🇫🇮 Turku is a city and former capital on the south-west coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (Varsinais-Suomi) and the former Turku and Pori Province (Turun ja Porin lääni; 1634–1997). The region was originally called Suomi (Finland), which later became the name for the whole country. The population of Turku is the sixth largest city in Finland after Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa and Oulu. The Turku sub-region is 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 Swedish as a mother-tongue.
It is unknown when Turku gained city rights. The Pope Gregory IX first mentioned the town Aboa in his Bulla in 1229 and the year is now used as the foundation year of Turku. Turku is the oldest city in Finland, and served as the most important city of the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden (modern-day Finland). After the Finnish war, Finland became an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian Empire in 1809, and Turku was made the capital of the grand duchy. However, Turku lost its status as capital only after three years in 1812, when Tsar Alexander I of Russia decided to move the capital to Helsinki. It was only after the last great fire in 1827 that most governmental institutions were moved to Helsinki along with the Royal Academy of Turku (Turun Akatemia) founded in 1640, which then became the University of Helsinki, thus consolidating Helsinki's position as the new capital. Turku continued to be the most populous city in Finland until the end of the 1840s, and it remains the regional capital and an important business and cultural centre and port.
Because of its long history, it has been the site of many important events, and has extensively influenced Finnish history as the former capital city. Along with Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, Turku was designated the European Capital of Culture for 2011. In 1996, it was declared the "Christmas City" of Finland. Also, Turku has been officially declared the Food Capital of Finland, because it holds a number of Finland's oldest, highest quality restaurants alongside a historically famous fish market, held twice a year. Turku's canteen and café culture has often been compared to French food culture, which is why Turku has also been perceived as "Paris of Finland"; this is also the reason for the Swedish saying: "Varför Paris, vi har ju Åbo!" ("Why Paris, we have Turku!").
Due to its location, Turku is a notable commercial and passenger seaport with over three million passengers travelling through the Port of Turku each year to Stockholm and Mariehamn.
1Economy The business district in the city's economy is centred on the Port of Turku and other service-oriented industries. The city is also a renowned high tech centre – the Turku Science Park area in Kupittaa hosts over 300 companies from the fields of biotechnology and information technology, as well as several institutions of higher learning that work closely with the business sector. This cooperative element is seen as a particularly important factor with regards to the city's expected future economic development, as outlined in the Turku Strategy that is published annually by the city council. At least the following major Finnish companies have their corporate headquarters in Turku: HKScan and Hesburger. Other major companies which have operations in Turku include Bayer, Fläkt Woods, Meyer Werft, Orion Corporation and Wärtsilä.
As of June 2015, over 280,000 people were registered as being without employment in Finland. This put June's numbers at 10.0 percent of the population, 0.8 percentage points higher than June 2014. Men's unemployment rate was 10.5 percent and women's 9.4 percent.
1Education The first university in Finland, the Royal Academy of Turku (now University of Helsinki), was established in the city in 1640. In 1820, the first school in Finland conforming to the Bell-Lancaster method was founded in Turku with the aim of making primary education more inclusive to the lower classes.
Turku is home to about 35,000 higher education students. There are two universities and several "polytechnics" in the town.
The Finnish University of Turku is the second largest university in Finland (18,000 students), as measured by student enrollment, and one of the oldest as well, having been founded in 1920. Åbo Akademi, founded 1918 as the second university of Finland, is one of Finland's two Swedish-language universities. Turku School of Economics merged with The University of Turku in 2010, and Åbo handelshögskola, its Swedish counterpart, with Åbo Akademi 1980. The central hospital of Turku, Turku University Hospital, is affiliated with the University and it is used as a teaching hospital.
Turku University of Applied Sciences is the second largest polytechnic in Finland after Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. Also Novia University of Applied Sciences and Diaconia University of Applied Sciences have campuses in the town.
Turku is one of only two cities in Finland to have an established international school (the other city being Helsinki). Turku International School, located in the eastern district of Varissuo, has been operating since 2003. By an agreement signed between the city of Turku and the University of Turku, Turun normaalikoulu takes care of the teaching in the international school.
1Turku was ranked #770 by the Nomad List which evaluates and ranks remote work hubs by cost, internet, fun and safety. Turku has a population of over 254,671 people. Turku also forms the centre of the wider Turku region which has a population of over 330,192 people. Turku is the #61 hipster city in the world, with a hipster score of 5.1951 according to the Hipster Index which evaluates and ranks the major cities of the world according to the number of vegan eateries, coffee shops, tattoo studios, vintage boutiques, and record stores. Turku is ranked #380 for startups with a score of 0.596.
To set up a UBI Lab for Turku see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork
Twin Towns, Sister Cities Turku has links with:
🇪🇸 A Coruña, Spain 🇩🇰 Aarhus, Denmark 🇩🇰 Arhus, Denmark 🇳🇴 Bergen, Norway 🇸🇰 Bratislava, Slovak Republic 🇩🇪 Cologne, Germany 🇷🇴 Constanța, Romania 🇮🇹 Florence, Italy 🇵🇱 Gdańsk, Poland 🇸🇪 Gothenburg, Sweden 🇺🇦 Kharkiv, Ukraine 🇪🇪 Kuressaare, Estonia 🇩🇪 Rostock, Germany 🇷🇺 Saint Petersburg, Russia 🇷🇸 Subotica, Serbia 🇭🇺 Szeged, Hungary 🇪🇪 Tallinn, Estonia 🇪🇪 Tartu, Estonia 🇨🇳 Tianjin, China 🇧🇬 Varna, Bulgaria🇨🇦 Whitehorse 60.721
🇷🇺 Sestroretsk 60.1
🇭🇺 Mátészalka 22.317
Locations Near: Turku 22.2516,60.4528
🇫🇮 Satakunta 22,61.333 d: 98.8
🇫🇮 Pori 21.795,61.486 d: 117.5
🇫🇮 Raseborg 23.433,59.967 d: 84.8
🇫🇮 Lohja 24.067,60.25 d: 102.4
🇫🇮 Tampere 23.757,61.498 d: 141.7
🇫🇮 Hämeenlinna 24.459,60.997 d: 134.4
🇦🇽 Mariehamn 19.935,60.097 d: 133.7
Antipodal to: Turku -157.748,-60.453
🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 15434.1
🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 15198.5
🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 14774.3
🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 14707.4
🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 11096.5
🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 10988.3
🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 10972.1
🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 10969.3