Hamina, or Fredrikshamn in Swedish, is one of Finland’s most important harbors. The town was chartered in 1653 at the proposal of Count Peter Brahe, Governor-General of Finland. Its original name was Veckelax Nystad (Newtown of Veckelax), according to the surrounding countryside, but in 1720s the town was renamed after King Frederick I of Sweden, Landgrave of Hesse.
The population of the downtown is approximately 5,000. The municipality of Hamina includes the town and is populated by totally 22,000 inhabitants on the area of 630.65 km.
The port is specialised in forest products and transit cargo to Russia.
The town of Hamina is surrounded by a star-shaped fortress. Construction of the fortress began in 1723 after the Great Northern War, when the territories east of Hamina had been ceded to Russia, and completed after the Finnish War in the beginning of the 19th century. As the important foreign trade town of Viipuri was surrendered to Russians in 1721, this town (newly renamed in honor of the King) was intended to replace it. The town, thus far a small domestic trade port with restricted trade, was granted extensive privileges including foreign trade.
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The municipality is bilingual, with majority being Finnish and minority Swedish speakers.
Kaskinen is the smallest town in Finland.
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It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality has a population of 21,151 (2003) and covers an area of 60.59 km² of which 0.89 km² is water. The population density is 349 inhabitants per km².
The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
Pargas (Parainen in Finnish) is a municipality of Finland.
It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. The municipality has a population of 12,001 (2003) and covers an area of 272.79 km² of which 1.19 km² is water. The population density is 44.2 inhabitants per km².
The municipality is bilingual, with majority being Swedish and minority Finnish speakers.
Kauniainen (Grankulla in Swedish) is a small municipality of 8,426 inhabitants (as of March 2005) in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland. Kauniainen is completely surrounded by the municipality of Espoo.
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Approximately 40% of the population have Swedish as their mother tongue; the rest are Finnish speakers. The dominant party in the town assembly has traditionally been the Swedish
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The town of Kokkola/Karleby was chartered in 1620.
The municipality is bilingual with 81.0% being Finnish and 17.9% Swedish speakers.
