Valkeala is a former municipality of Finland .
14-503: It is located in the province of Southern Finland , and is a neighborhood of city of Kouvola , and it was a part of the Kymenlaakso region . The municipality had a population of 11,238 (2003) and covered an area of 1,004.40 km² of which 143.47 km² was water. The population density was 13.1 inhabitants per km². In the Valkeala region there is the lake Vekaranjärvi near which
28-493: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Provinces of Finland Between 1634 and 2009, Finland was administered as several provinces ( Finnish : Suomen läänit , Swedish : Finlands län ). Finland had always been a unitary state : the provincial authorities were part of the central government's executive branch and apart from Åland , the provinces had little autonomy. There were never any elected provincial parliaments in continental Finland. The system
42-661: The Karelia Brigade is located. Valkeala is famous for Repovesi National Park . The municipality was unilingually Finnish . As of 2009, the six municipalities – Kouvola , Kuusankoski , Elimäki , Anjalankoski , Valkeala and Jaala – were consolidated, accounting for the new municipality of Kouvola with a population of over 80,000, being the 10th largest city in Finland. 60°56′20″N 26°47′50″E / 60.93889°N 26.79722°E / 60.93889; 26.79722 This Southern Finland location article
56-516: The Ministries of Employment and the Economy , Transport and Communications and Environment. Mainland Finland Mainland Finland ( Finnish : Manner-Suomi , Swedish : Fasta Finland ) is a term used in statistics and in other contexts to describe the continental parts of Finland , an area which excludes Åland . In legal contexts, the relation between the mainland and Åland is depicted by
70-564: The city of Helsinki proper comprises the electoral district of Helsinki, the rest of Greater Helsinki belonging to the Uusimaa electoral district. a. ^ Some duties, which in Mainland Finland are handled by the provinces, are on the Åland Islands transferred to the autonomous Government of Åland . b. ^ The Åland Islands are unilingually Swedish. The provinces were abolished altogether effective 1 January 2010. Since then,
84-643: The former province of Western Finland , and the former province of Oulu was revamped as Northern Finland; other old provincial boundaries remain much the same in the new disposition. In parallel, there are 15 Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (Finnish: elinkeino-, liikenne- ja ympäristökeskus , usually abbreviated ely-keskus ), which are responsible for other state administration: employment, road and transport infrastructure, and environmental monitoring . They are each responsible for one or more of regions of Finland , and include offices of
98-412: The former provinces, the municipalities of Finland form the fundamental subdivisions of the country. In current use are the regions of Finland , a smaller subdivision where some pre-1997 lääni s are split into multiple regions. Åland retains its special autonomous status and its own regional parliament . Each province was led by a governor (Finnish maaherra , Swedish landshövding ) appointed by
112-606: The president on the recommendation of the cabinet. The governor was the head of the State Provincial Office (Finnish lääninhallitus , Swedish länsstyrelse ), which acted as the joint regional authority for seven ministries in the following domains: The official administrative subentities under the Provincial Office authorities were the Registry Offices (Finnish maistraatti , Swedish magistrat ). Formerly there
126-779: The regional administration of the Finnish state has two parallel top-level organs in the hierarchy: the Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment on the one hand, and the Regional State Administrative Agencies on the other. Six Regional State Administrative Agencies ( aluehallintovirasto, regionförvaltningsverk , abbr. avi ) – in addition to the State Department of Åland – are primarily responsible for law enforcement. Among these, South-Western Finland and Western and Central Finland cover
140-477: The responsibility of municipalities of Finland . Many municipalities are too small for a hospital and some other services, so they cooperate in municipality groups, e.g. health care districts, using borders that vary depending on the type of service. Often Swedish-language municipalities cooperate even if they do not share a border. In 1634, administratives provinces were formed in Sweden, and therefore in Finland, which
154-523: The word pair the State–Åland ( Finnish : valtakunta–maakunta , Swedish : riket–landskapet ). The term "mainland Finland" is significant in the context of legal differences between Åland and mainland Finland, and in the context of differences of culture, language, history, and self-perceived nationhood between the Ålanders and the Swedish-speaking Finns in mainland Finland. However, since
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#1733085942868168-434: Was a part of Sweden until 1809. Five of the provinces covered what is now Finland; some of these also covered parts of what are now Russia. The exact division of the country into provinces has fluctuated over time. The boundaries of the old provinces partly survive in telephone area codes and electoral districts. The exception is Helsinki: there is a telephone numbering area that comprises Greater Helsinki (code 09), while only
182-426: Was also a division to state local districts (Finnish kihlakunta , Swedish härad ), which were districts for police, prosecution, and bailiff services, but there was reorganization such that 24 police districts were founded. These usually encompass multiple municipalities. Provinces governed only state offices, such as the police. Most services, such as healthcare and maintenance of local streets, were and remain today
196-450: Was initially created in 1634. Its makeup was changed drastically on 1 September 1997, when the number of the provinces was reduced from twelve to six. This effectively made them purely administrative units, as linguistic and cultural boundaries no longer followed the borders of the provinces. The provinces were eventually abolished at the end of 2009. Consequently, different ministries may subdivide their areal organization differently. Besides
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