« Finland
Espoo is a city on the Southern coast of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with Helsinki, Vantaa and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen. Other bordering municipalities are Nurmij rvi and Vihti in ... more »
Save time & money with Hotels
View all hotels in Espoo...
Hotels 
Airports Espoo is a city on the Southern coast of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with Helsinki, Vantaa and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen. Other bordering municipalities are Nurmijärvi and Vihti in the north and Kirkkonummi in the west. The national park of Nuuksio is situated in northwest Espoo.
Espoo encompasses 528 km², 312 km² of which is land. The current population is 229,443 (as of 2005-07-31), in Finland second only to that of Helsinki.
The purpose of the city has always been to preserve nature, while developing, which has led to the creation of several local 'area-centers'. Espoo is thus divided into the following major areas: administrative center Espoon keskus, Espoonlahti, Kalajärvi, Kauklahti, Leppävaara, Matinkylä-Olari and Tapiola.
This decentralised nature has led to Espoo being jocularily called "Finland's only highway with city privileges". Another soubriquet is "Los Angeles of Finland", meaning no decent city center but a cluster of area centers.
The Helsinki University of Technology is based in Otaniemi, Espoo along with a thriving science community that includes numerous startups and organizations such as VTT - the Technical Research Center of Finland. Nokia, the telecommunications company, operates from Keilaranta (and also from Karamalmi), Espoo, along with other high-tech companies such as KONE, Fortum and the mobile telephone branch of Elisa Oyj.
The name Espoo probably comes from the old name of river Espoo, Espå (or Espåå), which in turn comes from the Swedish word äspe, meaning cluster of aspen. The name was first mentioned in 1431.
The first inhabitants in the area arrived about 9,000 years ago. A permanent settlement was established during the 12th and the 13th centuries. The King’s Road passes through Espoo on its way from Turku to Viipuri dates back to the 13th century. The oldest preserved building in Espoo, the Espoo Church, originates from the 1490s. The administrative center Espoon keskus has grown around the church and the railway station.
In 1920 Espoo was only a rural municipality of about 9000 inhabitants and 70% of the population was Swedish-speaking. Agriculture was the primary source of income with 75% making their living out of it. Kauniainen was separated from Espoo in 1920.
Espoo started to grow rapidly in the 1940s and 50s and from a rural municipality it developed fast into a fully-fledged industrial city, gaining city rights in 1972. Due to its proximity to Helsinki, Espoo soon became popular amongst the people working in the capital. In fifty years, from 1950 to 2000, the population of Espoo grew from 22,000 to 210,000. From 1945 the majority of the people in Espoo are Finnish-speaking, and in 2006 the Swedish speaking inhabitants were barely 9%. The population growth still continues, albeit at a slower rate.
Going on a trip? Why not browse some of the luggage at eBags.com (external source)
Your vacation. A time to lose yourself. And sometimes your luggage, too. Need Travel Insurance? Why not try Travel Guard (external source)
Lonely Planet Maps (external source)
Lonely Planet Language Guides (external source)
Distances are calculated as the crow flies, and are provided as an aid in planning only.
* This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Source wikipedia.
