Vaasa

A city on the Gulf of Bothnia that grew from a settlement of 1606 and took its charter in 1611 from Charles IX, who named it after the House of Vasa. In 1918, during the civil war, it briefly served as the capital of White Finland and housed the Senate. It is bilingual (62 per cent Finnish speakers, 23 per cent Swedish) and the surrounding municipalities of Korsholm and Malax have clear Swedish-speaking majorities, which makes Vaasa the most significant cultural centre for Swedish-speaking Finns. The University of Vaasa is here, along with faculties of Åbo Akademi, the University of Helsinki and the Hanken School of Economics.