Vilppula was a former municipality of

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 ...

. Neighbouring Mänttä was merged into it on 1 January 2009 to form the municipality of

Mänttä-Vilppula Mänttä-Vilppula ( sv, Mänttä-Vilppula, also ) is a town and municipality of Finland. The municipalities of Mänttä and Vilppula were consolidated into a single municipality on January 1, 2009. It is located in the Pirkanmaa region. The town h ...

. The municipality was 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 ...

. It was 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 ou ...

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 was part of the

Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa (; sv, Birkaland; la, Birkaria, link=no), also known as ''Tampere Region'' in government documents, is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme an ...

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 had a population of 5,457 in 2005 and covered an area of 571.26 km² of which 99.90 km² was 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 ...

was 10.5 inhabitants per km². The work force mainly consisted of industry and service, these accounting for 50 and 39 percent of total workforce. Population was estimated to be at a slight decline. The Kolho village in Vilppula is located to the north. Another village, Pohjaslahti, is located northwest from the Vilppula centre. These continue to exist as villages of the new Mänttä-Vilppula municipality. Vilppula is also known for being the location of the 1918

Battle of Vilppula Battle of Vilppula was a Finnish Civil War battle fought in Vilppula and Ruovesi, Finland in 31 January – 18 March 1918 between the Whites and the Reds. Due to its location by the Tampere–Haapamäki railway, Vilppula was a gateway to the W ...

during the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

External links

Mänttä-Vilppula
– Official site Populated places disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in Finland Former municipalities of Finland Mänttä-Vilppula {{WesternFinland-geo-stub