Karesuando is the northernmost locality in Sweden. It is situated in Kiruna Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden, with 303 inhabitants in 2010 and 350 in 2011. It is a church village, located alongside the Muonio Riveron the border with Finland. The Finnish village of Karesuvanto is located on the Finnish side of the river. According to Finnish tradition, they are one and the same village, but are usually considered to be separate villages since there is a national border between them. The village's buildings were built in 1670, when Måns Mårtensson Karesuando, called "Hyvä Maunu Martinpoika" in Finnish and "Good Maunu, Son of Martin" in English, bought land from SamiHenrik Nilsson Nikkas. The Lutheranvicar and botanistLars Levi Laestadius served in Karesuando from 1826 to 1849. It was here that he founded the revivalist movement known to this day as Laestadianism. The area is traditionally Finnish speaking, and the border was drawn for political reasons in 1809, not because of any cultural or any other border existing at that time. There was not even a parish border, so Karesuando Church was built because the older church was on the Finnish side. School and church influences have since resulted in cultural and linguistic differences. Karesuando is located along the European route E45, and is the northern terminus of Swedish national road 99.
Climate
Karesuando has a continental type of a subarctic climate with short and cool summers and long, cold and sometimes very cold winters. Snowfall varies from year to year, but is often quite moderate due to dry polar air. Still, accumulation in spring is usually quite high since the snow cover does not thaw at all during winter due to the cold averages. Summerson the other hand, see quite a bit of rainfall. With Karesuando being quite far inland, it is prone both to sizeable warmth for short spells and temperatures either approaching or below. In spite of this cold, however, Karesuando sees some moderation from the North Atlantic Current passing by Scandinavia's western shore near land on those latitudes, which results in winter temperatures being less severe than some climates on latitudes way further south. Due to its high latitude, Karesuando experiences midnight sun and polar night. UV index in summer is low due to the high latitude.
