Itä-Häme () is the eastern part of the historical province Tavastia in

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 Bo ...

. It is in Päijänne Tavastia,

Southern Savonia South Savo (or Southern Savonia; fi, Etelä-Savo; sv, Södra Savolax) is a region in the south-east of Finland. It borders the regions of North Savo, North Karelia, South Karelia, Kymenlaakso, Päijät-Häme, and Central Finland. The total a ...

and

Central Finland Central Finland ( fi, Keski-Suomi; sv, Mellersta Finland) is a region ( / ) in Finland. It borders the regions of Päijät-Häme, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, North Savo, and South Savo. The cit ...

Leivonmäki National Park Leivonmäki National Park ( fi, Leivonmäen kansallispuisto) is a national park in Central Finland. It was established in 2003 and covers . Typical scenery consists of swamps, shores of a medium-sized lake Rutajärvi and esker forests. Gallery ...

is in Itä-Häme. Itä-Häme is also known by manufacturing of

sahti Sahti is a Finnish type of farmhouse ale made from malted and unmalted grains including barley and rye. Traditionally the beer is flavored with juniper in addition to, or instead of, hops;

Municipalities

Hartola *

Heinola Heinola () is a town and a municipality of inhabitants () located in the eastern part of the Päijänne Tavastia region, Finland, near the borders of the South Savonia region and the Kymenlaakso region. It is the third largest municipality in ...

(town) *

Joutsa *

Luhanka *

Pertunmaa Pertunmaa () is a municipality of Finland located in the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbour municipalities are Hartola, Heinola, Hirv ...

Sysmä Sysmä () is a municipality of Finland. It is situated in the Päijät-Häme region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Asikkala, Hart ...

Disestablished

Heinolan maalaiskunta Heinolan maalaiskunta ( sv, Heinola landskommun; literally "Heinola Rural Municipality") is a former municipality in Päijänne Tavastia, Finland. It was established in 1848. It surrounded Heinola Heinola () is a town and a municipality of in ...

(merged into Heinola in 1997) *

Leivonmäki (merged into Joutsa in 2008)

Dialects

Despite being a part of Tavastia, only the dialect of Heinola is a

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

. The dialects of the other municipalities are

Savonian dialects The Savonian dialects (also called Savo Finnish)( fi, Savolaismurteet) are forms of the Finnish language spoken in Savonia and other parts of Eastern Finland. Finnish dialects are grouped broadly into Eastern and Western varieties; Savonian dial ...

of the Päijänne subgroup, a group of Savonian dialects with Tavastian influence; for example, they lack the type of

consonant gemination In phonetics and phonology, gemination (), or consonant lengthening (from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct from ...

found in most other Savonian dialects (e.g. the partitive form of ''kala'' "fish" is ''kalaa/kaloa'', not ''kallaa/kalloa/kalloo''). Most of the area adopted a Savonian dialect due to the

Cudgel War The Cudgel War (also Club War, fi, Nuijasota, links=no, sv, Klubbekriget, links=no) was a 1596–1597 peasant uprising in Finland, which was then part of the Kingdom of Sweden. The name of the uprising derives from the fact that the peasants ar ...

, in which many of the original Tavastian inhabitants of the area were killed, allowing Savonians to settle in the area. Despite this, the people of the area still see themselves as Tavastians.

References

Geography of Finland Regions of Finland {{EasternFinland-geo-stub