Hartola, Finland

Municipality in Päijänne Tavastia, Finland

Hartola

Gustav Adolfs (Swedish)

Municipality

Hartolan kunta
Gustav Adolfs kommun

Eastern Tavastia College (Itä-Hämeen opisto) in Hartola

Coat of arms

Location of Hartola in Finland

Coordinates: 61°35′N 026°01′E﻿ / ﻿61.583°N 26.017°E﻿ / 61.583; 26.017
Country|  Finland
Region| Päijänne Tavastia
Sub-region| Heinola
Charter| 1784
Government

• Municipal manager| Raija Peltonen
Population

(2025-03-31)[2]

• Total

| 2,476
• Rank| 234th largest in Finland
• Density| 0/km2 (0/sq mi)
Population by native language

[4]

• Finnish| 96.3% (official)
• Others| 3.7%
Time zone| UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)| UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Website| hartola.fi

Hartola (Swedish: Gustav Adolfs) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Itä-Häme, Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality has a population of 2,476 (31 March 2025),[2] which make it the smallest municipality in Päijänne Tavastia in terms of population. It covers an area of 675.38 square kilometres (260.77 sq mi) of which 132.18 km2 (51.03 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 4.56 inhabitants per square kilometre (11.8/sq mi). Neighbouring municipalities are Heinola, Joutsa, Luhanka, Pertunmaa and Sysmä.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The municipality is also known as "Gustav Adolfs" in Swedish.[7] Hartola is home to the Itä-Hämeen Museo, the regional museum for seven municipalities.

Since 1987, the town has billed itself as a sovereign royal parish based upon a 1784 proclamation by King Gustav III of Sweden creating a new parish on the eastern border of his kingdom in honor of his son, Gustav Adolf.

At every first Saturday in September, there is a fair at Hartola. The event is biggest in Finland at its genre.[8]

The municipality is also known as the writer Maila Talvio's place of birth.

## History

[edit]

Hartola may have been mentioned as early as 1398 (ut ecclesia parrochialis Hartola Aboensis dioceses), however this may have also referred to Hattula. It was originally a part of the parish of Sysmä. At least between 1540 and 1729, it was called Koskipää, after which the name Hartola appears again.

Hartola became an independent parish in 1784. It was also granted the Swedish name Gustav Adolfs. In Finnish, the parish was also known as Kustavus, Kustavuksenpitäjä and Kustaanpitäjä, but the name Hartola was still in use. By the late 1800s, Hartola had become the sole name for the parish.[9]

Joutsa was a part of Hartola until 1860, while Leivonmäki was a part of Hartola until 1880. [10]

## Politics

[edit]

Results of the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election in Hartola:

* Centre Party 26.2%
* National Coalition Party 23.0%
* Social Democratic Party 18.5%
* True Finns 17.9%
* Christian Democrats 6.3%
* Left Alliance 5.0%
* Green League 1.6%

## Villages

[edit]

Lake Salajärvi in Lepsala Village, Hartola, Finland

* Hangastaipale
* Kalho, writer Mika Waltari wrote The Egyptian here.
* Koitti
* Kuivajärvi
* Kumu
* Lepsala
* Murakka
* Nokka
* Putkijärvi
* Siltasuo
* Vuorenkylä [11] is a northernmost village in Päijänne Tavastia

All schools those located in villages have been closed. School system in Hartola is about 140 years old.[12]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
2. ^ a b "Finland's preliminary population figure was 5,640,437 at the end of March 2025". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 2025-04-25. ISSN 1797-5395. Retrieved 2025-04-25.
3. ^ "Key figures on population by region, 1990-2022". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
4. ^ "Number of foreign-language speakers exceeded 600,000 during 2024". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 2025-04-04. ISSN 1797-5395. Retrieved 2025-04-05.
5. ^ a b "Luettelo kuntien ja seurakuntien tuloveroprosenteista vuonna 2023". Tax Administration of Finland. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
6. ^ a b c d e "Population according to age (1-year) and sex by area and the regional division of each statistical reference year, 2003–2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
7. ^ Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus :: Svenska ortnamn i Finland
8. ^ Infopage
9. ^ "SuomalainenPaikannimikirja_e-kirja_kuvallinen.pdf" (PDF). kaino.kotus.fi (in Finnish). p. 71. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
10. ^ "SuomalainenPaikannimikirja_e-kirja_kuvallinen.pdf" (PDF). kaino.kotus.fi (in Finnish). p. 110+229. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
11. ^ http://www.vuorenkyla.fi/ Vuorenkylä cite, finnish, village was notable in 2007 village of the year
12. ^ http://www.koittiry.net/riihiniemen-koulun-100-vuotisjuhla History of Riihiniemi school, finnish, citation 2012

## External links

[edit]

Media related to Hartola at Wikimedia Commons

* Municipality of Hartola – Official website (in Finnish)
* Itä-Hämeen Museo

Places adjacent to Hartola, Finland

| Luhanka (Central Finland) | Joutsa (Central Finland) |

|
|

|  |
Sysmä |

Hartola

| Pertunmaa (South Savo)
|  |
| Heinola |

* v
* t
* e

Municipalities of Päijät-Häme

Municipalities|

* Asikkala
* Hartola
* Heinola
* Hollola
* Iitti
* Kärkölä
* Lahti
* Orimattila
* Padasjoki
* Sysmä

Former municipalities|

* Artjärvi
* Hämeenkoski
* Heinolan maalaiskunta
* Nastola

* Päijät-Häme
* Finland

* v
* t
* e

The smallest municipalities of Finland by region in terms of population

* Åland:  Sottunga (106)
* Central Finland:  Luhanka (700)
* Central Ostrobothnia:  Lestijärvi (661)
* Kainuu:  Ristijärvi (1164)
* Kanta-Häme:  Humppila (2086)
* Kymenlaakso:  Miehikkälä (1696)
* Lapland:  Pelkosenniemi (921)
* North Karelia:  Rääkkylä (1864)
* North Ostrobothnia:  Hailuoto (923)
* North Savo:  Tervo (1394)
* Ostrobothnia:  Kaskinen (1256)
* Päijät-Häme:  Hartola (2476)
* Pirkanmaa:  Juupajoki (1667)
* Satakunta:  Siikainen (1257)
* South Karelia:  Lemi (2867)
* South Ostrobothnia:  Karijoki (1153)
* South Savo:  Enonkoski (1275)
* Southwest Finland:  Kustavi (952)
* Uusimaa:  Myrskylä (1683)

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* 2
* VIAF

National|

* United States
* Finland

Geographic|

* MusicBrainz area

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template