Aitolahti (; now forms the Tampere subdivision under the name Aito) is a former municipality in

Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa (; sv, Birkaland; la, Birkaria, link=no), also known as ''Tampere Region'' in government documents, is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme an ...

region,

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 B ...

. It was consolidated in 1966 with

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

, and at the same time Tampere got new districts: Sorila, Nurmi and Aitoniemi. Until 1947, the neighboring municipalities of Aitolahti included Messukylä, which was consolidated with the city of Tampere. Highway 9 ( E63) between Tampere and

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

and the regional road 338 between Tampere and

Ruovesi Ruovesi is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are Juupajoki, Mänttä-Vil ...

pass through Aitolahti. The old Aitolahti municipal center was Sorila. The densest population is in the southern parts of the region, in the districts of Olkahinen and Nurmi. The highest terrain in Aitolahti is Aitovuori, located near the border of

Kangasala Kangasala is a city in Finland which is situated about 16 kilometres East of Tampere. The city was founded in 1865 and had a population of people as of . Kangasala covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Finnish auth ...

, extending 179 meters above sea level and more than 80 meters above

Lake Näsijärvi A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

.Hannu Tarmio, Pentti Papunen & Kalevi Korpela: ''Suomenmaa 1: maantieteellis-yhteiskunnallinen tieto- ja hakuteos''. Porvoo-Helsinki: WSOY, 1967. (in Finnish) When the Aitolahti became independent parish after leaving Messukylä, there were only about 600 inhabitants, and the population grew very slowly for a long time, until growth accelerated in the 1950s. At the end of the 19th century, the Finnish geologist J. J. Sederholm discovered oval-shaped depressions in the shore cliffs and rocks of Lake Näsijärvi, which he called ''Corycium enigmaticum'', "enigmatic

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...

bags". These are remnants of rudimentary microbial activity about two billion years ago and have been found in the rest of the world only in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The site was designated a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

in 1962. These 2 to 30-centimeter-long "carbon bags" are also found on the opposite shore of Lake Näsijärvi on the

Ylöjärvi Ylöjärvi () is a town and a municipality in the Pirkanmaa region, northwest of Tampere and north of the capital city Helsinki in Finland. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . ...

side. These carbon bags also gave their subject in 1965, in the last year of the municipality's independence, the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

of the municipality of Aitolahti, drawn by Gustaf von Numers. In the 1980s, pork soup and barley groat porridge with

buttermilk Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most m ...

were named traditional dishes of Aitolahti parish.Jaakko Kolmonen: ''Kotomaamme ruoka-aitta: Suomen, Karjalan ja Petsamon pitäjäruoat'', p. 77. Helsinki: Patakolmonen Ky, 1988. (in Finnish)

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Location of Aitolahti
at Fonecta Former municipalities of Finland Tampere {{WesternFinland-geo-stub

See also

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Further reading

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