Kuusamo lies in Koillismaa, in the north-east corner of the old Oulu province. Kuusamo community centre is 217 kilometres from Oulu, 195 from Rovaniemi and 245 from Kajaani.
A flight from Kuusamo to Helsinki takes less than an hour and a drive from Kuusamo to Oulu two and a half.
Nature
Kuusamo lies on a plateau, from which the waters flow in five directions, more than 250 meters from the sea level. Diversity of nature in the area is exceptionally varied and rich. The average annual temperature is 0 °C.
Kuusamo is one of the snowiest areas in Finland with snow cover up to 80–90 centimetres.
Kuusamo covers an area of 5,808.92 square kilometres of which 830.81 km2 is water. 4,330 square kilometres of the area of Kuusamo is covered by woodland and approximately 12,000 hectares by fields of which roughly half is currently cultivated. The population density is 3.3 inhabitants per square kilometre.
Population
In December 2023 Kuusamo had 15,017 inhabitants.
History
In 1868, Kuusamo became a municipality, but already by 1675, Kuusamo had formed an administrative unit with geographical boundaries, the parish of Kuusamo. The territory of Kuusamo parish was much larger than the one today. In 2000, the municipality of Kuusamo was made a town.
In past decades and centuries people had different ideas and they made decisions based on the knowledge they had at the time. It is worth your while to learn about the history of your home municipality – maybe it sheds some light on how Kuusamo of yesteryear became the Kuusamo you know. History may teach us also to respect and accept diversity.