Pori
Pori
| Pori | |||
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| — City — | |||
| Porin kaupunki | |||
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| Coordinates: 61°29′N 021°48′E / 61.483°N 21.8°ECoordinates: 61°29′N 021°48′E / 61.483°N 21.8°E | |||
| Country | Finland | ||
| Region | Satakunta | ||
| Sub-region | Pori sub-region | ||
| Charter | 1558 | ||
| Government | |||
| - City manager | Aino-Maija Luukkonen | ||
| Area(2011-01-01) | |||
| - Total | 1,704.07 km2 (657.9 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 834.06 km2 (322 sq mi) | ||
| - Water | 870.01 km2 (335.9 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 57th largest in Finland | ||
| Population (2011-01-31) | |||
| - Total | 83,042 | ||
| - Rank | 11th largest in Finland | ||
| - Density | 99.56/km2 (257.9/sq mi) | ||
| Population by native language | |||
| - Finnish | 98% (official) | ||
| - Swedish | 0.5% | ||
| - Others | 1.5% | ||
| Population by age | |||
| - 0 to 14 | 15% | ||
| - 15 to 64 | 65.2% | ||
| - 65 or older | 19.8% | ||
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | ||
| Municipal tax rate | 18.75% | ||
| Website | www.pori.fi | ||
Pori (Swedish: Björneborg) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some 15 kilometres (9 mi) from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäenjoki river, which is the largest in Finland. Pori is the most important town in the Satakunta region.
The municipality has a population of 83,042 (31 January 2011) and covers an area of 1,704.07 square kilometres (657.95 sq mi) of which 870.01 km2 (335.91 sq mi) is water. The population density is 99.56 /km2 (257.9 /sq mi). The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Pori is the 11th largest city in Finland, and the 7th largest urban area.
The Neo-Gothic Juselius Mausoleum, located in the Käppärä cemetery in central Pori, was built in 1903 by the wealthy industrialist F.A. Juselius for his daughter Sigrid, who died when she was only 11 years old. The mausoleum was designed by the architect Josef Stenbäck. The mausoleum originally had frescoes painted by artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela, but these decayed after a short time. The frescoes were restored by Akseli's son Jorma Gallen-Kallela using his father's sketches.
Pori is known, among other things, for the sandy beaches of Yyteri and for hosting Pori Jazz, an annual international jazz festival. Performers at the jazz fesival have included Miles Davis, The Brand New Heavies and Steely Dan
The local newspaper in Pori is the Satakunnan Kansa paper, giving an overview of the recent news. There are also sports and children's articles included.
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Name
The name Pori comes from the borg part (meaning "castle") of the original name in Swedish with a Fennicised pronunciation. The Swedish name Björneborg means "bear castle", and the Latin name Arctopolis means "bear city".
History
The river had a key role in the creation of Pori. Sailing in the Kokemäki river had become more and more difficult after the 14th century. The importance of Kokemäki and Ulvila began to decline when ships could no longer navigate the river. In the 16th century, the situation had become so bad that John III (Finnish: Juhana III or Juhana-herttua) decided to establish a new harbour and market town closer to the sea. The concept and location and were good, but the inhabitants were missing.
The Bourgeois of Rauma and Ulvila had been ordered to move to Helsinki, which had recently been founded, however they did not enjoy living in Helsinki, and after numerous pleas the citizens of Rauma were given permission to return to their previous homes. However, those from Ulvila were ordered to migrate to the newly founded city of Pori. On 8 March 1558 John III gave the charter of Pori, which read: "Because we have seen that it would be best to build a strong market town alongside the sea, and because we cannot find anywhere suitable for fortifying in Ulvila, we have chosen another location at Pori."
At the time Pori had around 300 involuntary residents. However, they soon recognised the advantages of their new location, which offered opportunities for profitable trading, amongst other things.
The neighboring municipality of Noormarkku was annexed with Pori on 1 January 2010.
Geography
Climate
| Climate data for Pori | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | -3 (27) |
-3 (27) |
1 (34) |
8 (46) |
14 (57) |
19 (66) |
21 (70) |
20 (68) |
14 (57) |
8 (46) |
2 (36) |
-1 (30) |
8.3 (47) |
| Average low °C (°F) | -8 (18) |
-9 (16) |
-5 (23) |
-1 (30) |
4 (39) |
9 (48) |
12 (54) |
10 (50) |
6 (43) |
3 (37) |
-2 (28) |
-5 (23) |
1.2 (34.1) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 26.6 (1.047) |
20.7 (0.815) |
24.1 (0.949) |
20.6 (0.811) |
20.0 (0.787) |
36.9 (1.453) |
36.2 (1.425) |
42.5 (1.673) |
35.5 (1.398) |
37.4 (1.472) |
29.6 (1.165) |
30.2 (1.189) |
360.3 (14.185) |
| Source: Foreca | |||||||||||||
Politics
Pori gives relatively strong support to the Social Democratic Party. In 2008, the party gained 29.8% of the votes, while the second largest party, National Coalition Party, got 26.1%. The mayor of Pori is Aino-Maija Luukkonen, who was elected to run the city in 2004 after the former mayor, Martti Sinisalmi, retired from the post.
Sports
Porin Ässät are the ice hockey team that play in highest Finnish level, SM-liiga. They have won the championship twice (1971 and 1978).
Porin Narukerä, or just Narukerä, play in the highest bandy division and have become Finnish champions once.
Demographics
More than 98% of the population has Finnish as their first language, and about 2% has either Arabic, French, German, Russian or Swedish as their first language. There is a small minority of about 0.5% of Swedish speakers in the city. There is a Swedish School and a Swedish Culture Club that are aimed at serving the Finland-Swedish minority in the Satakunta region.
Population development
The population peaked in the mid-1970s, when it was over 80 000. After that the population declined, and in recent years has remained steady at just over 76 000. The significant population increase in 1950 was the result of annexing nearby areas. After the annex of the neighbouring municipality Noormarkku in 2010 the population rose to the current 83,000.
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People
- Eija Kantola – Finnish singer born 1966
- Veli-Pekka Ketola – Finnish ice hockey player born 1948
- Antti Sumiala – Finnish footballer born 1974
- Timo Koivusalo – Finnish actor and film director born 1963
- Olli Lindholm – Finnish singer of the band Yö. Born 1964
- Visa Mäkinen – Finnish film director born 1945
- Pertti Neumann – Finnish singer of the band Dingo in the 80's. Born 1959
- Kai Niemi – Motorcycle speedway rider born 1955
- Selim Palmgren – Finnish composer born 1878
- Jukka Rintala – Finnish designer born 1952
- Jukka Syrenius – Finnish blues musician born 1951
- Leo-Pekka Tähti – Finnish paraathletic with two olympic golds. Born 1983
- Kielo Tommila – Finnish actress born 1950
- Jorma Uotinen – Finnish dancer born 1950
- Mikko Salo – Winner of the Men's division of the 2009 CrossFit Games
- Jussi Rynnas - ice hockey goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and formerly Assat Pori
- Joel Armia - ice hockey winger drafted by the Buffalo Sabres but currently still playing for Assat Pori born 1993
International relations
Twin towns – Sister cities
Pori is twinned with:
Bremerhaven, Germany, since 1967
Eger, Hungary, since 1973
Kołobrzeg, Poland, since 1975
Mâcon, France, since 1990
Porsgrunn, Norway, since 1956
Riga, Latvia, since 1965- Stralsund, Germany, since 1968
Sundsvall, Sweden, since 1940
Sønderborg, Denmark, since 1952
Trivia
The asteroid 1499 Pori was named after the city by its discoverer, the Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä.
Transmitter facility
There is a broadcasting facility near Pori for medium-wave and short-wave broadcasting managed by Digita. The medium-wave transmitter uses a 185 m (607 ft) guyed mast as an aerial.
- ^ a b "Area by municipality as of 1 January 2011" (in Finnish and Swedish) (PDF). Land Survey of Finland. http://www.maanmittauslaitos.fi/sites/default/files/pinta-alat_2011_kunnannimenmukaan.xls. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
- ^ a b "Population by municipality as of 31 January 2011" (in Finnish and Swedish). Population Information System. Population Register Center of Finland. http://vrk.fi/default.aspx?docid=4258&site=3&id=0. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
- ^ a b "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. http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=060_vaerak_tau_107_fi&ti=V%E4est%F6+kielen+mukaan+sek%E4+ulkomaan+kansalaisten+m%E4%E4r%E4+ja+maa%2Dpinta%2Dala+alueittain++1980+%2D+2008&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vaerak/&lang=3&multilang=fi. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
- ^ "Population according to age and gender by area as of 31 December 2008". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. http://pxweb2.stat.fi/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=050_vaerak_tau_104_fi&ti=V%E4est%F6+i%E4n+%281%2Dv%2E%29+ja+sukupuolen+mukaan+alueittain+1980+%2D+2008&path=../Database/StatFin/vrm/vaerak/&lang=3&multilang=fi. Retrieved 28 April 2009.
- ^ "List of municipal and parish tax rates in 2011". Tax Administration of Finland. 29 November 2010. http://www.vero.fi/nc/doc/download.asp?id=7996;193801. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ^ popagenda site
- ^ Peter Slotte (16 January 2007). "Paikannimet kahdella kielellä – pitkä kulttuuriperinne" (in Finnish). Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus. http://www.kotus.fi/index.phtml?s=1991. Retrieved 6 March 2009.
- ^ J.W., Ruuth (1958). "Kaupungin perustamiskirje" (in Finnish). Porin kaupungin historia II. Porin kaupunki. p. 269. http://www.pori.fi/kirjasto/porinhistoria/. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
- ^ "Porin kaupungin tilastollinen vuosikirja 2011" (in Finnish). Porin kaupunki. May 2011. pp. page 8 (PDF p.20). http://www.pori.fi/material/attachments/julkaisut/5yzhfCQ9Z/Tilastollinen_vuosikirja_2011.pdf. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
- ^ "Twin cities of Riga". Riga City Council. http://www.riga.lv/EN/Channels/Riga_Municipality/Twin_cities_of_Riga/default.htm. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
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