Ranua

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Municipality in Lapland, Finland

Coat of arms

Location of Ranua in Finland

Coordinates: 65°56′N 026°31′E / 65.933°N 26.517°E / 65.933; 26.517Country

FinlandRegionLaplandSub-regionRovaniemiCharter1917Government

• Municipal managerTuomas AikkilaArea

(2018-01-01)^[1]

• Total3,694.79 km² (1,426.57 sq mi) • Land3,454.17 km² (1,333.66 sq mi) • Water241.09 km² (93.09 sq mi) • Rank14th largest in FinlandPopulation

(2023-12-31)^[2]

• Total3,599 • Rank202nd largest in Finland • Density1.04/km² (2.7/sq mi)Population by native language

^[3]

• Finnish98.6% (official) • Swedish0.2% • Others1.2%Population by age

^[4]

• 0 to 1417.5% • 15 to 6452.8% • 65 or older29.7%Time zoneUTC+02:00 (EET) • Summer (DST)UTC+03:00 (EEST)Websitewww.ranua.fi/en

Ranua is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland. The municipality has a population of 3,599 (31 December 2023)^[2] and covers an area of 3,694.79 square kilometres (1,426.57 sq mi) of which 241.09 km² (93.09 sq mi) is water.^[1] The population density is 1.04 inhabitants per square kilometre (2.7/sq mi).

The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

Geography

Neighbouring municipalities are Ii, Simo, Tervola, Rovaniemi, Posio and Pudasjärvi.

Villages

Villages within the municipality of Ranua are inclusive of:

Asmunti
Hosio
Impiö
Kelankylä
Kortteenperä
Kuha
Kuukasjärvi
Mauru
Nuupas
Petäjäjärvi
Pohjaslahti–Piittisjärvi
Portimo
Putkivaara
Raiskio
Rovastinaho
Saariharju
Saukkojärvi
Sääskilahti
Teerivaara
Telkkälä
Tolja

Nature of Ranua

There are 569 lakes in Ranua.^[6] The biggest of them are lake Ranuanjärvi and lake Simojärvi. There are also quite many rapids and natural salmon living in the rapids.

History

Ranua was originally the name of a farm established in the 18th century. It gets its name from the lake Ranuanjärvi, which was first mentioned in 1553. Its name is likely of Tavastian origin, as ranu- toponyms are rare and mainly found in Tavastia.^[7]

The parish of Ranua was formed from parts of Simo, Pudasjärvi and Rovaniemen maalaiskunta in 1899. The area became a separate municipality in 1917. A part of it was given to the newly formed Posio municipality in 1926. It is the only municipality in Lapland where the dialect is a Northern Ostrobothnian one, albeit with some influence from the Kainuu dialects, which are a subset of Savonian dialects.^[8]

Tourism

Perhaps the most well known attraction is the Ranua Zoo, the northernmost zoo in the world,^[9] which has many arctic animals, including the polar bear, which is the mascot of the zoo. Ranua Zoo is the only place where you can see a living polar bear in Finland.

Other notable attractions within the municipality of Ranua are inclusive of the Saukkojärvi Local History and School Museum located in the village of Saukkojärvi, Finland, the Hillamarkkinat, Poro Island and the Church of Ranua.

Sister cities

Iwasaki, Japan (since 1990)

Notable people

Eero Lohi (born 1927), modern pentathlete
Lauri Impiö (1929–2006), Lutheran clergyman and politician
Jouko Kuha (born 1939), long-distance runner
Taina Impiö (born 1956), cross country skier
Ilkka Koivula (born 1966), actor
Kaisa H. Hietala (born 1971), business executive
Jenna Pirttijärvi (born 1994), ice hockey player

References

^ ^a ^b "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Immigration record high in Finland in 2023". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
^ "Demographic Structure by area as of 31 December 2022". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
^ "Population according to age (1-year) and sex by area and the regional division of each statistical reference year, 2003–2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Luettelo kuntien ja seurakuntien tuloveroprosenteista vuonna 2023". Tax Administration of Finland. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
^ The number of lakes in Ranua. Jarviwiki.
^ "SuomalainenPaikannimikirja e-kirja kuvallinen.pdf" (PDF). kaino.kotus.fi (in Finnish). p. 371. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
^ "Savolaismurteiden alue". sokl.uef.fi (in Finnish). Archived from the original on December 13, 2020. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
^ Ranua Zoo - Northernmost Zoo in the World - Nordic Adventures – Visit Rovaniemi