Nykarleby (; , ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. The town is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population is approximately , while the sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland.
Nykarleby is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages. The population consists of Finnish speakers, Swedish speakers, and speakers of other languages.
The largest employers in the town are Prevex (member of KWH Group), a packaging and piping products manufacturer, Westwood, which manufactures wooden staircases, and in the village of Jeppo, KWH Mirka, a coated abrasives manufacturer. A Swedish-speaking art school () is located in Nykarleby town.
History The town is located at the mouth of the . The name of the place was or 'mouth of Lapua river'. The municipality was founded in 1607 by merging parts of Pedersöre and Vörå into a new parish. In 1620, the small village of Lepua was chartered as a city, with the Swedish name , which means 'New Karleby'; the Finnish name is a Finnicized version of the same. The town was chartered in the same year as the nearby city of Kokkola, or in Swedish, (later, ).
The battles of Nykarleby and Jutas were fought there between Swedish and Russian troops during the Finnish War in 1808.
Zacharias Topelius, an important author in Finland, was born in Nykarleby.
In 1995, the small, idyllic town was ranked as "the happiest city in Finland" in a controversial article in Helsingin Sanomat, the leading newspaper of Finland.Helsingin Sanomat Kuukausiliite, January 1995. . Externally referred to in: Asiakastieto. Luottolista 2000. Nykarleby has the highest concentration of Ukrainian speakers in Finland.
Politics Results of the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election in Nykarleby:
Swedish People's Party 63.8% Social Democratic Party 24.9% Christian Democrats 4.6% True Finns 2.0% Centre Party 1.6% Left Alliance 1.5% National Coalition Party 0.7% Green League 0.6%
Notable people List of notable people that were born in, or have lived in, Nykarleby. Zacharias Topelius (1818–1898), author Erik Bergman (1911–2006), composer Gösta Ågren (1936–2020), poet and director Leo Komarov (born 1987), ice hockey player Sandra Eriksson (born 1989), a middle distance runner Rory Penttinen (born 1979), racing driver Alma Hongell (1849–1935), children's literature author
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities Nykarleby is twinned with:
Hammel, Denmark Steinkjer, Norway Sollefteå, Sweden
See also Finnish national road 8 Finnish national road 19
References
External links
Town of Nykarleby – Official website A comprehensive collection of stories and pictures from Nykarleby's history