Uurainen

Uurainen (Swedish: Uurainen, also Urais) is a municipality of Finland.

Uurainen
Municipality
Uuraisten kunta
Uurainens kommun
Uurainen Church
Uurainen Church
Coat of arms of Uurainen
Coat of arms
Location of Uurainen in Finland
Location of Uurainen in Finland
Coordinates: 62°30′N 025°26.2′E
Country Finland
RegionCentral Finland
Sub-regionJyväskylä sub-region
Charter1868
Government
 • Municipal managerJuha Valkama
Area
 (2018-01-01)[1]
 • Total372.26 km2 (143.73 sq mi)
 • Land348.04 km2 (134.38 sq mi)
 • Water24.22 km2 (9.35 sq mi)
 • Rank221st largest in Finland
Population
 (2023-09-19)[2]
 • Total3,591
 • Rank203rd largest in Finland
 • Density10.32/km2 (26.7/sq mi)
Population by native language
[3]
 • Finnish98.7% (official)
 • Swedish0.1%
 • Others1.2%
Population by age
[4]
 • 0 to 1425.3%
 • 15 to 6454.5%
 • 65 or older20.2%
Time zoneUTC+02:00 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Websitewww.uurainen.fi

It is part of the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of 3,591 (19 September 2023)[2] and covers an area of 372.26 square kilometres (143.73 sq mi) of which 24.22 km2 (9.35 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 10.32 inhabitants per square kilometre (26.7/sq mi).

Neighbouring municipalities are Jyväskylä, Laukaa, Multia, Petäjävesi, Saarijärvi and Äänekoski.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish.

Etymology

The name Uurainen is derived from the lakes Iso-Uurainen and Pieni-Uurainen. The root word for these lake names is most likely uuro, a dialectal word meaning "riverbed", referring to the Takapuro river between the two lakes, as it has been a strait in the past.[5] Uurainen is also the name of a register village in the municipality.

Geography

Lakes

There are all together 125 lakes in Uurainen. The biggest lakes are Kyynämöinen, Sääkspää and Iso-Uurainen.[6]

Villages

Settlements:[7]

  • Kotaperä
  • Linnanperä
  • Pohjanperä
  • Kelloperä
  • Haukimäki
  • Kyynämöinen
  • Hepomäki
  • Höytiä
  • Tehlo
  • Kirkonkylä
  • Hiirola
  • Jokihaara
  • Vihtaperä
  • Oikarinperä
  • Murtoperä
  • Kummunkylä
  • Pirttiperä
  • Myllyperä
  • Kangashäkki
  • Sälliperä
  • Hirvaskylä

Register villages:[7]

History

Six possible Stone Age settlements have been found on the territory of modern Uurainen. Four of these sites are in Kuukkajärvi, one in the village of Uurainen and another one in Höytiä. Evidence for permanent Iron Age settlement has not been found.[8]

The area of modern Uurainen was devoid of a permanent settled population in the Middle Ages. In the 15th and early 16th centuries, these lands were held as hunting grounds by Tavastians. The first settler of Uurainen was Paavo Minkkinen, who in 1548 established a farm named Salmela in the hunting grounds of Heinäjoensuu, owned by the men of the village of Laitikkala in Kulsiala (nowadays in Pälkäne). This area would later become the register village of Kuukkajärvi. Paavo Minkkinen, like almost all settlers of Uurainen, was a Savonian. The Minkkinen family likely originated from Pellosniemi near modern Mikkeli.[9]

The first register villages to be established in the area were Kuukkajärvi and Akonjärvi, both of which were first mentioned in 1561. Akonjärvi was merged into Kuukkajärvi in 1586.[10]

Uurainen was originally a part of the parish of Saarijärvi. It was mentioned in 1741 under the Swedish name Uhrais. The area got its own chapel in 1801 and was variously called Uurainen, Kuukkajärvi, Kuukka and Minkkilä. The area had multiple names as the vicarage (pappila) was located in the register village of Uurainen while the church was located in the village of Kuukkajärvi on the lands of the Minkkilä farm.[5]

Uurainen became a separate parish in 1868, though the separation effectively happened in 1887.[11] The northern part of Nyrölä, which at that time included Höytiä, was transferred from the Jyväskylä parish to Uurainen in 1868.[12]

  • Lake Kuorejärvi
    Lake Kuorejärvi
  • The belfry of the Uurainen Church
    The belfry of the Uurainen Church

References
  1. "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  2. "Finland's preliminary population figure was 5,587,841 at the end of August 2023". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  3. "Demographic Structure by area as of 31 December 2022". Statistics Finland's PX-Web databases. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  4. "Population according to age (1-year) and sex by area and the regional division of each statistical reference year, 2003–2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  5. "SuomalainenPaikannimikirja_e-kirja_kuvallinen.pdf" (PDF). kaino.kotus.fi (in Finnish). p. 481. Retrieved August 17, 2022.
  6. "Uurainen (kunta)". Järviwiki. Finland's Environmental Administration. 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  7. Kuukan kappelista nykypäivään, pages 26-27.
  8. Sinisalo, Hannu (1993). Uurainen: Kuukan kappelista nykypäivään 1868-1993 (in Finnish). Jyväskylä: Gummerus Kirjapaino Oy. p. 19. ISBN 951-96762-0-1.
  9. Kuukan kappelista nykypäivään, page 20.
  10. Kuukan kappelista nykypäivään, page 21.
  11. "Suomen Sukututkimusseura - Uurainen". hiski.genealogia.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved June 10, 2023.
  12. Lappalainen, Jussi T. (1977). Jyväskylän maalaiskunnan kirja (in Finnish). Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän maalaiskunta ja maaseurakunta. p. 53. ISBN 951-99104-3-3.

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