Brahestad

Brahestad, known in Finnish as Raahe, stands on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Bothnia. It grew as a harbour for northern Ostrobothnia, where merchants, sailors and craftsmen worked in a town laid out on a regular grid. Seafaring and shipbuilding became central to its life, while its harbour gave the produce of the surrounding country an outlet across the sea.

The old port of Salo had been a marketplace since medieval times, but its shallow waters made it unsuitable for a new town. In 1649 Count Per Brahe, governor-general of Finland, founded one on a nearby peninsula instead. Originally called Salo, it became Brahestad in 1652. Claes Claesson drew its six-block plan, placing the town hall by the market square near the shore. Famine struck in the seventeenth century and neighbouring towns sought to have its charter revoked, but Brahestad survived and its shipyards later moved to the town shore.