Korsnäs is a municipality in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Korsnäs is situated in Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Korsnäs is approximately , while the sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland.

Korsnäs is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages. The population consists of Finnish speakers, Swedish speakers, and speakers of other languages.

Geography

Korsnäs is the most western mainland municipality in Finland. It covers an area of of which is water.

Climate

Korsnäs has a subarctic climate (Dfc) with oceanic influences.

History

Due to the post-glacial rebound, most of the area that today forms the municipality of Korsnäs stood under water until around 1000 A.D. The first settlement in Korsnäs is assumed to stem from the 13th century. Some place names of Finnish origin (such as Molpe (Moikipää) and Taklax (Takalaksi)) indicate a Finnish-speaking presence in the 13th century, although it is disputed if these people (probably from Häme) only used the area for fishing on a seasonly basis or if they established a proper, but sparse, settlement. Swedish-speaking settlers came to the area in the 13th or 14th century.

Population

The municipality has a population of (),

Name

Korsnäs is the municipality's official name in both Swedish and Finnish. The Finnish names Korsnääsi or Ristitaipale are known to have been used historically in some contexts.

Korsnäs was first mentioned in historical documents is 1442, and some individual villages, like Molpe (then called Moikipä) was first mentioned in 1490, and Harrström (then called Harffuaström) in 1494. Korsnäs became an independent municipality in 1887. Prior to that, the area belonged to Närpes.

Famous people hailing from Korsnäs

  • Geri Halliwell, whose grandfather was born and raised there

References

  • Municipality of Korsnäs – Official website
  • Finnish encyclopedia from 1925–1928 with "Korsnääsi" as entry