Kajana

Kajana, or Kajaani, grew beside rapids on the river flowing into Lake Oulujärvi, whose outlet led toward the Gulf of Bothnia. Its castle stood on a rocky island amid the rapids, controlling an inland water route between Ostrobothnia and Russian Karelia. Construction began in 1604 on the orders of Sweden's Charles IX, and the first stage was completed in 1619. After Per Brahe received the district as a barony in 1650, work resumed to enlarge the stronghold.

Brahe founded the town on the river's southern bank in 1651 as the administrative centre of his domain. Castle and town therefore developed together as expressions of Swedish power in Kainuu. The Great Northern War brought this arrangement to a violent end. Early in 1716 Russian forces besieged the castle; its fifty defenders surrendered after five weeks, and the attackers blew it up in March. The 1721 peace returned the district to Sweden, but the fortress remained a ruin. The town continued beyond its former protector, and an overland highway reached Kajaani in 1825. Its history thus joined a strategic river crossing, the building of local administration and the gradual expansion of inland communications.