Vaasa

Understand

300px|thumb|Vaasa city hall Vaasa was an important place of governance when Finland was part of Sweden. It started in the 14th century when Korsholm castle was built near the village of Korsholm (Finnish: Mustasaari). In 1606 the village was granted city status and five years later it was renamed Wasa in honor of the Swedish royal lineage. The old names live on in the municipality that surrounds Vaasa.

The old town of Vaasa burned to the ground in 1852, and when it was rebuilt it was relocated closer to the sea some six kilometers northwest from its original location. In the same process the town was renamed Nikolainkaupunki (Sw: Nikolaistad) in honor of Russian Czar Nikolai I, as Finland at that time was a Grand Duchy under Russian rule (1809–1917). In its new location the town became an important sea-faring city and a local businessman named Carl Gustaf Wolff (1800–1868) was at one point the biggest shipowner in the Nordic countries. When Finland proclaimed its independence in 1917 the name of the town was again reverted to Vaasa. The town was made capital of the white side (conservative, bourgeois) during the civil war (1918), when Helsinki was occupied by the red side (socialist, communist). It has since then been known as The White City; the support for the whites was very strong in the area.

Around 25% of Vaasa's population is Swedish-speaking and even more are bilingual in Finnish and Swedish. In the area surrounding Vaasa the majority of people are Swedish-speaking;…

Get around

The city is quite compact and most things to see are within walking distance. The commercial centre and nightlife are concentrated in the area around the market square. The distance to much of Korsholm, on the other hand, is some 12 km. Replot is 20 km away, Björköby 35 and Panike 45, the latter north and north-west of Replot.

See

thumb|200px|Trinity church thumb|200px|The market square

The campuses of Vaasa. Vaasa has three university-level educational institutions with campuses that make use of Vaasa's industrial past. has a unique campus that combines modern architectural elements with an old Cotton Mill in the neighborhood of Palosaari. The campus is on the waterfront and has park areas all around. Some say it is the most beautiful campus in Finland. South from that campus, closer to the city centre but still along the waterfront is , a former grain mill that houses two faculties of Åbo Akademi university in Vaasa. In the northern end of Kauppapuistikko you will find the , also known as Hanken, which is housed in a former clothing factory.