Tampere

The most populous inland city in the Nordic countries, wedged between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi, with eighteen metres of drop between their water levels. The rapids that connect them, Tammerkoski, have driven the place throughout its history and drive its electricity now; the mills that grew along them earned Tampere the name Manchester of the North. Between 1775 and 1870 those same rapids were a provincial border, with the city on the western bank and the eastern side not joined to it until 1877. It is the economic and cultural centre of inland Finland.