Inari (; smn, Aanaar; sms, Aanar; sme, Anár ;

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

and Swedish: ''Enare'') is

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 Bot ...

's largest

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

by area (but one of the most sparsely populated), with four official languages, more than any other in the country. Its major sources of income are tourism, service industry and cold climate testing. With the

Siida The siida is a Sámi local community that has existed from time immemorial. A ''siida'' ( se, siida; smn, sijdâ; sma, sïjte; smj, tjiellde; sjd, сыййт, translit=syjjt; sjt, се̄ййп, italic=no, translit=siejjp; sms, paalǥâskå ...

museum in the village of Inari, it is a center of

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

culture, widely known as the "capital of Sámi culture". The

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

in Ivalo and the country's key north-south

European Route E75 European route E 75 is part of the International E-road network, which is a series of main roads in Europe. The E 75 starts at the town of Vardø in Norway by the Barents Sea and it runs south through Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, ...

( Finland's National Road 4) bring summer and winter vacationers seeking resorts with access to a well-preserved, uncrowded natural environment.

History

The municipality was established in 1876. It was claimed from about 1942 to 1945 by the

Quisling regime The Quisling regime or Quisling government are common names used to refer to the fascist collaborationist government led by Vidkun Quisling in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War. The official name of the regime from 1 February 19 ...

during the

Nazi occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

Geography

Inari is the largest municipality by area in Finland. Located in Lapland, it covers an area of , of which is water. With an area of ,

Lake Inari Lake Inari ( fi, Inarijärvi/Inarinjärvi, se, Anárjávri, smn, Aanaarjävri, sms, Aanarjäuʹrr, sv, Enare träsk, no, Enaresjøen) is the largest lake in Sápmi and the third-largest lake in Finland. It is located in the northern part of L ...

is the third largest lake in Finland, smaller than the country's second largest

Lake Päijänne Lake Päijänne () is the second largest lake in Finland (). The lake drains into the Gulf of Finland via the Kymi River. The major islands are from north to south Vuoritsalo, Muuratsalo, Onkisalo, Judinsalo, Edessalo, Taivassalo, Haukkasalo, ...

. Finland's largest

National Park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

Lemmenjoki is partly located in Inari, as is the

Urho Kekkonen National Park Urho Kekkonen National Park ( fi, Urho Kekkosen kansallispuisto, se, Urho Kekkonen álbmotmeahcci) is a national park in Lapland, Finland, situated in area of municipalities of Savukoski, Sodankylä and Inari. Established in 1983 and coverin ...

. Vast parts of the municipality are designated

wilderness areas Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

: Hammastunturi, Muotkatunturi, Paistunturi, Kaldoaivi, Vätsäri, and Tsarmitunturi. The village of Inari is Finland's northernmost holiday resort. The airport is located in the nearby village of Ivalo.

Climate

Inari has a chilly and humid climate with fairly cold winters and cool summers ( Köppen Dfc). Due to the polar night, winter time temperatures are often severely cold. However, the midnight sun contributes to surprisingly high summertime temperatures. The warmest temperature ever recorded at

Ivalo Airport Ivalo Airport () ( fi, Ivalon lentoasema, se, Avvila girdingieddi, smn, Avveel kirdemkieddi, sms, Âʹvvel ǩeʹrddemǩedd, sv, Ivalo flygplats) is an airport in Ivalo, Inari, Finland. It is located southwest from Ivalo, the municipal centr ...

was in July 1925, while the coldest temperature on record was in January 1999. However, in July 1914 Thule weather station in western Inari recorded an unofficial record high temperature of , which is the highest temperature ever recorded in Lapland. Inari is also among the driest locations in Finland, especially in the winter when the average precipitation total is less than half of the amount that Southern Finland receives. The driest year on record was 1941 when only 120,1 mm (4,7 inches) fell.

Demographics

Population

The municipality of Inari has a population of (). The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

is . The population peaked in 1993, at 7,874. It then decreased continuously until 2012, when the population was 6,732. Since then it has steadily increased to 7,008 in 2021. Inari is expected to be the only municipality in Lapland, along with Rovaniemi, that will experience population growth by 2040. This has been attributed to increased tourism. Its two largest villages are Ivalo and Inari. Other villages are Törmänen, Keväjärvi, Koppelo,

Sevettijärvi Sevettijärvi ( sms, Čeʹvetjäuʹrr, smn, Čevetjävri and se, Čeavetjávri) is a village in the municipality of Inari, Finland approximately north of downtown Inari. Neiden in Norway is approximately away. The village's green, yet s ...

– Näätämö, Saariselkä,

Nellim Nellim ( fi, Nellim or '; smn, Njellim; sms, Njeäʹllem) is a village on the shore of Lake Inari in Inari, Finland that has three distinctly different cultures: Finns, the Inari Sámi and the Skolt Sámi. Nellim is approximately northeast ...

, Angeli,

Kaamanen Kaamanen is a village in the municipality of Inari, Lapland. The village counts about 200 inhabitants, whose main sources of livelihood are reindeer husbandry and tourism. The area is extremely valuable for bird-watchers and there are relativel ...

, Kuttura, Lisma, Partakko, and Riutula. The registered Sami population in Inari from the 2019 election was 2,141, which was 31% of Inari's population.

Languages

The municipality has four official languages:

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

, Inari Sami (ca. 400 estimated speakers), Skolt Sami (ca. 400 speakers), and

Northern Sami Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

(ca. 700 speakers). The estimates of how many people have some command of each of the Sami languages differ from the number of people who list them as their mother tongues. Of the total population of 7,008 in 2021, 6,248 people registered

(89.16%) and 475 people registered one of the

Sami languages Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

as their mother tongue (6.78%). Swedish is the mother tongue of 0.39% and 3.68% speak foreign-languages. The most spoken foreign-languages are Russian (0.86%), German (0.51%), French (0.31%), Dutch (0.22%) and English (0.20%).

Citizenship

Only about 3%, 214 persons, were citizens of countries other than Finland in 2021. Largest groups of foreign-citizens are from Russia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Estonia and Thailand.Statistics Finland

Politics

Results of the

2011 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout of 31.2%. The ...

in Inari: * Centre Party 36.2% *

True Finns The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

19.2% * Left Alliance 13.8% *

National Coalition Party sv, Samlingspartiet , leader1_title = Chairman , leader1_name = Petteri Orpo , leader2_title = Deputy chairs , leader2_name = Antti HäkkänenElina ValtonenAnna-Kaisa Ikonen , merger = Finnish Party, Young Finn ...

10.5% *

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

9.8% *

Green League The Green League (VIHR, fi, Vihreä liitto , sv, Gröna förbundet), shortened to the Greens ( fi, Vihreät, sv, De Gröna), is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the pol ...

6.6% *

Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finlan ...

2.2% *

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...

1.2% *Other parties 0.5%

Sites of interest

* Inari village **

, Sámi Museum and Northern Lapland Nature Centre ** Sajos, Sami Cultural Center * Ivalo village **

** Ivalo river * Saariselkä holiday resort *

Lemmenjoki National Park Lemmenjoki National Park ( fi, Lemmenjoen kansallispuisto, smn, Lemmee aalmuglâšmecci, se, Leammi álbmotmeahcci) is situated in area of municipalities of Inari and Kittilä, Lapland, in Northern Finland. It was founded in 1956 and has sinc ...

* Hammastunturi Wilderness Area * Otsamo fell, a popular hiking destination

References

External links

*
Municipality of Inari
– official website {{Authority control Sámi-language municipalities Populated places established in 1876 Populated places of Arctic Finland 1876 establishments in Finland Populated lakeshore places in Finland