Maxmo () is a former
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, 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 located in the
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Western Finland
Western Finland (, ) 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. Tampere was the largest city of the province.
Histor ...
and was part of the
Ostrobothnia region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
. The municipality was consolidated with
Vörå to form the new municipality of
Vörå-Maxmo in 2007.
The former municipality had a population of 1,037 (2003) and covered an area of 148.06 km² of which one fourth was land. The population density was 7.0 inhabitants per km². The majority were speakers of
Swedish (90%) and the minority speakers of
Finnish (8%).
Maxmo was part of the
Kvarken
Kvarken ( (as opposed to South Kvarken); ) is the narrow region of the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay (the inner part of the gulf) from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from the Sweden, Swedish mainland to the Mainland Finland, Finnish ...
Archipelago. The Kvarken Archipelago is continuously rising from the sea at a rate among the highest in the world. During the last 600 years, over a third of the land areas in Maxmo has risen from the sea. That means over of new land every year.
In July 2006 Kvarken Archipelago was added as an extension to the
UNESCO World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
of
The High Coast
The High Coast () is a part of the coast of Sweden on the Gulf of Bothnia, in the Ångermanland province of northeast Sweden, centered in the area of the municipalities of Kramfors, Härnösand and Örnsköldsvik. It is notable as an area for re ...
. The
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
is unique in that it features ridged washboard
moraines known as De Geer moraines, formed by the melting of the continental ice sheet 10,000 to 24,000 years ago.
Municipalities of Ostrobothnia (administrative region)
{{WesternFinland-geo-stub