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THE HISTORY OF VILLAGE ÄKÄSLOMPOLO
When the ice time was finished, the first people arrived to this area and settled down to the area of village Kolari and later on to the village of Äkäslompolo.
The first people living in this area were the Sami people. They lived from fishing and hunting wild deers. Around the end of 1800, they started to raise the reindeers.
The first Finnish people arrived here 1748, and the first house of the village was built.
They started farming, with cultivating wheat etc. and growing cows. They were also fishing, hunting, picking berries and mushrooms. All food was taken from the nature.
The animal furs were exchanged to salt and other goods needed.
At the time, there was no road to the village. The river was the way of transport.
Also some roads were done through the forest by horse and reindeer carriages.
The first tourists arrived to the village in the beginning of 1930. The locals were quite surprised to see all these strange people climbing to the nearby hills without any good “reason”. At old times a stranger could sleep and eat free, when passing by a house in Lappland – nobody thought of taking money from that. But it did not go long time, before the locals noticed, that they can earn some extra income, by providing the tourists with food and accommodation.
First car arrived to village 1930, and the road construction started shortly after. But the proper road was ready only 1950. The first tourists used to sleep in the same house as the local people, very modestly; sometimes only on a matrasse on the floor and eating the same food.
The down hill skiing started in the 1957, the first ski lift was built to hill Varkaankuru.
It worked with a Volkswagen motor, all equipment needed for running it (petrol etc) was brought there by men power and with a horse or a reindeer transport.
The first road to the slope Ylläs was built 1967, when the radio mast was installed.
After that time the area started to develop to a known Finnish winter resort.
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