Country Finland Sub-region Northern Lapland Area rank Largest in Finland Local time Saturday 10:56 PM | Region Lapland Charter 1876 Time zone EET (UTC+2) Number of airports 1 | |
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Weather -4°C, Wind SW at 23 km/h, 74% Humidity Points of interest Siida, Saariselkä, Lemmenjoki National Park, Pielpajärvi Wilderness Church, Kummituskämppä | ||
Inari (Inari Sami: Aanaar, Northern Sami: Anár, Skolt Sami: Aanar, Swedish: Enare) is Finland's largest, most sparsely populated municipality, with four official languages, more than any other in the country. Its major sources of income are the lumber (timber) industry, nature maintenance and tourism. With the Siida museum in the village of Inari, it is a center of Sami culture. The airport in Ivalo and the country's key north-south European Route E75 (Finland's National Road 4) bring summer and winter vacationers seeking resorts with access to a well-preserved, uncrowded natural environment.
Contents
- Map of Inari Finland
- Population
- Languages
- Citizenship
- Geography
- Politics
- History
- Sites of interest
- In popular culture
- References
Map of Inari, Finland
Population
The municipality of Inari has a population of 6,777 (31 March 2016). The population density is 0.45 inhabitants per square kilometre (1.2/sq mi).
Its two largest villages are Ivalo and Inari. Other villages are Törmänen, Keväjärvi, Koppelo, Sevettijärvi–Näätämö, Saariselkä, Nellim, Angeli, Kaamanen, Kuttura, Lisma, Partakko, and Riutula.
Languages
The municipality has four official languages: Finnish, Inari Sami (ca. 400 estimated speakers), Skolt Sami (ca. 400 speakers), and Northern Sami (ca. 700 speakers). The estimates of how many people have some command of each of the Sami languages differ from the number of people who list them as their mother tongues. Of the total population of 6,863 in 2010, 6,366 people registered Finnish and 400 people registered one of the Sami languages as their mother tongue. Ninety-seven inhabitants were native speakers of other languages.
Citizenship
Only about 1%, 78 persons, were citizens of countries other than Finland in 2010.
Geography
Inari is the largest municipality in Finland. Located in Lapland, it covers an area of 15,055.10 square kilometres (5,812.81 sq mi), of which 2,281.41 km2 (880.86 sq mi) is water. With an area of 1,043 km2 (403 sq mi), Lake Inari is the third largest lake in Finland, 40 km2 (15 sq mi) smaller than the country's second largest Lake Päijänne.
Finland's largest National Park Lemmenjoki is partly located in Inari, as is the Urho Kekkonen National Park. Vast parts of the municipality are designated wilderness areas: Hammastunturi, Muotkatunturi, Paistunturi, Kaldoaivi, Vätsäri, and Tsarmitunturi.
The village of Inari is Finland's northernmost holiday resort. The airport is located in the nearby village of Ivalo.
Politics
Results of the Finnish parliamentary election, 2011 in Inari:
History
The municipality was established in 1876.
Sites of interest
In popular culture
The trilogy His Dark Materials by the English writer Philip Pullman, which takes place in an alternative world somewhat similar to our own, features a prominent character, Serafina Pekkala, who is a witch queen from a tribe near Lake Inari. A character in The Snow Queen, a fantasy novel by the American author Mercedes Lackey, enters the Underworld and comes across a group of villagers from Inari. A thriller written by Gavin Lyall (1965, The Most Dangerous Game) acts in and around Inari.