Kaskinen (; ) is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

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, ...

, located on the west coast of the country. Kaskinen is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the

Gulf of Bothnia The Gulf of Bothnia (; ; ) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the northern part of Sweden's east coast ( West Bothnia an ...

. The population of Kaskinen approximately , while the

sub-region A subregion is a part of a larger geographical region or continent. Cardinal directions are commonly used to define subregions. There are many criteria for creating systems of subregions; this article is focusing on the United Nations geoscheme ...

has a population of approximately . It is the most populous

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' ...

in Finland. Kaskinen covers an area of (excluding sea areas) of which is inland water (). The population density is . Kaskinen is a

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages. The population consists of Finnish speakers, Swedish speakers, and speakers of other languages, which is well above the national average. Kaskinen is the smallest municipality in Finland with town status.The Island Town of Artisans, Fishermen and Sailors – Visit Kaskinen
/ref>Heidi Sommar: ''Kaskinen ei kasvanutkaan metropoliksi vaan puutaloidylliksi''. ''

YLE Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

'', 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 Närpes (Finland Swedish: ; ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Närpes is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Närpes is approximately , while the sub-region has a population of ...

. 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"; , formerly ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Ostrobothnia. Seinäjoki is located in the western interior of the country and along the Seinäjoki (river), River Seinäjoki. The population of Sein ...

. 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 end (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 watercraft by p ...

appearing in the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of Kaskinen describes the excellent

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

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 tradition ...

and

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

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 form of shifting cultivation that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a Field (agriculture), field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody p ...

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 King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he s ...

and since then it has been one of the most important

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

s of Finland. In the 18th century, a town plan with long, straight and wide

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

s 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 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 (; ; ; ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Kristinestad is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Kristinestad is approximately , while the sub-region has a population o ...

and

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ), 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 b ...

and

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

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 Mast (sailing), masts to harness the power of wind and propel the vessel. There is a variety of sail plans that propel sailing ships, employing Square rig, square-rigged or Fore-an ...

s, coastal traffic as well as freight and passenger traffic to Sweden was practiced in the town by

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

s. 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 encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

and

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

), 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 A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax or corporate income tax, is a type of direct tax levied on the income or capital of corporations and other similar legal entities. The tax is usually imposed at the national level, but ...

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 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 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 Form ...

27.0% *

True Finns The Finns Party ( , PS; , Sannf), formerly known as the True Finns, is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The party achieved its electoral breakthro ...

21.4% *

National Coalition Party The National Coalition Party (NCP; , Kok; , Saml) is a liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland. It is the current governing political party of Finland. Founded in 1918, the ...

12.9% * Left Alliance 6.7% *

Green League The Green League, ( , Vihr; ; ; ; ) shortened to the Greens, (; ) is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically, the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a reformist party and it supports femi ...

3.0%

Culture

Food

''Gubbe ronka'' or ''gubbe runka'', mashed potato 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 northern Atlantic Ocean, congregating in large schools. ...

, served with mashed

lingonberry ''Vaccinium vitis-idaea'' is a small evergreen shrub in the heath family, Ericaceae. It is known colloquially as the lingonberry, partridgeberry, foxberry, mountain cranberry, or cowberry. It is native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra through ...

and melted

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

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

Notable people

* Rosina Heikel (1842–1929), medical doctor and feminist * Krista Siegfrids (born 1985), pop singer * Sune Mangs (1932-1994), actor

Gallery

References

External links

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