Haparanda Municipality (), () is a

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

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 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 ...

. 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 (). 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 def ...

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 def ...

") 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. Fol ...

to the north and

Kalix Municipality Kalix Municipality (, ) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden. Its seat is located in Kalix. In 1924 Töre Municipality was detached from Nederkalix Municipality, forming a municipality of its own. In 1967 the two units we ...

to the west. Haparanda Municipality is located on the western side of where 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 ...

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 wit ...

. On the other side of the

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

lies the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 ...

(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 from ...

's northernmost port, that honor most probably belonging to

Töre Töre (Kalix Language: ''te'or'') is a locality situated in Kalix Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,099 inhabitants as of 2010. Its harbour is the northernmost of the Bothnian Bay (and thus, of the Baltic Sea) that is accessible to ...

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 a ...

. The

Haparanda Archipelago National Park Haparanda Archipelago National Park ( sv, Haparanda skärgårds nationalpark) is a national park in Haparanda Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden. The park covers part of the Haparanda archipelago in the northeast of the Bothnian Bay near ...

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 P ...

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, Kataja, Seskarö, Skomakaren, Stora Hamnskär, Stora Hepokari and Torne-Furö.

Localities

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

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 __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

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 governing centre-right coalition the Alliance, consisting of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, t ...

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, a ...

3.8% *

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 foundation ...

2.3% * Liberal People's Party 1.5%

Twin towns – sister cities

Haparanda is twinned 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 Kovdor (russian: Ковдор, fi, Koutero) is a town and the administrative center of Kovdorsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, mostly known for its mining industry. Population: History By 1965, Kovdor was a work settlement in the distr ...

, 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 thro ...

, Lithuania

References

External links

Haparanda Municipality
- Official site
Haparanda-Tornio
- Official tourism site {{authority control Municipalities of Norrbotten County Meänkieli language municipalities