Akaa (Swedish: Ackas) is a Finnish city located in the province
of Pirkanmaa. The city is home to about 16,500 people and the
population is growing. Aka covers an area of 314.38 km2, of which
21.12 km2 are water bodies. The population density is 56.2
inhabitants / km2. Aka's neighboring municipalities are Hämeenlinna,
Lempäälä, Urjala, Valkeakoski and Vesilahti.
The city of Akaa
was born when the city of Toijala and the municipality of Viiala
merged on January 1, 2007, and from the beginning of 2011 Kylmäkoski
also joined Aka. Before that, a municipality called Akaa had existed
until 1946, when its church village and its surrounding areas were
formed into an independent Toijala township and the rest of the
municipality was connected to Kylmäkoski, Viiala and Sääksmäki.
The city's administrative center and town hall are in the center
of Toijala, and the municipal office services are also available in
the church village of Viiala. There are two railway stations:
Toijala railway station and Viiala railway station. The distance
between Toijala and Viiala is about eight kilometers. Aka's main
traffic is located on Hämeentie, which leads from the center of
Toijala to Matomäki in Viiala.
Aka has good transport
connections and also industry. The railways between Riihimäki and
Tampere and Turku and Toijala connect in Toijala, and the railway
station is also in Viiala. The current alignment of Highway 3 runs
through Akaa, and after its construction, a shopping center has been
established along the road.
There is a large mummy factory in
Aka and the city hosted the World Mummy Eating Championships in 2005
and 2007. The city has the Evangelical Lutheran Aka congregation, in
addition to which there are two Pentecostal congregations, the
Toijala Saalem Pentecostal Church and the Viiala Pentecostal Church,
the Toijala Adventist Church of the Finnish Adventist Church, and
the Viiala and Toijala Jehovah's Witness Congregations.
In
the alphabet, Akaa ranks first among Finnish municipalities. Akaa's
name, unlike many other names of Finnish municipalities that end in
a long vowel, bends when expressing locality in domestic places, so
that something is in Aka and comes from Aka.