Nastola is a former 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 merged with the city of

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

on 1 January 2016. 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 ...

Southern Finland Southern Finland (, ) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia. History On September 1, 1997 the Uusimaa Province, the Ky ...

, Nastola is part of the

Päijät-Häme Päijät-Häme (; ) is a Regions of Finland, region in Southern Finland south of the lake Päijänne. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Kanta-Häme, Pirkanmaa, Central Finland, Southern Savonia, South Savo and Kymenlaakso. The biggest city in t ...

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 had a population of (30 June 2015) and covered an area of of which was water. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

was . Nastola is located between two major cities:

and

Kouvola Kouvola () is a city in Finland and the administrative capital of Kymenlaakso. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country. The population of Kouvola is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland, and the 17th m ...

. Kausala, the administrative center of

Iitti Iitti (; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density ...

, is away from Nastola in the direction of Kouvola. The municipality was unilingually Finnish.

History

Ornamental items, presumed to date back to the 1200s, have been found in the village of Ruuhijärvi. Although the items are of Karelian design, scholars agree that they are not necessarily indicative of Karelian settlement in Nastola. Additionally, English, German and Scandinavian coins have been found in Immilä. Etymologic research indicates that the earliest settlers in Nastola originated from contemporary

Asikkala Asikkala () is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Vääksy, at the shores of the Lake Päijänne. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia regi ...

and

Hollola Hollola () is a municipality of Finland, located in the western part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality is unilingually Finnish and has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . ...

, in addition to the surroundings of lake

Vanajavesi Vanajavesi is a large lake in southern Finland, in the provinces of Pirkanmaa and Kanta-Häme. It is part of the Kokemäenjoki basin. The lake gathers waters from a wide area in the regions of Pirkanmaa, Tavastia Proper and parts of the Päij� ...

; indeed, Ruuhijärvi, then covering most of what is now known as Nastola, became one of the quarters of the administrative parish of Asikkala in the 1500s. The name of Nastola may be of Karelian origin, referring to a Karelian male name ''Nasto'' (folk form of Anastasios). The first administrative center over the area was Uusikylä (), which was also the name of an administrative unit within the

and later the

parish in the 15th century. The first church in the area was built in the village of Nastola (first mentioned in 1478), which gave its name to the chapel community and the later parish. Nastola became an independent parish in 1860. Nastola was consolidated with Lahti in 2016.

Geography

Nastola is wedged between the first and second Salpausselkäs, the former being a prominent feature in the terrain and landscape of the southern part of the municipality. In the west, it splits in two distinct ridges around the village of Villähde, and reaches it highest point in the parish village at above sea level. Moving further east towards

, the ridge becomes narrower and its ridgelines steepen in the surroundings of Uusikylä. The area between the Salpausselkäs is characterized by its

esker An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Amer ...

s and

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

s. The esker of Vahteristonmäki, reaching past lake Kymijärvi further north into

Heinola Heinola () is a town and a municipality of inhabitants () located in the eastern part of the Päijänne Tavastia region, Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to t ...

, peaks at above sea level in Nastola.

Till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

is the dominant type of soil in central and northern Nastola, with

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

deposits mostly being concentrated to the south of the first Salpausselkä, as well as around the lakes of Ruuhijärvi, Sylvöjärvi and Oksjärvi. The till areas are dotted with

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

protrusions, such as the high Ukonvuori hill in the east. The rocks on the south side of the Salpausselkäs tend to be lower and more rounded, and the majority of the bedrock consists of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

. All of the lakes of Nastola, which are also all part of the Kymijärvi

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

, are situated to the north of the first Salpausselkä; to its south are several smaller streams of water.

List of villages

Arrajoki, Immilä, Koiskala, Lankila, Pyhäntaka, Ruuhijärvi, Uusikylä, Vanaja, Villähde, Kirkonkylä, Rakokivi, Seesta- Luhtaanmaa, Järvinen, Tapiola.

Attractions

Source:

Pajulahti Sports Institute Pajulahti Sports Institute () is a sports and leisure centre, situated in Nastola, Lahti, Finland. It is about an hour's drive away from Helsinki area, and fifteen minutes drive from Lahti city centre. The school offers secondary education, upper ...

* Anni Kaste Memorial stone * Defenders of the home country memorial stone * Nastola cemetery * German memorial * King's Ridge observation tower * King's fountain * Ruuhijärvi cultural landscape * Mountain Troll's observation tower * Engel's storehouse * Immilä mill * Kumia mill * Nastola church * Nastola history museum * Taarasti Art Center

Notable people from Nastola

* Adelaïde Ehrnrooth, feminist author * Elsi Borg, architect *

Eduard Polón Ulrik Wilhelm Eduard Polón (16 June 1861 – 30 September 1930) was a Finnish business leader and a political patriot during the country's years of oppression. Under his leadership, a rubber industry was launched in the country. He was the found ...

, founder of

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

* Valtteri Bottas, Formula 1 driver * Veli-Matti Lindström, ski jumper * Ville Väinölä, ice-hockey player

References

External links

Municipality of Nastola
– Official website {{authority control *Nastola Former municipalities of Finland