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 The Province of Häme ( fi, Hämeen lääni, sv, Tavastehus län) was a province of Finland from 1831 to 1997. In 1997 the southern parts with Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme was merged with the province of Uusimaa and Kymi into the new Provin ...

, now in

Tavastia Proper Tavastia or Tavastland may refer to: * Häme (Swedish: ''Tavastland'', Latin: ''Tavastia'') * Tavastia (historical province), a historical province of the kingdom of Sweden, located in modern-day Finland * Tavastia (constituency), formerly Tavas ...

. It was split between

Forssa Forssa is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located almost in the centre of a triangle defined by the three largest major cities in Finland (Helsinki, Turku and Tampere), in the Tavastia Proper region, and which is crossed by Highway 2 ...

and

Urjala Urjala (; sv, Urjala, also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region, near the town of Forssa. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring m ...

in 1969, most of the land was given to Forssa. In 1979, Koijärvi and the homonymous lake became known for the Koijärvi movement, which spawned the political party Vihreät.

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 grammar, an adessive case ( abbreviated ; from Latin '' adesse'' "to be present (at)": ''ad'' "at" + ''esse'' "to be") is a grammatical case generally denoting location at, upon, or adjacent to the referent of the noun; the term is most frequent ...

, in modern Finnish orthography written ''Kojolla''. Many

Tavastian dialects Tavastian dialects ( fi, Hämäläismurteet) are Western Finnish dialects spoken in parts of Western and Southern Finland. The dialect spoken in the city of Tampere is part of the Tavastian dialects. The Tavastian dialects have influenced other Fi ...

have an apocope 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.

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 confluenc ...

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