Enontekiö (; sme, Eanodat ; sv, Enontekis; smn, Iänudâh; sms, Jeänõk) is a municipality in the Finnish part of

Lapland Lapland may refer to: Places *Lapland or Sápmi, an ethno-cultural region stretching over northern Fennoscandia (parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia) **Lapland (Finland) (''Lappi''/''Lappland''), a Finnish region *** Lapland (former pr ...

with approx. inhabitants. It is situated in the outermost northwest of the country and occupies a large and very sparsely populated area of about between the

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 Norwegian border. Finland's highest point, the

Halti Halti ( fi, Halti, rarely Haltiatunturi, sme, Háldičohkka, sv, Haldefjäll) is a fell at the border between Norway and Finland. The peak (elevation ) of the fell, called ''Ráisduattarháldi'', is in Norway, on the border between the munici ...

fell with a height of above the mean sea level, lies in the north of Enontekiö, where the municipality occupies a part of the

Scandinavian Mountains The Scandinavian Mountains or the Scandes is a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula. The western sides of the mountains drop precipitously into the North Sea and Norwegian Sea, forming the fjords of Norway, whereas to the ...

. The administrative centre of Enontekiö is the village of Hetta. About one fifth of the community's population are

Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

. Enontekiö's main industries are tourism and reindeer husbandry.

Geography

Location and dimensions

Enontekiö is located in the region of Lapland in the outermost northwest tip of Finland. The salient between the

and Norwegian borders, which is occupied by the municipality of Enontekiö, is called ''Käsivarsi'' (Finnish for "arm"), because before World War II, Finland's borders had the shape of a woman's figure ('' Suomi-neito'') and the area looked like her raised right arm. The municipality occupies a large and sparsely populated area of (more than three times the area of Luxembourg). Thus Enontekiö is Finland's third-largest municipality in size, after Inari and Sodankylä, and with a population density of only , it is the second-most sparsely populated municipality, after Savukoski. Enontekiö's neighbouring municipalities are Inari in the east, Kittilä in the southeast, and Muonio in the south; on the Swedish side in the west, there is the municipality of

Kiruna (; se, Giron ; fi, Kiiruna ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norr ...

and on the Norwegian side in the north, there are

Storfjord Storfjord ( se, Omasvuotna ; fkv, Omasvuono) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hatteng. Other villages in Storfjord include Elvevoll, Oteren, and Skibotn. T ...

, Gáivuotna ( Kåfjord),

Nordreisa Nordreisa ( se, Ráisa ; fkv, Raisi) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Storslett. Other villages include O ...

, and

Kautokeino Kautokeino ( no, Kautokeino; se, Guovdageaidnu ; fkv, Koutokeino; fi, Koutokeino) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Guovdageaidnu/Kautokeino. Other villages ...

. Enontekiö shares a border of more than with the two adjacent states. The border to Sweden is formed by the river

Muonionjoki The Muonio ( fi, Muonionjoki; sv, Muonio älv ; fit, Muonionväylä) is a river in northern Finland and Sweden. It is a tributary of the Tornio. Together the two rivers form the national border between Finland and Sweden Sweden, formal ...

and its tributary, Könkämäeno.

Villages

The main village of Enontekiö is the settlement of Hetta in the south, with approx. 530 inhabitants. There is no village with the name of Enontekiö, but Hetta is often called the municipality's name. Other important places are the village of Kilpisjärvi, which is located near the border triangle of Finland-Sweden-Norway, as well as Karesuvanto and

Palojoensuu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , imagesize = 240px , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size ...

, both of which are located at the Muonionjoki at the Swedish border. Enontekiö's villages are concentrated in the southern area and along the banks of the rivers Könkämäeno and Muonionjoki in the west of the municipality. Often, there is a corresponding village on the Swedish side of the river, bearing the same name (or the Swedish form of the name), e.g. Karesuvanto/Karesuando. In contrast, the part of the Käsivarsi Mountains away from the rivers is almost completely uninhabited. The following villages belong to Enontekiö (Sami name, if available, in parentheses): * Hetta (''Heahttá'') * Jatuni (''Jáhton'') * Karesuvanto (''Gárasavvon'') *

Kelottijärvi Kelottijärvi is a village and lake in the municipality of Enontekiö in Lapland in north-western Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shar ...

* Ketomella * Kilpisjärvi (''Gilbbesjávri'') * Kultima (''Gulddán'') * Kuttanen (''Guhttás'') * Leppäjärvi (''Leaibejávri'') * Luspa (''Luspi'') * Markkina (''Boaresmárkan'') * Maunu (''Mávdna'') * Muotkajärvi (''Muotkejávri'') * Näkkälä (''Neahčil'') * Nartteli * Nunnanen (''Njunnás'') * Palojärvi (''Bálojávri'') *

Palojoensuu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , imagesize = 240px , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_size = , image_seal = , seal_size ...

(''Bálojohnjálbmi'') * Peltovuoma (''Bealdovuopmi'') * Raittijärvi * Ropinsalmi * Saivomuotka * Sonkamuotka * Vähäniva *

Vuontisjärvi Vuontisjärvi (; se, Vuottesjávri) is a small lake and a village located in Finnish Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It belongs to Kemijoki main catchment area.Yli-Kyrö

Topography

In its northern tip, Enontekiö is the only Finnish municipality that includes part of the Scandinavian Mountains. Through that and through its location in the far north of Finland, it is geologically and scenically very different from the rest of the country.

, the highest mountain of Finland with a height of 1,324 m, is located in Enontekiö, together with all 21 other mountains higher than in the country. Besides Haltitunturi, probably the best known and scenically most distinctive mountain is the Saana with a height of , which rises above the village of Kilpisjärvi. The southern part of the municipality is less mountainous, but some single fjells (''tunturi'', which means hills towering above the timber line) rise above the otherwise rather flat surrounding area. Below, a part of the

Pallastunturi Pallastunturi is a group of seven fells in the municipalities of Muonio and Enontekiö in Lapland, Finland. The highest peak is Taivaskero, which is also highest peak of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park and whole Lapland excluding Käsivarsi ar ...

–

Ounastunturi Ounastunturi is a fell in Finland. It is situated in the sub-region Tunturi Lapland of the Lapland region, in the north of the country, about north of the capital Helsinki. It lies in the northern part of the Pallas-Yllästunturi National Pa ...

-massif extends into Enontekiö's territory. A little more than 5% of the municipality's area consists of water. Several large rivers originate in Enontekiö: The

Ounasjoki The Ounasjoki ( se, Ovnnesjohka) is the Kemijoki's largest tributary and is Finland's longest single river tributary. It is also the largest river entirely within its borders. Ounasjoki is approximately in length, and the catchment area is , 27% ...

Ivalojoki The Ivalo River ( fi, Ivalojoki, sme, Avviljohka, smn, Avveeljuuhâ) is a river that flows through upper Lapland into Lake Inari. The Ivalo River starts from the Korsatunturi hugging the border between the communities of Inari and Enonteki� ...

, and one of the headstreams of the Tenojoki have their sources in the municipality. Enontekiö owes its name to them: ''Eno'' is an old Finnish word for "major river" and ''tekiö'' is derived from the verb ''tehdä'' ("to make"). All of the 825 lakes in the area are rather small. The largest lakes are the

Pöyrisjärvi Pöyrisjärvi a medium-sized lake in the Kemijoki main catchment area in the Enontekiö municipality of Finland, close to the border with Norway.Kilpisjärvi near the village with the same name, and the Ounasjärvi near Hetta.

Flora and fauna

The vegetation of Enontekiö is very meagre, due to the extreme northern latitude. The northern border of the natural geographic range of the

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

approx. matches the southern border of the municipality; the range of the pine ends only north of Hetta, too. North of that, only birches grow. The timber line is approximately ; above that, a tundra-like vegetation predominates. Heaths extends above timber line. The lower heathlands are dominated by shrubs such as Betula nana,

Vaccinium myrtillus ''Vaccinium myrtillus'' or European blueberry is a holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry. It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whortle ...

and

Empetrum hermaphroditum ''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but th ...

, whereas in the fjell heaths at higher elevations Salix herbacea, Empetrum and alpine grasses with lichens and mosses occur. In the mountains of the north-west Cassiope tetragona is abundant. The largest part of the municipal area consists of these plateaus or

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

s, which mainly predominate at the rivers. Only 19% of Enontekiö's area is afforested. About 70% of the total area is conservation area of various grades. Enontekiö contains parts of the

Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park is Finland's third largest national park and it covers an area of 1,020 square kilometres. The national park is located in Western Lapland in the municipalities of Enontekiö, Kittilä, Kolari and Muonio. The l ...

, as well as the wilderness areas of Käsivarsi, Pulju,

Pöyrisjärvi Pöyrisjärvi a medium-sized lake in the Kemijoki main catchment area in the Enontekiö municipality of Finland, close to the border with Norway.Tarvantovaara. Due to the harsh climatic conditions, there are not especially many species among Enontekiö's fauna; however, there are Arctic species that are unknown to southern Finland, e.g. Norway lemming, Arctic fox, snowy owl,

Eurasian dotterel The Eurasian dotterel (''Charadrius morinellus''), also known in Europe as just dotterel, is a small wader in the plover family of birds. The dotterel is a brown and black streaked bird with a broad white eye-stripe and an orange-red chest ban ...

, ptarmigan, and ring ouzel. Besides the semi-domesticated reindeer, there are a lot of small mammals and bird species.

Climate

Enontekiö's climate is characterised by the extreme northern location, the high altitude compared to the rest of Finland and the closeness of the Arctic Ocean. Due to the moderating influence of the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...

, the winters are not quite as harsh as in central Lapland, which is characterised by the

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing som ...

, but the summers are shorter and cooler. The annual average temperatures of Enontekiö are the lowest of Finland. In Kilpisjärvi, in the north of the municipal area, the long-term average is −2.3 °C (compared to Helsinki: approx. +5 °C; Berlin approx. +9 °C). July is the warmest month, with an average temperature of +10.9 °C, the coldest is January with −13.6 °C. Due to these extreme climatic conditions, the growing season only lasts a little over 100 days. Thus, the winter, with its 200 days, is very long. The annual average precipitation is . In the cold season, enormous amounts of snow can fall: The highest snow depth ever recorded in Finland was measured on April 19, 1997, in Kilpisjärvi: . Normally, a permanent snow cover is generally formed in October and does not melt again until the end of May. In sheltered places, snow can remain even longer; thus a ski race is traditionally held for Midsummer's night in Kilpisjärvi. Enontekiö's municipal area is located between 200 and 300 km north of the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

. Accordingly, there are extreme seasonal differences in the length of daylight. In Kilpisjärvi, the Midnight Sun shines between May 22 and July 23. Accordingly, Polar night (''kaamos'') prevails between December 2 and January 11. Enontekiö has the highest rate of occurrence of

Polar lights An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of br ...

in Finland: In the region around Kilpisjärvi, this natural spectacle can be observed on average three out of four nights during the dark season in clear weather.

History

Prehistory and Swedish age

The first human settlement in Enontekiö emerged after the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last ice age, when people of the Komsa culture migrated from the coast of the Arctic Ocean. The oldest traces of settlement were found at the shores of the Ounasjärvi Lake and are dated to a time 6,000 BC. Later, the Sami population of Lapland, which predominated for a long time in Enontekiö, developed by the blending of this

stone-age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

ancestral population with speakers of Uralic languages, who immigrated after the 3rd millennium BC. Initially, the inhabitants of Enontekiö made their living from hunting and fishing, and they had only a few reindeer as draught animals. In early modern times, Enontekiö came under Swedish influence during the course of the Christianisation of the shamanistic Sami. In the 16th century, Enontekiö's first church was built. It was a small wooden building in the village of Rounala on the right shore (today in Sweden) of the Könkämäeno river. According to tradition, the church was erected by three Sami brothers who had converted to Christianity. It was a central meeting point, where Sami people gathered for religious ceremonies, where merchants travelled to sell their wares, and where Swedish officials held judicial courts at particular times. In 1611, a new church was built in the village of Markkina. After the destruction of this church, another one was erected in the same place in 1661. Since the end of the 17th century, the reindeer-Sami culture, which was based on keeping large herds of reindeer, spread from Norwegian and Swedish Lapland to Enontekiö. The reindeer-Sami of Enontekiö had a nomadic way of life; they moved with their animals between the coniferous forests in the south to Kåfjord, Kvænangen, and

on the coast of the Arctic Ocean following the annual cycle of summer and winter grazing land. Enontekiö's last nomads did not settle down until the 1960s, but the culture of the reindeer-Sami is still preserved in the large-scale herding of reindeer. As of the 17th century, the first Finnish people settled down in the south of Enontekiö and introduced the culture of settled agriculture. Due to the Finnish immigration and the assimilation of the old-established Sami population, a Finnish majority emerged over the years.

Period of Russian sovereignty

In 1809 when Sweden ceded the region of today's Finland to Russia in the Treaty of Fredrikshamn, Enontekiö became a part of the newly founded Grand Duchy of Finland, too. Because the church of Markkina stood on the Swedish—and therefore wrong—side of the river after the Swedish-Russian demarcation, it was torn down in 1826. Its beams were shipped down the Muoniojoki to Palojoensuu, where the church was rebuilt as henceforth the fourth church of Enontekiö. Already in 1864, the church was again moved to Hetta, which had in the meantime became the largest settlement of the region. The closing of the Russian-Norwegian border in 1852 and of the Russian-Swedish border in 1889 had severe consequences for Enontekiö's reindeer-nomads, because they could no longer move with their herds to the coast of the Arctic Ocean. As a result, they transferred their grazing areas inland to the southeast and helped spread the culture of reindeer-herding to the remaining parts of Lapland. Due to the separation of the administration of the municipality from the church administration, the political municipality of Enontekiö came into existence in 1877.

After independence

With the Finnish declaration of independence in 1917, Enontekiö became a part of the independent republic of Finland, too. During the Continuation War (1941–1944), where Finland allied with Germany in fighting against the Soviet Union, Enontekiö, together with all of northern Finland, was part of the operational region of the Wehrmacht. In 1942, the Germans in Enontekiö started to establish the Sturmbock emplacement in occupied Norway and in

Petsamo Petsamo may refer to: * Petsamo Province, a province of Finland from 1921 to 1922 * Petsamo, Tampere, a district in Tampere, Finland * Pechengsky District, Russia, formerly known as Petsamo * Pechenga (urban-type settlement), Murmansk Oblast, Russi ...

in order to protect the harbours on the Arctic Ocean. When Finland concluded the Moscow Armistice with the Soviet Union on September 4, 1944, committing themselves to expel the German troops, the Finnish-German Lapland War broke out. Lapland's civilian population had to be moved to a safe place in a very short time. Enontekiö's population was evacuated to neutral Sweden together with all of western Lapland's inhabitants. After the Germans quickly left southern Lapland, the 12,000 soldiers of the 7th ''Gebirgsdivision'' (Mountain Division) of the Wehrmacht occupied the Sturmbock emplacement at the end of October. During their fallback, the German applied the tactics of

scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, communi ...

and devastated Enontekiö, too. During the cold winter, a war of attrition was maintained between German troops, barricaded in their fortifications, and Finnish troops, who took a stand in Markkina. After the Wehrmacht had abandoned Petsamo and northern Norway, the Sturmbock emplacement was no longer of strategic value and was cleared without a struggle at the beginning of January in 1945. In order to secure the flank of Lyngen, their last emplacement in northern Norway, the Germans still operated in the north of the Käsivarsi region, where minor combat operations took place, before the last Wehrmacht soldiers left Finnish soil on April 27 at Kilpisjärvi.

Population

Population development and structure

Enontekiö currently has nearly 2,000 inhabitants. In the beginning 1990s, there were still 2,500 inhabitants. Because the structurally weak Lapland was hit harder by the Finnish economic crisis than the south, a wave of migration to expansion centers in the south started in the middle of the decade. Initially, the number of inhabitants also rapidly decreased in Enontekiö, but it now has consolidated at a lower level. Enontekiö's population consists of under the age of 15, between 15 and 64, and older than 64. The excess of men is conspicuous. They account for 53.2% of the population.Website of Enontekiö municipality: ''Tilastotietoa Enontekiön kunnasta''
Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:455 height:303 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:2500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1980 text:1980 bar:1985 text:1985 bar:1990 text:1990 bar:1995 text:1995 bar:1996 text:1996 bar:1997 text:1997 bar:1998 text:1998 bar:1999 text:1999 bar:2000 text:2000 bar:2001 text:2001 bar:2002 text:2002 bar:2003 text:2003 bar:2004 text:2004 bar:2005 text:2005 bar:2006 text:2006 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1980 from: 0 till:2286 bar:1985 from: 0 till:2415 bar:1990 from: 0 till:2472 bar:1995 from: 0 till:2413 bar:1996 from: 0 till:2378 bar:1997 from: 0 till:2365 bar:1998 from: 0 till:2324 bar:1999 from: 0 till:2225 bar:2000 from: 0 till:2154 bar:2001 from: 0 till:2100 bar:2002 from: 0 till:2073 bar:2003 from: 0 till:2022 bar:2004 from: 0 till:1998 bar:2005 from: 0 till:2000 bar:2006 from: 0 till:1997 PlotData= bar:1980 at:2286 fontsize:XS text: 2286 shift:(-8,5) bar:1985 at:2415 fontsize:XS text: 2415 shift:(-8,5) bar:1990 at:2472 fontsize:XS text: 2472 shift:(-8,5) bar:1995 at:2413 fontsize:XS text: 2413 shift:(-8,5) bar:1996 at:2378 fontsize:XS text: 2378 shift:(-8,5) bar:1997 at:2365 fontsize:XS text: 2365 shift:(-8,5) bar:1998 at:2324 fontsize:XS text: 2324 shift:(-8,5) bar:1999 at:2225 fontsize:XS text: 2225 shift:(-8,5) bar:2000 at:2154 fontsize:XS text: 2154 shift:(-8,5) bar:2001 at:2100 fontsize:XS text: 2100 shift:(-8,5) bar:2002 at:2073 fontsize:XS text: 2073 shift:(-8,5) bar:2003 at:2022 fontsize:XS text: 2022 shift:(-8,5) bar:2004 at:1998 fontsize:XS text: 1998 shift:(-8,5) bar:2005 at:2000 fontsize:XS text: 2000 shift:(-8,5) bar:2006 at:1997 fontsize:XS text: 1997 shift:(-8,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from Finnish Office of Statistics

Sami

Enontekiö is part of the native settlement area of the indigenous

. Nineteen percent of the municipality's population are ethnic Sami, but only speak Sami as their native language. The municipality is part of the Sami "homeland" (''kotiseutualue''), which is defined by law and where Sami have special minority rights. Thus Northern Sami, the particular Sami language used in Enontekiö, has official status in the municipality besides the

Finnish language Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedish ...

, and therefore is allowed to be used in contact with the authorities. Well-known Sami from Enontekiö are the artist,

Nils-Aslak Valkeapää Nils-Aslak Valkeapää, known as ''Áillohaš'' in the Northern Sami language (23 March 1943 – 26 November 2001), was a Finnish Sami writer, musician and artist. He was born in Enontekiö in Lapland province, Finland. He lived most of his ...

and the Joik-singer

Wimme Wimme Saari (also known as just Wimme, b. 1959, Kelottijärvi, Enontekiö) is a Finnish Sami yoiker. Wimme Saari combines traditional Sami singing with his own improvisations, usually to a techno-ambient accompaniment by members of Finnish electr ...

Religion

Enontekiö's Evangelical Lutherans are part of the parish of Enontekiö, which is subordinate to the diocese of

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

. It has been an independent parish since 1916, it had previously been a chapel parish of Muonio. As in the rest of Lapland, the Laestadianism, a conservative Lutheran movement of the

Great Awakening Great Awakening refers to a number of periods of religious revival in American Christian history. Historians and theologians identify three, or sometimes four, waves of increased religious enthusiasm between the early 18th century and the late ...

, is strongly represented in Enontekiö. The Laestadian are organised within the Evangelical Lutheran Church. From 1826 to 1849,

Lars Levi Laestadius Lars Levi Laestadius (; 10 January 1800 – 21 February 1861) was a Swedish Sami pastor and administrator of the Swedish state Lutheran church in Lapland who founded the Laestadian pietist revival movement to help his largely Sami congregations ...

, the founder of the Laestadianism, was pastor in Karesuando in Sweden, from where his doctrine quickly spread to the adjacent Enontekiö. The first awakening in Finland took place in the winter of 1846/47 in Enontekiö and Muonio.

Politics

Parliamentary elections

Results of the

2019 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 14 April 2019. For the first time, no party received more than 20% of the vote. The Centre Party, which had been the largest party following the 2015 elections, dropped to fourth place, losing 18 seat ...

in Enontekiö: * Centre Party 38.2% * True Finns 15.2% * National Coalition Party 14.7% *

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 ...

12.7% * Swedish People's Party 0,3% * Left Alliance 4.8% * Green League 9.0% * Christian Democrats 3.4%

Administration

After some contested decisions have been made during the 2017-2021 election period, some members of the formerly dominating Centre Party established the independent list ''Enontekiöläisten ääni'' ("Voice of the people of Enontekiö"). In the 2021 elections of the municipal council, which is the highest instance for local affairs, the new list ''Enontekiöläisten ääni'' gained the most votes and now provides five out of 17 representatives to the municipal council. Both of the large parties in rural Finland, the National Coalition Party and the Centre Party have three seats in the municipal council each. The Green league and the local Sami list of ''Johtti Sápmelaččat'' have two representatives each. Like ''Enontekiöläisten ääni,'' also the Finns Party is new to the municipal council. The Finns Party as well as the Christian Democrats provide one representative to the municipal council each. Since 2017 the National Coalition Party and the Christian Democrats have been in a local alliance. The number of seats in the local municipal council is 17.

Coat of arms

Enontekiö's coat of arms was designed by Olof Eriksson. It depicts a silver, red-armoured

Willow grouse The willow ptarmigan () (''Lagopus lagopus'') is a bird in the grouse subfamily Tetraoninae of the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is also known as the willow grouse and in Ireland and Britain, where the subspecies '' L. l. scotica'' was previ ...

in a blue field. The willow grouse is a very prevalent bird in Northern Lapland and was an important food for Enontekiö's inhabitants in the past, which is why it is also called the "bird of life".

Twin municipalities

Enontekiö is a twin municipality with three of its neighbouring municipalities,

in Sweden,

and

in Norway.

Economy and infrastructure

Economy

Enontekiö's economic structure has a large percentage involved in the service sector: 76% of the gainfully employed population work in the tertiary sector, 45% of these work in civil service. Agriculture and forestry employ 13% of Enontekiö's inhabitants, the manufacturing sector 6%. As is usual in the structurally weak Lapland, the unemployment in Enontekiö is a big problem: In January 2007 with 24.7%, the municipality had the second highest unemployment rate of all Finnish municipalities. In 1996 at the peak of the Finnish economic crisis, the unemployment rate was near 40%. Reindeer husbandry was the dominant branch of business in Enontekiö for a long time. In the northwest of Lapland, reindeer husbandry has already been done for centuries, in contrast to the other regions of the Finnish reindeer husbandry area, where it was only introduced on a large scale in the 19th century after the eradication of the wild Finnish forest reindeer (''Rangifer tarandus fennicus''). Reindeer husbandry plays an important role even today. The herders are organised in the cooperatives (''paliskunta'') of Näkkälä and Käsivarsi and have a total of 20,000 semi-domesticated reindeer. Due to the climatic conditions, agriculture is scarcely possible, but dairy farming is operated on a small scale. Due to the sparse vegetation, forestry plays only a minor role. Tourism is a major branch of business in Enontekiö, even if there are fewer visitors than in those municipalities of Lapland which have big skiing centres. Enontekiö mostly attracts nature tourists, who travel to Lapland for hiking, fishing, canoeing, skiing or snowmobiling, as well as automobile tourists, such as those on their way to the North Cape. Annually, more than 100,000 overnight stays are registered. Twenty percent of the tourists are from abroad. The largest group are the Norwegians, followed by the Germans, Swedes, Dutch, and British. The Norwegians visit Enontekiö mainly for its low prices. The Norwegian shopping tourism made up 40% of the retail business volume in all of Enontekiö, and even 60–70% in Kilpisjärvi, near the border.

Transportation

Enontekiö's most important traffic connection is highway 21 ( E8). Along its entire route, starting in Tornio at the

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; fi, Pohjanlahti; sv, Bottniska viken) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the Sweden's east coast (West ...

, it follows the line of the Finnish–Swedish border and ends in Kilpisjärvi at the Norwegian border. The main road 93 branches off highway 21 at Palojoensuu and at first leads in an eastward direction to the municipal centre of Hetta and then further in a northward direction to the Norwegian border. The villages of the southern part of the municipality are connected to each other by small roads. But in the northern part of Enontekiö, highway 21 is the only road, taking a course next to the banks of the Muonionjoki and Könkämäeno; the uninhabited area between the river valley and the Norwegian border has no roads at all. There are three border crossings in Enontekiö: The village of Karesuvanto is connected by a bridge with the Swedish bank and there are border crossings to Norway in Kilpisjärvi and Kivilompolo. The municipality has its own airport, (

Enontekiö Airport Enontekiö Airport ( fi, Enontekiön lentoasema) is an airport located in Enontekiö, Finnish Lapland, west southwest of Hetta, the municipal centre of Enontekiö. Overview It is mainly used for charter flights during the winter, particularly ...

), west of Hetta. It is mainly approached by charter flights, whose passengers account for 95% of the airport's passenger volume. Regular flights to Enontekiö are established only in the spring. The company

Finncomm Airlines Finnish Commuter Airlines Oy, trading as Finncomm Airlines, was a regional airline with its head office on the grounds of Seinäjoki Airport in Ilmajoki, Finland, near Seinäjoki. The carrier operated flights to Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Roman ...

provides direct flights to Enontekiö from

Helsinki-Vantaa Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. Th ...

between March and May. The passenger volume of 13,700 passengers per year is relatively low. Enontekiö is not connected to the railroad network. The next railroad station is in Kolari, approximately to the south.

Education and social affairs

There are five primary schools in Enontekiö: In the Kilpisjärvi primary school, pupils are taught from preschool to 9th grade, in the schools of Karesuvanto, Hetta, and Peltojärvi, from preschool to 6th grade. Enontekiö's upper school is attended by pupils of the 7th to 9th grade. The higher education entrance qualification can be obtained after graduating from the upper school at the secondary school of Enontekiö. The primary schools of Kilpisjärvi and Karesuvanto and the upper school of Enontekiö offer native language education to Sami pupils. Adult education takes place at an adult education centre. The municipality's library is located in the main village of Hetta, more remote regions are supplied by a mobile library. The University of Helsinki runs a biological research station in Kilpisjärvi. The University of Oulu runs the

KAIRA Kaira or KAIRA may refer to: Places * Kaira (Lydia), a town of ancient Lydia, now in Turkey In India * Kheda, also known as Kaira, a town in Gujarat, India ** Kaira district ** Kaira Agency, a former administrative unit ** Kaira (Lok Sabha constitu ...

radio telescope facility at Kilpisjärvi as well. Healthcare is organised together with the neighbouring municipality of Muonio. In Enontekiö, there are two health centres for inpatient treatment, one in Hetta and one in Karesuvanto. Beds are available in Muonio's health centre.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The church of Enontekiö was built in the central village of Hetta in 1951/52 as a replacement for its predecessor, which was destroyed during the Lapland war; it is the sixth church of the municipality. It is a modern building made from brick and concrete and designed by the architect, Veikko Larkas. The slender church tower is 30 m high and is connected to the nave by a porch. The artist Uuno Eskola made the

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

of the church with a combination of

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

and mosaic techniques. It depicts the resurrected Jesus Christ, who is blessing Lapland and its people. The church's

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

was a gift from Germany from 1958. Due to their preserved old building structure, the villages of Kultima, Näkkälä, Nunnanen, Peltovuoma, Pöyrisjärvi, and Raittijärvi are officially listed cultural monuments. The stone bridge of Ahdaskuru, erected in 1943 near the Norwegian border, is also listed; it is the only bridge in Lapland which was not destroyed during the Lapland War.Finnish Preservation List 1993
''Kultiman kylä''

Museums

There are three museums in Enontekiö: The buildings of the museum of local history, which opened in 1991, were moved to Hetta from different villages in the municipality. They are a farmhouse from Raattama from the end of the 19th century, a living room from Ylikyrö from the 1920s, a storehouse also from Ylikyrö from the 18th century, a sauna from Muotkajärvi built in 1937, and a cattle shed from Kaukonen in the neighbouring municipality of Kittilä. The nature and culture centre of Fjell-Lapland is maintained by the Finnish Forest Office (''Metsähallitus'') and is located in Hetta, too. With its exhibitions, it shows the nature of northern Lapland and the culture of the reindeer-Sami. In Järämä, approximately 20 km north of Karesuvanto, a part of the Sturmbock emplacement from the Lapland War was restored. Since 1997, there is an annexed museum, dealing with the history of the Lapland War in Enontekiö.

Regular events

Since 1971, a Sami cultural event, the Mary's Days of Hetta (''Hetan Marianpäivät''), is held at the beginning of March. It continues the old Sami tradition of meeting in the church village on special holidays. Today, Mary's Days include performances of Sami music, art exhibitions, contests of riding a reindeer sleigh and roping. At Easter, a church and chamber music festival, the Music Days of Hetta (''Hetan musiikkipäivät''), is held in Enontekiö. From the end of April to the beginning of May, a contest of ice fishing (''Kilpisjärven pilkkiviikot'') attracts fishermen. In late summer, a tournament of

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a s ...

(''Suomen tunturisuunnistus'') is held on the fells near Kilpisjärvi.

Notable individuals

* Andte Gaupe-Juuso, Big Brother 2014 winner * Kai Hyttinen, musician and a former

Kilpisjärvi wilderness Kilpisjärvi (; se, Gilbbesjávri ) is a village in the municipality of Enontekiö, Lapland, Finland. It is located in Finland's northern "arm" near the very northwesternmost point of Finland. Although Kilpisjärvi is one of the largest villages ...

guide * Anni-Kristiina Juuso, actress *

Aslak Juuso Óslác is a theophoric Anglo-Saxon given name, cognate to Old Norse ''Ásleikr''/''Áslákr'' (Latinised ''Ansleicus'', modern Scandinavian ''Aslak'') and to Old High German ''Ansleh'' (''Anslech'', ''Ansleccus''). It is composed of '' ós'' "god" ...

, a herder *

Pigga Keskitalo Pigga Päivi Kristiina Keskitalo (born 1972, Utsjoki) is a member of the Sámi Parliament of Finland and education researcher at the University of Helsinki, University of Lapland, and the Sámi University. Biography Keskitalo was born in Utsj ...

, Sámi politician and academic *

Yrjö Kokko Yrjö Olavi Samuli Kokko (16 October 1903 in Sortavala – 6 September 1977 in Helsinki) was a Finnish writer and veterinarian. He wrote more than 20 books, among them ''Pessi and Illusia'' (''Pessi ja Illusia'', 1944), ''Singing Swan of fate Bird ...

, writer *

Ilmari Mattila Ilmari is a Finnish male given name. It is a short form of Ilmarinen, a mythological smith in the Kalevala. Notable people with the name include: * Ilmari Aalto (1891–1934), Finnish painter * Ilmari Auer (1879–1965), Finnish politician *Ilmar ...

, actress *

Juhani Raattamaa Juhani is a common Finnish male given name and Arabic surname. Given name * Juhani Aaltonen (born 1935), Finnish jazz saxophonist and flautist * Juhani Aho * Juhani Kaskeala * Juhani Komulainen * Juhani Kumpulainen * Juhani Lahtinen * Juhani "Jui ...

, "lay preacher" *

Wimme Saari Wimme Saari (also known as just Wimme, b. 1959, Kelottijärvi, Enontekiö) is a Finnish Sami yoiker. Wimme Saari combines traditional Sami singing with his own improvisations, usually to a techno-ambient accompaniment by members of Finnish electr ...

, singer *

, writer, artist and musician *

Niko Valkeapää Niko-Mihkal Valkeapää (born 30 December 1968 in Enontekiö, Finland) is a Sami musician, joiker (Sami folk singer), teacher, actor and politician. Biography He has been described as "one of Sami music's foremost performers." Valkeapää has ...

, musician * Vuontis-Kalle, storyteller

References

External links

*
Municipality of Enontekiö
– Official website
Tourism portal of the municipality
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enontekio Sámi-language municipalities Populated places established in 1877 Populated places of Arctic Finland 1877 establishments in Finland