Askola () is a

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 go ...

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 is located in the

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; sv, Nyland, ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

is .

Monninkylä Monninkylä (; sv, Monby, , formerly known as ''Månby'') is a village in Askola municipality in Eastern Uusimaa. Together with Askola's church village, it is one of the main settlement centers of the municipality. Monninkylä has a population of ...

is the largest village of municipality in terms of population (1,326 inhabitants). Neighbouring municipalities are

Myrskylä Myrskylä (; sv, Mörskom) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region and it is the smallest municipality in the region in relation to its population; the municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which ...

, Mäntsälä,

Pornainen Pornainen (; sv, Borgnäs) is a small municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. The neighboring municipalities are Askola in the east, Mäntsälä in the north, Porvoo in the so ...

Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...

and

Pukkila Pukkila (; Swedish: ''Pukkila'', also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingu ...

. The municipality is unilingually

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 ...

. Askola is one of three municipalities in the

region that do not have a Swedish name; the others are

Nurmijärvi Nurmijärvi () is the most populated rural municipality of Finland, located north of the capital Helsinki. The neighboring municipalities of Nurmijärvi are Espoo, Vantaa, Tuusula, Hyvinkää and Vihti, and it is part of the Greater Helsinki. Th ...

and Mäntsälä.

History

The Askola parish was part of Porvoo until 1639, when it became a chapel parish, and finally became independent in 1896. The

Askola church Askola () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Monninkylä is the largest village of municipality in te ...

was completed in 1799. The coat of arms of the municipality seeks influence from the history of the parish; the millstone is reminiscent of the Askolas's many mills and famous breads, while the

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

s of the coat of arms refer to Finnish author

Johannes Linnankoski Johannes Linnankoski (originally Vihtori Johan Peltonen, 18 October 1869 – 10 August 1913) was a Finland, Finnish author and playwright, which mainly influenced writing in the Golden Age of Finnish Art. His most famous work is the romance novel ...

, who was born and influenced in Askola, whose most famous work was ''

The Song of the Blood-Red Flower , translator = W. J. Alexander Worster , image = Thesongofthebloodredflower 1921.jpg , caption = A hardcover of the 1921 English version , author = Johannes Linnankoski , illustrator = , cover_artist = , coun ...

''.

Geography

Vakkolan kiviholvisilta ja taustalla kylän viljasiilo

The most significant waters in Askola includes the River Porvoo flowing from the center of Askola between Orimattila and

, and eleven lakes in the eastern part of the municipality. There are no Natura 2000 sites in Askola, but instead five rock areas have been classified as nationally valuable. In one of them, Kirnukallio, are the well-known Askola's

glacial potholes A kettle (also known as a kettle lake, kettle hole, or pothole) is a depression/hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating gla ...

. The nationally valuable landscape area of the River Porvoo Valley also extends to the Askola side. Prestbacka Manor and Pappilanharju's

natural 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 o ...

are also protected as cultural landscapes.Luonnonsuojelu
- Askola.fi (in Finnish)

Villages

In 1967, Askola had 12 legally recognized villages ''(henkikirjakylät)'': *

Askola Askola () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Monninkylä is the largest village of municipality i ...

* Huuvari * Juornaankylä * Korttia *

* Nalkkila * Nieto * Puharonkimaa * Särkijärvi * Tiilää * Vahijärvi *

Vakkola Vakkola is a village in Askola municipality in Eastern Uusimaa, Finland. It is located 5 kilometers northeast of Monninkylä along the Porvoo River, just a couple of kilometers from Askola's church village. In 2009, the Finnish Heritage Agency cl ...

Demographics

In 2020, 18.7% of the population of Askola was under the age of 15, 61.0% were aged 15 to 64, and 20.2% were over the age of 65. The average age was 42.3, under the national average of 43.4 but above the regional average of 41.0. Speakers of

made up 93.7% of the population and speakers of

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

made up 3.4%, while the share of speakers of foreign languages was 2.9%. Foreign nationals made up 1.8% of the total population. The chart below, describing the development of the total population of Askola from 1975-2020, encompasses the municipality's area as of 2021.

Urban areas

In 2019, out of the total population of 4,943, 2,636 people lived in

urban areas An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...

and 2,251 in sparsely populated areas, while the coordinates of 56 people were unknown. This made Askola's degree of urbanization 53.9%. The urban population in the municipality was divided between two urban areas as follows:

Services

Askola has four

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

s, and two secondary schools, as well as one

vocational school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the task ...

. Both secondary schools also receive students from the neighboring municipality of

, which does not have its own post-primary school education. The Askola's

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

operates in six locations: the church village, Monninkylä and four schools of the municipality. Public health care is provided at the Askola Health Center. There are only two Sale grocery stores in the municipality: one in the church village and the other in Monninkylä. Locals have also wished the municipality a third grocery store from a competing chain, such as Kesko or

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...

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 Askola: *

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 ...

32.1% * Centre Party 21.9% *

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 ...

16.1% *

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 Fo ...

14.8% *

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 polit ...

5.4% * Left Alliance 5.0% *

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 ...

1.8% *

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 ...

1,6%

Economy

In 2018, 8.1% of the workforce of Askola worked in primary production (

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

), 36.2% in secondary production (e.g.

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...

and infrastructure), and 53.1% in

services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...

. In 2019, the unemployment rate was 6.7%, and the share of pensioners in the population was 23.0%. (2018 and 2019) The ten largest employers in Askola in 2019 were as follows:

People born in Askola

* Juho Laakso (1854–1915) * Erkki Peltonen (1861–1942) *

(1869–1913) * Oskar Kumpu (1889–1935)

References

External links

*
Municipality of Askola
– Official website Populated places established in 1896 {{SouthernFinland-geo-stub