Övertorneå Municipality is a municipality

Municipalities of Sweden

The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...

 in Norrbotten County

Norrbotten County

Norrbotten County is the northernmost county or län of Sweden. It borders Västerbotten County to the southwest, the Gulf of Bothnia to the southeast. It also borders the counties of Nordland and Troms in Norway to the northwest, and Lapland Province in Finland to the northeast.The name...

 in northern Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, bordering Finland. Its seat

Administrative centre

An administrative centre is a term often used in several countries to refer to a county town, or other seat of regional or local government, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located....

 is located in Övertorneå

Övertorneå

Övertorneå is a locality and the seat of Övertorneå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,965 inhabitants in 2005.It is located at the shore of the Torne River, opposite to Ylitornio...

.

Until the Finnish War

Finnish War

The Finnish War was fought between Sweden and the Russian Empire from February 1808 to September 1809. As a result of the war, the eastern third of Sweden was established as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire...

 (1808–1809) Övertorneå and the Finnish Ylitornio were a single municipality. Following the war, the eastern part of the municipality was ceded to Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 as a part of Finland. In 1870 a minor part of Övertorneå Municipality was split off, forming the rural municipality Korpilombolo

Korpilombolo

Korpilombolo is a locality situated in Pajala Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 548 inhabitants in 2005....

 (now part of Pajala Municipality

Pajala Municipality

Pajala Municipality is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in Pajala.In 1884 Tärendö was detached from Pajala Municipality, forming a municipality of its own. In 1914 Pajala Municipality was once again split when Junosuando broke away...

). In 1969 Övertorneå and Hietaniemi municipalities were merged, forming the present municipality.

Many places in the municipality have both a Swedish and a Finnish name, in the local dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

 of Finnish known as Meänkieli, one of the minority languages of Sweden

Minority languages of Sweden

In 1999, the Minority Language Committee of Sweden formally declared five minority languages of Sweden: Finnish, Sami language, Romani, Yiddish, and Meänkieli ....

.

Localities

There are four localities

Urban areas in Sweden

Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...

 (or urban areas) in Övertorneå Municipality:

#	Locality	Population
1	Övertorneå Övertorneå Övertorneå is a locality and the seat of Övertorneå Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden with 1,965 inhabitants in 2005.It is located at the shore of the Torne River, opposite to Ylitornio...	1,965
2	Juoksengi Juoksengi Juoksengi is a locality situated in Övertorneå Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 401 inhabitants in 2005.It is located on the Torne River, at the border with Finland, which runs through the middle of the river. On the Finnish side of the river the village Juoksenki is located...	401
3	Hedenäset Hedenäset Hedenäset is a locality situated in Övertorneå Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 285 inhabitants in 2005....	285
4	Svanstein Svanstein Svanstein is a locality situated in Övertorneå Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden with 207 inhabitants in 2005....	207

The municipal seat in bold

Emphasis (typography)

In typography, emphasis is the exaggeration of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text—to emphasize them.- Methods and use :...

Smaller localities

There are nine smaller localities in Övertorneå Municipality:

#	Smaller locality	Population
1	Pello Pello, Övertorneå Pello is a minor locality in Övertorneå Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is located on the shore of the Torne River opposite to Pello, Finland. The locality has a population of 193 inhabitants ....	193
2	Kuivakangas	125
3	Aapua Aapua Aapua is a village in the county of Norrbotten in Sweden. The village is situated in Övertorneå Municipality, 60 km from Pajala, and in 2000 the village had 137 inhabitants. To the south there is a lake, Aapuajärvi. In 2005 seven wind turbines were built on the mountain Etu-Aapua, which is...	122
4	Poikijärvi	107
5	Rantajärvi	102
6	Neistenkangas	93
7	Pudas	85
8	Haapakylä	59
9	Jänkisjärvi	52

Sights

Two old wooden churches in Övertorneå and Hedenäset. The church in Övertorneå has an organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 from the 17th century.

Juoksengi is intersected by the Arctic Circle

Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....

and is known as the "Arctic Circle Village" (Polcirkelbyn).

External links

• Övertorneå Municipality – Official site
• Ylitornio-Övertorneå – Tourist site