Lapua (; ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

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

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, ...

South Ostrobothnia South Ostrobothnia ( ; ) is one of the 19 regions of Finland. It borders the regions of Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Pirkanmaa, and Satakunta. Among the Finnish regions, South Ostrobothnia is the ninth largest in terms ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. It is located next to the Lapua River. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

History

In the early 14th century, permanent settlement began to spread to the Lapuanjoki Valley. Residents came from, among other areas, the settlement center of Suur-Sastamala in Upper Satakunta, which had good land and water connections to the north. The focus of Ostrobothnia's settlement was initially on the lower reaches of the Kyrönjoki River. The proximity to the sea of the Kvarken area, which is rich in natural resources, was especially attractive. Lapua at that time had some

Sámi 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 ...

people who considered the region their wilderness area. The name Lapuan was probably given by the coastal Swedes precisely because of the Sámi, then called Lapps, who lived in the area. The

Battle of Lapua The Battle of Lapua was fought between Swedish and Russian troops on 14 July 1808 at Lapua, Finland. The battle was a part of the Finnish War of 1808–1809. The Russians had set up defences around Lapua. The Swedes tried to outflank and surro ...

was fought between Swedish and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n forces near the outskirts of the town on 14 July 1808 as part of the

Finnish War The Finnish War (; ; ) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established a ...

. Lapua is the seat of the

Evangelical Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

Diocese of Lapua The Diocese of Lapua (, ) is one of nine dioceses within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The diocese was founded in 1956. The diocese attained national attention in September 2015, when Finnish media reported that the diocese had purc ...

. The

Lapua Cathedral Lapua Cathedral (; ) is a church in Lapua, Finland, and the seat of the Diocese of Lapua. The neoclassical cathedral was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel and built in 1827. The cathedral's pipe organ is the largest in Finland. External links ...

, designed by

Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840) was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ce ...

, was built in 1827.

Lapua Movement

In 1929 the

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

Lapua Movement The Lapua Movement (, ) was a radical Finnish nationalist, fascist, pro- German and anti-communist political movement founded in and named after the town of Lapua. Led by Vihtori Kosola, it turned towards far-right politics after its founding ...

'' was founded and named after the town. The Lapua Movement was a powerful force in Lapua. They organized large rallies and marches in the town center, drawing huge crowds of supporters. Some of the movement's leaders, like

Vihtori Kosola Iisakki Vihtori Kosola (10 July 1884 – 14 December 1936) was a Finnish politician, activist and a farmer who served as the leader of the fascist and anti-communist Lapua Movement, and later as the leader of the Patriotic People's Movement po ...

and

Vilho Annala Vilho Annala (17 January 1888 – 28 July 1960) was a Finnish civil servant, economist and far right politician. Early years Annala was born in Lapua, and first came to prominence as a student at the University of Helsinki, where he edited the s ...

, were based in Lapua. On 30 October 1930, the Lapua March was hosted, where thousands of their paramilitary members marched through Lapua to protest against leftist threats and government policies they opposed. The Lapua movement was criminalized in 1932, and would be succeeded by the

Patriotic People's Movement Patriotic People's Movement (, IKL, ) was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapua Movement. It existed from 1932 to 1944 and had an ideology similar to its predecessor, exce ...

Lapua State Cartridge Factory

Lapua is also home to a large

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

factory, which commenced operations in 1927 as the ''State Cartridge Factory''. This factory was the primary supplier of

to the

Finnish Army The Finnish Army ( , ) is the army, land forces branch of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Finnish Army is divided into six branches: infantry (which includes armoured units), field artillery, anti-aircraft artillery, Combat engineering, engineer ...

during the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. An explosion occurred in a warehouse of this factory on 13 April 1976, resulting in the deaths of 40 employees. After the explosion, the factory was relocated away from the town centre and continues production today as Nammo Lapua, part of the Nordic Ammunition Group (

Nammo Nammo, short for Nordic Ammunition Company, is a Norwegian- Finnish aerospace and defence group specialized in production of ammunition, rocket engines and space applications. The company has subsidiaries in Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Sw ...

). The original site of the factory and the surviving buildings are now an arts centre, a library and a theater.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Lapua is twinned with: *

Hagfors Hagfors is a locality and the seat of Hagfors Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden with 10,125 inhabitants in 2010. Its history is traced to 1873, when it was decided to build two blast furnaces at the location. The town of Hagfors used to pl ...

, Sweden * Hohenlockstedt, Germany *

Lantana, Florida Lantana is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is north from Fort Lauderdale and north of Miami. This town is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. Its population was 11,504 at the 2020 United States censu ...

, United States *

Rakvere Rakvere is the administrative center, or county seat, of Lääne-Viru County in northern Estonia, about 100 km southeast of Tallinn and 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. Rakvere boasts a distinctive architectural feature: th ...

, Estonia *

Kiskőrös Kiskőrös (, ''Kishkerish'', , ) is a town in Bács-Kiskun, Hungary. Kiskőrös is situated between the Danube and Tisza rivers at around . Sándor Petőfi, the national poet of Hungary, was born here. Geography Kiskőrös is the sixth bigge ...

, Hungary

Notable people

* Juho Annala *

* Perttu Blomgren *

Johannes Gabriel Granö Johannes Gabriel Granö (14 March 1882 – 23 February 1956) was a Finnish geographer, chiefly remembered as a professor of three universities and an explorer of Siberia and Mongolia. He is also noted for his pioneering studies on landscape geogr ...

Anneli Jäätteenmäki Anneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki (born 11 February 1955) is a Finnish politician who was the first female and 39th List of Prime Ministers of Finland, prime minister of Finland from 17 April 2003 to 24 June 2003. From 2004 until 2019, she served ...

* Aatu Kujanpää * Teemu Mäki *

Esko Nikkari Esko Nikkari (23 November 1938 – 17 December 2006) was a prolific Finnish actor who made more than 70 appearances on film and television. He was born in Lapua, and made his screen debut in 1974 in the movie ''Karvat''. Nikkari was a workhorse ...

* Arttu Seppälä * Ilari Seppälä *

Jutta Urpilainen Jutta Pauliina Urpilainen (born 4 August 1975) is a Finland, Finnish politician. She was the first female chair of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, which she led from 2008 to 2014. She was the Minister of Finance (Finland), Minister of Fin ...

* Jukka Haapalainen

History

Lapua Movement

Lapua State Cartridge Factory

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Notable people

See also

References

External links