Kitee ( sv, Kides) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and 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 ...

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 ...

. It is located in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Eastern Finland Eastern Finland ( fi, Itä-Suomen lääni, sv, Östra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Oulu, Western Finland and Southern Finland. It also bordered Russia to the east. History On Septemb ...

and is part of the

North Karelia North Karelia ( fi, Pohjois-Karjala; sv, Norra Karelen) is a region in eastern Finland. It borders the regions of Kainuu, North Savo, South Savo and South Karelia, as well as Russia's Republic of Karelia. It is the easternmost region of Finlan ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

is . Neighbouring municipalities are

Parikkala Parikkala () is a municipality of Finland located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the South Karelia region, from Lappeenranta and from Joensuu. The town center of Parikkala is about from the Russian border. The municipality ...

Rääkkylä Rääkkylä (; Swedish also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of (), which make it the smallest municipality in North Karelia ...

Savonlinna Savonlinna (, , ; sv, Nyslott, lit=New Castle) is a town and a municipality of inhabitants in the southeast of Finland, in the heart of the Saimaa lake region, which is why the city is also nicknamed the "Capital of Saimaa". Together with Mikkel ...

and

Tohmajärvi Tohmajärvi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Neig ...

. The municipality is unilingually

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 ...

History

Kitee is known as the ''moonshine city of Finland'' due to its legal and illegal

moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...

manufacturing.

Villages

* Haapasalo * Haarajärvi * Hammaskallio * Heinoniemi * Jaakkima * Juurikka * Kantosyrjä * Kiteenkylä * Kiteenlahti * Kontiola * Kunonniemi * Lahdenkylä * Leinovaara * Loukunvaara * Misola * Muljula * Niinikumpu * Nivunki * Närsäkkälä * Ojamäki * Piimäjärvi * Potoskavaara * Puhos * Puhossalo * Päätye * Riihijärvi * Rokkala * Ruppovaara * Satulavaara * Suoparsaari * Suorlahti * Särkijärvi * Säynejärvi * Taipale * Tasapää * Tolosenmäki * Varmoniemi * Välivaara

Notable residents

Nils Ludvig Arppe Nils Ludvig Arppe (19 December 1804 — 9 December 1861) was a Finnish industrialist. Arppe studied jurisprudence but returned in his home area leading a sawmill together with his brother-in-law Johan Fabritius. Eventually he owned many sawmills ...

, industrialist *

Tuomas Holopainen Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born 25 December 1976) is a Finnish songwriter, record producer and musician, best known as one of the founders and the leader, keyboardist and songwriter of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that hi ...

, musician *

Jukka Nevalainen Jukka Antero "Julius" Nevalainen (born 21 April 1978, in Kitee, Finland) is the former drummer in the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Personal life He spent his early years in the city of Kitee. His music teacher at school told him t ...

, musician *

Tarja Turunen Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli (born 17 August 1977), known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish. She is a soprano with a three and a half o ...

, musician *

Tomek Valtonen Tomasz Valtonen (born 8 January 1980) is a Polish-born Finnish former professional ice hockey forward. He is currently the head coach for the HK Dukla Ingema Michalovce of the highest Slovak Tipos Extra League and the Poland men's national i ...

, ice hockey coach and player *

Emppu Vuorinen Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Nev ...

, musician *

Sami Vänskä Sami Vänskä (born 26 September 1976) is the former bassist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Background Vänskä started playing bass when he attended music school when he was nine years old. Rush, Faith No More, Red Hot Chili Pepper ...

, musician *

Antti Aalto Antti Sami Aalto (born March 4, 1975) is a Finnish retired professional ice hockey player who played for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the National Hockey League. Playing career Aalto was drafted by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the 1993 N ...

, ski-jumper

References

External links

Town of Kitee
– official website Cities and towns in Finland Populated places established in 1631 1631 establishments in Sweden {{EasternFinland-geo-stub