Ahlainen () is a former municipality in the province of

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish language, Finnish and Swedish language, Swedish, ; historically ''Satacundia'') is a Regions of Finland, region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland ...

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, ...

. It was annexed with the city of

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

in 1972. The population of Ahlainen was 2,445 in 1971.Statistical Yearbook of Finland 1971
Statistics Finland. Retrieved 29 November 2013. The estimated population in 2022 was 339. But during the summer, the population is said to double when residents return to the village.

History

The people of Huittinen originally held the area as hunting grounds, reflected in the Swedish name ''Vittisbofjärd''. The village and inlet called ''Keikvesi'' are named after

Keikyä Keikyä is a List of former municipalities of Finland, former municipality of Finland in the former Turku and Pori Province, now in Pirkanmaa. Together with Kiikka, it formed the Äetsä municipality in 1981, which formed the Sastamala municipalit ...

, originally a part of Huittinen. Soon after Satakunta became part of Sweden, the area of Ahlainen and

Merikarvia Merikarvia (; ) is a municipality in Finland. It is located in the Satakunta region. The neighboring municipalities are Isojoki, Kristinestad, Pomarkku, Pori and Siikainen. The municipality has a population of 3,169 (2024) and it covers an are ...

was settled by Swedes. Ahlainen was first mentioned in 1427 when it was a part of the

Ulvila Ulvila (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is one of the six medieval cities of Finland, as well as the third oldest city in the country. Ulvila was granted charter as a ...

parish. It became a chapel community in 1736.

Noormarkku Noormarkku () is a former municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and was part of the Satakunta region. The municipality had a population of 6,158 (31 December 2009) and covered an area of of which is water. ...

was subordinate to the chapel community of Ahlainen until 1861 when Noormarkku became an independent parish, after which Ahlainen and

Pomarkku Pomarkku () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Satakunta region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (dis ...

were subordinated to it. Ahlainen eventually became a separate parish in 1908. In the 17th century, Ahlainen was predominantly Swedish-speaking. By the 18th century, the proportion of Finnish-speakers had grown in the area. During the 19th century, Finnish had become the majority language, and most Swedes knew how to speak Finnish. Local priests began to oppose the use of Swedish in the church in the 1860s, believing that the local dialect was "distorted" compared to standard Swedish. There were 476 Swedish-speakers (out of 3,618 people) living in Ahlainen according to an 1885 census, while a census in 1960 only found one Swedish-speaker out of 2,984 people. Ahlainen was consolidated with the town of

in 1972. The parish was also merged into the Pori parish.

References

External links

* Former municipalities of Finland *Ahlainen {{WesternFinland-geo-stub