Koijärvi is a former municipality of

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 ...

in the former Häme Province, now in Tavastia Proper. It was split between Forssa and Urjala in 1969, most of the land was given to Forssa. In 1979, Koijärvi and the homonymous lake became known for the

Koijärvi movement The Koijärvi Movement ( fi, Koijärvi-liike, ) was a Finnish environmental movement that started in the spring of 1979. Its objective was to prevent the draining of near Forssa, an important bird habitat. The struggle lasted for two years and br ...

, which spawned the political party

Vihreät The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the polit ...

Geography

Villages

*Kojo (Koijärven kirkonkylä) *Raitoo *Lempää *Kalsu *Matku *Peräjoki *Saviniemi *Suonpää *Vuoltu

Lakes

The homonymous lake Koijärvi, from which the Koijoki river starts, is known for the birds which make their nests by it.

Distances

*Forssa: ~20 km *Hämeenlinna: 70 km *Tampere: 75 km *Turku: 95 km *Pori: 110 km *Helsinki: 130 km

History

Before separation

Koijärvi is named after a nearby lake. While ''Koijärvi'' literally means "moth lake", it is not the original name: it was most likely ''Koivujärvi'' or "birch lake" instead. The main village, Kojo, has existed at least since the 17th century. The first mention of it was in 1600 as ''Quoiuull'', "at Kojo" ( adessive case, in modern Finnish orthography written ''Kojolla''. Many Tavastian dialects have an

apocope In phonology, apocope () is the loss (elision) of a word-final vowel. In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any final sound (including consonants) from a word. Etymology ''Apocope'' comes from the Greek () from () "cutting off", from ...

of ''a'', pronouncing it as ''Kojol''). The area was mainly within the Tammela parish, originally called Porras.

Independent municipality

Koijärvi became a separate municipality in 1923. It was formed out of parts of Tammela and Urjala. Forssa was also separated from Tammela in the same year. The old meeting house in Kojo was converted into a church in the 16th of December, 1923. The altarpiece is painted by Elias Muukka. The organ was made in

Kangasala Kangasala is a city in Finland which is situated about 16 kilometres East of Tampere. The city was founded in 1865 and had a population of people as of . Kangasala covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Finnish auth ...

in 1968, while the bells were made in

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl ( rus, Ярослáвль, p=jɪrɐˈsɫavlʲ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence ...

and were originally used in a church built for Russian soldiers in Tammisaari. Koijärvi was one of the two municipalities without a coat of arms in the 60s, the other being Uudenkaupungin maalaiskunta.

Merger

The Koijärvi municipality was dissolved in 1969. Most of it, including Kojo, was transferred to Forssa in the south, while small portions of the north were given to Urjala.

Services

Most of Koijärvi's services are located in Kojo.

Education

Kojo has a school for grades 1-6 (''ala-aste''). A daycare is located in the same building.

Commercial

There is a small grocery store in Kojo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koijarvi Forssa Former municipalities of Finland