Facts and history

Pajala is a municipality in the border region of Norrbotten within Lapland. The population is 6500.

The unitary authority of Pajala was formed in 1971 through the merger of Pajala, Korpilombolo, Tärendö and Junosuando municipalities. The neighbouring districts to the south are Övertorneå and Överkalix, to the north and west Gällivare and Kiruna and to the east the Finnish districts of Muonio, Kolari and Pello.

Culture and Leisure
There are sports centres in Pajala, Tärendö and Kangos. The folklore centres in Kangos and Tärendö have large collections of buildings and objects. In 1918, the village of Erkheikki saw the founding of the country's first branch of the Federation of Young Farmers, now known as 4H. The well-known authors Bengt Pohjanen and Mikael Niemi are both from Pajala district.

Annual events in Pajala include Pajala Fair, Romp Week, and the Northern Lights Festival. The editorial office of the newspaper MET (Torne Finnish for "we"), the journal of the Swedish Association of the Torne Valley - Torniolaaksolaiset - is in the former fire station in Junosuando.

Traditional long houses, the original form of housing, can be found along the river valley. The former vicarage is now used as a cultural centre, and houses the Laestadius Foundation, Academia Tornedaliensis.

The natural and cultural landscape
The bedrock is a plain of Archaean rock, almost completely covered by hilly moraine. Pajala consists mostly of forest, with 30% marshy ground. The predominant tree is fir. The highest point is Rissavaara, 526 m above sea level. The nature reserve of Juppuka features the rare fern Thelyperis palustris. Other interesting natural areas are Marjakursu, a long ravine containing virgin forest; Äihämäjärvi bird sanctuary, Pahakurkkio with its stone pillars, natural cauldrons and caves and the waterside meadow Vasikkavuoma.

Pyöreänoja is Sweden's only cultivated water marsh. Horse-tail (plants) are harvested for enriching the diet of reindeer. South of the high watermark the agricultural soil consists of sand, extra fine sand and clay deposits. The oldest farms along the river valley can be found on the sedimentary soils. There are extensive meadowlands around the manor house at Kengis.

Northwest of the village of Parkalompolo there is a region called Pessinki - a fir forest plain, which stretches for miles into Kiruna district. There are five untouched rivers that run through Pajala district. Since 1809, the Muonio and Torne rivers have formed the frontier with Finland. West of Junosuando, Torne River has an offshoot called Tärendö River, a bifurcation which on average transports 57% of the water from Torne River into Kalix River. At the hamlet of Huhtanen, Lainio River runs into Torne River.

Population
The population of Pajala is of Saami, Finnish and Swedish origin. Up until the 1960's, many worked in forestry and agriculture. In the 1960's and 1970's, there was a considerable population migration. Since the early 1980's, however, the population has been relatively stable. Much of the younger population in Pajala's 80 villages are moving in to the slowly growing central community.About 55% of the population live in communities of more than 200 inhabitants, and 27% live in Pajala itself.

Organisation
The Municipal Executive Board is the "government" of the municipality and has 11 permanent members, as well as 11 deputy members. They are appointed by the council.

The Municipal Executive Board has responsibility for development in general within Pajala municipality, and its economic status. It leads and co-ordinates the planning and follow-up of municipal economics and activities. A budget proposal is drawn up and ratified by the council every November. All activities are planned and carried out in keeping with the guide-lines in the budget.

The Municipal Executive Board makes decisions on many questions, but also drafts and comments on matters that are due to be taken up by the council. The Municipal Executive Board also implements council decisions and other tasks handed over to them by the council.

Beneath the Municipal Executive Board there are other decision- making and drafting bodies, the committees. The principal task of the committees is to draft proposals for the Municipal Executive Board. The Municipal Executive Board is also responsible for the overall running of Pajala municipality.

District Area: 7.897 sq.kms
Larger villages: Pajala, Tärendö, Korpilombolo, Junosuando, Kangos

In the heart of the Torne valley - in the middle of North Scandinavia, hallmarked by its multi-cultural history, where the Torne valley identity has been formed by the confluence of Finnish, Sámi and Swedish cultural traditions - there lies Pajala.

Pajala lies in a district full of tradition and culture. The oldest factory of Norrbotten was here. The epoch of the iron industry lasted almost for three hundred years. The foundry of Kengis was built in 1646, and was the world´s northernmost industrial complex and metallurgical centre by that time.

Here, too, was a remarkable man: Lars Levi Laestadius, the founder of Laestadianism. He was the vicar here from 1849 to 1861; and was also a notable botanist, scientist and advocate of temperance.

The municipal authorities, including official administration and public services, are the largest employers. The industrial base is primarily forestry, agriculture, the manufacturing industry, the electronics industry, trade and commerce.

The industrial base is dominated by small businesses. The sector which has started to be dominant is computer technology and electronics. The university studies localised to Pajala are a further strategic undertaking to develop skills in this area.

Pajala history - Industrialism and Kengis factory

Industrialism and Kengis factory

With the exception of ecumenical history, the earliest written history of what is now Pajala municipality revolved largely around Kengis factory, and the industrial projects in the area, which went on from the mid-17th century until the middle of the 19th century.

A historical account follows of industrialism and Kengis factory, as described in "Norrbottens bygd och folk - en skildring i ord och bild av Norrbottens bebyggelse", published by AB Hembygdslitteratur, Stockholm in 1952. Everything below is quoted from this book.

At Svappavaara, copper ore was discovered, and mined in the mid-1650´s. Mining continued until the 1680´s, after which dump heaps were sifted. A smelting shop was set up at Kengis factory further downstream on the Torne river. Between 1657 and 1674, around 40 tons of copper were extracted per year.

From 1674 to 1715, Kengis had privileges for manufacturing so called metal plate coins. However, very few were made here; the majority were made at Avesta in Dalarna. The copper plant was finally wound up in 1785, after being run for 50 years with varying fortunes.

Private capital was behind the project in the Torne valley, and it was managed by people with intimate knowledge of the special conditions in the area. One must also consider that transport distances in the Torne valley were shorter and less costly, as most of the river was passable in rowing boats. In addition, the climate here was much more favourable to agriculture, and the factory workers could improve their living by hunting and fishing, and rudimentary agriculture.

The individual factory owners seem to have had great insight into the need for quickly establishing a permanent population that was not completely dependent on the factory. During the end of the 18th century the state, as well as individuals, invested considerably in order to improve conditions for the settlers. Another contributory factor was that the county, especially in the middle of the 18th century, had extremely capable governors, who vigorously safeguarded the countys interests in dealing with the state.

As early as 1642, iron ore was discovered in Junosuando, where a small smelting-works was built. This building was bought in 1646 by the Stockholm merchant Arent Grape, who was originally from Lübeck. From then until his death in 1687, he performed a considerable pioneering achievement for Norrbotten industry. He was granted privileges for the setting up of a new smelting-works and a helve hammer, which were located in Kengis. Under the name Kengisverken, this factory came to exist and play an important role for the village for following 200 years.

Grape appears to have been the first one to grasp the necessity of also considering the lives of the individual employees, and he spent considerable sums on housing etc. His own capital was insufficient, however, and in 1653, he admitted the brothers Abraham and Jakob Momma as partners. They had moved in from Aachen via Holland to Stockholm, where they had a large trading house. In 1669 they were ennobled under the name Reenstierna. After some time, Grape was forced to make the factory over to his partners, but for the whole of his life he remained in the service of the factory, periodically in a dominant position.

Kengisverken developed into a significant industry with about 250 employees. At the end of the 17th century the company went into a deep recession, and at his death in 1678, Jakob Reenstierna was impoverished, as was his brother Abraham, who died in 1690. During the following years the factory seems to have been occasionally shut down. There was a short boom in 1699, when "Westerbottens Bergslags Societet" (The Västerbotten mining society) bought the plant. During Charles XII´s battle campaigns mining was stopped again, and the whole of Kengis factory was eventually burned in a Russian assault in 1717.

In 1721, rebuilding of the plant began and work eventually began again. The factory did not make much headway, though, until 1737, when the enterprising Abraham Steinholz became a partner. He apparently administered his lands in Norrbotten with great energy and wisdom. In 1745 he became sole owner of Kengisverken, and in 1751-54 rebuilt the whole plant.

A foundry, wire works, fabricator etc. were built. Ore was brought from old mines, but also from the more recent, well-known Luossavaara mine. In connection with the rebuilding, Svanstein factory was founded, and some of the rights for hammered iron were transferred there in 1753. The name Svanstein comes from mining engineer Svanberg, Steinholz´ companion and father-in-law, and Steinholz.

Steinholz administered the extensive industrial project until his death in 1781. After that, Kengisverken changed hands often. During the fast-changing trade cycles it became difficult to keep the factory open and profitable. In the first half of the 19th century it was closed down several times, finally being wound up in 1850. The fabricator was run on a modest scale until 1895. Nowadays Kengis factory is a forest- and agricultural property.