Jämsä () is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

. It is located in the Central Finland

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 ...

, about southwest of Jyväskylä. The municipality has a population of (), which make it the second largest town of the Central Finland after Jyväskylä. It covers an area of of which is water. 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 municipality is officially Finnish-speaking. The municipality of

Kuorevesi Kuorevesi is a former municipality in Finland. It was part of the Pirkanmaa region in western Finland. In the year 2001 it was consolidated into the town of Jämsä in the Central Finland region. The name of the municipality came from the Lake Ku ...

was consolidated with Jämsä in 2001. The municipality of Längelmäki was partly consolidated with Jämsä in 2007. The municipality of Jämsänkoski was consolidated with Jämsä in the beginning of 2009. It is the center of Finnish aeronautics industry – the aircraft factory and aeronautical engineering offices of Patria is located at Halli Airport in Jämsä. Since 1994, the ski slope at Himos has been used as a super special stage at the Rally Finland.

Geography

There are all together around 465 lakes in Jämsä; the largest lakes are Päijänne, and

Lake Kuorevesi Lake Kuorevesi ( fi, Kuorevesi) is a medium-sized lake in Finland. It is situated in the municipalities of Mänttä-Vilppula and Jämsä (formerly Kuorevesi) in the Central Finland region. The lake is part of the Kokemäenjoki basin. The lake dra ...

. Jämsä is located on the

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of the main catchment areas of the Kokemäki River and the Kymi River. The eastern and central areas of the municipality belong to the Kymi River watershed, the western ones to the Kokemäki River watershed. The catchment area of the Jämsä route of the first division phase of the Kymijoki main catchment area covers almost the entire area of Koskenpää and Jämsänkoski as well as the center of Jämsä and the central part of Jämsänniemi. The Great Päijänne area of the first division of the Kymi River watershed covers the eastern, south-eastern and southern areas of Jämsä. The catchment area of the Längelmävesi and Hauho routes of the first division of the Kokemäki River main catchment area covers the southwestern part of Jämsä, ie the southern part of Längelmäki and Kuorevesi. The catchment area of the Keuruu route in the first division phase of the Kokemäki River watershed covers the western and north-western part of Jämsä, ie the northern part of Kuorevesi and the westernmost parts of Koskenpää. The bedrock of Jämsä belongs to the abyssal rock area of the Central Finland. The predominant species are coarse-grained

granodiorite Granodiorite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase feldspar than orthoclase feldspar. The term banatite is sometimes used informally for various rocks ranging from gr ...

s and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

s, which are often porphyry and weathered in places. Rapakivi granite rock has also been found in the vicinity of Jämsä. The

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

of the Inner Finland, which is similar to the Salpausselkä formations but younger than them, runs from Hämeenkangas in the north-west of

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 ...

through Orivesi and Jämsä to

Laukaa Laukaa (; sv, Laukas) is a municipality of Finland. It is located next to Jyväskylä and is part of the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . ...

. The

meltwater Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater ca ...

of the Weichselian glaciation associated with its formation and melting has shaped several Jämsä valleys. The meltwater of the glacier flowed through the numerous transition valleys of the present-day Jämsä area.

Culture

Food

In the 1980s, Jämsä's traditional parish dishes were called ''liponen'' (

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

cooked with

turnip The turnip or white turnip ('' Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word ''turnip'' is a compound of ''turn'' as in turned/rounded on a lathe and ...

chips and

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

groats Groats (or in some cases, "berries") are the hulled kernels of various cereal grains, such as oat, wheat, rye, and barley. Groats are whole grains that include the cereal germ and fiber-rich bran portion of the grain, as well as the endosp ...

), '' piimä talkkuna'' and grandma's buns.

Sports

Jämsänkosken Ilves is a sports club in Jämsä. Himos Skiresort is located in Jämsä.

References

External links