Nykarleby (; fi, Uusikaarlepyy) 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

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 Ostrobothnia

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 is bilingual, with the majority speaking

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

() and the minority

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 ...

(). The largest employers in the town are Prevex (member of

KWH Group KWH Group Ltd (in Swedish KWH-koncernen Ab, in Finnish KWH-yhtymä Oy) is a Finnish family-owned company based in Ostrobothnia that manufactures and markets abrasives and plastic products ( water traps) and provides forwarding and logistics serv ...

), a packaging and piping products manufacturer, Westwood, which manufactures wooden staircases, and in the village of Jeppo, KWH Mirka, a coated abrasives manufacturer. A Swedish-speaking art school (') is located in Nykarleby town.

History

The town is located at the mouth of the Lapua river. The name of the place was ''Lapuan Joensuu'' or "mouth of Lapua river". The municipality was founded in 1607 by merging parts of

Pedersöre Pedersöre ( fi, Pedersören kunta, before 1989 ) is a municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Bennäs. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers a ...

and

Vörå Vörå (; fi, Vöyri) is a municipality of Finland. In 2011, it was created from the municipalities of Vörå-Maxmo and Oravais. Vörå-Maxmo was created in 2007 from the municipalities of (old) Vörå and Maxmo. It is located in the province o ...

into a new parish. In 1620, the small village of Lepua was chartered as a city, with the Swedish name Nykarleby, which means "New Karleby", and the Finnish name is a Finnicized version of the same. The town was chartered in the same year as the nearby city of

Kokkola Kokkola (; sv, Karleby, ) is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. The town is located in the Central Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of ...

, or in Swedish, ''Gamlakarleby'' (later, ''Karleby''). The battles of Nykarleby and Jutas were fought there between Swedish and Russian troops during the

Finnish War The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic ...

in 1808.

Zacharias Topelius Zachris Topelius (, ; 14 January 181812 March 1898) was a Finnish author, poet, journalist, historian, and rector of the University of Helsinki who wrote novels related to Finnish history. Given name Zacharias is his baptismal name, and this ...

, an important author in Finland, was born in Nykarleby. In 1995, the small, idyllic town was ranked as "the happiest city in Finland" in a controversial article in

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

, the leading newspaper of Finland. Nykarleby has the highest concentration of Ukrainian speakers in Finland.

Politics

Results of the

2011 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout of 31.2%. The ...

in Nykarleby: *

Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finlan ...

63.8% *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

24.9% *

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

4.6% *

True Finns The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

2.0% * Centre Party 1.6% * Left Alliance 1.5% *

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti Häkkänen Elina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finnis ...

0.7% *

Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the polit ...

0.6%

Notable people

List of notable people that were born in, or have lived in, Nykarleby. *

, (1818–1898) author *

Erik Bergman Erik Valdemar Bergman (24 November 1911, in Nykarleby – 24 April 2006, in Helsinki) was a composer of classical music from Finland. Bergman's style ranged widely, from Romanticism in his early works (many of which he later prohibited from bein ...

, (1911–2006), composer * Gösta Ågren, (1936–2020) poet and director *

Leo Komarov Leonid Aleksandrovich Komarov (russian: Леонид Александрович Комаров, fi, Leonid "Leo" Aleksandrovitš Komarov; born 23 January 1987) is a professional ice hockey centre for Luleå HF of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL ...

, (born 1987) ice hockey player * Sandra Eriksson, (born 1989) a middle distance runner *

Rory Penttinen Rory Penttinen (born 30 October 1979) is a Finnish racing driver born in Nykarleby, Finland who in 2021 drives in the Asian Le Mans Series with United Autosports and European Le Mans Series with Graff Racing. Racing career Penttinen's interna ...

, (born 1979) racing driver

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Nykarleby is twinned with: * Hammel, Denmark *

Steinkjer Steinkjer is a municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Steinkjer (town), town of Steinkjer which is located on th ...

, Norway *

Sollefteå Sollefteå () is a locality and the seat of Sollefteå Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 8,562 inhabitants in 2010. The earliest written account on Sollefteå is found in a script dating back to 1270. During this time the name o ...

, Sweden

References

External links

Town of Nykarleby
– Official website
A comprehensive collection of stories and pictures from Nykarleby's history
{{authority control Grand Duchy of Finland Cities and towns in Finland Populated coastal places in Finland 1620 establishments in Sweden