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Pojo, Finland

Former municipality in Uusimaa, Finland

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Pojo (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈpu:ju]; Finnish: Pohja, Finnish pronunciation: [ˈpohjɑ]) is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated with Ekenäs and Karis to form the new town of Raseborg in 2009.

It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Uusimaa region. The municipality had a population of 4,936 (as of 31 December 2008) and covered a land area of 224.66 square kilometres (86.74 sq mi). The population density was 21.97 inhabitants per square kilometre (56.9/sq mi).

The former municipality was bilingual, with majority being Finnish (60%) and minority Swedish (40%) speakers. Pohja is one of the birthplaces of the Finnish metal industry. Fiskars Corporation was founded near Pohja in 1649 and remains the largest employer in municipality area to date.

01Name

The locality is first documented in written sources under its Swedish name: Poyæ (1335), Poijo (1351), Poija (1359), and Pojo (1427). The Finnish name appears later, first recorded as Pohjan pitäjä (“the parish of Pohja”) in 1848.

The centre of the historical parish is located at the innermost end ("bottom") of the bay known in Finnish as Pohjanpitäjänlahti (also Pohjanlahti). The place name refers to this geographical position; in this context Finnish pohja means "bottom" or "innermost part of a bay", comparable to the German term Bodden. The name was apparently given by early settlers from Häme, for whom the bay constituted an important waterway toward the Baltic Sea. Swedish-speaking settlers adopted the name in the form Pojo, which subsequently became the established form in Swedish usage. Before it was used as the name of the parish, it likely referred to the central settlement. The modern Finnish form Pohja represents a back-formation based on the Swedish name.

Intersection with a road sign pointing toward Pojo/Pohja (2019)
Intersection with a road sign pointing toward Pojo/Pohja (2019)

02Villages

Villages located within the former municipality are: Antkärr, Antskog (fi. Ansku), Baggby, Billnäs (fi. Pinjainen), Björsby, Bockboda, Bollstad, Borgby, Brunkom, Brödtorp, Böle, Dalkarby, Degernäs, Ekerö, Elimo, Fiskars, Forsby, Gammelby, Gennäs, Grabbskog, Grännäs, Gumnäs, Gästerby, Hindraböle, Hällskulla, Järnvik, Kila, Klinkbacka, Kockböle (en del av Persböle), Koppskog, Kvarnby, Kyrkbacka, Lillfors, Munckbacka, Mörby, Nygård, Näsby, Pentby, Persböle, Ramskulla, Sidsbacka, Sjösäng, Skarpkulla, Skogböle (fi. Kuovila), Skogäng, Skrittskog, Skuru, Slicko, Sonabacka, Spakanäs, Starrböle, Stålbacka, Sunnanvik, Svedjeby, Sällvik, Torby, Trädbollstad, Åminne and Åminnefors.

03Notable residents

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Pojo, Finland, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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