Municipalities of Central Ostrobothnia Region

Chapters: Kokkola, Kaustinen, Lestijarvi, Toholampi, Perho, Halsua, Veteli, Kannus, Municipalities of Central Ostrobothnia. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 28. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Kokkola - The town of Kokkola was chartered in 1620 by king Gustav II Adolf of Sweden (Finland at that time being a part of Sweden). Kokkola was founded as a shipping port for the tar trade. It also became an important shipbuilding centre in Finland. As a result of tar trade and shipbuilding industry Kokkola was for a time the richest town in Finland. An interesting historical affair, known as the Skirmish of Halkokari, occurred at the town of Kokkola in May 1854 during the Crimean War. British marines from HMS Vulture and HMS Odin tried to come ashore to ransack the town, but were repelled by local defenders, of which many were civilians armed with hunting rifles. One of the 9 smaller British craft (a gunboat) fell into the hands of the defenders. As such, this boat was the only Royal Navy vessel still in foreign possession in 1914. The boat is still today a museum-object and can be seen in Kokkola's English Park. The town council has refused to return the boat despite several requests by the United Kingdom, most recently by John Stuttard, the Lord Mayor of London. The British Treasury annually pay a small sum for the maintenance of nine graves of nine marines killed in action during the skirmish to the local church congregation. The city had a Swedish-speaking majority until 1933. In 1977, the surrounding municipality of Kaarlela (Swedish: ) was consolidated into Kokkola (Swedish until then: ). In 2009, the municipalities of Lohtaja, Kalvia and Ullava were consolidated with Kokkola. The Finnish name Kokkola means 'The place of bonfire' or 'The place of eagle' since the Finnish word has two meani...http: //booksllc.net/?id=80522