Sotkamo

Sotkamo is a municipality of Finland, located in the Kainuu region. The municipality has a population of 10,572 (30 June 2015) and covers an area of 2,952.11 square kilometres (1,139.82 sq mi) of which 302.61 km² (116.84 sq mi) is water. The population density is 3.99 inhabitants per square kilometre (10.3/sq mi).

Vuokatti, west of Sotkamo, is a popular skiing resort. The Hiidenportti National Park is located in the municipality.

In sports, Sotkamo is known for its Finnish baseball team, Sotkamon Jymy.

One of the major landmarks of Sotkamo is the sandy beach of Hiukka, which locates by the lake Iso Sapsojärvi, just beside the Sotkamo center. In Vuokatti ski center you can find the lake Nuasjärvi and the Vuokatti Hill.

History

Sotkamo has grown beside a water route formed by a continuous band of lakes and rivers. The waters of the Sotkamo route run through Kajaaninjoki into Oulujärvi and finally to the Baltic Sea, but in the past the waterways also created an important commercial route to White Sea in the east. The same water route has been used by soldiers of Russia, Sweden and Denmark to rob and ravage this remote countryside for centuries. The name Sotkamo comes either from the Finnish word "sotku" which means a mess and refers to the obscure water route, or from the word "sotka" which was a general name for water birds in ancient Finnish and now designates the common goldeneye.