Övertorneå ( fit, Matarengi; fi, Matarenki) is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

and the seat of

Övertorneå Municipality Övertorneå Municipality (, ) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in Övertorneå. Until the Finnish War (1808–1809) Övertorneå and the Finnish Ylitornio were a single parish. Fol ...

Norrbotten County Norrbotten County ( sv, Norrbottens län; se, Norrbottena leatna, fi, Norrbottenin lääni) is the northernmost county or '' län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares border ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

with 1,917 inhabitants in 2010. It is located at the shore of the

Torne River The Torne, also known as the Tornio ( fi, Tornionjoki, sv, Torne älv, , se, Duortneseatnu, fit, Tornionväylä), is a river in northern Sweden and Finland. For approximately half of its length, it defines the border between these two countr ...

, opposite to their Finnish twin town

Ylitornio Ylitornio ( sv, Övertorneå; sme, Badje-Duortnus; smn, Pajetuárnus) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland along the Tornio River, opposite the Swedish town of Övertorneå about by road to its northwest. Th ...

. Övertorneå means "Upper Torneå", based on a division of the Torneå parish in two parts in the 16th century. Until the border between Sweden and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

was drawn at the Torne River in 1809, the two villages on both sides of the river were one. From 1809 till 1917, this represented the Swedish border to Russia.

Gallery

Image:Matarengi Church exterior.jpg, Matarengi Church Image:Övertorneå järnvägsstation.jpg, Övertorneå railway station Image:Röda kvarn Övertorneå.jpg, Röda Kvarn Image:PanoTorne.jpg, A view from

Aavasaksa Aavasaksa is a sharp-edged hill in Ylitornio municipality in Finnish Lapland. It has an elevation of . Aavasaksa is famous for its sights both towards Finland and Sweden, and it is included in the list of the National landscapes of Finland. Decora ...

, across the border river.

Sports

Övertorneå is home of

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

forward

Linus Omark Linus Karl Heimer Omark (born 5 February 1987) is a Swedish professional ice hockey left winger currently with Genève-Servette HC of the National League (NL). Omark has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabre ...

. Another well known ice-hockey player from the settlement is

Daniel Henriksson Daniel Henriksson (born September 4, 1978) is a retired Swedish professional ice hockey goaltender. During his career he played for Luleå HF, Färjestads BK, and Linköpings HC in Elitserien, for Sibir Novosibirsk in the Russian Super League a ...

. The following sports clubs are located in Övertorneå: *

Övertorneå SK Övertorneå SK is a Swedish football club located in Övertorneå in Norrbotten County. Background Övertorneå Sportklubb, or Ötå/Kuiva BK as the club was originally named from 1967 until 1979, began operations at a time when Övertorneå wa ...

Notable residents

Mathilda Fogman Mathilda Fogman (1835-1921) was a Swedish and Finnish midwife. She was an influential spiritual leader within Laestadianism in Övertorneå Övertorneå ( fit, Matarengi; fi, Matarenki) is a locality and the seat of Övertorneå Municipality i ...

(1835-1921), a Swedish and Finnish midwife, was an influential spiritual leader within

Laestadianism Laestadianism, also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a pietistic Lutheran revival movement started in Sápmi in the middle of the 19th century. Named after Swedish Lutheran state church administrator and temperanc ...

in Övertorneå.Suomen kansallisbiografia (National Biography of Finland)
/ref> *

Brita Klemetintytär Brita Klemetintytär (1621–1700) was a Finnish woman postmaster. As the daughter of the former postmaster of Torneå in Swedish Finland, she was appointed to succeed him by the local authorities upon his death. This was highly unusual for her ...

(1621-1700) lived in Övertorneå, where she followed in her father's footsteps and served as

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

External links

References

Municipal seats of Norrbotten County Swedish municipal seats Populated places in Övertorneå Municipality Norrbotten Finland–Sweden border crossings {{Norrbotten-geo-stub