Hamina

Hamina (ˈhɑminɑ; Fredrikshamn, freːdriksˈhɑmn, Sweden freːdrɪksˈhamːn) is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located approximately east of the country's capital Helsinki, in the Kymenlaakso region, and formerly the province of Southern Finland. The municipality's population is (as of ) and covers an area of , of which is water. The population density is The population of the central town is approximately 10,000. The municipal language of Hamina is Finnish. Highway 7 (E18) is the town's road connection to Helsinki, after it was upgraded to a continuous motorway in September 2014. Hamina is also the base of one of the most important harbors of Finland, the Port of Hamina-Kotka. The port specializes in forest products and the transit of cargo to Russia. One of Google's five European data centers is situated in Hamina. Vehkalahti was as a municipality first mentioned in 1336. At the proposal of Count Peter Brahe, the area surrounding the Vehkalahti church (today St. Mary's Church) received its charter in 1653 through the establishment of Vehkalahden Uusikaupunki (Veckelax Nystad in Swedish, "The New Town of Vehkalahti"). The town was later destroyed during the Great Northern War in 1712. As the commercially vibrant city of Vyborg was lost to Russia in 1721, Fredrikshamn (named in 1723 in the honor of King Frederick I of Sweden) was dedicated to replace it. The town, hitherto a small domestic port with restricted trading privilege's, was granted extensive rights to conduct foreign trade. The Finnish speaking population soon abbreviated the name of the town to Hamina. The reconstruction of the town was completed between 1722 and 1724. The star-shaped fortress and the circular town plan, designed by Axel Löwen, were based on Central European and Italian Renaissance concepts from the 16th century. Fortress towns with a circular street plan like this are quite rare; one example is Palmanova in Italy. In 1743, Hamina was surrendered to Russia, after the Russo–Swedish War, 1741–1743, and the town of Loviisa was the next Swedish candidate for an Eastern-Finnish trade center.