Raahe (Brahestad in Swedish) is a town and municipality of Finland. Founded by Swedish statesman and Governor General of Finland Count
Per Brahe the younger in 1649, it is
one of 10 historic wooden towns (or town centers) remaining in Finland. Old
raahe is noted for its Renaissance-inspired rectilinear town
plan featuring an unusual central-square (called Pekkatori) with closed corners.
Per Brahe the Younger established
the city of
Raahe in 1649.
Raahe is located on the
northern shores of the
Gulf of Bothnia in the province of
Oulu and is part of the
Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of 22,594 (2003) and covers an
area of 535.65 km² of which 8.34 km² is
water. The population
density is 42.8 inhabitants
Per km². Historically an agricultural and
maritime region, Ostrobothnia supplied the largest number of immigrants from Finland to the US and other countries such as
Canada and Australia during the great migration of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries.
Founded as a Swedish- and Finnish-speaking town, the municipality is now unilingually Finnish.
(Wikipedia)Old Raahe historical information http://www.raahe.fiSuomen kaupunkiopas: Raahehttp://www.raahe.net/