Övertorneå (; ) is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...

and the seat of

Övertorneå Municipality Övertorneå Municipality (, ) is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its administrative centre, seat is located in Övertorneå. Until the Finnish War (1808–1809) Övertorneå an ...

Norrbotten County Norrbotten County (, Meänkieli/, ) is the northernmost county or '' län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares borders with Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

with 1,917 inhabitants in 2010. It is located at the shore of the Torne River, opposite to their Finnish twin town

Ylitornio Ylitornio (; ; ; ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Lapland, Finland, Lapland along the Torne (Finnish and Swedish river), Tornio River, opposite the Sweden, Swedish ...

. Övertorneå means "Upper Torneå", based on a division of the Torneå parish in two parts in the 16th century. Until the border between Sweden and

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, ...

was drawn at the Torne River in 1809, the two villages on both sides of the river were one. From 1809 till 1917, this represented the Swedish border to Russia.

Gallery

Image:Matarengi Church exterior.jpg, Matarengi Church Image:Övertorneå järnvägsstation.jpg, Övertorneå railway station Image:Röda kvarn Övertorneå.jpg, Röda Kvarn Image:PanoTorne.jpg, A view from Aavasaksa, across the border river.

Sports

Övertorneå is home of

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

forward

Linus Omark Linus Karl Heimer Omark (born 5 February 1987) is a Swedes, Swedish professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), left winger currently with Luleå Hockey of the Swedish Hockey League, SHL. Omark has previously played in the National Hockey Leagu ...

. Another well known ice-hockey player from the settlement is Daniel Henriksson. The following sports clubs are located in Övertorneå: * Övertorneå SK

Notable residents

* Mathilda Fogman (1835-1921), a Swedish and Finnish midwife, was an influential spiritual leader within

Laestadianism Laestadianism (; ; ; ), also known as Laestadian Lutheranism and Apostolic Lutheranism, is a Pietism, pietistic Lutheranism, Lutheran revival movement started in Sápmi in the middle of the 19th century. Named after Church of Sweden, Swedish Lu ...

in Övertorneå.Suomen kansallisbiografia (National Biography of Finland)
/ref> * Brita Klemetintytär (1621-1700) lived in Övertorneå, where she followed in her father's footsteps and served as

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

External links

References

Municipal seats of Norrbotten County Swedish municipal seats Populated places in Övertorneå Municipality Norrbotten Finland–Sweden border crossings {{Norrbotten-geo-stub