Taivassalo

Template:Infobox settlement Taivassalo (Template:IPA; Template:Langx) is a municipality of Finland, about Template:Convert from the city of Turku. It is located in the Southwest 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.

The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Its neighboring municipalities are Kustavi, Masku, Mynämäki, Naantali, Uusikaupunki and Vehmaa.

The medieval sailing ship appearing in the coat of arms of Taivassalo refers to the maritime connections the coastguard already had during the Northern Crusades, as well as to the medieval naval weaponry, the surviving information of which comes from Taivassalo itself. The coat of arms was designed by Olof Eriksson, and the Taivassalo municipal council approved it at its meeting on October 21, 1953. The Ministry of the Interior approved the coat of arms for use on February 11, 1954.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Name

Taivassalo literally means "sky island", however J. A. Lopmeri and Elias Lönnrot theorized that the initial word was originally taival/taipale, as the area was originally an island, by the time of the naming it may have been connected to the mainland by a thin isthmus (taipale) as a result of post-glacial rebound. The Swedish name Tövsala is an adaptation of the Finnish name.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Taivassalo was first mentioned in 1350 as Thowesalu, when it was already a separate parish. It also included Velkua, Kustavi (originally Kivimaa) and Iniö until the 19th century. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>