2011-01-01)[1]
 • Total 949.74 km2 (366.70 sq mi)
 • Land 271.29 km2 (104.75 sq mi)
 • Water 678.45 km2 (261.95 sq mi)
Area rank 117th largest in Finland
Population (2016-03-31)[2]
 • Total 54,342
 • Rank 19th largest in Finland
 • Density 200.31/km2 (518.8/sq mi)
Population by native language[3]
 • Finnish 94.4% (official)
 • Swedish 1%
 • Others 4.5%
Population by age[4]
 • 0 to 14 14.8%
 • 15 to 64 65.5%
 • 65 or older 19.6%
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Municipal tax rate[5] 19.5%
Climate Dfb
Website www.kotka.fi

Kotka is a city and municipality of Finland.

Kotka is located on the coast of the Gulf of Finland at the mouth of Kymi River and it is part of the Kymenlaakso region in southern Finland. The city has a population of 54,342 (31 March 2016)[2] and covers an area of 949.74 square kilometres (366.70 sq mi) of which 678.45 km2 (261.95 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 200.31 inhabitants per square kilometre (518.8/sq mi). The city centre of Kotka is located at Kotkansaari island.

The Port of Kotka is a major Finnish sea port that serves both the foreign trade of Finland and Russia.[6]

The municipality is officially unilingually Finnish. Historically however, Swedish was the only official language in the city until 1902. From 1902 until 1906, the city was officially bilingual. Kotka also had a Swedish speaking minority (see: Swedish-speaking population of Finland), which in the 1890s accounted for 16% of the city population.[7] Their proportion has steadily decreased and today around 1% of the city's population are Swedish speakers. There is one school in Kotka where Swedish is the language of instruction, Kotka Svenska Samskola, which was founded in 1885.

History

The Second All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held in Kotka, on July 21–23 (Aug. 3–5), 1907.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kotka is twinned with:[8]

Sports

The local football team is KTP. Founded in 1927, KTP has long, and successful football history. KTP won the Finnish football championship in 1951 and 1952, and Finnish Cup 4 times, in years 1958, 1961, 1967, and 1980. Currently the club plays in the Finnish second league Ykkönen.

KTP-Basket plays in Korisliiga

References

  1. 1 2 "Area by municipality as of 1 January 2011" (PDF) (in Finnish and Swedish). Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Ennakkoväkiluku sukupuolen mukaan alueittain, maaliskuu.2016" (in Finnish). Statistics Finland. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  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. ↑ Archived May 31, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ http://www.sprakbruk.fi/index.php?mid=2&pid=13&aid=2902 "Fram till 1902 var det officiella språket i Kotka svenska, varefter stadsförvaltningen godkändes som tvåspråkig, då även finskspråkiga arbetare blivit invalda. Tack vare arbetarrörelsen och generalstrejken 1905 fick den finskspråkiga majoriteten utökade rättigheter. År 1906 blev stadens officiella språk finska. Den svenskspråkiga andelen av befolkningen har kontinuerligt sjunkit. På 1890-talet utgjorde de svenskspråkiga 16 % av befolkningen, på 1920-talet 8 % och på 1950-talet 3 %."
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Hassinen, Raino. "Kotka - International co-operation: Twin Cities". City of Kotka. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
  9. ↑ P.C., Net. "Gdynia - International Gdynia - International co-operation of Gdynia". www.gdynia.pl.
  10. ↑ "Twin-cities of Klaipėda". Retrieved 2011-05-29.
  11. ↑ "Some 15 Finnish towns have twinned with friendship cities in China". Helsingin Sanomat International Edition. 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2013-07-29.

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