Ii (; sv, Ijo) is a

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 ...

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 Bot ...

. It is situated by the

Bothnian Bay The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia (; ) is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and wit ...

, at the mouth of river

Iijoki Iijoki is a river of Finland in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia. The river has many tributaries.Facta (encyclopedia) part 6, page 390, ''finnish'' It flows for into the Gulf of Bothnia. Some of its main tributaries are Siuruanjoki and Livo ...

, and it is part of the

Northern Ostrobothnia North Ostrobothnia ( fi, Pohjois-Pohjanmaa; sv, Norra Österbotten) is a region of Finland. It borders the Finnish regions of Lapland, Kainuu, North Savo, Central Finland and Central Ostrobothnia, as well as the Russian Republic of Karelia. ...

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 an ...

. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually

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 ...

. Ii merged with Kuivaniemi on 1 January 2007. The new municipality retained the name Ii, but adopted the coat of arms of Kuivaniemi. Ii is notable for having the shortest place name in Finland, and also one of the shortest ones in the world. The etymology is not definitively established; options are either Germanic origin or

Sami 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 ...

origin. In the latter, it would mean "a place to stay overnight in"; cf.

Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

'' idja'' "night". Beginning in 2008, Ii is home to the ART Ii Biennale of Northern Environmental and Sculpture Art, an international art fair. The city has ambition to become the first

zero waste Zero waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages redesigning resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal of this movement is to avoid sending trash to landfills, incinerators, or the ocean. Cur ...

town in the world, and its municipal manager claims that it does not use

fossil fuel A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ma ...

s for energy.

History

Ii is named after the river

. The original name of the settlement was ''Iijoen kylä'', first mentioned in 1374 as ''Yioki'' when it was a chapel community within the Pedersöre parish. The marketplace ''Iin Hamina'' has existed since the 14th century. Ii became a separate parish sometime before 1445. The parish of Ii was originally larger than the modern municipality: it included

Pudasjärvi Pudasjärvi () is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Oulu (province), Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia regions of ...

and

Taivalkoski Taivalkoski is a municipality of Finland, it is located in the Province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The m ...

until 1639,

Kiiminki Kiiminki ( sv, Kiminge) was a municipality of Finland. Along with Haukipudas, Oulunsalo and Yli-Ii municipalities it was merged with the city of Oulu on 1 January 2013. Kiiminki municipality was part of the Oulu province in the Northern Ostr ...

Ylikiiminki Ylikiiminki ( sv, Överkiminge) is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with the city of Oulu on 1 January 2009. It was located in the province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality had a popul ...

and

Haukipudas Haukipudas is a town and former municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Oulu and part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. Its shore runs along the Gulf of Bothnia, with the river Kiiminkijoki running through the province. ...

until 1858. The municipality of Kuivaniemi was split off in 1919 and

Yli-Ii Yli-Ii ( sv, Överijo) was a municipality of Finland. It was located in the province of Oulu and was part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region. Alongside Haukipudas, Kiiminki and Oulunsalo municipalities it was merged with the city of Oulu on 1 J ...

was split off in 1924. Kuivaniemi became a part of Ii again in 2007. When Yli-Ii was merged into

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 ...

, a part of it was given to Ii as an exclave. This exclave contains the Pahkakoski hydroelectric power plant. Jakkukylä liitos

The village of Jakkukylä and its surroundings, originally part of Yli-Ii and a part of Oulu from 2013, decided to join Ii in 2018.

Notable people

* Juhamatti Aaltonen, ice hockey player *

Pekka Ahmavaara Pekka Ahmavaara (28 October 1862 – 26 December 1929; surname until 1906 ''Aulin'') was a Finnish bank director and politician. He was born in Ylitornio, and was a member of the Diet of Finland from 1894 to 1906 and of the Parliament of Finlan ...

, politician and father of Arvi Ahmavaara, another politician *

Liisa Hyssälä Liisa Marja Hyssälä (born 18 December 1948 in Ii) is a retired Finnish politician of the Centre Party. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Fin ...

, politician * Hannu Järvenpää, ice hockey player and coach *

Tanja Kari Tanja Kari is a Finnish Paralympic gold medalist in cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing. She is an amputee missing a right arm. In 2003, she was nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsperson of the Year with a Disabil ...

, Paralympic gold medalist in

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

* Sanna Koivisto, sculptor

References

External links

* *
Municipality of Ii
– Official website, ''finnish'', ''english'' Municipalities of North Ostrobothnia Ii Populated places established in the 1440s Populated coastal places in Finland {{OuluProvince-geo-stub