Tohmajärvi

Tohmajärvi is a municipality Is Finland. It belongs to the province of Eastern Finland and of the area of Karelia of North.

Geography

It is one of the 21 Finnish communes to have a border with the Russia. The border post of Niirala is the point of the terrestrial passage Eastern of the European Union, and the second border post the most important Finland-Russia truck driver after Vaalimaa. It marks the end of the blue road , a tourist route come from Sweden.

The commune is typical Karelia: relief chopped without never being high, reduced agricultural zones and omnipresence of the forest. The common mark the Eastern edge of the area of the lakes.

The close municipalities are Kitee in south (20 km of center in center), Rääkkylä in the west, Pyhäselkä in the North-West and Joensuu in north (56 km of the center town). The administrative center is located at 103 km of Savonlinna, 300 km of Petrozavodsk, 350 km of Saint-Pétersbourg and 415 km of Helsinki.

History

In 1593, Tohmajärvi becomes a vault of the orthodoxe parish of Ilomantsi. A little later in 1653, it becomes also a parish Lutheran. As often in Karelia, the two churches continued to exist separately until today. The commune is created in 1869.

Industrialization touches the commune very partially. An industrial center localized emerges in Värtsilä as of 1834 and the opening of a first Scierie, followed a few years later by two Haut-fourneau X. It is there that was born the company Wärtsilä, today one of the principal world manufacturers of engines of boats.

The commune of Värtsilä is separated from Tohmajärvi in 1920. At the end of the War of Continuation, a small portion of Tohmajärvi and 2/3 of Värtsilä are annexed by the the USSR, including the principal industrial park. Värtsilä survives nevertheless as a residual commune until in 2005 where it is finally attached to Tohmajärvi.

The economic situation remains difficult, the Chômage always flirtant with the bar of the 20%.

Tohmajärvi is the commune of birth of old the basic skier Siiri Rantanen as well as writer and journalist Algot Untola.

External bonds

Municipality of Tohmajärvi

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