Pohjaslahti is a village and 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 ...

at the time of its existence in the

Häme Province The Province of Häme ( fi, Hämeen lääni, sv, Tavastehus län) was a province of Finland from 1831 to 1997. In 1997 the southern parts with Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme was merged with the province of Uusimaa and Kymi into the new Provin ...

, now in the

Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa (; sv, Birkaland; la, Birkaria, link=no), also known as ''Tampere Region'' in government documents, is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme an ...

region. It was divided between

Vilppula Vilppula was a former municipality of Finland. Neighbouring Mänttä was merged into it on 1 January 2009 to form the municipality of Mänttä-Vilppula. The municipality was unilingually Finnish. It was located in the province of Western Finla ...

and

Virrat Virrat (; sv, Virdois) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region, and it is located north of Tampere and west of Jyväskylä. The distance between Virrat and Helsinki is . The town has a population of ...

in 1973. Pohjaslahti was the last rural municipality to be created in Finland, which happened in 1941. It bordered Vilppula,

Ruovesi Ruovesi is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Juupajoki, Mänttä-Vil ...

, Virrat and

Keuruu Keuruu (; sv, Keuru) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The popul ...

. It also bordered Pihlajavesi until 1969, when it was merged into Keuruu.

History

Pohjaslahti has existed at least since 1564, when it was mentioned as ''Pohialaxi''. A farm named Pohjaslahti was established earlier in the 16th century. At the time, it was a part of

, which was separated from

Pirkkala Pirkkala (; sv, Birkala) is a municipality of Finland. It is located some south-west from Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is , which makes ...

in 1565. Ruovesi was mainly settled by

Tavastians Tavastians ( fi, Hämäläiset, sv, Tavaster, russian: Емь, Yem, Yam) are a historic people and a modern subgroup (heimo) of the Finnish people. They live in areas of the historical province of Tavastia (Häme) and speak Tavastian dialects ...

and the dialects of Ruovesi and Pohjaslahti are

Tavastian dialects Tavastian dialects ( fi, Hämäläismurteet) are Western Finnish dialects spoken in parts of Western and Southern Finland. The dialect spoken in the city of Tampere is part of the Tavastian dialects. The Tavastian dialects have influenced other Fi ...

. Some settlers in the area were

Savonians Savonians ( fi, Savolaiset, Savonian: ''Savolaaset'', ''Savolaeset'') are a subgroup ( ''heimo'') of the Finnish people who live in the areas of the historical province of Savonia. History Savonians are descendants of Tavastian and Kareli ...

, whose influence can still be seen in the local dialect, e.g. the usage of the extra ''loi''-syllable in plural nouns (for example ''ristejä'' may be pronounced as ''ristilöitä''). Pohjaslahti became a separate parish in 1927 and a municipality in 1941. It was the last new rural municipality to be created in Finland, however some towns and ''kauppala''s were still created afterwards. The church, designed by Kauno Kallio, was opened in 1932. The altarpiece was painted by Urho Lehtinen. The municipality was divided between Vilppula and Virrat in 1973. Most of the municipality, including the village of Pohjaslahti itself, was given to Vilppula. Out of the 1006 residents there on the last day of the municipality's existence, 841 lived on the lands transferred to Vilppula and 165 on the lands transferred to Virrat. Vilppula merged with Mänttä in 2009 to form

Mänttä-Vilppula Mänttä-Vilppula ( sv, Mänttä-Vilppula, also ) is a town and municipality of Finland. The municipalities of Mänttä and Vilppula were consolidated into a single municipality on January 1, 2009. It is located in the Pirkanmaa region. The town h ...

Services

Pohjaslahti has a library and a small daycare center.

Education

Pohjaslahti had a school for grades 1-6 until 2014. Nowadays, the children attend school in Vilppula and Kotala. The school grounds have been used for various events since 2018.

Sights

An old mill by the Kangaskoski rapids acts as a small museum.

References

{{Authority control Former municipalities of Finland Mänttä-Vilppula Ruovesi