Vörå
| coat of arms | map |
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| Basic data | |
| State : |
 Finland
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| Landscape : | Ostrobothnia |
| Administrative community : | Vaasa |
| Geographical location | 63 ° 8 ′ N , 22 ° 15 ′ E |
| Surface: | 1,500.03 km² |
| of which land area: | 781.40 km² |
| of which inland waterways: | 9.38 km² |
| of which sea area: | 709.25 km² |
| Residents : | 6,613 (Dec 31, 2018) |
| Population density : | 8.5 inhabitants / km² |
| Municipality number : | 946 |
| Language (s) : | Swedish , Finnish |
| Website : | vora.fi |
Vörå [ ˈvøːroː ] (Swedish), Finnish Vöyri [ ˈvœy̯ri ], is a municipality in the Österbotten region in western Finland . It was created in its current form in early 2011 through the merger of the municipalities of Vörå-Maxmo and Oravais . The municipality of Vörå has around 6,700 inhabitants on an area of 790.8 square kilometers. More than 80% of the population are Finland-Swedes .
geography
Vörå is located in the Österbotten countryside on the west coast of Finland 35 kilometers east of the city of Vaasa . Neighboring municipalities are Nykarleby in the northeast, Kauhava in the east, Isokyrö in the south, Vähäkyrö in the southwest and Korsholm in the west.
Excluding the marine areas, the municipality of Vörå covers an area of 790.8 square kilometers. The area is rural. As is typical for Österbotten, the municipal area is flat and is used intensively for agriculture. Due to the post-glacial uplift , Vörå rises eight millimeters from the sea every year. In front of the coast there is an archipelago with over 300 islands and cliffs, which is part of the Kvarken archipelago. The larger islands Oxkangar, Särkimo and Österö-Västerö are directly in front of the coast, further away in the open sea is the island group Mickelsörarna (Mikkelinsaaret). The latter was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Höga Kusten / Kvarken World Heritage Site .
The municipality Vörå has three population centers ( tätort / taajama ): Vörå (Vöyri) Maxmo (Maksamaa) and Oravais (Oravainen). These are the parish villages of the three former parishes that have merged into Vörå. The church village of Vörå is also known as Rökiö. Maxmo and Oravais are on the coast, Vörå a few kilometers inland.
history
Archaeological finds have shown that the area around Vörå was permanently inhabited during the Iron Age until the 8th century. At the beginning of the 9th century, however, the traces of human presence diminished, and it appears that the area of Vörå was largely uninhabited from then until around 1200. In the 13th century, settled settlements emerged again when agricultural Swedish settlers settled in the area. At the same time the area of Vörå was incorporated into the Swedish Empire and the church administration.
Probably in the middle of the 15th century, the chapel congregation Vörå was formed from parts of the parishes Isokyrö , Mussor (now Korsholm ) and Pedersöre . This soon became an independent parish and was first mentioned as such in 1489 and 1494. Oravais and Maxmo were dissolved as separate parishes from Vörå in 1859 and 1872, respectively.
In the third Russian-Swedish war , the Battle of Oravais was fought on September 14, 1808 in the municipality of Vörå , which brought about the decisive turning point towards Russia's victory. As a result, the area of what is now Finland came to Russia the following year and became the newly founded Grand Duchy of Finland . Shortly after Finland declared its independence from Russia in 1917 , the Finnish Civil War broke out. Vörå was consistently in the hands of the bourgeois “whites”, who trained their troops here from the beginning of 1918.
At the beginning of 2007, Vörå merged with the neighboring municipality of Maxmo to form the municipality of Vörå-Maxmo . The municipality with the double name only existed for four years, because at the beginning of 2011 the municipalities of Vörå-Maxmo and Oravais were merged into a new municipality, which again bears the name Vörå.
population
The municipality of Vörå has 6,677 inhabitants ( aggregate population of Vörå-Maxmo and Oravais as of June 30, 2010). This results in a population density of 9.0 inhabitants per square kilometer.
The coastal area of Ostrobothnia belongs to the settlement area of the Finland-Swedes . The Finnish-Swedish dialect of the place shows great similarities not only with the dialect of the neighboring Ostrobothnian communities, but also with the Norrland dialects of the opposite Swedish coastal regions. Of the inhabitants of Vörås, 83% speak Swedish and 13% Finnish as their mother tongue. Officially, the municipality is bilingual with Swedish as the majority and Finnish as the minority language. At 4.5%, the proportion of foreigners is quite high for a rural community in Finland. The reason for this is a reception center for asylum seekers in Oravais.
politics
After the merger of the municipalities of Vörå-Maxmo and Oravais, the municipal councils of the two former municipalities formed the municipal council of the new municipality of Vörå until the next local elections in 2012. As in most of the Swedish-speaking areas of Finland, political life is dominated by the Swedish People's Party , the traditional political representation of the Finnish-Swedes. In the 2017 local elections, she received almost all of them with 92.0% of the vote, namely 26 of the 27 seats in the local parliament. In addition, the Social Democrats are represented with a seat on the municipal council (6.1% of the vote). The Left Alliance with 1.4% and the National Collection Party with 0.5% of the votes could not win a seat.
| Political party | Election result 2017 | Seats |
|---|---|---|
| Swedish People's Party | 92.0% | 26th |
| Social Democratic Party of Finland | 6.1% | 1 |
| Other | 1.9% | 0 |
coat of arms
Since it was brought back to life in 2011 through the merger of the municipalities of Vörå-Maxmo and Oravais, the municipality of Vörå has carried the former coat of arms of the municipality of Vörå-Maxmo, which in turn had taken over from the former municipality of Maxmo. It was designed in 1954 by the heraldist Gustaf von Numers . The blazon reads: In the blue shield an aquarius , in the right hand holding a fish and in the left a shamrock; all in silver. The motif of the Aquarius was taken over by Numers from the coat of arms of his own family, who came from Maxmo, while the fish and the shamrock are the main livelihoods of the community for fishing and agriculture.
From 1955 to 2006, the then municipality of Vörå had a different coat of arms, which was also designed by Gustaf von Numers. Its blazon reads: In the golden shield a black bear paw diagonally, also the claws in black, accompanied on both sides by a green trefoil cross .
Economy and Infrastructure
Of the employed population of Vörås, 49% work in the service sector, 34% in industry and 16% in agriculture. There are a total of 2,845 jobs in the community. The unemployment rate is among the lowest in Finland at 3%. Agriculture traditionally plays a major role in Vörå. A total of 15,200 hectares are used for agriculture in the municipality. The most important branches of industry are grain growing and pig breeding.
State road 8 runs through Vörå and follows the west coast from Turku via Vaasa to Liminka near Oulu . The European route 8 follows the course of the state road 8. Vörå is not connected to the railway network. The nearest train stations are in Vaasa and Kauhava . The closest airport is Vaasa Airport .
Culture and sights
Vörå Church , built between 1626 and 1627, is located in the main town of Rökiö. It is the oldest wooden church in Finland still in use . Originally built as a buttress church, it was extended to a cruciform church in 1777 . The crucifix and altar cupboard in Vörå Church date from the 14th and 15th centuries and were probably carved in Lübeck; they came to Finland as the victories of Finnish mercenaries in the Thirty Years' War .
Sons and daughters
- Kristoffer Jåfs (* 1980), ski jumper
- Staffan Tunis (* 1982), ski orienteer
literature
- Bror Åkerblom: Vörå sockens historia . 2 volumes. Vörå kommun, 1962–1963.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aggregated area of Vörå-Maxmo and Oravais, source: Maanmittauslaitos (Finnish land surveying office): Suomen pinta-ala kunnittain 1. 1. 2010. (PDF; 199 kB)
- ↑ Statistical Office Finland: Table 11ra - Key figures on population by region, 1990-2018
- ↑ For a comprehensive description of the local dialect see: AO Freudenthal: Vöråmålet . Tidnings & tryckeri-aktiebolagets tryckeri, Helsingfors 1889.
- ↑ Tilastokeskus (Finnish Statistics Office): Väestö kielen mukaan sekä ulkomaan kansalaisten määrä ja maa-pinta-ala alueittain 1980 - 2009. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tilastokeskus (Finnish Statistics Office): Väestö kielen mukaan sekä ulkomaan kansalaisten määrä ja maa-pinta-ala alueittain 1980 - 2009. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Website of the municipality of Vörå: Näringsliv och jobb.
- ^ Website of the municipality of Vörå: Landsbygdsärenden.
