The arms are crowned by a ducal coronet, though in Finnish tradition this resembles a Swedish count's coronet. Blazon: "Per fess Azure and Or, a bear rampant Sable, armed and langued Gules, crowned Or, holding in both paws a sword Argent, sword handle Or; surmounted by two mullets of seven Argent".[5]
According to one theory, Satakunta was a political and military entity already in theLate Iron Age of Finland (550 - 1150 AD). During the 13th century, the Swedish rule was consolidated. At the same time, the coastal strip received some Swedish inhabitants, who however were assimilated in the mainstream Finnish population.[citation needed] The remnant of the influx can be seen in some of thetoponyms in coastal Satakunta (e.g.Noormarkku <Swedish:Norrmark). Genetically connections to Scandinavia seem to be relatively strong.Haplogroup I1 (Y-DNA), which is typically Scandinavian, is very common in Satakunta.[citation needed] The common ancestor with the closest (rare) Scandinavian branches lived at least 2300 years ago.[6]
During the Middle Ages, the major cities of the province wereUlvila, established in the 14th century andRauma, established 1442.[citation needed] Due to the rising of land, the former was left inland and lost its access to the sea. Consequently, the city ofPori was founded to the coast byJohan,Grand Duke of Finland in 1558.[citation needed] Administratively, the province lost its function in 1649 when it was combined withSouthwest Finland to formTurku and Pori County. In the 19th century, the eastern parts of the province were transferred to theTavastia County. At the present, the eastern part of the old province has formed the region ofPirkanmaa and the western part forms the region of Satakunta.[citation needed]
Satakunta, with the rest of Finland, was separated from Sweden when Finland was ceded toRussia in 1809. During the era of Autonomy (1809–1917), the province experienced slow industrialization, Pori becoming the most important industrial city of the region. The forest and textile industries dominated the business life. In addition, the merchants of Rauma and Pori had impressively large fleets of sailpowered merchantmen, which made up a large fraction of the total merchant navy of the Russian empire.[citation needed] The large-scale use of sail ships continued until the 1930s, even while the steampower started to dominate the international seatraffic. The building of theTampere–Pori andKokemäki–Rauma railroads connected the province into Finnish inland and diminished the importance of unnavigableKokemäenjoki river as a means of transport.[citation needed] After this, the ports of Rauma and Pori have remained among the most important export ports for the Finnish industry.[citation needed]
The development of agriculture towardsmarket-based economy was started during the 18th century, when crop rotation and large-scale drainage projects were initiated.[citation needed] At the same time, clearing of forests for agricultural use continued, leading into the formation of a large crofter class (Finnish:torppari), living on small-holdings rented from larger farms. During the 19th century the social divisions among the rural population deepened. Consequently, inFinnish Civil War of 1918, Satakunta formed an important part of Red Finland.[citation needed]
Since independence, the development of Satakunta has followed the general Finnish pattern. The rural areas have suffered from the drain of young population towards population centers, which until the early 1990s benefited the industrial cities of Rauma,Harjavalta and Pori with their surroundings.[7] The metal and forest industries expanded steadily, necessitating the building of the nuclear plant atOlkiluoto. The increase of industrial production was not fully without problems, however. Especially the area around Harjavalta copper–nickel smelting plant suffered heavily fromacid rain and Kokemäenjoki became heavily polluted. These problems have been controlled to large extent since the 1980s.[8][9]
Since the 1990s, the traditional industries of the region have more or less stagnated and the relative importance of her cities has dwindled. One of the perceived reasons for this development has been the fact that Satakunta lacks a university of its own.[10]
The exact borders of Satakunta towards Southwest Finland, Ostrobothnia and Southern Tavastia are rather well-defined. However, this is not the case with the Northern Tavastia, i.e. in the modern day region ofPirkanmaa. This is because northern parts of Pirkanmaa were only sparsely inhabited wilderness and the borders of the provinces were never well defined before the introduction ofcounty system in 1634. In that year, the border betweenTurku and Pori County which included Satakunta, andUusimaa and Tavastia county was rather arbitrarily drawn inTammerkoski. To further complicate matters,Tampere with her surroundings was transferred to Tavastia Province in the 19th century. As a result, the region aroundIkaalinen andParkano is variously described as being part of Satakunta, Tavastia,Sata-Häme or Pirkanmaa.
Village of Sorkka inRauma with typical coastal plain countryside of Satakunta
Satakunta is characterized by a strong contrast of coast and inland areas. The southernmost part of the coast is flanked by thearchipelago ofRauma but towards north, the number of coastal islands decreases markedly. The seabed is flat and due to this, the still-continuing post-glacial rising is perceivable even during a single person's lifetime. The dominating feature of the northern coast of Satakunta is thedelta ofKokemäenjoki northwest of the town ofPori.
The valley of river Kokemäenjoki and the area south of it form one of the most important agricultural regions of Finland. The main crops arerye,barley,potato andsugar beet. On the other hand, north of Kokemäenjoki valley, forests dominate the landscape and population density is much lower than in southern Satakunta. Towards inland, the flat agricultural plain gives way to a more hilly landscape blotted by lakes. In this area, the population centers are located along the most important waterways, as a result of the original inhabitation period.
^Kokemäenjoen päästötasot romahtaneetArchived 2018-09-02 at theWayback Machine. Waternet 1/2007. The magazine is a PR-publication of Finnish chemicals manufacturer, but the fact that the pollution levels of Kokemäenjoki have indeed gone down is correct. Retrieved 11-19-2007.(in Finnish)
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