Kainuu (; ) is one of the 19 regions of Finland (; ). Kainuu borders the regions of North Ostrobothnia, North Savo, North Karelia, and Russia (Republic of Karelia).
Culturally, Kainuu is part of the larger Eastern-Finnish cultural heritage. The dialect of Kainuu resembles Savonian and Karelian dialects.
Geography Taiga is the most common biome in Kainuu. The forest in Kainuu mostly consists of birch, pine, and spruce. The atypical regional geography and landscape consist of lakes, hills, and vast uninhabited forest areas.
The largest lake in the region is Oulujärvi (928.09 km2), one of the largest lakes in Finland. Kainuu's shorelines, open waters, and islands belong to the municipalities of Paltamo and Kajaani.
The highest point in Kainuu is the Iso Tuomivaara (385 m), located in the municipality of Hyrynsalmi.Sisä-Suomen tuulivoimaselvitys raportti part 3 Report. Regional Council of Kainuu. Referenced on 12.29.2015 The regional climate is continental. The three most populous urban areas in Kainuu (December 31, 2017) are Kajaani town center (30,028), Vuokatti village (6,207) in Sotkamo municipality, and Kuhmo town center (5,349).http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/fi/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_027_fi.px/table/
History
Pre-history The oldest archeological finds of human inhabitation in the area of Kainuu are from around 6800–6000 BCE. The Suomusjärvi culture spread to Kainuu from the south and was strongest around Vaala, which was near the coast of Ancylus Lake. Later finds from the time of the Comb Ceramic culture prove trade connections to the area of Karelia in the east.Huurre (1986:46–47). The Comb Ceramic culture spread to Kainuu quickly, already in the Early Comb Ceramic period (). A style of Comb Ceramic called Säräisniemi Ceramic 1 (Sär 1) emerged in Kainuu, North Ostrobothnia, Southern Lapland, Karelia and Northern Norway. Half of Sär 1 discoveries in Finland are from Kainuu. It is not known where the Sär 1 style originated from, though the area around the Oulujärvi lake has been suggested.Huurre (1986:52-56). Later, when the Comb Ceramic styles of coastal and inland Finland split into two, the style used in Kainuu was Asbestos-ceramic.Huurre (1986:58).
Pre-historic people in Kainuu lived by hunting and fishing, most bone findings in human settlements being of beavers and moose. Findings of flax pollen from the turn of the Bronze Age suggest the cultivating of flax in Paltamo.Huurre (1986:74-75). Around the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age (c. 1000–0 BCE), metallic findings from Kainuu become nearly non-existent. Despite this, it is considered to be unlikely that human inhabitation had ended in the area. It is thought that in this time period, the people spoke a Proto-Sámic language, but archaeological findings culturally linked to Sámi have not been found this south. The spread of the Asbestos-ceramic culture in the north of Fennoscandia has been thought to be a sign of the area turning Sámi. The inhabitants of Kainuu in the Early Iron Age were likely then hunter-gathering Sámi, even if genetically and linguistically differing from modern Sámi.Huurre (1986:148–149). If the population density at the time was the same as among Forest Sámi in Finland in the year 1600 CE, there would've been around 350 individuals living in pre-historic Kainuu.Huurre (1986:85).
Historical province
Municipalities The region of Kainuu consists of two sub-regions and eight municipalities, two of which have city status (marked in bold). The administrative capital of Kainuu is Kajaani.
Sub-regions
Kajaani sub-region Kajaani () Paltamo Ristijärvi Sotkamo
Kehys-Kainuu Hyrynsalmi Kuhmo Puolanka Suomussalmi
List of municipalities
Coat ofarms Municipality Population Land area(km2) Density(/km2) Finnishspeakers Swedishspeakers Otherspeakers Hyrynsalmi % % % Kajaani % % % Kuhmo % % % Paltamo % % % Puolanka % % % Ristijärvi % % % Sotkamo % % % Suomussalmi % % % Total % % %
Changes in the municipalities
Kajaanin maalaiskunta (merged with Kajaani in 1977) Säräisniemi (formed Vaala with a part of Utajärvi in 1954) Vuolijoki (merged with Kajaani in 2007) Vaala (moved to North Ostrobothnia region in 2016)Vaala siirtyy Kainuusta Pohjois-Pohjanmaahan vuoden 2016 alusta Press release. Ministry of Finance. Referenced on the 04.01.2016
Demographics
Economy
In 2012, the Kainuu region had a total of 29,722 jobs. The largest sector in the employment market of Kainuu is the service sector with (21 915) 73.7% share of the regions entire employed workforce. The industrial and construction sector follow as the 2nd largest actor with (5 243) 17.6% of the employed working under these fields. Third largest sector is the forest industry and agriculture with a (2 228) 7.5% workforce. The smallest uncounted factor in these statistics are the miscellaneous jobs that do not fit easily under any of three general terms mentioned above. The miscellaneous jobs form 336 1.2% of the region's workforce.Kainuu in statistics 2015 Statistics brochure . Regional Council of Kainuu. Referenced 12.29.2015
The total unemployment of Kainuu was in 2014 6 001 which is 16.9% of the workforce of the area. The nationwide average at the time was 12.4%. The worst unemployment was in the town of Kuhmo with (771) 19.6% people unemployed. The town with the least amount of unemployment was the municipality of Sotkamo with (684) 14.1% people unemployed. Kainuu has a total of 4301 firms by each sector in its economy. Three of the largest sectors are Agriculture, forestry and fishing, wholesale and retail trade and construction. The smallest three are education, mining & quarrying and information & communication.
State, municipal and private sectors are the three big players in the regions employment market. Private sector is the largest actor in the region with 51% of the workforce working on it. Municipal sector comes up to 29% and the state has 7% of the workforce. Statewide averages are 58% for the private, 23% for the municipal and 6% for the state sectors. The number of companies in the region of Kainuu is 3 429.
Education
The regional education qualification level is at 67.4% between the age groups of 15 years and over. The average of women in the region for the educational qualification is 67.4% and for men 67.3%. The nationwide average is 69,4% for the whole age group and the nationwide average for women is 70.1% and for men 68.7%. Based on these numbers Kainuu has the 8th lowest educational level out of the 19 regions of Finland.Educational level statistics of the regions of Finland based on the gender & graduates in the year of 2013. Statistics Finland. Referenced on the 01.07.2016
Kainuu has several further education institutes and organizations that are centralized in the town of Kajaani. These are Kajaani University of Applied Sciences,Info on the Kajaani University of Applied Science. KAMK. Referenced on the 01.07.2016 AIKOPAInfo on AIKOPA . AIKOPA. Referenced on the 01.07.2016 and Kainuu Vocational College (KAO).Kainuu Vocational College Info. Kainuu Vocational College. Referenced on the 01.07.2016 Many of the municipalities and towns also offer education for the upper secondary education.
Kajaani University of Applied Sciences (KAMK) offers education, research, development and innovation services. These happen in the fields of activity tourism, nursing and health care, business and innovation, information systems and mechanical engineering. The students number at 2000 in the KAMK and the staff at 235.Brochure. KAMK. Referenced on the 01.07.2016
AIKOPA is part of KAMK's and the University of Oulu's service that is provided for joint adult and continuing education. AIKOPA offers services like education, expertise, research and development at the higher education level.
The Kainuu Vocational College (KAO) has a goal to give training, vocational and basic skills for both the young people and adults who number approximately at 2600. KAO has six different field of education through which students and the adults alike can receive qualification and training. These are technology and transportation, tourism, catering and domestic services, natural resources, healthcare, culture and business and administration.Fields of study info . Kainuu Vocational College. Referenced on the 01.07.2016
Transportation
Kainuu has a total of 4 732 kilometers of road network and the average of 505 private cars / 1000 inhabitants.
The air traffic of Kainuu had 81 854 cumulative passengers of which 77 981 were domestic and 3 873 were international passengers. The only major airport in the region is the Kajaani airport which is located some 7 kilometers (4 mi) northwest from the Kajaani town center.
The Kajaani railway station works as the central hub for the Kainuu regions train passenger and freight transportation. The passenger traffic from and to Kajaani railway station runs between the line 13 of Helsinki-Kajaani and the line 14A of Oulu-Kontiomäki.
Tourism and culture
Tourism is a significant factor in the regional economics of Kainuu. The region is marketed as the Arctic Lakeland, where features of Lapland and the Finnish lake district overlap. The two most important seasons for the region's tourism are winter and summer. Winter season is the more popular one amongst the tourists and travelers, although the single most popular month for the overnight stays in Kainuu is July. The count for the nights spent in the Kainuu region was 970 953 in the year of 2014. Domestic tourism forms a major part of the annual tourism. Around 10% of the annual tourism of the regions comes from the international tourism. The variation of this number is dependent on the economic turns that have caused drops in the Russian tourism towards the Kainuu region in which the Russians have been the single largest customer group.Statistical Yearbook of Tourism in Kainuu 2014 . Yearbook. Kainuun Etu Oy. Referenced on the 01.07.2016
Kainuu region has three major sports and ski resorts, which are Paljakka,Resort homepage in English. Paljakka Hiihtokeskus. Referenced on the 01.07.2016 UkkohallaResort homepage in English. Ukkohalla -Ski and Sport Resort. Referenced on the 01.07.2016 and Vuokatti.Homepage in English. Vuokatti. Referenced on the 01.07.2016 These resorts offer various sport possibilities for different seasons such as skiing, downhill skiing and hiking among others.
Outside the sport resorts there are also tourism related service clusters and networks such as Wild Taiga which offers various services from different actors of Kuhmo and Suomussalmi municipalities.Wild Taiga Infopage . Wild Taiga. Referenced on the 01.07.2016 Other significant regional points of interest from the perspective of tourism are the areas around Oulujärvi, Kajaani and Ristijärvi.
In tourism Oulujärvi is concentrated on offering services in water and culture based tourism around the lake.Homepage of Oulunjärvi . Oulunjärven Jättiläiset ry. Referenced on the 01.07.2016 Kajaani, the town on the shores of the lake, is the capital of Kainuu and the central transportational hub in the area. The town is central for the tourists who come to the Kainuu region either by train or by plane to the Kajaani Airport.