Pori
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| Pori | |||
| — 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 |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Province | Western Finland | ||
| Region | Satakunta | ||
| Sub-region | Pori sub-region | ||
| Charter | 1558 | ||
| Government | |||
| - City manager | Aino-Maija Luukkonen | ||
| Area (2009-01-01)[1] | |||
| - Total | 1,372.04 km2 (529.7 sq mi) | ||
| - Land | 517.14 km2 (199.7 sq mi) | ||
| - Water | 854.9 km2 (330.1 sq mi) | ||
| Population (2009-03-31)[2] | |||
| - Total | 76,434 | ||
| - Density | 147.8/km2 (382.8/sq mi) | ||
| Population by native language [3] | |||
| - Finnish | 98% (official) | ||
| - Swedish | 0.5% | ||
| - Others | 1.5% | ||
| Population by age [4] | |||
| - 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[5] | 18.25% | ||
| Website | www.pori.fi | ||
Pori (Swedish: Björneborg) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The centre of the city it located some 15 kilometres (9 mi) from the coast of Gulf of Bothnia, at the estuary (the largest of those in Finland) of Kokemäenjoki river. Pori is part of the province of Western Finland and is the most important town in the Satakunta region.
The municipality has a population of 76,434 (31 March 2009)[2] and covers an area of 1,372.04 square kilometres (529.75 sq mi) of which 854.9 km2 (330.1 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 147.8 /km² (383 /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 sand beaches of Yyteri and for hosting Pori Jazz, an annual international jazz festival.
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[edit] Name
The name Pori comes from its original Swedish name Björneborg's last part, borg (castle), which is pronounced in a similar way.[6] The Swedish name Björneborg means Bear castle, and the latin name Arctopolis means Bear city.
[edit] History
River had a key role in the creation of Pori. Sailing in the Kokemäki river had become harder and harder since the 1300s. The significance of Kokemäki and Ulvila decreased, when ships couldn't get up the river anymore. In the 1500s, the situation had become so severe, that John III (Finnish: Juhana III or Juhana-herttua) wanted to found a new harbour- and market town, that was closer to a sea. The location and idea were good, but the residents were missing. The Bourgeois of Rauma and Ulvila were ordered to move to Helsinki, which had just been founded.
The bourgeoisie however didn't enjoy living in Helsinki, and after numerous pleas they got a permission to move to their previous residences, except those from Ulvila, whom had a new migration order waiting for them in their homes. They were ordered to migrate to the newly found City of Pori. In March 8, 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 can't find any place suitable for fortifying in Ulvila, we have chosen another location at Pori."[7] At the time Pori had around 300 involuntary residents. However they soon started finding good sides of their new home, profitable location, among other things.
[edit] Geography
[edit] Climate
 Weather averages for Pori  |
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| 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) |
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| 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) |
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| Precipitation mm (inches) | 26.6 (1.05) |
20.7 (0.81) |
24.1 (0.95) |
20.6 (0.81) |
20.0 (0.79) |
36.9 (1.45) |
36.2 (1.43) |
42.5 (1.67) |
35.5 (1.4) |
37.4 (1.47) |
29.6 (1.17) |
30.2 (1.19) |
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| Source: Foreca {{{accessdate}}} | |||||||||||||
[edit] Politics
Pori is a relatively strong foothold for the Social Democratic Party. In 2008 the party got 29.8% of the votes while the second largest party, National Coalition Party, got 26.1% of the votes. The mayor of Pori is Aino-Maija Luukkonen, who was selected to run the city in 2004 after the former mayor, Martti Sinisalmi, retired from the post.
[edit] 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.[3] There is a Swedish School and a Swedish Culture Club that are aimed on serving the Finland-Swedish minority in the Satakunta region.
[edit] Population development
Population peaked in the mid-1970s, when it was over 80 000. After that the population declined, and it has been the last years steadily a little bit over 76 000. Population jump in 1950 can be explained with annexing.
- Source[8]
[edit] 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
[edit] Sister cities
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
[edit] Trivia
The asteroid 1499 Pori was named after the city by its discoverer, the Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä.
[edit] 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.
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Area by municipality as of 1 January 2009" (in Finnish and Swedish) (PDF). Land Survey of Finland. http://www.maanmittauslaitos.fi/Pintaalat_kunnittain_1.1.2009.pdf. Retrieved on 20 February 2009.
- ^ a b "Population by municipality as of 31 March 2009" (in Finnish and Swedish). Population Information System. Population Register Center of Finland. http://www.vrk.fi/vrk/files.nsf/files/5D795199C7CAC193C22575A000324AE2/$file/20090331.htm. Retrieved on 28 April 2009.
- ^ 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 on 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 on 28 April 2009.
- ^ "List of municipal and parish tax rates in 2009". Tax Administration of Finland. 1 December 2008. http://www.vero.fi/nc/doc/download.asp?id=6425;167571. Retrieved on 8 March 2009.
- ^ Peter Slotte (2007-01-16). "Paikannimet kahdella kielellä – pitkä kulttuuriperinne" (in Finnish). Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus. http://www.kotus.fi/index.phtml?s=1991. Retrieved on 2009-03-06.
- ^ J.W., Ruuth (1958). "Kaupungin perustamiskirje" (in Finnish). Porin kaupungin historia II. Porin kaupunki. p. 269. http://www.pori.fi/kirjasto/porinhistoria/. Retrieved on 2009-03-07.
- ^ "Porin kaupungin tilastollinen vuosikirja 2008" (in Finnish). Porin kaupunki. 2008-10-28. page 9 (PDF p.21). http://www.pori.fi/hallinto/tilvk2008.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-03-06.
[edit] External links
Media related to Pori at Wikimedia Commons- City of Pori – Official website
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