Nastola 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 ...
. It was merged with the city of
Lahti
Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
on 1 January 2016.
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 ...
of
Southern Finland
Southern Finland ( fi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, sv, Södra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia.
History
O ...
, Nastola is part of the
Päijät-Häme
Päijät-Häme () is a region in Southern Finland south of the lake Päijänne. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Pirkanmaa, Central Finland, South Savo and Kymenlaakso. The biggest city in the region is Lahti. ...
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 had a population of (30 June 2015)
and covered an area of of which was 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 ...
was . Nastola is located between two major cities:
Lahti
Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
and
Kouvola
Kouvola () is a cities of Finland, city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki, Kymijoki River in the Regions of Finland, region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lapp ...
.
Kausala
Kausala is a village and administrative center in Iitti municipality in Päijänne Tavastia, Finland. Kausala has a population of 3,775, which makes it the largest village of the municipality in terms of population. The significance of Kausala for ...
, the administrative center of
Iitti
Iitti (; sv, Itis) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population d ...
, is away from Nastola in the direction of Kouvola.
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 ...
.
History
Ornamental items, presumed to date back to the 1200s, have been found in the village of
Ruuhijärvi. Although the items are of Karelian design, scholars agree that they are not necessarily indicative of Karelian settlement in Nastola. Additionally, English, German and Scandinavian coins have been found in
Immilä. Etymologic research indicates that the earliest settlers in Nastola originated from contemporary
Asikkala
Asikkala () is a municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Vääksy, at the shores of the Lake Päijänne. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. Asikkala's neighboring municipalities are Hà ...
and
Hollola
Hollola () is a municipality of Finland, located in the western part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality is unilingually Finnish and has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is .
H ...
, in addition to the surroundings of lake
Vanajavesi
Vanajavesi is a large lake in southern Finland, in the provinces of Pirkanmaa and Kanta-Häme. It is part of the Kokemäenjoki basin. The lake gathers waters from a wide area in the regions of Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper and parts of the Päijänn ...
; indeed, Ruuhijärvi, then covering most of what is now known as Nastola, became one of the quarters of the administrative parish of Asikkala in the 1500s.
The name of Nastola may be of
Karelian origin, referring to a Karelian male name ''Nasto'' (folk form of Anastasios). The first administrative center over the area was
Uusikylä ( sv, Nyby), which was also the name of an administrative unit within the
Hollola
Hollola () is a municipality of Finland, located in the western part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality is unilingually Finnish and has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is .
H ...
and later the
Asikkala
Asikkala () is a municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Vääksy, at the shores of the Lake Päijänne. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. Asikkala's neighboring municipalities are Hà ...
parish in the 15th century. The first church in the area was built in the village of Nastola (first mentioned in 1478), which gave its name to the chapel community and the later parish. Nastola became an independent parish in 1860.
Nastola was consolidated with Lahti in 2016.
Geography
![Immilän mylly2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Immil%C3%A4n_mylly2.jpg)
Nastola is wedged between the first and second
Salpausselkä
Salpausselkä (; "Bar Ridge") is an extensive ridge system left by the ice age in Southern Finland. It is a large terminal moraine formation that formed in front of the Baltic ice lake during the Younger Dryas period about 12,250–10,400 years ...
s, the former of which is a prominent feature in the terrain and landscape of the southern part of the municipality. In the west, it splits in two distinct ridges around the village of
Villähde, and reaches it highest point in the parish village at above sea level. Moving further east towards
Iitti
Iitti (; sv, Itis) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population d ...
, the ridge becomes narrower and its ridgelines steepen in the surroundings of
Uusikylä. The area between the Salpausselkäs is characterized by its
esker
An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Amer ...
s and
valley
A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...
s. The esker of Vahteristonmäki, reaching past lake
Kymijärvi further north into
Heinola
Heinola () is a town and a municipality of inhabitants () located in the eastern part of the Päijänne Tavastia region, Finland, near the borders of the South Savonia region and the Kymenlaakso region. It is the third largest municipality in ...
, peaks at above sea level in Nastola.
Till
image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...
is the dominant type of soil in central and northern Nastola, with
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
deposits mostly being concentrated to the south of the first Salpausselkä, as well as around the lakes of Ruuhijärvi, Sylvöjärvi and Oksjärvi. The till areas are dotted with
bedrock
In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet.
Definition
Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...
protrusions, such as the high Ukonvuori hill in the east. The rocks on the south side of the Salpausselkäs tend to be lower and more rounded, and the majority of the bedrock consists of
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
. All of the lakes of Nastola, which are also all part of the Kymijärvi
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...
, are situated to the north of the first Salpausselkä; to its south are several smaller streams of water.
List of villages
Arrajoki, Immilä, Koiskala, Lankila, Pyhäntaka, Ruuhijärvi,
Uusikylä, Vanaja, Villähde, Kirkonkylä, Rakokivi, Seesta- Luhtaanmaa, Järvinen, Tapiola.
Attractions
![Engel Makasiini](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Engel_Makasiini.jpg)
*
Pajulahti Sports Institute
Pajulahti Sports Institute ( fi, Liikuntakeskus Pajulahti) is a sports and leisure centre, situated in Nastola, Lahti, Finland. It is about an hour's drive away from Helsinki area, and fifteen minutes drive from Lahti city centre.
Pajulahti has a ...
* Anni Kaste Memorial stone
* Defenders of the home country memorial stone
* Nastola cemetery
* German memorial
* King's Ridge observation tower
* King's fountain
* Ruuhijärvi cultural landscape
* Mountain Troll's observation tower
* Engel's storehouse
* Immilä mill
* Kumia mill
* Nastola church
* Nastola history museum
*
Taarasti Art Center
Notable people from Nastola
*
Adelaïde Ehrnrooth
Lovisa Adelaïde Ehrnrooth (17 January 1826 – 31 May 1905) was a Finland, Finnish feminist and writer. Adelaïde Ehrnrooth was born in Nastola, one of the 16 children of an aristocratic family.''Suomen kulttuurihistoria'', p. 59. Editor in ch ...
, feminist author
*
Elsi Borg
Elsi Naemi Borg (October 3, 1893 – December 30, 1958) was a Finland, Finnish architect.
Life
She was born in Nastola and died in Helsinki. She graduated from Helsinki University of Technology in 1919.
She designed the infamous children’s hos ...
, architect
*
Eduard Polón
Ulrik Wilhelm Eduard Polón (16 June 1861 – 30 September 1930) was a Finnish business leader and a political patriot during the country's years of oppression. Under his leadership, a rubber industry was launched in the country. He was the found ...
, founder of
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
*
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Viktor Bottas (; born 28 August 1989) is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Alfa Romeo, having previously driven for Mercedes from to and Williams from to . Bottas has scored race wins and podiums. H ...
, Formula 1 driver
*
Veli-Matti Lindström
Veli-Matti Lindström (born 15 November 1983) is a Finnish former ski jumper. His career best achievement was a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in the team large hill event. He also won a silver medal in the team event ...
, ski jumper
References
External links
*
Municipality of Nastola– Official website
{{authority control
*Nastola
Former municipalities of Finland