Korsnäs is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Ostrobothnia region.

Korsnäs
Municipality
Korsnäs kommun Korsnäsin kunta
Coat of arms
Location of Korsnäs in Finland
Coordinates: 62°47′N 021°11′E
Country	Finland
Region	Ostrobothnia
Sub-region	Vaasa sub-region
Charter	1887
Government
• Municipal manager	Christina Båssar
Area  (2018-01-01)[1]
• Total	1,424.71 km2 (550.08 sq mi)
• Land	235.65 km2 (90.98 sq mi)
• Water	1,189.06 km2 (459.10 sq mi)
• Rank	252nd largest in Finland
Population  (2021-12-31)[2]
• Total	2,050
• Rank	257th largest in Finland
• Density	8.7/km2 (23/sq mi)
Population by native language [3]
• Swedish	91.2% (official)
• Finnish	3.2%
• Others	5.5%
Population by age [4]
• 0 to 14	14.5%
• 15 to 64	56.3%
• 65 or older	29.2%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Municipal tax rate[5]	21.5%
Website	www.korsnas.fi

Geography

Korsnäs is the most western mainland municipality in Finland. It covers an area of 1,424.71 square kilometres (550.08 sq mi) of which 1,189.06 km² (459.10 sq mi) is water.[1]

It has a long, rocky coastline along the Gulf of Bothnia. The three largest islands are Halsön, Bredskäret and Södra Björkön, all used as important recreation areas for urban dwellers.[6]

History

Due to the post-glacial rebound, most of the area that today forms the municipality of Korsnäs stood under water until around 1000 A.D. The first settlement in Korsnäs is assumed to stem from the 13th century.[7] Some place names of Finnish origin (such as Molpe (Moikipää) and Taklax (Takalaksi)) indicate a Finnish-speaking presence in the 13th century, although it is disputed if these people (probably from Häme) only used the area for fishing on a seasonly basis[8] or if they established a proper, but sparse, settlement.[9] Swedish-speaking settlers came to the area in the 13th or 14th century.

Population

The municipality has a population of 2,050 (31 December 2021),[2] which make it the smallest municipality in Ostrobothnia in terms of population. The population density is 8.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (23/sq mi). The municipality is bilingual with Swedish as the majority language and Finnish as the minority language.[10] Until 2014 Swedish was the sole official language. 91.2% of the population speaks Swedish, 3.2% Finnish and 5.5% other languages as their first language.

Politics

In the 2017 Municipal elections Swedish People's Party got 95 percent of the vote, which obtained it each of the 21 seats of the municipality council.[11]

Name

Korsnäs is the municipality's official name in both Swedish and Finnish. The Finnish names Korsnääsi or Ristitaipale[12] are known to have been used historically in some contexts.

Korsnäs was first mentioned in historical documents is 1442, and some individual villages, like Molpe (then called Moikipä) was first mentioned in 1490, and Harrström (then called Harffuaström) in 1494. Korsnäs became an independent municipality in 1887. Prior to that, the area belonged to Närpes.[13]

References

External links

Media related to Korsnäs at Wikimedia Commons

• Municipality of Korsnäs – Official website
• Finnish encyclopedia from 1925–1928 with "Korsnääsi" as entry