Ostrobothnia (region)

Ostrobothnia (region)

Ostrobothnia (Swedish: Österbotten; Finnish: Pohjanmaa) is a region of Finland. It is located in Western Finland. It borders the regions Central Ostrobothnia, Southern Ostrobothnia, and Satakunta and is one of the four regions making up the historical province of Ostrobothnia.

Ostrobothnia is one of the two Finnish regions with a Swedish speaking majority, the other being Åland. The Swedish-speakers make up 51.2%. Despite this, the region is linguistically heterogeneous, encompassing both exclusively Finnish and Swedish-speaking municipalities in addition to bilingual ones.

Geographically, Ostrobothnia has little topographical relief, because it is mostly former seafloor brought to surface by post-glacial rebound. Ostrobothnia has both vast expanses of cultivated fields (lakeus) as in Southern Ostrobothnia, and the archipelago of Kvarken (Finnish: Merenkurkku). Glacial transport has deposited large quantities of glacial erratics (rocks) in the area. Like elsewhere in Pohjanmaa, rivers are an important part of the landscape. The major rivers that discharge into the Gulf of Bothnia in Ostrobothnia are Kyrönjoki, Lapuanjoki and Ähtävänjoki.

The regional tree is the Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa), the regional mammal is the Common Elk (Alces alces alces), the regional stone is the Vaasa granite and the regional song is "The march of Vaasa" (Swedish: Vasamarschen, Finnish: Vaasan marssi).

In Finland Swedish circles/communities, Ostrobothnia is often referred to as "Pampas" and a person from Ostrobothnia is called a "Pampees"