Luhanka

Template:Expand Finnish Template:Use dmy dates Template:For Template:Infobox settlement Luhanka (Template:Langx, also Template:Lang) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of Template:Data Finland municipality/population count ({{#time: j F Y|Template:Data Finland municipality/population count }})<ref name="population_count"/> and covers an area of Template:Convert of which Template:Convert is water.<ref name="total_area" />

The population density is Template:Convert. There are also many summertime cottages in Luhanka.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. The municipality is also been known as "Template:Lang" in Swedish documents.<ref name="kotus">Template:Cite web</ref>

Mimicking the badger in the coat of arms of Luhanka, the permanent residents include the official animal mascot of the municipality, Sisu the Badger (Sisu-mäyrä).<ref>Mäyrä-maskotti sai nimen (in Finnish)</ref>

Geography

File:Hopeasalmi, Päijänne.jpg

Hopeasalmi, Lake Päijänne

Neighboring municipalities are Hartola, Joutsa, Jyväskylä, Jämsä, Kuhmoinen and Sysmä.

There are all together 61 lakes in Luhanka. Biggest lakes in Luhanka are Päijänne, Tammijärvi-Hauha and Jutilanjärvi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Clear left

History

Luhanka was first mentioned as a village within the Sysmä parish in 1462. The village gets its name from the lake Luhankjärvi or Luhankajärvi, the name of which comes from the word luha, a variant of luhta, a word which refers to a type of swamp. -nka is a derivational suffix, which is also found in other place names such as Puolanka and Maaninka.

It was granted a chapel in 1767 and became a separate parish in 1864. Due to the small population of the municipality, the parish of Luhanka became subordinate to the parish of Joutsa in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>