Nokia’s in short history

Nokia, Finland
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For the corporation, see Nokia.
Nokia
—  Town  —
Nokian kaupunki

Nokia church (designed by C. L. Engel) in December, 2005

Coat of arms
 Location of Nokia in Finland
Coordinates: Coordinates:
Country Finland
Region Pirkanmaa
Sub-region Tampere sub-region
Charter 1922
Market town 1937
City rights 1977
Government
 - Town manager Markku Rahikkala
[1]
Area(2010-01-01)
 - Total 347.77 km2 (134.3 sq mi)
 - Land 288.19 km2 (111.3 sq mi)
 - Water 59.58 km2 (23 sq mi)
Area rank 267th largest in Finland
[2]
Population (2010-03-31)
 - Total 31,517
 - Rank 32nd largest in Finland
 - Density 109.36/km2 (283.2/sq mi)
 - Demonym Nokialainen (Finnish)
Population by native language[3]
 - Finnish 98% (official)
 - Swedish 0.3%
 - Others 1.6%
[4]
Population by age
 - 0 to 14 19.6%
 - 15 to 64 65.9%
 - 65 or older 14.5%
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
  - Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Municipal tax rate[5] 19.75%
Website www.nokiankaupunki.fi

Nokia (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈnokiɑ]) is a town and a municipality on the banks of the Nokianvirta
River (Kokemäenjoki) in the region of Pirkanmaa, some 15 kilometres (9 mi) west of Tampere.
As of 31 March 2010 it has a population of 31,517.

Contents
[hide]

 1 History
o 1.1 Industrial history
 2 Present
 3 Notable natives
 4 Statistics
 5 See also
 6 References
 7 External links

[edit] History
The origin of the name "Nokia" is obscure. In modern Finnish, noki means soot and nokia is its
inflected plural, although this form of the word is rarely if ever used. The most common theory
claims the name actually originates from the archaic Finnish word nois (pl. nokia) or nokinäätä
("soot marten"), meaning sable.[6] After sable was hunted to extinction in Finland, the word was
applied to any dark-coated fur animal, such as the marten, which are found in the area to this
day. The sable is enshrined on the Nokia coat of arms. However, later research has appeared to
indicate that sables never inhabited Finland in the first place, and the name nois may actually
refer to the beaver.[7]

The first literary reference to Nokia is in a 1505 document in connection with the Nokia Manor.

Nokia was the setting of one of the largest battles in the Club War, a 1596 peasant uprising
against Swedish feudal lords. The peasants, armed with clubs, took up residence in Nokia Manor
and won several skirmishes against the feudal cavalry, but were decisively defeated by Klaus
Fleming on January 1–2, 1597. Thousands of clubmen were slain and their leader Jaakko Ilkka,
who had fled, was captured a few weeks later and executed. The Club War was the last major
peasant revolt in Finland, and it permanently consolidated the hold of the nation state. Much
later, in the Finnish Civil War (1918), Nokia (along with neighboring Tampere) was a Socialist
stronghold and saw some combat.
Nokia used to breach out to current heart of Tampere, with the Pispala area a part of Nokia's
Suur-Pirkkala area. Suur-Pirkkala was eventually split into Pohjois- and Eteläis-Pirkkala
(Northern and Southern). In 1938 Pohjois-Pirkkala was renamed as Nokia and Southern Pirkkala
restored its original Pirkkala name. Nokia was designated as a city in 1977.

[edit] Industrial history

Spa hotel Rantasipi Eden in Nokia

The eponymous telecommunications giant Nokia was founded by Fredrik Idestam in 1865 as a
pulp mill. The Finnish Rubber Works Ltd (Suomen Gummitehdas Oy) (founded 1898) set up a
factory in Nokia in 1904. These two companies and Finnish Cable Works Ltd (Suomen
kaapelitehdas Oy) amalgamated in 1967 forming Nokia Corporation. Different branches of this
conglomerate were split into several companies or sold off around 1990. The rubber works still
operates in Nokia as Nokian Tyres and the paper mill as Georgia-Pacific Finland Oy.

As of 2008, the telecommunication company Nokia no longer has any operations in the town of
Nokia. Despite the company having been founded in Nokia, the headquarters were moved to
Espoo, and the main factories are in Salo, both nearly 200 kilometres south of Nokia. Almost
every year, tourists come to Nokia expecting to find a great mobile phone museum, but the only
connection to the company is the Nokia mansion, which is sometimes used for private parties for
the company's executive staff. The town has repeatedly been asked to commemorate the
company it gave birth to, but it has always declined, on the grounds that mobile phones were
never produced there.[8]

Nokia does have engineering and design facilities 15 kilometers away in nearby Tampere.

[edit] Present
Today's Nokia is famous for its spa, factory shops, waterways, and events. Nokia also enjoys
good road and air connections. From a religious perspective, Nokia is most well known for the
charismatic Nokia Revival which began in 1990, and continues to the present through the work
of Markku Koivisto and Nokia Missio.