Koijärvi 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, ...

in the former

Häme Province The Province of Häme (, ), or Tavastia, was a province of Finland from 1831 to 1997. In 1997 the southern parts with Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme was merged with the province of Uusimaa and Kymi into the new province of Southern Finland. ...

, now in

Tavastia Proper Tavastia () or Tavastland may refer to: Regions * Häme (Swedish: ''Tavastland'', Latin: ''Tavastia'') * Tavastia (historical province) Tavastia (; ; ; also called ''Yam'' (Ямь) or ''Yem'' (Емь) in Russian sources) is a historical prov ...

. It was split between

Forssa Forssa is a Cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located almost in the centre of a triangle defined by the three largest major cities in Finland (Helsinki, Turku and Tampere), in the Tavastia Prop ...

and

Urjala Urjala (; , also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region, near the town of Forssa. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density Population density (in ...

in 1969, most of the land was given to Forssa. In 1979, Koijärvi and the homonymous lake became known for the Koijärvi movement, which spawned the political party Vihreät.

Geography

Villages

*Kojo (Koijärven kirkonkylä) *Raitoo *Lempää *Kalsu *Matku *Peräjoki *Saviniemi *Suonpää *Vuoltu

Lakes

The homonymous lake Koijärvi, from which the Koijoki river starts, is known for the birds which make their nests by it.

Distances

*Forssa: ~20 km *Hämeenlinna: 70 km *Tampere: 75 km *Turku: 95 km *Pori: 110 km *Helsinki: 130 km

History

Before separation

Koijärvi is named after a nearby lake. While ''Koijärvi'' literally means "moth lake", it is not the original name: it was most likely ''Koivujärvi'' or "birch lake" instead. The main village, Kojo, has existed at least since the 17th century. The first mention of it was in 1600 as ''Quoiuull'', "at Kojo" (

adessive case An adessive case ( abbreviated ; from Latin '' adesse'' "to be present (at)": ''ad'' "at" + ''esse'' "to be") is a grammatical case generally denoting location at, upon, or adjacent to the referent of the noun; the term is used most frequently for ...

, in modern Finnish orthography written ''Kojolla''. Many

Tavastian dialects Tavastian dialects (), or Häme dialects, are Western Finnish dialects spoken in Pirkanmaa, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme, and in parts of Satakunta, Uusimaa and Kymenlaakso. The dialect spoken in the city of Tampere is part of the Tavastian diale ...

have an

apocope In phonology, apocope () is the omission (elision) or loss of a sound or sounds at the end of a word. While it most commonly refers to the loss of a final vowel, it can also describe the deletion of final consonants or even entire syllables. ...

of ''a'', pronouncing it as ''Kojol''). The area was mainly within the Tammela parish, originally called Porras.

Independent municipality

Koijärvi became a separate municipality in 1923. It was formed out of parts of Tammela and Urjala.

was also separated from Tammela in the same year. The old meeting house in Kojo was converted into a church in the 16th of December, 1923. The altarpiece is painted by Elias Muukka. The organ was made in

Kangasala is a town in Finland, located in the Pirkanmaa region. It lies to the east of the regional capital, Tampere. The population of Kangasala is approximately , while the Tampere metropolitan area, metropolitan area has a population of approximat ...

in 1968, while the bells were made in

Yaroslavl Yaroslavl (; , ) is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historic part of the city is a World Heritage Site, and is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers. ...

and were originally used in a church built for Russian soldiers in Ekenäs. Koijärvi was one of the two municipalities without a coat of arms in the 60s, the other being Uudenkaupungin maalaiskunta.

Merger

The Koijärvi municipality was dissolved in 1969. Most of it, including Kojo, was transferred to Forssa in the south, while small portions of the north were given to Urjala.

Services

Most of Koijärvi's services are located in Kojo.

Education

Kojo has a school for grades 1-6 (''ala-aste''). A daycare is located in the same building.

Commercial

There is a small grocery store in Kojo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koijarvi Forssa Former municipalities of Finland