Tampere owes its fortune to the Tammerkoski rapids that allowed, during the Industrial Revolution, the production of electricity by feeding the cotton mills and paper mills that still today, thanks to the chimneys and red brick buildings, give this characteristic aspect to the city.
Tampere is the northernmost and most populated city among the Nordic countries (more than 200,000 inhabitants) and is the only one among the big cities that has no outlet to the sea.
Tampere lies in the Häme (or Tavastia) region between two lakes, Lake Näsijärvi and Lake Pyhäjärvi. The rapids, fed by the 18 meters of difference in height of the two lakes, allowed the development of Tampere during the Industrial Revolution and characterized the city as the first workers’ center of the whole nation.
