Pargas ( fi, Parainen) is a town and municipality of Finland, in the

Archipelago Sea The Archipelago Sea ( fi, Saaristomeri, sv, Skärgårdshavet) is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland, within Finnish territorial waters. By some definitions it contains the largest ar ...

, the biggest archipelago in the world by the number of islands, 50,000. The big limestone mine in Pargas is the base of the main industry and except for the central parts, the municipality is still mostly rural. Pargas is located in Åboland in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. It was created as Väståboland on 1 January 2009 in Southwest Finland, when the municipalities of Pargas, Nagu, Korpo, Houtskär and Iniö were merged into a single municipality. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The town is

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

with a 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 ...

as their native language.

Economy

Pargas has a large limestone industry, with the industry and Nordkalk as an important local employer, agriculture employs many in the rural regions of the municipality. Furthermore, the shipping industry is a relevant industry in the region. The municipality is suffering from high debt.

History

Archaeological excavations revealed that the vikings used to travel to the archipelago in the 9th century.

Karin Thomasdotter Karin Thomasdotter (Swedish; fi, Karin Thomaksentytär; 1610–1697) was an official Vogt (court advocate) and länsman, in the province of Finland that was then part of Sweden. Her position as an official was near to unique for a woman of her ti ...

(1610–1697), who served as vogt in Pargas for over forty years, was one of the longest serving vogts, and also one of only two females to have the position in contemporary Finland.

Recent history

On 1 January 2009, Pargas, Nagu, Korpo, Houtskär and Iniö merged to form the new municipality of ''Väståboland'' ( fi, Länsi-Turunmaa).

Name dispute

Shortly after the merge, people started debating if the ''Väståboland'' name was the right name for the merged municipality; those arguing against the ''Väståboland'' name proposed ''Pargas'' as a 'new' name. The former municipalities could not agree on a new name, and Pargas insisted on a change, so the state had to step in and decided that the name would be ''Väståboland''. The debates became heated and a referendum was arranged to decide what name the municipality should have in May 2011. The result of the referendum showed that 57,7% of the voters supported ''Pargas'' and 40.1% of voters supported ''Väståboland''. Though the overall majority supported changing the name, there was an overwhelming support for the name ''Väståboland'' in 4 out of 5 of the former municipalities. In Iniö, only 1 voter out of 173 total voted for ''Pargas'', in all four, 62 out of 2060, while in Pargas proper, 74,5% voted for ''Pargas''. The municipality council ( sv, "Fullmäktige") decided on 14 June 2011 in favour of the majority population and decided to rename the municipality ''Pargas'' on 1 January 2012. The Council considered taking this issue up again for debate and vote. The council made a re-vote on 6 September 2011 with 25 votes for ''Pargas'', 17 for ''Väståboland'' and 1 blank vote.

Merge with Kimitoön

The possibility of merging with Kimitoön to form a single municipality that would include the entire Åboland archipelago has been discussed since 2007, with interest being reignited by the healthcare reforms during the Sipilä Cabinet.

Climate

Pargas has a humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification ''Dfb'') closely bordering on a

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(''Cfb'').

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Pargas is twinned with: * Haninge Municipality, Sweden

References

External links

Town of Pargas
– Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Pargas Cities and towns in Finland Populated coastal places in Finland Populated places established in 2009