Björkö (Korsholm)

Björkö is an island in

Korsholm Korsholm (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Korsholm is situated in Ostrobothnia (administrative region), Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Korsholm is approximately , while the Va ...

municipality, Finland. It is situated in the

Kvarken Kvarken ( (as opposed to South Kvarken); ) is the narrow region of the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay (the inner part of the gulf) from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from the Sweden, Swedish mainland to the Mainland Finland, Finnish ...

area of the

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; ; ) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the northern part of Sweden's east coast ( West Bothnia an ...

. The chief settlement is called Björköby. In addition to the main island, the Björkö area includes 350 skerries and its total area is 72 km². In 1973, the Björköby municipality merged to

. During the Swedish reign over Finland, the island was notable for being a post transport base in the archipelago on the Finnish side. Mail was ferried by the inhabitants of Björkö to the islands of

Holmöarna Holmöarna ( Swedish, literally ''the islet islands'') is an island group in the Kvarken narrows of the Gulf of Bothnia between Sweden and Finland. The islands form part of Umeå Municipality in Västerbotten County. The islands have 75 year-round ...

, Sweden. They got reductions in taxes and exemption from military service for this (strategic) service. Ferry services to the regional capital

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Replot, which was connected to the mainland by a car ferry. In 1997, the Replot bridge finally connected also Björkö to the mainland by road. Finnish islands in the Baltic Korsholm Landforms of Ostrobothnia (administrative region) {{WesternFinland-geo-stub