Tampere (
Swedish name
Tammerfors) is a city in southern
Finland located between two lakes:
Näsijärvi and
Pyhäjärvi. Since the two lakes differ in level by 18 metres, the Tammerkoski rapids linking them have been an important power source throughout history, most recently for generating electricity.
Tampere, with about 200,000 inhabitants in the city itself, and more than 300,000 including the neighbouring municipalities, is the second most important urban centre in Finland after the
Helsinki region.
History
Tammerkoski, Tampere, December 2, 2002
Tampere was founded as a market place around Tammerkoski river in 1775 by
Gustav III of Sweden and four years later, 1779, it was granted a full township status. At this time Tampere was rather small town, consisting of only a few square kilometers of land around Tammerkoski rapids.
Tampere grew as a major market place and industrial centre in the 19th century. During the latter half of 19th century Tampere had almost half of Finland's industrial labour.
Town's industrial nature in the 19th and 20th centuries gave it the nickname
Manchester of the North. Tampere has also another nickname based on this history which is still sometimes familiarly used by Finns:
Manse.
A newer, but less common, nickname is
Nääsville, a
portmanteau between the Tamperean dialect word
nääs (meaning something like "you know") and the
American city of Nashville.
Tampere was enlarged by joining some neighbouring areas. Messukylä was incorporated in 1947, Lielahti 1950, Aitolahti in 1966 and finally Teisko in 1972.
Tampere was known for its textile and metal industry, but these have been largely replaced by
information technology and telecommunications industry during 1990's.
Technology centre
Hermia in
Hervanta is home to many companies in these industries.
Tampere was one of the strategically important scenes during the Civil War in Finland (
January 28 -
May 15 1918). White forces captured Tampere seizing about 10 000 Red prisoners on
April 6.
General
Tampere from [[Näsinneula tower]]
As of 2003 Tampere has a little over 200,000 inhabitants and is the third biggest city in Finland. But according to
European Unions definition, Tampere is not a city due to its low population density. Tamperes appeal is much brought about by the two universities,
University of Tampere (UTA) and
Tampere University of Technology (TUT), located in
Hervanta. Each university has some 10,000 students.
A local food speciality is
mustamakkara.
Tampere is part of
Pirkanmaa region and is surrounded by the
municipalities of
Kangasala,
Kuru,
Lempäälä,
Nokia,
Orivesi,
Pirkkala,
Ruovesi and
Ylöjärvi.
Sports
Tampere's sporting scene is driven by the two
ice hockey teams
Tappara and Ilves. They both have had great impact on the Finnish ice hockey culture and are the most successful teams in Finland.
Football is also raising its head in the city with
Tampere United winning the 2001 Finnish championship.
Sites of interest
Kaleva Church
The main tourist attraction is the
Särkänniemi amusement park, which includes a
dolphinarium and the landmark
Näsinneula tower, topped by a revolving restaurant.
Pispala is a ridge located between lake
Näsijärvi and lake
Pyhäjärvi. It used to house the majority of industrial labour in late 19th and early 20th century. Currently it is a popular residential area and together with neighbouring Pyynikki it forms an important historical area of Tampere.
Statistics
:Population 200 980
:Founded 1779
:To Helsinki 173 km
:Area 690,6 km²
:Max temp °C +29,8
:Min temp °C -26,4
:Pop. density 378/km²
Notable persons
Twin towns
- Brasov, Romania
- Chemnitz, Germany
- Essen, Germany
- Kaunas, Lithuania
- Kiev, Ukraine
- Kopavogur, Iceland
- Linz, Austria
- Lodz, Poland
- Miskolc, Hungary
- Nizhni Novgorod, Russia
- Norrköping, Sweden
- Odense, Denmark
- Olomouc, Czech Republic
- Syracuse, United States
- Tartu, Estonia
- Trondheim, Norway
Notes
There has recently been some controversy in Finland because of a new
European Union directive of cities. Most prominently, this directive does not count Tampere as a city, because its population density is too low. According to the directive, only six places in Finland count as cities:
Helsinki,
Espoo,
Vantaa,
Turku,
Lahti and
Jyväskylä.
External links
Category:Finnish cities
Category:Municipalities of Finland
Category:Municipalities of Pirkanmaa Region
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