Jämsä

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jämsän kaupunki
coat of arms map
Jämsä coat of arms Location of Jämsä in Finland
Basic data
State : FinlandFinland Finland
Landscape : Central Finland
Administrative community : Jämsä
Geographical location 61 ° 52 '  N , 25 ° 12'  E Coordinates: 61 ° 52 '  N , 25 ° 12'  E
Surface: 1,823.91 km²
of which land area: 1,571.32 km²
of which inland waterways: 252.59 km²
Residents : 20,607 (Dec. 31, 2018)
Population density : 13.1 inhabitants / km²
Municipality number : 182
Language (s) : Finnish
Website : www.jamsa.fi

Jämsä [ ˈjæmsæ ] is a town in central Finland with 20,607 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018).

geography

Jämsä is located in the southwest of the Central Finland landscape on the border with Pirkanmaa on the Jämsänjoki river west of Lake Päijänne . Jyväskylä , the capital of central Finland, is 58 kilometers northeast, Tampere 92 kilometers southwest.

The administrative urban area comprises an extensive, largely rural area of ​​a total of 1824 square kilometers. The population density is correspondingly low with 12.3 inhabitants per square kilometer. The area of ​​Jämsä includes six settlement centers ( taajama ): Seppola (the actual core town of Jämsä), Jämsänkoski , Kaipola , Halli , Länkipohja and Koskenpää .

Neighboring cities and municipalities of Jämsä are Jyväskylä in the northeast, Luhanka in the east, Kuhmoinen in the south, Orivesi and Juupajoki in the southwest, Mänttä-Vilppula and Keuruu in the northwest and Petäjävesi in the north.

history

The parish of Jämsä has existed since the Middle Ages and was first mentioned in a document in 1442. The area of ​​the old parish was significantly larger than today's Jämsä and is therefore also known as Groß-Jämsä. In the 1860s, the former chapel congregations Korpilahti (including Muurame and Säynätsalo ) and Petäjävesi separated from Jämsä as independent congregations. The municipalities of Jämsänkoski and Koskenpää were split off from the remaining Jämsä area in 1926 . In 1969 Jämsä was elevated to a market town ( kauppala ) and the town was granted town charter in 1977.

In the 2000s, the Jämsä area expanded again through a series of parish mergers: in 2001, the Kuorevesi parish was incorporated. In 2007, the urban area expanded again through the eastern parts of the dissolved municipality of Längelmäki . At the beginning of 2009, Jämsä reunited with Jämsänkoski (to which Koskenpää had also belonged since 1969).

economy

The Kaipola paper mill in the 1950s

Jämsä is quite industrialized. In 2006, 31.6% of the employed population in the old city area (excluding Längelmäki and Jämsänkoski) worked in the industrial sector. The paper group UPM-Kymmene has two paper mills in Kaipola and Jämsänkoski, which together employ almost 1,300 people.

Jämsä is one of the most important cities in Finnish aviation. During the winter war , an airfield and an aircraft factory were built there, where military aircraft were repaired. It currently houses the Patria armaments factory , the Air Force Technical School, and a test flight center. There is also an aviation museum in Kuorevesi.

Another important economic factor in Jämsä is the Himos ski resort . Despite the rather modest height of the mountain (the maximum difference in altitude of the slopes is 151 meters), Himos is one of the five largest ski sports centers in Finland, as it is much easier to reach from the large metropolitan areas of southern Finland than the ski resorts of northern Finland. The Himos ski center, which opened in 1984, has 21 slopes, 15 ski lifts and a network of 16 kilometers of cross-country skiing trails. A total of around 4,000 beds are available for visitors. Outside the ski season, the rock festival Himos Festival takes place on midsummer night .

politics

administration

The strongest party in Jämsä is the Social Democrats with 13 out of 43 seats on the local council, the highest decision-making body on local affairs, followed by the Center Party with eight seats. The third major party in Finland, the National Collection Party , is also quite strong with seven MPs. The left alliance with six and one seat each, the Christian Democrats , the Green Bund , the right-wing populist grassroots and the “senior citizens' party” are still represented in the city council . Five mandates were held by a local electoral alliance that ran under the name uusijamsa.fi .

Composition of the municipal council (2009–2012)
Political party 2008 election results Seats
Social democrats 29% 13
Center Party 17.6% 8th
National rally party 15.7% 7th
Left alliance 12.8% 6th
uusijamsa.fi 10.5% 5
Green covenant 3.7% 1
Christian Democrats 3.3% 1
Seniors party 3.3% 1
Base fins 2.9% 1

coat of arms

Jämsä coat of arms
Old coat of arms of Jämsä

Since the municipal merger in 2009, Jämsä has continued to use the former coat of arms of Jämsänkoski. It was designed in 1954 by the heraldist Gustaf von Numers . The blazon of the coat of arms reads: In the red coat of arms with a silver chain of angular links as a border lies a silver mill iron . The mill iron symbolizes the old water mills of Jämsänkoski, from which the town's industrial operations emerged in the 19th century. The chain is a common element in the coats of arms of Jämsä and the resulting municipalities of Jämsänkoski and Koskenpää.

The old coat of arms of Jämsä was in use from 1953 to 2008 and also comes from the pen of Gustaf von Numers. It showed a silver chain in red with angular links as a border around a silver, gold-tipped and feathered bundle of arrows tied with gold ribbon. The bundle of arrows indicates the historical importance of the Jämsä area as a hunting ground for the Hämeer, while the number of arrows represents the seven communities that emerged from Groß-Jämsä.

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Jämsä  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Maanmittauslaitos (Finnish land surveying office): Suomen pinta-alat kunnittain January 1, 2011 . (PDF; 199 kB)
  2. ↑ Statistical Office Finland: Table 11ra - Key figures on population by region, 1990-2018
  3. ↑ Website of the city of Jämsä: Perustietoa Jämsästä ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Finnish) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jamsa.fi
  4. ↑ UPM Kymmene: UPM, Jämsä River mills  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / w3.upm-kymmene.com  
  5. ↑ Finnish Ministry of Justice: Result of the 2008 local elections