Lapua (; sv, Lappo) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located next to the Lapua River in the region of

South Ostrobothnia South Ostrobothnia ( fi, Etelä-Pohjanmaa; sv, Södra Österbotten) is one of the 19 regions of Finland. It borders the regions of Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Pirkanmaa, and Satakunta. Among the Finnish regions, South O ...

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

History

In the early 14th century, permanent settlement began to spread to the Lapuanjoki Valley. Residents came from, among other areas, the settlement center of Suur-Sastamala in Upper Satakunta, which had good land and water connections to the north. The focus of Ostrobothnia's settlement was initially on the lower reaches of the Kyrönjoki River. The proximity to the sea of the Kvarken area, which is rich in natural resources, was especially attractive. Lapua at that time had some Lapps who considered the region their wilderness area. The name Lapuan was probably given by the coastal Swedes precisely because of the Lapps who lived in the area. The Battle of Lapua was fought between Swedish and Russian forces near the outskirts of the town on 14 July 1808 as part of the Finnish War. Lapua is the seat of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Lapua. The Lapua Cathedral, designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, was built in 1827. In the 1930s the radical

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

'' Lapua Movement'' was founded and named after the town.

Lapua State Cartridge Factory

Lapua is also home to a large

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

factory, which commenced operations in 1927 as the ''State Cartridge Factory''. This factory was the primary supplier of

to the Finnish Army during the Winter War and World War II. An explosion occurred in a warehouse of this factory on 13 April 1976, resulting in the deaths of 40 employees. After the explosion, the factory was relocated away from the town centre and continues production today as Nammo Lapua, part of the Nordic Ammunition Group ( Nammo). The original site of the factory and the surviving buildings are now an arts centre, a library and a theater.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Lapua is twinned with: * Hagfors, Sweden *

Hohenlockstedt Hohenlockstedt is a municipality in the district of Steinburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately 8 km northeast of Itzehoe. Hohenlockstedt was formerly known as ''Lockstedter Lager'' and was used as a training area ...

, Germany * Lantana, Florida, United States *

Rakvere Rakvere is a town in northern Estonia and the administrative centre of the Lääne-Viru ''maakond'' (county), 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. Rakvere is the 8th most populous urban area in Estonia. Rakvere has a tota ...

, Estonia *

Kiskőrös Kiskőrös ( sk, Malý Kereš / Kiškereš, yi, קישקעריש ''Kishkerish'', german: Körösch, hr, Kireš) is a town in Bács-Kiskun, Hungary. Kiskőrös is situated between the Danube and Tisza rivers at around . Sándor Petőfi, the nati ...

, Hungary

Notable people

Anneli Jäätteenmäki Anneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki (born 11 February 1955) is a Finnish politician who was the first female Prime Minister of Finland from 17 April 2003 to 24 June 2003. From 2004 until 2019, she served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) ...

* Vihtori Kosola *

Teemu Mäki Teemu Tuomas Mäki (born 14 October 1967) is a Finland, Finnish visual art, artist, theatre director and writer. He was born in Lapua, and was one of the first Finnish artists to gain a doctorate (Finnish Art Academy 2005). In 2008–2013 he was ...

Esko Nikkari Esko Nikkari (23 November 1938 – 17 December 2006) was a prolific Finnish actor who made more than 70 appearances on film and television. He was born in Lapua, and made his screen debut in 1974 in the movie ''Karvat''. Nikkari was a workhorse ...

Jutta Urpilainen Jutta Pauliina Urpilainen (born 4 August 1975 in Lapua) is a Finnish politician. She was the first female chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, which she led from 2008 to 2014. She was the Minister of Finance of Finland from 2011 to ...

History

Lapua State Cartridge Factory

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Notable people

See also

References

External links