Luhanka

For the river, see Luhan (river).

Luhanka
Municipality
Luhangan kunta Luhanka kommun
Coat of arms
Location of Luhanka in Finland
Coordinates: 61°48′N025°42′E / 61.800°N 25.700°E / 61.800; 25.700
Country	Finland
Region	Central Finland
Sub-region	Joutsa sub-region
Charter	1864
Government
• Municipal manager	Reijo Urtti
Area  (2018-01-01) [1]
• Total	313.25 km2 (120.95 sq mi)
• Land	214.5 km2 (82.8 sq mi)
• Water	98.73 km2 (38.12 sq mi)
• Rank	256th largest in Finland
Population  (2024-10-31) [2]
• Total	703
• Rank	300th largest in Finland
• Density	3.28/km2 (8.5/sq mi)
Population by native language [2]
•  Finnish	99.1% (official)
• Others	0.9%
Population by age [3]
• 0 to 14	8.4%
• 15 to 64	49.9%
• 65 or older	41.6%
Time zone	UTC+02:00 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+03:00 (EEST)
Website	www.luhanka.fi

Luhanka (Swedish : Luhanka, also Luhango) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of 703 (31 October 2024) ^[2] and covers an area of 313.25 square kilometres (120.95 sq mi) of which 98.73 km² (38.12 sq mi) is water. ^[1]

The population density is 3.28 inhabitants per square kilometre (8.5/sq mi). There are also many summertime cottages in Luhanka.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The municipality is also been known as "Luhango" in Swedish documents. ^[4]

Mimicking the badger in the coat of arms of Luhanka, the permanent residents include the official animal mascot of the municipality, Sisu the Badger (Sisu-mäyrä). ^[5]

Geography

Hopeasalmi, Lake Päijänne

Neighboring municipalities are Hartola, Joutsa, Jyväskylä, Jämsä, Kuhmoinen and Sysmä.

There are all together 61 lakes in Luhanka. Biggest lakes in Luhanka are Päijänne, Tammijärvi-Hauha and Jutilanjärvi. ^[6]

History

Luhanka was first mentioned as a village within the Sysmä parish in 1462. The village gets its name from the lake Luhankjärvi or Luhankajärvi, the name of which comes from the word luha, a variant of luhta, a word which refers to a type of swamp. -nka is a derivational suffix, which is also found in other place names such as Puolanka and Maaninka.

It was granted a chapel in 1767 and became a separate parish in 1864. Due to the small population of the municipality, the parish of Luhanka became subordinate to the parish of Joutsa in 2006. ^{[7] [8]}

Notable people

• Politician Hertta Kuusinen was born in Luhanka in 1904^{[ citation needed ]}
• Writer Kreetta Onkeli has spent childhood in Luhanka^{[ citation needed ]}
• Composer Toni Edelmann lived in Luhanka^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. "Area of Finnish Municipalities 1.1.2018" (PDF). National Land Survey of Finland. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
2. "Finland's preliminary population figure was 5,635,560 at the end of October 2024". Population structure. Statistics Finland. 19 November 2024. ISSN   1797-5395 . Retrieved 22 November 2024.
3. "Population according to age (1-year) and sex by area and the regional division of each statistical reference year, 2003–2020". StatFin. Statistics Finland . Retrieved 2 May 2021.
4. "Svenska ortnamn i Finland" (in Swedish). Research Institute for the Languages of Finland. 25 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
5. Mäyrä-maskotti sai nimen (in Finnish)
6. "Luhanka". Järviwiki. Finland's Environmental Administration. 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
7. "SuomalainenPaikannimikirja_e-kirja_kuvallinen.pdf" (PDF). kaino.kotus.fi (in Finnish). p. 244. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
8. "Luhangan seurakunta". joutsanseurakunta.filanguage=fi. Retrieved 16 August 2022.

External links

• Media related to Luhanka at Wikimedia Commons
• Luhanka travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Municipality of Luhanka – Official homepage (in Finnish)