Seat Övertorneå ISO 3166 code SE Province Norrbotten | Time zone CET (UTC+1) Municipal code 2518 | |
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Övertorneå Municipality (Swedish: Övertorneå kommun, Meänkieli: Matarengi, Finnish: Ylitornion kunta; sometimes also referred to as Matarengin kunta by northern Finnish press to avoid confusion with the similarly named Finnish municipality Ylitornio) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in Övertorneå.
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Map of %C3%96vertorne%C3%A5, Sweden
Until the Finnish War (1808–1809) Övertorneå and the Finnish Ylitornio were a single paarish. Following the war, the eastern part of the municipality was ceded to Russia as a part of Finland. In 1870 a minor part of Övertorneå Municipality was split off, forming the rural municipality Korpilombolo (now part of Pajala Municipality). In 1969 Övertorneå and Hietaniemi municipalities were merged, forming the present municipality.
Many places in the municipality have both a Swedish and a Finnish name, in the local dialect of Finnish known as Meänkieli, one of the minority languages of Sweden.
Localities
There are four localities (or urban areas) in Övertorneå Municipality:
The municipal seat in bold
Smaller localities
There are nine smaller localities in Övertorneå Municipality:
Sights
Two old wooden churches in Övertorneå and Hedenäset. The church in Övertorneå has an organ from the 17th century.
Juoksengi is intersected by the Arctic Circle and is known as the "Arctic Circle Village" (Polcirkelbyn).