Finland - Kokkola

Kokkola, or Karleby in Swedish, is a town and municipality of Finland. The town is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 36 516 (2007) and covers an area of 332.44 km² of which 4.92 km² is water. The population density is 107.6 inhabitants per km². The municipality is bilingual with 81.0% being Finnish and 17.9% Swedish speakers.

History

The town of Kokkola was chartered in 1620 by king Gustav II Adolf of Sweden (Finland at that time being a part of Sweden). Kokkola was founded as a shipping port for the tar trade. It also became an important shipbuilding centre in Finland. As a result of tar trade and shipbuilding industry Kokkola was for a time the richest town in Finland.

An interesting historical affair occurred at the town of Kokkola in May 1854 during the Crimean War. British marines from HMS Vulture and HMS Odin tried to come ashore to ransack the town, but were repelled by local defenders, of which many were civilians armed with hunting rifles. One of the 9 smaller British craft (a gunboat) fell into the hands of the defenders. As such, this boat was the only Royal Navy vessel still in foreign possession in 1914. The boat is still today a museum-object and can be seen in Kokkola. The town council has refused to return the boat despite several requests by the United Kingdom, most recently by John Stuttard, the Lord Mayor of London. The British Treasury annually pay a small sum for the maintenance of nine graves of nine marines killed in action during the skirmish to the local church congregation. [1]

The city had a Swedish-speaking majority until 1933.