Pello


Pello is a municipality of Finland. It is located approximately north of the Arctic Circle in the western part of the province of Lapland, and is part of the Lapland region. The municipality is on the national border with Sweden, by the Tornio River. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of
which
is water. The population density is
The municipality is unilingually Finnish, according to the legal definition in Finland.
Konttajärvi is in this municipality.
It is served by the Pello railway station.

History

The name of Pello is ultimately derived from the word pelto, field; which may have been the original name of the village. The weak grade stem of pelto is pello-, through which the name was corrupted to its current form. The name of Turtola refers to a male name Turto, a Finnish form of the Scandinavian name Tord.
During the Late Middle Ages and the 16th century, Pello was the northernmost Finnish village in the Tornio Valley. It was a part of the Tornio parish until 1606, when said parish was divided into Alatornio and Ylitornio, from which the latter included Turtola and Pello.
After Russia conquered Finland in 1809, Ylitornio was split into two parts. The villages of Pello and Turtola were also split, which is why there is a Pello and a Turtola in Sweden. The northern parts of Ylitornio became a separate parish and municipality in 1867, called Turtola after its most significant village at the time. The village of Pello later surpassed Turtola, thus the municipality was renamed to Pello in 1949.

Notable people