Esse () 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, ...

, now a village of

Pedersöre Pedersöre (, before 1989 ) is a municipality in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Pedersöre is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pedersöre is approximately , while the sub-region has a pop ...

. It has a population of about 3,000 people, of whom approximately 94% are Swedish-speaking

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...

and the rest are Finnish-speaking. The village is in the northeast part of

municipality. Esse was consolidated to Pedersöre in 1977. The

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

of Esse flows through the village. This river is one of the last places where the

freshwater pearl mussel The freshwater pearl mussel (''Margaritifera margaritifera'') is an endangered species of freshwater mussel, an Aquatic animal, aquatic bivalve mollusc in the family Margaritiferidae. Although the name "freshwater pearl mussel" is often used fo ...

(''Margaritifera margaritifera'') can be found.

Villages

Esse is divided into 4 smaller villages: *Överesse, where the church is located *Ytteresse *Bäckby *Lappfors

History

The settlement gets its name from the river Esse/Ähtävänjoki. The name is related to that of

Ähtäri Ähtäri () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the South Ostrobothnia region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Ähtäri is located southeast of Seinäjoki ...

, as the river originally began from the lake Ähtärinjärvi. Nowadays it begins from the lake

Evijärvi Evijärvi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Kauhav ...

. The original Finnish pronunciation was ''Ätsävä'', in the nearby dialects pronounced ''Ässävä'', which in turn is the origin of the Swedish name ''Esse''. The current Finnish name became official in the late 19th century. Esse has existed at least since 1488. It was a part of the

parish, gaining its own church in 1732 and eventually becoming a separate parish and municipality in 1865. It remained independent until 1977, when it became a part of Pedersöre again together with neighboring Purmo.

References

Populated places disestablished in 1977 Former municipalities of Finland Pedersöre {{WesternFinland-geo-stub