Kaskinen (; sv, Kaskö) 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 ...

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 ...

and

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

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

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Western Finland Western Finland ( fi, Länsi-Suomen lääni, sv, Västra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Oulu, Eastern Finland and Southern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Bothnia towards Åland. ...

and is part of the Ostrobothnia

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 population of Kaskinen is () and the municipality covers an area of (excluding sea areas) of which is inland water (). The population density is . The population is bilingual with a majority speaking Finnish () and the minority

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 ...

(). Kaskinen is the smallest municipality in Finland with a town statusThe Island Town of Artisans, Fishermen and Sailors – Visit Kaskinen
/ref>Heidi Sommar: ''Kaskinen ei kasvanutkaan metropoliksi vaan puutaloidylliksi''. '' YLE'', April 17, 2015. (in Finnish) The town is located on an island with two bridges to the mainland, and its only border neighbor is the town of Närpes. The townscape of Kaskinen consists of uniform wooden construction. Even though it is planned mainly as a port town, the also runs from the town to the to

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra b ...

. Today, however, the railway is only used for freight traffic, mainly for the Port of Kaskinen. The

paddle A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered w ...

appearing in 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 Kaskinen describes the excellent

natural harbor A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

that has influenced the establishment of the town in its place. The laurel leaf may have been intended to refer to flowering, but its origin may also be in the name of the Bladh family (Swedish: ''blad'', "leaf"); Two members of the family – father and son – acquired both

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

and

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

status for the village at that time. The coat of arms has been redrawn by A. W. Rancken (1880–1954) based on the old coat of arms, which was originally confirmed on 9 April 1793.

Etymology

The older name forms of Kaskinen island found in the documents are ''Kaskisöyen'' (1546), ''Casköö'' (1553), ''Kaskisöö'' (1573) and the later ''Kaskin'' or ''Kyperäsaari'' (1844). Although the oldest known written mention of the name Kaskinen for the town dates back to 1863, the name in Finnish is original. This is also indicated by the fact that in old Swedish island names, the body of the name is ''Kaskis''-, to which the explanatory ending ''-ö'' has been added, which means island in Swedish. The most likely interpretation of the island's original name is ''Kaskisaari'' ("Slash-burn island"), because the

Slash-and-burn Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed veget ...

agriculture has therefore been practiced on the island in the early days.

History

The town was founded in 1785 on an island by King

Gustav III of Sweden Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

and since then it has been one of the most important harbours of Finland. In the 18th century, a

town plan Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

with long, straight and wide streets was drawn up for the town, and the plan prepared for a clearly larger population; however, even today, there are still many undeveloped estates in the town, and the

urban settlement An Urban settlement is a concentrated settlement that is part of an urban area. It is an area with high density of human-created structures. *Municipal urban settlement, a type of subdivision such as Cape town in Western Cape *Urban settlement, ...

hardly extends beyond the original zoned area.Valtakunnallisesti merkittävät rakennetut kulttuuriympäristot RKY: Kaskisten ruutukaava-alue
– Finnish Heritage Agency (in Finnish) The rise of the new town was slow in the 19th century, primarily due to poor transport connections. The bridge to the mainland was completed in 1828. As a maritime town, Kaskinen fell behind

Kristinestad Kristinestad (, Sweden ; fi, Kristiinankaupunki ; la, Christinea) is a town and a municipality in Finland. It is located in the western part of Finland on the shore of the Bothnian Sea. The population of Kristinestad is () and the municipality ...

and

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

. Until the 19th century, fishing and trading were the most important livelihoods. During the heyday of the Finnish sailing fleet on both sides of the middle of the 19th century, especially

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...

and

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

were exported from Kaskinen. The town's merchant fleet was at its largest the size of 12 sailing ships. After the era of

sailing ship A sailing ship is a sea-going vessel that uses sails mounted on masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing square-rigged or fore-and-aft sails. Some ships ...

s, coastal traffic as well as freight and passenger traffic to Sweden was practiced in the town by steamships. On 18 November 2019, Kaskinen and Närpes voted for a municipal merger, but Kaskinen's town council voted 9-8 to reject the consolidation.

Economy

In 2015, there were 479 jobs in the municipality. 5,2% of them were 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 fisheries), 39,7% in processing and 53,7% in services. The share of processing was higher than in the whole country (20%). In 2016, the companies that paid the most corporate tax were Oy Sonnfish Ab, Kuivaniemen Kala Oy and Kaskitek Oy. The town includes the Port of Kaskinen, which deals with cargo transport.

Demographics

The following diagram shows the population development of the town every five years since 1990:

Government

At the end of 2017, Minna Nikander was elected the town manager of Kaskinen.

Politics

The two major parties in Kaskinen are

SFP SFP may refer to: Organizations * Salton Inc. (former stock symbol: SFP), now part of Russell Hobbs, Inc. * Swedish People's Party of Finland, a Swedish minority and mainly liberal party in Finland * Syrian Free Press, a Syrian social news networ ...

and SDP, which form the majority in elections and in the council. Below are the percentages of support for the parliamentary elections based on the votes cast in the most recent municipal elections: *

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 ...

28.8% *

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 ...

27.0% *

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 ...

21.4% *

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 ...

12.9% * Left Alliance 6.7% *

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 ...

3.0%

Culture

Food

''Gubbe ronka'' or ''gubbe runka'',

mashed potato Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a ...

containing salted

Baltic herring Atlantic herring (''Clupea harengus'') is a herring in the family Clupeidae. It is one of the most abundant fish species in the world. Atlantic herrings can be found on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large schools. They can ...

, served with mashed

lingonberry ''Vaccinium vitis-idaea'', the lingonberry, partridgeberry, mountain cranberry or cowberry, is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family Ericaceae, that bears edible fruit. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Norther ...

and melted

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condimen ...

, was named as Kaskinen's traditional parish dish in the 1980s.

Notable people

* Rosina Heikel (1842–1929), medical doctor and feminist *

Krista Siegfrids Kristin "Krista" Siegfrids (born 4 December 1985) is a Finnish pop singer. She represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 with her entry " Marry Me". Siegfrids' debut album, named '' Ding Dong!'', was released in May 2013. As a t ...

(born 1985), pop singer

Gallery

) , Kaskinen freight station 20190705.jpg, Old freight station of Kaskinen , SälgrundLighthouse 2016.jpg, Sälgrund Lighthouse

References

External links

Town of Kaskinen
– Official website
BBLogistics OY
– Official website, operates in Kaskinen Port since 1991
Map of Kaskinen
Cities and towns in Finland Finnish islands in the Baltic Grand Duchy of Finland Municipalities of Ostrobothnia (region) Populated coastal places in Finland Populated places established in 1785 Port cities and towns in Finland {{WesternFinland-geo-stub