Jämsä () is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares ...
and
municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''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 Bo ...
. 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 and t ...
, about southwest of
Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capit ...
. 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: 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 ...
is .
The municipality is officially
Finnish-speaking.
The municipality of
Kuorevesi 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
Patria may refer to:
Entertainment
* Patria (novel), a 2016 novel by Spanish writer Fernando Aramburu
* Patria (TV series), a 2020 limited television series, based on the novel
* ''Patria'' (serial), a 1917 American serial film
Music
* " Pá ...
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 la ...
. 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
Längelmävesi () is a lake in southwestern Finland. The lake is located mostly in the Pirkanmaa region at an elevation of . Längelmävesi is within the municipalities of Jämsä (formerly Längelmäki), Kangasala (formerly Sahalahti), Kuh ...
and
Hauho
Hauho is a former municipality of Finland. It was situated in the province of Southern Finland
Southern Finland ( fi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, sv, Södra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of W ...
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 und ...
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 expo ...
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
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...
through
Orivesi and Jämsä to
Laukaa. 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 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 (linguistics), compound of ''turn'' as in turned/r ...
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 ...
groats), ''
piimä
Fermented milk products or fermented dairy products, also known as cultured dairy foods, cultured dairy products, or cultured milk products, are dairy foods that have been made by fermenting milk with lactic acid bacteria such as ''Lactobacillus' ...
talkkuna'' and grandma's
buns.
Sports
Jämsänkosken Ilves is a sports club in Jämsä.
Himos Skiresort is located in Jämsä.
See also
*
Längelmäki
*
Länkipohja Länkipohja () is a locality in Jämsä, Finland, located by the lake Längelmävesi. It was the administrative center of the municipality of Längelmäki, which was divided between Jämsä and Orivesi in 2007.
History
The village of Länkipohja ...
*
Battle of Länkipohja
*
Jämsänkoski
*
Jämsänkosken Ilves
*
Jämsä sub-region
Jämsä sub-region is a subdivision of Central Finland and one of the Sub-regions of Finland since 2009.
Municipalities
* Jämsä (22,392)
* Kuhmoinen (2,458)
Politics
Results of the 2018 Finnish presidential election:
* Sauli Niinistö 65 ...
*
Finnish national road 58
References
External links
Town of Jämsä– Official website, ''finnish'', ''english''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamsa
Cities and towns in Finland
Populated places established in 1866
1866 establishments in the Russian Empire
Rally Finland