Seinäjoki

Sister cities

• Koszalin
• Thunder Bay
• Schweinfurt
• Veliky Novgorod
• Jianyang
• Rudong County
• Jiangjin District
• Changsha
• Qingdao
• Sopron

History

The settlement spread in the area of the present Seinäjoki during the first half of the 16th century. During the 1550s, there is said to have been three houses in Seinäjoki: the houses of Marttila, Jouppi and Uppa. The house of Jouppila, which separated from the house of Jouppi, was established during the same century. All of the houses were located on the shore of the river. Seinäjoki belonged to the church parish of Ilmajoki like Kurikka, Kauhajoki, Jalasjärvi and Alavus. However, in the 18th century the roads from Seinäjoki to the Church of Ilmajoki were generally in poor condition. Therefore, the inhabitants of Seinäjoki and the neighbouring Nurmo built a new chapel together in 1725, which in 1765 led to the formation of the chapel town of Nurmo. Seinäjoki, which was called Alaseinäjoki since the Greater Wrath, became a part of the chapel town. The chapel parish of Peräseinäjoki was founded in 1798, and the village of Alaseinäjoki began to be called Seinäjoki again. The very same year, the Östermyra steel mill was founded on the shore of the Seinäjoki river. In the 1850s, actions were taken to separate Seinäjoki from the church parish of Nurmo. Ilmajoki wanted to connect Seinäjoki back to its own parish. In spite of strong objections from the inhabitants of Nurmo, the Senate of Finland accepted the petition from the inhabitants of Seinäjoki in 1863, to form a chapel congregation of their own. Seinäjoki got an independent local government in 1868. In 1900, Seinäjoki became an independent municipality. Seinäjoki has grown around a few important railroad crossings. The Tampere–Vaasa railway, which passes through Seinäjoki, was inaugurated in 1883. The track, along with the Kokkola track that was opened for rail service in 1885, and the Kristinestad track which had…

Geography

The neighboring municipalities of Seinäjoki are Kauhava in the north, Lapua in the northeast, Kuortane and Alavus in the east, Virrat and Kihniö in the south, Ilmajoki and Kurikka in the west and Isokyrö in the northwest. The proportion of water in the Seinäjoki landscape is small. Seinäjoki River flows through the city in a south-east-northwest direction and turns at the northern border of the city center, connecting with the Kyrönjoki River, which flows into the Gulf of Bothnia in the Vaasa area. The most significant road connections in Seinäjoki are highways 16, 18 (between cities of Vaasa and Jyväskylä), 19 and 67.

Most-observed species

• Black-headed Gull

  Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,187
• Eurasian Kestrel

  Falco tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,591
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,331
• Common Goldeneye

  Bucephala clangula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  968
• Bohemian Waxwing

  Bombycilla garrulus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  885
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  781
• Eurasian Tree Sparrow

  Passer montanus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  767
• Western Jackdaw

  Coloeus monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  661