Country Sweden Seat Pajala ISO 3166 code SE Province Norrbotten | County Norrbotten County Time zone CET (UTC+1) Municipal code 2521 | |
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Pajala Municipality (Swedish: Pajala kommun; Finnish: Pajalan kunta) is a municipality in Norrbotten County in northern Sweden, bordering Finland. Its seat is located in the locality of Pajala.
Contents
Map of Pajala, Sweden
In 1884 Tärendö was detached from Pajala Municipality, forming a municipality of its own. In 1914 Pajala Municipality was once again split when Junosuando broke away. They were reunited in 1971, when Korpilombolo was added as well.
History
Its geographical location means that Pajala Municipality has always been a natural trading place, where people from Sweden, Finland and the native Sami people gathered. The annual Pajala market traces its history from the 18th century.
The home of Lars Levi Læstadius, famed botanist and Christian revivalist movement founder is located in Pajala. It is the red house to the right; it is now a museum. The yellow house in the middle was used as the local Lutheran vicar's mansion from 1850 up to recent times.
Geography
The municipality is one of Sweden's largest, geographically, at around 8,000 km², or roughly the size of the historical province of Södermanland, which - compared to Pajala Municipality's population of approximately 6,500 - has more than one million inhabitants.
In Pajala is also Jupukkamasten, a 335 metre tall guyed mast for FM- and TV-transmission, which together with three other guyed masts of the same height is the tallest structure in Sweden.
Localities
There are four localities (or urban areas) in Pajala Municipality:
The municipal seat in bold
Government and politics
Distribution of the 33 seats in the municipal council after the 2010 election:
Results of the Swedish general election, 2010 in Pajala:
Sister cities
Pajala Municipality has three sister cities: