Ranua is a Finnish municipality located in the southern part of
Lapland, on the upper and middle reaches of the Simojoki River,
south of Rovaniemi. The municipality has a population of 3,743 and
an area of 3,694.79 km2, of which 241.18 km2 are water bodies. The
population density is 1.08 inhabitants / km2.
Ranua's
neighboring municipalities are Ii in the southwest, Simo and Tervola
in the west, Rovaniemi in the north, Posio in the east and
Pudasjärvi in the south. Ranua is bordered on the south by the
province of Northern Ostrobothnia.
The first people arrived in the Ranua region as early
as the Stone Age. The first inhabitants of the area were the Sámi,
who by the turn of the 17th century had to withdraw from the path of
Finnish wilderness visitors from the south. The wilderness of the
southern part of Ranua, in the Siuruanjoki watershed, was occupied
by the Iilians, and the chemists and Simos ruled the Simojoki area.
For a long time, the borders of the regions were the subject of
central disputes among wilderness visitors.
The wilderness
visit gave impetus to the emergence of permanent settlement.
However, settlement progress was slow - in the 17th century, the
only inhabited area of Ranua was probably the Kuha village area
east of Lake Ranuanjärvi. It was not until the 19th century that the
population began to grow in earnest. In 1910, Ranua had a population
of about 1,700. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the
livelihoods of the area's inhabitants were based on agriculture and
animal husbandry, as well as hunting and fishing.
The Ranua
area was divided parishly into three municipalities: Pudasjärvi,
Simo and Rovaniemi. Long church trips led residents to fully support
the establishment of their own congregation. However, the project
progressed smoothly, as there were ambiguities e.g. in determining
the place of the church and the territorial extent of the parish.
Ranua Parish was finally founded in 1899, Ranua Church was built in
1911–1914.
The municipality of Ranua was founded in 1917.
Ranua was connected to the areas mostly from Lake Pudasjärvi, but
also from Simo and Rovaniemi. In the years following the
municipality's independence, deforestation and floating provided
plenty of work, and the municipality's population grew rapidly. In
1920, the population was almost 2,900.
Due to the tight
financial situation, the development of the school system was slow.
The municipality of Simon founded the first primary school in Ranua
in the village of Saukkojärvi in 1894. Two years later, the
municipality of Pudasjärvi established its own school in the church
village of Ranua. The first primary school founded by the
municipality of Ranua started in the village of Ylimaa in 1930.
In the years 1944–1945, the Lapland War caused extensive damage
in Ranua, when fierce battles were fought in the area between Finns
and Germans. The population had to be evacuated. Following the
devastation of the war, extensive reconstruction had to begin in
Ranua.
After the war, Ranua's population grew steadily. By
1947, the population was already approaching 4,800; 20 years later,
in 1967, the limit of 7,000 inhabitants was already exceeded.
Thereafter, the population began to decline as urbanization caused
by the change in the economic structure began.