Utsjoki
Encyclopedia
Utsjoki is a municipality in 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...

. It is located in Lapland and borders Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 as well as the municipality of Inari
Inari, Finland
Inari is Finland's largest, sparsely populated municipality with four official languages, more than any other in the country. Its major sources of income are lumber industry and nature maintenance. With the museum Siida in the village of Inari, it is a center of Sami culture...

. The municipality was founded in 1876. It has a population of
and covers an area of km2 of
which km2
is water. 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...

 is
PD/km2.

Utsjoki has two official languages: 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...

 and Northern Sami
Northern Sami
Northern or North Sami is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. The speaking area of Northern Sami covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland...

. It is the municipality in Finland with the largest portion of Sami
Sami languages
Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden and extreme northwestern Russia, in Northern Europe. Sami is frequently and erroneously believed to be a single language. Several names are used for the Sami...

 speakers; of the population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

.

The border to Norway follows the river Teno
Tana River (Norway)
Tana river , is a long river in Sápmi, in the Norwegian county of in Finnmark and the Lapland of Finland. The Sámi name means "Great River". The main tributaries of Tana are Anarjohka and Karasjohka....

 which flows into the Arctic Sea. The river is a popular site for recreational fishing because it is rich in salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

. The most northern village in Finland and in the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 is Nuorgam
Nuorgam
Nuorgam is a village in the Utsjoki municipality in the region of Lapland, Finland. It has approximately 200 inhabitants. It is near the northernmost point of Finland and the northernmost point of the European Union....

 which is also the most northern land border crossing in the world.

Utsjoki is the northern end of highway 4
Finnish national road 4
Finnish national road 4 is a highway in Finland. It is the main route from Helsinki to Northern Finland and a major road link in the country. It runs from Erottaja in Helsinki to Sami Bridge in Utsjoki. The road is long...

, the longest highway
Highways in Finland
Roads in Finland comprise of highways, paved and gravel roads which are divided in four to five classes according to their local importance...

 in Finland. The European route E75
European route E75
European route E 75 is part of the International E-road network, which is a series of main roads in Europe.The E 75 starts from Vardø, Norway in the Barents Sea and runs south through Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Republic of Macedonia to Sitia, Greece on...

 runs along the Sami Bridge
Sami Bridge
The Sami Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that carries the European route E75 across the Tana River between Finnmark county in Norway and Utsjoki in Finland. The bridge is long, and the main span is .Sami Bridge was opened in 1993.-External links:***...

 further to Norway.

Between the Teno and the Utsjoki river, there is an old hotel very popular between Norwegians and Finns alike, that was built by the Finnish Tourist Association in 1959. The outside look is still the same, but the rooms have been renovated and the hotel now named Hotel Luossajohka.

The Nature reserve Kevo is located in the municipality. It covers a territory of 712 km² (274.9 sq mi) and there is a 63 km (39.1 mi) long hiking trail. The trail partly follows the edge of the Kevo canyon.

Villages in Utsjoki

Nuorgam
Nuorgam
Nuorgam is a village in the Utsjoki municipality in the region of Lapland, Finland. It has approximately 200 inhabitants. It is near the northernmost point of Finland and the northernmost point of the European Union....

, Utsjoki centre, Nuvvus, Dalvadas, Outakoski, Rovisuvanto, Karigasniemi
Karigasniemi
Karigasniemi is one of the villages of Finland's most northern municipality of Utsjoki . It lies at the foot of Mount Ailigás.The village is situated on the border between Norway and Finland south-east of Karasjok...

 and Kaamasmukka
Kaamasmukka
Kaamasmukka is a village in Finland in the municipality of Utsjoki. It is located near the village of Karigasniemi and the border of Norway. There is a fell only a few kilometres away from Kaamasmukka named Kaktsvarri ....

.

Politics

Results of the Finnish parliamentary election, 2011
Finnish parliamentary election, 2011
An election to the Eduskunta was held on 17 April 2011 after the termination of the previous parliamentary term. Advance voting, which included voting by Finnish expatriates, was held between 6 and 12 April with a turnout of 31.2%....

 in Utsjoki:
  • Centre Party
    Centre Party (Finland)
    The Centre Party is a centrist and Nordic agrarian political party in Finland. It is one of the four largest political parties in the country, along with the Social Democratic Party , the National Coalition Party and the True Finns , and currently has 35 seats in the Finnish Parliament...

      39.7%
  • National Coalition Party  17.0%
  • True Finns
    True Finns
    True Finns or The Finns is a populist and nationalist political party in Finland, founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The head of the movement is Timo Soini. In the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election, The party won 19.1% of votes, becoming the third largest party...

      16.5%
  • Social Democratic Party
    Social Democratic Party of Finland
    The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...

      9.1%
  • Left Alliance
    Left Alliance (Finland)
    The Left Alliance is a left-wing political party in Finland. It was founded on the basis of the Finnish People's Democratic League and the Communist Party of Finland in 1990....

      7.0%
  • Green League
    Green League
    The Green League is a centrist green liberal political party in Finland. It has ten seats in the Finnish Parliament and two in the European Parliament. The current chairperson is Ville Niinistö....

      3.8%
  • Swedish People's Party  2.9%
  • Christian Democrats
    Christian Democrats (Finland)
    The Christian Democrats is a Christian democratic political party in Finland. Formerly known as the Finnish Christian League , the Christian Democrats have six seats in the Finnish Parliament and one in the European Parliament.The party was founded in 1958, chiefly from the Christian faction of...

      2.6%
  • Communist Party of Finland 1.2%
  • Other parties 0.3%

External links

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