Municipality in Aland, Finland
Sund
is a
municipality
of
Aland
. It is an
autonomous territory
of
Finland
, and one of the official 27
national landscapes of Finland
.
The municipality has a population of 995 (31 December 2023)
[2]
and covers an area of 184.32 square kilometres (71.17 sq mi) of which 76.06 km
2
(29.37 sq mi) is water.
[1]
The
population density
is 9.2 inhabitants per square kilometre (24/sq mi).
The municipality is
unilingually
Swedish-speaking
with around 88.41% of the residents of Sund speaking the
Swedish language
as their
mother tongue
. Only 4.40% of the residents of Sund speak the
Finnish language
as their mother tongue.
[6]
Sund is the third most Swedish-speaking municipality within Finland.
The old Medieval post route from
Stockholm
,
Sweden
to
Turku
, Finland passes through Sund.
History
[
edit
]
Sund was not populated by humans until the
Bronze Age
, however a permanent
settlement
was only first established in the 5th century by the
Swedes
. It is suspected that there may have been a partial Finnish settlement due to the existence of a village called Finby.
The
Sund church
was built by the end of the 13th century
[7]
and the
Kastelholm Castle
was also built at the end of the 14th century on a small island and it became the
administrative centre
of the
Aland
region until losing importance in 1634 and later on in 1745 following country reforms and fire damage.
[8]
King
John III of Sweden
kept his deposed brother
Eric XIV
in captivity in the Kastelholm castle in Autumn 1571. Sund is estimated to have had around 900 inhabitants in 1571 in accordance to the Silver Tax List of that same year.
Following the Russian victory in the
Finnish War of 1808-1809
, the Russians began to build the
Bomarsund Fortress
in Sund in 1832 in accordance with the orders of
Tsar Nicholas I
to strengthen the western border, however when the
Crimean War
began the Fortress was only half-finished, the Bommarsund Fortress
surrendered to British forces
, who demolished it. In the
Treaty of Paris
, it was concluded that the Aland islands is not to be fortified.
Economy
[
edit
]
Tourism is one of the biggest lines of business in Sund. Agriculture is also popular, especially keeping livestock.
[
citation needed
]
Small businesses are also abundant and the biggest employers are the municipality and the local golf course.
[
citation needed
]
Demographics
[
edit
]
Population
[
edit
]
Sund had a small population of around 1020 in 2020, however it lowered to 995 in 2023. Sund is a municipality with no
urban areas
. At the end of 2017, there were 1,031 inhabitants in Sund, of which 1,019 lived in sparsely populated areas and the residences of 12 were unknown.
[9]
Sund has 28 villages within its municipality: Berg, Bjorby, Bomarsund , Brandbolstad, Domarbole, Finby, Gesterby, Gunnarsby, Hulta, Hogbolstad, Jussbole, Kastelholm; Kulla, Lappbole, Lovvik, Mangstekta, Persby, Prastgarden, Rosenberg, Sibby, Smedsbole, Strombolstad, Sundby, Svensbole, Tosarby, Tranvik, Trask and Vivasteby.
[10]
Population size 1980?2020
Year
|
Population
|
1980
|
|
1985
|
|
1990
|
|
1995
|
|
2000
|
|
2005
|
|
2010
|
|
2015
|
|
2020
|
|
2023
|
|
Politics
[
edit
]
In the
2023 legislative elections
, Sund voted as such:
[11]
Notable people
[
edit
]
Image gallery
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Sund, Aland
at Wikimedia Commons
Places adjacent to Sund, Aland
|
---|
|