Sund, Åland

Sund was not populated by humans until the Bronze Age, however a permanent settlement was only first established in the 5th century by the Swedes. It is suspected that there may have been a partial Finnish settlement due to the existence of a village called Finby.

The Sund church was built by the end of the 13th century{{Cite book |last=Hiekkanen |first=Markus |title=Suomen keskiajan kivikirkot |last2=Jokela |first2=Salla |date=2007 |publisher=Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura |isbn=978-951-746-861-9 |series=Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran toimituksia |location=Helsinki}} and the Kastelholm Castle was also built at the end of the 14th century on a small island and it became the administrative centre of the Åland region until losing importance in 1634 and later on in 1745 following country reforms and fire damage.{{Cite web |title=Kastelholms slott {{!}} Ålands Museum |url=https://www.museum.ax/museer-sevardheter/kastelholms-slott |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=www.museum.ax}} King John III of Sweden kept his deposed brother Eric XIV in captivity in the Kastelholm castle in Autumn 1571. Sund is estimated to have had around 900 inhabitants in 1571 in accordance to the Silver Tax List of that same year.

Following the Russian victory in the Finnish War of 1808-1809, the Russians began to build the Bomarsund Fortress in Sund in 1832 in accordance with the orders of Tsar Nicholas I to strengthen the western border, however when the Crimean War began the Fortress was only half-finished, the Bommarsund Fortress surrendered to British forces, who demolished it. In the Treaty of Paris, it was concluded that the Åland islands is not to be fortified.

Håkan Skogsjö has documented the permanently residing population of Sund from the 17th century to the present, covering the history of the municipality as a whole, its individual hamlets, down to each original farmstead and the families who lived there.{{cite book |last=Skogsjö |first=Håkan |year=2003 |title=Ålands släktregister. D. 5:1 Familjer och gårdar i Sund: från stormaktstid till nutid | language=sv |location=Mariehamn |publisher=Ålands folkminnesförbund |pages=1–763 |isbn=9519857656}} – {{cite book |last=Skogsjö |first=Håkan |year=2003 |title=Ålands släktregister. D. 5:2 Familjer och gårdar i Sund: från stormaktstid till nutid |language=sv |location=Mariehamn |publisher=Ålands folkminnesförbund |pages=1–717 |isbn=9519857664}}

Tourism is one of the biggest lines of business in Sund. Agriculture is also popular, especially keeping livestock.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Small businesses are also abundant and the biggest employers are the municipality and the local golf course.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Sund had a small population of around 1020 in 2020, however it lowered to 995 in 2023. Sund is a municipality with no urban areas. At the end of 2017, there were 1,031 inhabitants in Sund, of which 1,019 lived in sparsely populated areas and the residences of 12 were unknown.{{cite web |access-date=6 December 2018 |archive-date=14 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714130747/http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/fi/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_026.px/ |date=28 September 2017 |publisher=Tilastokeskus |title=Taajama- ja haja-asutusalueväestö iän ja sukupuolen mukaan kunnittain 31.12.2017 |url=http://pxdata.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/fi/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_026.px}} Sund has 28 villages within its municipality: Berg, Björby, Bomarsund , Brändbolstad, Domarböle, Finby, Gesterby, Gunnarsby, Hulta, Högbolstad, Jussböle, Kastelholm; Kulla, Lappböle, Lövvik, Mångstekta, Persby, Prästgården, Rosenberg, Sibby, Smedsböle, Strömbolstad, Sundby, Svensböle, Tosarby, Tranvik, Träsk and Vivasteby.{{cite web |access-date=18 April 2013 |archive-date=6 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706225939/http://www.asub.ax/files/be20_0.xls |format=XLS |language=sv |publisher=Ålands statistik- och utredningsbyrå (ÅSUB) |title=Invånarantalet i byar och stadsdelar 1990–2012 |url=http://www.asub.ax/files/be20_0.xls}}{{Bar chart|title=Population size 1980–2020|label_type=Year|data_type=Population|bar_width=47|width_units=em|label1=1980|label2=1985|label3=1990|label4=1995|label5=2000|label6=2005|label7=2010|label8=2015|label9=2020|data_max=1100|data1=939|data2=920|data3=948|data4=968|data5=1013|data6=1031|data7=1019|data8=1031|data9=1020|data10=995|label10=2023}}

In the 2023 legislative elections, Sund voted as such:{{Cite web |title=Resultat {{!}} Lagtingsval 2023 {{!}} Sund {{!}} valresultat.ax |url=https://www.valresultat.ax/2023/lagtingsval/sund |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=Valrapport |language=sv}}

• Åland Centre - 29,8 %
• Non-aligned Coalition - 24,4 %
• Liberals for Åland - 22,5 %

• Åland Social Democrats - 10,6 %

• Moderate Coalition for Åland - 6,5 %

• Sustainable Initiative - 4,3 %
• Future of Åland - 1,9 %

• G. A. Wallin (1811–1852), explorer and orientalist

File:Bomarsund Bridge Sund Finland.jpg|Bridge to Prästö in Sund municipality

File:Haraldsby, Åland.jpg|View from the bridge between Sund and Finström

File:Sund Church.jpg|Church of Sund parish

File:Bomarsund 4.JPG|Bomarsund, Åland

{{reflist}}

{{commons category-inline|Sund, Åland}}

• [http://www.sund.ax/ Municipality of Sund] – Official website
• [https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/2587479 Map of Sund municipality]

{{Geographic location

| Centre = Sund

| N = Saltvik

| E = Vårdö

| SE = Lumparland

| S = Lumparn
Lemland

| SW = Jomala

| W = Finström

}}

{{Municipalities of Åland}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sund, Aland}}

Category:Municipalities of Åland