Tornio (; ; ; ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

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' ...

Lapland, Finland Lapland is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the Finnish region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gulf of Bothnia, Norr ...

. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with

Haparanda Haparanda (; Meänkieli and Finnish: ''Haaparanta'', ) is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland. Haparanda has a population of 9,166 inhabitants (2024). Haparanda is ...

on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is 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 ...

is , with a total population of (). Tornio is unilingually Finnish with a negligible number of native Swedish speakers, although this does not count vast numbers of bilinguals who speak Swedish as a second language, with an official target of universal working bilingualism for both border municipalities.

History

The

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

of the Torne River has been inhabited since the end of the last ice age, and there are currently (1995) 16 settlement sites known in the area, similar to those found in Vuollerim (). The Swedish part of the region is not far from the oldest permanent settlement site found in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. A former hypothesis that this region was uninhabited and colonised from the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

onward has now been abandoned. Until the 19th century, inhabitants of the surrounding countryside spoke Finnish, and

Kemi Sámi Kemi Sámi was a Sámi language that was originally spoken in the southernmost district of Finnish Lapland as far south as the Sámi siidas around Kuusamo. A complex of local variants which had a distinct identity from other Sámi dialects, b ...

, a language of the Eastern Sami group, while those of the town were mainly Swedish-speaking. The name 'Tornio' is an old Finnish word meaning "war spear": the city is named after the river. To Swedish it was borrowed as ''Torneå'' after ''Torne å'', an alternative name of the river. The town received its charter from the King

Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...

on 12 May 1621, and was officially founded on the island of

Suensaari Suensaari is a Finnish peninsula in the river Torne (Finnish and Swedish river), Torne. Although the 6 km2 peninsula is linked to Sweden, it was decided in 1809 that it would become Finnish. It has 2227 inhabitants as of 2012.

. At that time, it was the northernmost city in the world. The charter was granted in recognition of Tornio being the hub of all trade in Lapland throughout the 16th century. It was the largest merchant town in the North at the time, and for some years ranked as the richest town in Sweden. Despite the lively trade with Lapland and overseas, the population of the town remained stable for hundreds of years at little over 500. During the 18th century Tornio was visited by several expeditions from Central Europe which came to explore the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

. The most notable expedition (1736–1737) was led by a member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Pierre Louis Maupertuis Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (; ; 1698 – 27 July 1759) was a French mathematician, philosopher and man of letters. He became the director of the Académie des Sciences and the first president of the Prussian Academy of Science, at the ...

, who came to take

meridian arc In geodesy and navigation, a meridian arc is the curve (geometry), curve between two points near the Earth's surface having the same longitude. The term may refer either to a arc (geometry), segment of the meridian (geography), meridian, or to its ...

measurements along the Meänmaa which would show that the globe is flattened towards the poles. The church

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

at Tornio was one of the landmarks used by Maupertuis in his measurements. The church was constructed in 1686 by Matti Joosepinpoika Härmä. The Lapland trade on which Tornio depended started to decline in the 18th century, and the harbour had to be moved downriver twice as a result of the rising of the land, which made the river too shallow for navigation. However, the greatest blow to the wealth of the town came in the last war between Sweden and Russia in 1808, which saw the Russians capture and annex Finland. The border was drawn through the deepest channel of the

Muonio Muonio (previously called ''Muonionniska''; ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. The town is located in fell-region of far northern Finland above the Arctic Circle on the country's western border with Sweden, the Muonio ( ...

and Tornio rivers, splitting Lapland into two parts, with deleterious effects on trade. Tornio ended up on the Russian side of the border by special request of the Russian czar. The Swedes developed the village of Haaparanta (present day

) on their side of the border, to balance the loss of Tornio, and Tornio became unilingually Finnish. A Federley Tornea 1908

During the Russian period, Tornio was a sleepy

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

town. Trade only livened up during the Åland War (part of the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

) and the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, when Tornio became an important border crossing for goods and people. During the First World War, Tornio and Haparanda had the only rail link connecting the Russians to their Western allies. It was also through Tornio that

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

returned to Russia from exile in Switzerland in March 1917. After the

independence of Finland Finland declared its independence on 6 December 1917. The formal Declaration of Independence was only part of the long process leading to the independence of Finland. History Proclamation of Empress Elizabeth (1742) The subject of an independe ...

in 1917 Tornio lost its garrison and experienced further decline, although its population increased steadily. The town played no role of importance in the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

, but was the scene of some fierce street fighting at the onset of the

Lapland War During World War II, the Lapland War (; ; ) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. Though the Finns and the Germans had been fighting together ...

between Finland and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

. The rapid liberation of the town by Finnish forces may have saved it from being burned down like so many other towns in Lapland. As a result, the wooden church from 1686 can still be seen today. After World War II, the town created new employment built on the success of the local Lapin Kulta brewery and the

Outokumpu Outokumpu Oyj is a group of international companies headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with 10,600 employees in more than 30 countries. Outokumpu is the largest producer of stainless steel in Europe and the second largest producer in the Americ ...

stainless steel mill. Tourism based on the border has also been a growing industry. The town is a centre of education for Western Lapland, with a vocational college and a

university of applied sciences A vocational university or university of applied sciences (UAS), less commonly called a polytechnic university is an institution of higher education and increasingly research that provides applied professional education and grants academic de ...

. Tornio and Haparanda have a history as

twin cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

, and are currently set to merge under the names TornioHaparanda and HaparandaTornio. A new city centre is under construction on the international border and several municipal services are shared.Rajalla – På Gränsen
The towns also share a common

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

course, situated astride the border. The

IKEA IKEA ( , ) is a Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in Sweden that designs and sells , household goods, and various related services. IKEA is owned and operated by a series of not-for-profit an ...

store in Haparanda has signposting in Finnish as well as in Swedish, and all prices are signposted in two currencies.

Sports

Tornion Palloveikot is a

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

club which plays in the Bandyliiga and has become Finnish bandy champion several times. They play their home matches in Haparanda, just on the other side of the Swedish border, which was the venue for games at the 2001 Bandy World Championship. Tornion Pallo -47 is the main

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club in the city. Teemu Tainio, a football player and manager, was born in Tornio. Jesse Puljujärvi, an ice hockey player, lived his childhood in Tornio. Ville Pokka, an ice hockey player, was born and raised in Tornio. The Finland-Sweden border runs through the

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

at the west of the city.

Climate

Tornio has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

( Dfc) that is slightly tempered in winter by its proximity to the sea, but retains warm continental summers that are quite short. The weatherbox below is from neighbouring city Haparanda and operated by the

Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (, SMHI) is a Swedish government agency and operates under the Ministry of Climate and Enterprise. SMHI has expertise within the areas of meteorology, hydrology and oceanography, and has exte ...

. Despite the fact that Tornio experiences

polar day Midnight sun, also known as polar day, is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When midnight sun is s ...

for 13 days between 15 and 27 June, it does not experience

polar night Polar night is a phenomenon that occurs in the polar regions of Earth, northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth when the Sun remains below the horizon for more than 24 hours. This only occurs inside the polar circles. The opposite phen ...

Transport

break of gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and railroad car, rolling stock g ...

occurs at Tornio between the Finnish and Swedish railway systems. A bogie exchange and variable gauge axle track gauge changing facility are provided. Tornio has a passenger service provided from Tornio-East station by Finnish Railways VR three days a week overnight.

Kemi-Tornio Airport Kemi-Tornio Airport (; ; ) is an airport in Kemi, Finland. The airport is located near the district of Lautiosaari, east of the Kemijoki (Kemi River), north of Kemi city centre and east of Tornio city centre. The airport is owned and operated ...

is located in

Kemi Kemi (; ; ; ) is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located approximately from the city of Tornio and the Finland–Sweden border, Swedish border. The distance to Oulu is to the south and t ...

, about south-east from Tornio city centre. The Port of Tornio is a cargo port adjacent to the

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

. Highway 29 (part of the European route E8) between Keminmaa and Tornio is the world's northernmost

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

. Tornio is also the northern terminus of

European route E4 European route E4 passes from north to south through Sweden from the border with Finland, with a total length of . The Finnish part lies entirely within Tornio in northern Finland, and is only long. The Swedish part traverses most of Sweden e ...

Notable people

* Aarne Heikinheimo, Jäger Major-General * ,

player * , writer, art critic and painter * Heikki Hyvönen, bandy player * , gymnast and

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

player * , businessman * Henri Sillanpää, footballer * Ivar Lantto, schoolteacher, farmer and politician * , forester and long-term director of the Forestry Department in Lapland * Jesse Puljujärvi, ice hockey player * Joni Myllykoski, ice hockey player * Juho-Teppo Berg, footballer * , ice hockey league judge * Jussi Hakasalo, footballer * Jussi Kanervo, hurdler * , clergyman and writer * Kalle Palander, alpine skier * , writer * Leena Huhta, sprinter * Läjä Äijälä, musician, comics artist and poet * * , journalist, writer and screenwriter * , ''Jäger'' lieutenant * Pasi Hiekkanen, football goalkeeper and bandy player * , architect * Saku Mäenalanen, ice hockey player * Sari Eero, athlete * , politician * Teemu Tainio, footballer * Tuuli Matinsalo, aerobics athlete * Ville Pokka, ice hockey player * , hairdresser * , musician *

Ville Pörhölä Frans Wilhelm "Ville" Pörhölä (originally Horneman, 24 December 1897 – 28 November 1964) was a Finnish athlete who competed in shot put, discus throw, hammer throw and weight throw. Biography Pörhölä won the gold medal in shot put a ...

, athlete, Olympic Winner * Miranda Vuolasranta, Finnish teacher

Twin towns – sister cities

Tornio is twinned with: *

Devizes Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...

, England, United Kingdom * Hammerfest, Norway * Ikast-Brande, Denmark * Kirovsk, Russia *

Szekszárd Szekszárd (, formerly also ''Szegzárd''; ; or ; ) is a small city in southern Hungary and the capital of Tolna County. By population, Szekszárd is the smallest county capital in Hungary; by area, it is the second-smallest (after Tatabánya). ...

, Hungary * Vetlanda, Sweden

Gallery

Tornion joki winter 2015.jpg, Torne River in the winter Tornio Orth Church.JPG, Orthodox Church, Tornio Suensaari school Sep2008.jpg, Suensaari School, constructed in the early 1900s originally a Russian barracks. Outokumpu mill in Tornio May2009 001.jpg, Outokumpu steel mill Umpitunneli Tornio 20180523.jpg, Bar Umpitunneli in Tornio

References

External links

*
Town of Tornio
– Official website
Tourism Kemi & Tornio
– Discovering Finland {{Authority control Cities and towns in Finland Populated coastal places in Finland Divided cities Finland–Sweden border crossings Grand Duchy of Finland Port cities and towns in Finland Populated places established in 1621 1621 establishments in Sweden Municipalities of Lapland (Finland)