Saari (literally ''

Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

'') is a former municipality of

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It was located in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Southern Finland Southern Finland (, ) 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 On September 1, 1997 the Uusimaa Province, the Ky ...

and is part of the

South Karelia South Karelia (or ''Southern Karelia'', ; ) is a Regions of Finland, region of Finland. It borders the regions of Kymenlaakso, Southern Savonia, South Savo and North Karelia, as well as Russia (Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast). Hist ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. The municipality had a population of 1,411 (2003) and covered an area of 183.08 km² of which 15.70 km² is water. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

was 8.4 inhabitants per km². The municipality was unilingually Finnish. Saari was annexed to

Parikkala Parikkala () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland located in the provinces of Finland, province of Southern Finland and is part of the South Karelia regions of Finland, region, from Lappeenranta and from Joensuu. The town ce ...

and Uukuniemi municipalities on 1 January 2005. The new municipality was named Parikkala.

Notable people

Aleksanteri Aava Aleksanteri Aava, born Aleksanteri (Santeri) Kuparinen, (18 April 1883 – 11 March 1956) was a Finnish poet and smallholder. Aava was born in Sakkola in the Grand Duchy of Finland. His parents were Matti Juhonpoika Kuparinen, a farmer and a t ...

(1883–1956), poet * Jorma Härkönen (born 1956), middle-distance runner * Olavi Litmanen (born 1945), footballer and the father of

Jari Litmanen Jari Olavi Litmanen (; born 20 February 1971) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an inter ...

Suvi Mikkonen Suvi Mikkonen (born 11 July 1988, in SaariSuvi Mikkonen
(in Finnish)) is a Finnish

(born 1988), taekwondo practitioner * (born 1934), philologist and university teacher

External links

Parikkala, Saari and Uukuniemi
Populated places disestablished in 2005 Former municipalities of Finland {{SouthernFinland-geo-stub