Turku (
Finnish pronunciation&_160;['turku]&_160; (
listen);
Swedish Åbo ['o?bu]&_160; ( listen)) is a
city situated on the southwest coast of
Finland at the mouth of
Aura River.
[6] It is located in the region of
Finland Proper in the Province of
Western Finland. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland. Turku was for a long time the most important population center in Finland it was the first capital city of Finland from 1809 to 1812 and continued to be the largest city by population in Finland until the end of the 1840s. Nowadays its significance nationwide is not the same as it used to be, but Turku is still a regional capital and important location for business and culture.
Because of its long history it has been the site of many important historical events and has extensively influenced Finnish history. During the year 2011 Turku has been designated to be the European Capital of Culture together with Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia. In 1996 it was declared the official Christmas City of Finland.[7]
Due to its location, Turku is a notable commercial and passenger seaport city with over three million passengers travelling through Port of Turku each year to Stockholm and Mariehamn.[6]
As of June 30, 2009 Turku’s population was 175,422, which makes it the fifth largest city in Finland by population.[2] As of 31 August 2008 there were 303,492 inhabitants living in the Turku sub-region, which makes it the third largest urban area in Finland after the Greater Helsinki area and Tampere sub-region. The city is officially bilingual as 5.2 percent of its population identify as speaking Swedish as a mother-tongue.[3]
