Ranua
| coat of arms | map |
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| Basic data | |
| State : |
 Finland
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| Landscape : | Lapland |
| Administrative community : | Rovaniemi |
| Geographical location | 65 ° 56 ' N , 26 ° 31' E |
| Surface: | 3,694.83 km² |
| of which land area: | 3,453.74 km² |
| of which inland waterways: | 241.09 km² |
| Residents : | 3,896 (Dec. 31, 2018) |
| Population density : | 1.1 inhabitants / km² |
| Municipality number : | 683 |
| Language (s) : | Finnish |
| Website : | ranua.fi |
Ranua [ ˈrɑnuɑ ] is a municipality in northern Finland with 3896 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2018).
geography
Ranua is located in the south of Lapland on the border with the northern Ostrobothnian landscape . The next larger city is Rovaniemi 82 km north. Ranua borders in the north on the district of Rovaniemi, in the east on Posio , in the south on Pudasjärvi and Ii and in the west on Simo and Tervola .
The municipal area of Ranua is almost 3700 km² (about one and a half times that of Luxembourg ), but at the same time very sparsely populated: With 3896 inhabitants, the population density is 1.1 inhabitants per square kilometer of land. In terms of landscape, Ranua does not yet belong to the actual Lapland , but to the greater area of the Bottnian coastal plain. The municipality is flat and swampy - about 70% of Ranua's land area consists of swamps. The largest lake in Ranua is the 90 km² Simojärvi . It is the source of the Simojoki River, which flows into the Gulf of Bothnia via Simo .
The settlement center of the municipality is the church village of Ranua, located on the shore of Lake Ranuajärvi. Half of the residents of Ranua live here. The remaining population is distributed among the following villages scattered in the municipality (population figures for 1998):
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The main road in the municipality is the main road 78 from Pudasjärvi to Rovaniemi, which crosses Ranua from north to south. There are daily bus connections from the church village to Rovaniemi, Oulu and Kajaani. The other districts are connected by an extensive road network.
About 9 km north of the parish is the Ranua airfield operated by the municipality. It has a 1200 m long asphalt runway and is used exclusively by sport pilots. The airport's ICAO code is EFRU.
Ranua is a possible location for uranium mining in Finland. In November 2008 the French company Areva started preparations for test drilling.
population
At the end of February 2007 Ranua had 4616 inhabitants. Like most communities in the structurally weak north and east of Finland, Ranua is also affected by the migration to the metropolitan areas of southern Finland. At the end of the 1960s, the community still had over 7,000 inhabitants. After the population consolidated in the 1980s, the Finnish economic crisis in the early 1990s was followed by a new wave of emigration that continues to this day: Since 1993, the population has fallen by an average of 85 per year. The negative population balance is also reflected in the fact that the proportion of people over 65 is disproportionately high at 17.2% and women are underrepresented at 47.5% of the population. There are numerous holiday homes ( mökki ) in Ranua ; Especially during the summer holidays, the number of inhabitants in the municipality almost doubles due to the number of holidaymakers.
Ranua is officially monolingual Finnish. The community is part of the transition area between three dialect areas: The North-Ostrobothnian dialect spoken in the Ranua already changes here in the north into the Lappish Peräpohjola dialects and in the east into the dialects of the Koillismaa region belonging to the group of Savo dialects .
politics
As in general in the rural areas of northern Finland, the Center Party is the strongest political force in Ranua . In the local elections in 2008 it received over half of the votes, in the parliamentary elections in 2007 it was almost 70%. In the municipal council, the highest decision-making body in local affairs, it has 17 of 27 members. The second largest faction is the local electoral list Parempi Ranua ("a better Ranua") with five seats. The two other big parties in the country, the Social Democrats and the National Collection Party, play hardly any role with three and two seats respectively. The left-wing alliance , which is strong in the rest of Lapland, did not make it into the municipal council in 2008.
Ranua municipality director is Kimmo Sarapää.
| Political party | 2008 election results | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| Center Party | 58.8% | 17th |
| Parempi Ranua | 17.8% | 5 |
| Social democrats | 11.9% | 3 |
| National rally party | 9.4% | 2 |
Ranua has twinned cities with the Norwegian municipality of Balsfjord (since 1980) and the Japanese municipality of Iwasaki (since 1992).
coat of arms
Description: In green, a silver wave bar shifted to the base of the shield , above which a silver shot saw hovers.
Culture and sights
The main attraction of the community is the Ranua Zoo , which opened in 1983 . With 80,000 visitors per year, it is Lapland's most popular family getaway. The zoo presents Nordic and Arctic animal species in a natural environment. In addition to native species such as brown bears, wolves , elks, etc. are also the only polar bears in Finland. In total, around 200 animals of 50 species live in the zoo. A 3.4 km long nature trail is connected to the zoo.
On the banks of the Simojärvi is the “Japanhaus” ( japanitalo ), a building in traditional Japanese style and interior, in which exhibitions, courses and lectures on Japanese culture are offered. The complex also has overnight accommodation and is marketed by the municipality as a high-end conference center.
There are two historical village ensembles in Ranua, which are listed as examples of the northern Finnish architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries. These are historic farms in the villages of Kuha and Kuukasjärvi.
church
The Lutheran parish of Ranua was created in 1899 by a resolution of the Finnish Senate from parts of the parishes of Pudasjärvi, Simo and Rovaniemi, but did not start operating until 1917 after the construction of the parish church and parish.
The parish church, consecrated in 1914, was built according to plans by Jarl Eklund in the style of Finnish national romanticism, albeit in a rather simple design. It is a small cruciform church with a gable roof made of wood; the bell tower is integrated into the overall complex at the angle of the transept and nave next to the portal. The neighboring parish, built in 1916, now serves as a local museum.
As in all of Lapland, Laestadianism is quite strong in Ranua. This revival movement works within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and thus also under the umbrella of the Evangelical Church Congregation Ranua, but it also organizes its own devotions, Bible study groups and youth groups. While Laestadianism has split into numerous groups elsewhere, the movement in Ranua is quite homogeneous; almost all members of the movement belong to the "Altlaestadiansist" branch. This counts around 900 believers in Ranua, who are organized in six "peace associations" ( rauhanyhdistys ). In 1987, about eight kilometers from the center of the village, the Christian adult education center Ranua was founded, which is run by a Laestadianist sponsoring association. After the adult education centers in Reisjärvi and Jämsä, it is the third Laestadian school to be founded and, in the summer, the venue for one of the three “study meetings ” ( opistoseura ) of Old Laestadianism ; the three-day event attracts up to 10,000 believers annually.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Maanmittauslaitos (Finnish Land Surveyors): Suomen pinta-alat kunnittain January 1, 2010 . (PDF; 199 kB)
- ↑ Statistical Office Finland: Table 11ra - Key figures on population by region, 1990-2018
- ↑ Lapin liitto: Aluekuvaukset. Ranua , pp. 77-80.
- ↑ http://www.greenkids.de/europas-atomerbe/index.php/Ranua_Uranium_Exploration_Action
- ↑ a b c Website of the municipality: Yleistietoa kunnasta (finn.) ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ stat.fi ( 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.
- ↑ Finnish Ministry of Justice: Result of the 2007 parliamentary elections
- ↑ Finnish Ministry of Justice: Result of the 2008 local elections
- ↑ Website of the zoo
- ↑ Rakennettu kulttuuriympäristö (Monument Register 1993; Finnish): Kuhan kylä , Kuukasjärven kylä
- ↑ ranuanseurakunta.net ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2007 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.
- ↑ lestadiolaisuus.info ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2007 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.
