Sodankylä
Sodankylä (Finnish: [ˈsodɑŋˌkylæ]; Northern Sami: Soađegilli [ˈsoɑ̯ðeˌkilliː]; Inari Sami: Suáđigil; Skolt Sami: Suäʹđjel) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the region of Lapland, and lies at the northern end of Highway 5 (E63) and along Highway 4 (E75). The Kitinen River flows near the center of Sodankylä. Its neighbouring municipalities are Inari, Kemijärvi, Kittilä, Pelkosenniemi, Rovaniemi, and Savukoski. The municipality has two official languages: Finnish and Northern Sami.
Sodankylä
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Municipality | |
| Sodankylän kunta Soađegili gielda Sodankylä kommun | |
Centre of Sodankylä | |
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Coat of arms | |
Location of Sodankylä in Finland | |
| Coordinates: 67°25′N 026°35′E | |
| Country | Finland |
| Region | Lapland |
| Sub-region | Northern Lapland |
| Charter | 1893 |
| Government | |
| • Municipal manager | Jari Rantapelkonen |
| Area (2018-01-01) | |
| • Total | 12,415.50 km2 (4,793.65 sq mi) |
| • Land | 11,692.98 km2 (4,514.68 sq mi) |
| • Water | 718.65 km2 (277.47 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 2nd largest in Finland |
| Population (2023-12-31) | |
| • Total | 8,133 |
| • Rank | 118th largest in Finland |
| • Density | 0.7/km2 (2/sq mi) |
| Population by native language | |
| • Finnish | 96.2% (official) |
| • Swedish | 0.2% |
| • Sami | 1.6% |
| • Others | 2% |
| Population by age | |
| • 0 to 14 | 13.3% |
| • 15 to 64 | 58.5% |
| • 65 or older | 28.2% |
| Time zone | UTC+02:00 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+03:00 (EEST) |
| Website | www |
The municipality has a population of 8,133, (31 December 2023) which makes it the fourth largest municipality in Lapland after Rovaniemi, Tornio and Kemi, and at the same time the largest municipality in population that does not use the title of city or town. It covers an area of 12,415.50 square kilometres (4,793.65 sq mi) of which 718.65 km2 (277.47 sq mi) is water, making it the second largest municipality in Finland in terms of area, right after its neighboring municipality of Inari. The population density is 0.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (1.8/sq mi).
Sodankylä has an airfield. Also, one of EISCAT's scientific radar receiver stations is located outside Sodankylä, at the site of the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. The urban area around the observatory is known as "Tähtelä", which translates as "Place of Stars", although the observatory does not observe stars. The Jaeger Brigade of the Finnish Army is also located in Sodankylä. There is also quite a lot of mining in Sodankylä, as the Pahtavaara mine (Pahtavaaran kaivos), which was opened in 1996 and focused on gold, and the Kevitsa mine (Kevitsan kaivos), which started commercial nickel mining production in 2012, operates in the municipality's territory. Although the name "Sodankylä" and (also "Soađegilli") directly translate to "Village of War", the etymology of the name is from a surname Sova rather than the word "war".
Since 1986, Sodankylä has been home to the Midnight Sun Film Festival (Sodankylän elokuvajuhlat).