Houtskär
Encyclopedia
Houtskär (ˈhuːtʃæːr; ˈhoutskɑri) is a former municipality of Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. On 1 January 2009, it was consolidated with Iniö
Iniö
Iniö is a former municipality of Finland. On 1 January 2009, it was consolidated with Houtskär, Korpo, Nagu and Pargas to form the new town of Väståboland....

, Korpo
Korpo
Korpo is a former municipality of Finland. On 1 January 2009, it was consolidated with Houtskär, Iniö, Nagu and Pargas to form the new town of Väståboland.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region...

, Nagu
Nagu
Nagu is a former municipality of Finland. On 1 January 2009, it was consolidated with Houtskär, Iniö, Korpo and Pargas to form the new town of Väståboland....

 and Pargas
Pargas
Pargas is a former town and municipality in south-western Finland. On 1 January 2009, it was consolidated with Houtskär, Iniö, Korpo and Nagu to form the new town of Väståboland....

 to form the new town of Väståboland
Väståboland
Väståboland is a municipality of Finland, in the Archipelago Sea. The big limestone mine in Pargas is the base of the main industry, while there is still significant rural areas. Except the central parts of Pargas the municipality is mostly rural....

.

It is located in the Archipelago Sea
Archipelago Sea
Archipelago Sea is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland, within Finnish territorial waters...

 in the province
Provinces of Finland
The state of Finland consisted of six provinces between the years 1997 and 2009. The provincial authority was part of the central government's executive branch, not directly elected. The system was created in 1634, and its makeup was changed drastically in 1997, when the number of the provinces...

 of Western Finland
Western Finland
Western Finland was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2010. It bordered the provinces of Oulu, Eastern Finland and Southern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Bothnia towards Åland.- History :...

 and is part of the Finland Proper region
Regions of Finland
Finland consists of 19 regions called in Finnish and in Swedish. The regions are governed by regional councils, which serve as forums of cooperation for the municipalities of a region. The main tasks of the regions are regional planning and development of enterprise and education. In addition,...

. The municipality had a population of 621 (as of 31 December 2008) and covered a land area of 119.93 square kilometres (46.3 sq mi). The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 5.18 PD/km2.

The municipality was bilingual with the majority (88 %) being Swedish
Finland-Swedish
Finland Swedish is a general term for the closely related cluster of dialects of Swedish spoken in Finland by Swedish-speaking Finns as their mother tongue...

 and minority Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

 speakers.

In the 2004 municipal elections, the Swedish People's Party got 100% of the votes.

In Houtskär are three stores, a bank and mail, and the church of Santa Maria in Näsby center. At various times throughout the year organized dances, which is an old tradition that is kept alive by both older and younger participants, everyone dance different couplesdances from humppa to schottis, always to live music.

Houtskär consists of a group of bigger islands and a large number of smaller islands in the surrounding sea area. Communications to the mainland is by the ”Archipelago road” through Pargas, Nagu and Korpo, with three ferries considered part of the road network, the trip with the last one from Korpo to Houtskär lasting half an hour. The main islands are connected by bridges or cable ferries
Cable ferry
A cable ferry is guided and in many cases propelled across a river or other larger body of water by cables connected to both shores. They are also called chain ferries, floating bridges, or punts....

, the outer inhabited islands usually have daily connections with ship-like ferries.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK