Pargas (former municipality)

Pargas
Pargas – Parainen
Former town
Pargas stad
Paraisten kaupunki

Coat of arms

Location of Pargas in Finland
Coordinates: 60°18′N 022°18′E / 60.300°N 22.300°E / 60.300; 22.300Coordinates: 60°18′N 022°18′E / 60.300°N 22.300°E / 60.300; 22.300
Country Finland
Region Southwest Finland
Sub-region Åboland
Charter 1948
Town privileges 1977
Consolidated 2009
Government
 • City manager Folke Öhman
Area[1]
 • Total 476.73 km2 (184.07 sq mi)
 • Land 273.18 km2 (105.48 sq mi)
 • Water 203.55 km2 (78.59 sq mi)
Population (2008-12-31)[2]
 • Total 12,266
 • Density 44.9/km2 (116/sq mi)
Population by native language
 • Finnish 45% (official)
 • Swedish 54% (official)
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
 • Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)

Pargas (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈpɑrɡɑs]; Finnish: Parainen, pronounced [ˈpɑrɑinen]) 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 (since renamed to "Pargas").

It is known as the "capital" of the archipelago of Turku and had been called a town since 1977. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The town had a population of 12,266 (as of 31 December 2008)[2] and covered a land area of 273.18 square kilometres (105.48 sq mi).[1] The population density was 44.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (116/sq mi).

The municipality was bilingual, with the majority (54%) being Swedish and the minority (45%) Finnish speakers.

The city has many little suburbs around it, including Kirjala and Lielax.

View from Airisto harbour, Stormälö

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

The sister cities of Pargas are

References

  1. 1 2 "Area by municipality as of 1 January 2008" (PDF) (in Finnish and Swedish). Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Population by municipality as of 31 December 2008". Population Information System (in Finnish and Swedish). Population Register Center of Finland. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.