Leivonmäki 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

Central Finland Central Finland ( fi, Keski-Suomi; sv, Mellersta Finland) is a Regions of Finland, region ( / ) in Finland. It borders the regions of Päijät-Häme, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Northern Savonia, No ...

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 ...

. It became a part of

Joutsa Joutsa is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Finland region. Jyväskylä is located about north of the Joutsa municipality. The municipality has a population of () and covers an ...

in 2008. It is located south-east from

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

. It is known for its marshy grounds and its

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

. The municipality was 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 ...

Villages

Etu-Ikola,

Havumäki Havumäki was a village within the municipality of Leivonmäki, Finland, itself a small town of only 1162 people (2003), until Leivonmäki was incorporated into Joutsa in 2008. Located in the Central Finland region, approximately from Helsinki, H ...

Kivisuo Kivisuo is a village in the municipality of Joutsa in middle-Finland. It is located about 10 kilometers east from Leivonmäki Leivonmäki is a former municipality of Finland in the Central Finland region. It became a part of Joutsa in 2008. ...

, Lapinkylä, Leivonmäki, Martinkylä,

Rutalahti Rutalahti is a village in Leivonmäki, since 2008 a part of the municipality of Joutsa in Central Finland. The distance to Jyväskylä is 40 km. The countryside festival ''Suo Anteeks'' has been organized two times, 2005 and 2009. Geograph ...

, Savenaho, Selänpohja, Taka-Ikola

History

Leivonmäki was first mentioned in 1564 as ''Leijuomeki''. Its name means "skylark's hill", though according to

Väinö Voionmaa Kaarle Väinö Voionmaa (to 1906 Wallin) (12 February 1869 in Jyväskylä – 24 May 1947 in Helsinki) was a Finnish professor, diplomat, member of the parliament of Finland, senator, minister and chancellor. He also was one of the most influentia ...

, the name is intermediately derived from the farm name ''Leivonen'' in

Sääksmäki Sääksmäki is a village and a former municipality, currently part of Valkeakoski in the Pirkanmaa region of Western Finland. A past president of Finland, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, the Finnish film producer and director Veikko Aaltonen, eminent Finn ...

. Leivonmäki has also been known as ''Levonmäki'' (roughly "resting hill"), which Terho Itkonen considered to be the original name. Almost all old documents call the settlement ''Leivonmäki'' or a variant of it, therefore the variant ''Levonmäki'' may be Savonian influence, as ''leivo'' is sometimes pronounced as ''leevo'' in the Savonian dialects. Leivonmäki was a part of the

Sysmä Sysmä () is a municipality of Finland. It is situated in the Päijät-Häme region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Asikkala, Hartol ...

parish until it was transferred to the new Hartola parish together with

in 1784. Leivonmäki acquired a chapel in 1772 and a church in 1850. It became a separate municipality in 1870, but ecclesiastically it was still subordinate to Hartola until 1880. Leivonmäki was consolidated with Joutsa in 2008.

Twinnings

Leivonmäki was twinned with Estonian Municipality

Haaslava Parish Haaslava Parish was a rural municipality in Tartu County (Estonia), located southeast from the city of Tartu. Administrative center was in Kurepalu village. From the north the parish was bordered by river Emajõgi. From southwest by Tartu–P ...

References

External links

Municipality of Joutsa
– Official website Joutsa Populated places disestablished in 2008 Former municipalities of Finland {{WesternFinland-geo-stub