Haparanda Municipality (), () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

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 ...

in northern Sweden. Its

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

is located in

Haparanda Haparanda (; fi, Haaparanta, , aspen shore or bank) is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland. Haparanda had a population of 4,856 in 2010, out of a municipal total of ...

(). In 1967 the "

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

of Haparanda" was merged with the rural municipalities Karl Gustav and Nedertorneå. Since 1971 Haparanda, like all other municipalities of Sweden, is a municipality of unitary type. However, it prefers to use the title ''stad'' ("

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

") for the whole territory, including the non-urban parts.

Geography

In Sweden, Haparanda Municipality borders

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. F ...

to the north and Kalix Municipality to the west. Haparanda Municipality is located on the western side of where the Torne River discharges into the

Bay of Bothnia The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and wi ...

. On the other side of the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

lies the Finnish town

Tornio Tornio (; sv, Torneå; sme, Duortnus ; smn, Tuárnus) is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is wa ...

(Swedish: ''Torneå''). Haparanda and Tornio jointly call themselves "EuroCity". Although Haparanda has a boat harbor, it is not accessible for larger vessels and is not, as often thought, the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...

's northernmost port, that honor most probably belonging to Töre further west on the Swedish

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

. The municipality includes the

Haparanda archipelago The Haparanda archipelago ( sv, Haparanda skärgård) is a group of 792 Swedish islands in the north part of the Bay of Bothnia. The islands are used for recreation in the summer months. They are icebound during the winter. Location The north of ...

, with 652 islands in the bay of Bothnia, part of the larger

Norrbotten archipelago The Norrbotten archipelago ( sv, Norrbotten skärgård) is a group of Swedish islands in the north part of the Bay of Bothnia. A few of the islands have small permanent populations, but most are used only for recreation in the summer months. They ...

. The Haparanda Archipelago National Park lies within the Haparanda group of islands. It includes the larger islands of

Sandskär Sandskär is an island in the northeast of the Swedish sector of the Bay of Bothnia. Once used as a base for fishing and sealing, it is now part of a national park. Location Sandskär is the largest island in the Haparanda Archipelago National Pa ...

and

Seskar Furö Seskar Furö is an uninhabited island in the northeast of the Swedish sector of the Bay of Bothnia. It is now part of a national park. Location Seskar Furö is the second largest island in the Haparanda Archipelago National Park ( sv, Haparanda ...

, and some smaller islands and skerries. Some of the other islands in the Haparanda archipelago include

Hanhinkari Hanhinkari is an island in the northeast of the Swedish sector of the Bothnian Bay, in the Haparanda archipelago. Location Hanhinkari lies in the Haparanda archipelago, the part of the Norrbotten archipelago that is included in the Haparanda Mun ...

Kataja Kataja is an islet south of Haparanda in Norrbotten. It is the easternmost point of Sweden and it is part of the Haparanda archipelago. The islet has an area of . It is about long and wide. The name "Kataja" is Finnish for juniper. The island i ...

Seskarö Seskarö (Finnish: ''Seittenkaari'') is a locality situated in Haparanda Municipality Haparanda Municipality (), () is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Haparanda (). In 1967 the "City of Haparanda" w ...

Skomakaren Skomakaren is an island in the northeast of the Swedish sector of the Bothnian Bay, in the Haparanda archipelago. Location Skomakaren ("shoemaker") is also called Suutari by the local people. It lies in the central part of the Haparanda archipela ...

Stora Hamnskär Stora Hamnskär is an island in the northeast of the Swedish sector of the Bothnian Bay, in the Haparanda archipelago. Location Stora Hamnskär lies in the Haparanda archipelago, the part of the Norrbotten archipelago that is included in the Hapa ...

Stora Hepokari Stora Hepokari is an island in the northeast of the Swedish sector of the Bothnian Bay, in the Haparanda archipelago. Location Stora Hepokari lies in the Haparanda archipelago, the part of the Norrbotten archipelago that is included in the Hapar ...

and

Torne-Furö Torne-Furö is an island in the northeast of the Swedish sector of the Bothnian Bay, in the Haparanda archipelago. Location Torne-Furö lies in the Haparanda archipelago, the part of the Norrbotten archipelago that is included in the Haparanda ...

Localities

There are five localities (or urban areas) in Haparanda Municipality:Statistics Sweden as of December 31, 2005
/ref> The municipal seat in

bold In typography, emphasis is the strengthening of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text, to highlight them. It is the equivalent of prosody stress in speech. Methods and use The most common methods in ...

Politics and government

Distribution of the 35 seats in the municipal council after the 2010 election: *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

21 *

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

6 * Centre Party 4 * Left Party 3 * Christian Democrats 1 Results of the

2010 Swedish general election General elections were held in Sweden on 19 September 2010 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. The main contenders of the election were the Cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt, governing centre-right coalition the The Alliance (Sweden), Alliance, c ...

in Haparanda: *

60.4% *

17.2% * Centre Party 7.3% * Left Party 4.3% *

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply ...

3.8% * Christian Democrats 2.6% *

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundati ...

2.3% * Liberal People's Party 1.5%

Twin towns – sister cities

Haparanda is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Hammerfest Hammerfest (; sme, Hámmerfeasta ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hammerfe ...

, Norway * Kovdor, Russia *

Širvintos Širvintos () is a city in Vilnius County in the eastern part of Lithuania. It is the administrative center of the Širvintos district municipality. The word ''Širvintos'' is the plural form of the name of the Širvinta River, which flows th ...

, Lithuania

References

External links