Salo, Finland

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 Southwest Finland
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 (2016-03-31)[2]
 • City 53,805
 • Rank 18th largest in Finland
 • Density 27.09/km2 (70.2/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%
Climate Dfb
Website www.salo.fi

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

It is in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of 53,805[2] (March 31, 2016) 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 27.09/km2 (70.2/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, and can therefore be considered as the original home town of Nokia phones. Nokia also is one of biggest employers in this region.

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 Coastal 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.

Sports

The city is home to the professional basketball team Salon Vilpas Vikings, which plays in the Finish 1st Division Korisliiga. It plays its home games in the Salohalli.

Transportation

In 2016, the city of Salo signed a letter of intent with Los Angeles-based company Hyperloop One in order to launch a project to build a 50 km long Hyperloop tube between Salo and Turku.[9]

International relations

Twin towns — eleven cities

Salo has eight sister cities:[10]

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. ↑ 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. ↑ Hyperloop between Finland, Sweden would cost €19bn. helsinkitimes.fi (8 July 2016). Retrieved on 22 July 2016.
  10. ↑ http://www.salo.fi/linkit/salotietoa/kansainvalisyys/kansainv%C3%A4linen%20kaupunkiverkosto/
  11. ↑ "Välissuhted" (in Estonian). Elva linn. Retrieved 23 July 2011.

Photo gallery

External links

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