Vantaa River

Ruutinkoski in the Helsinki metropolitan area

Vanhankaupunginkoski rapids of Vantaa in Helsinki

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Vantaa ( Vanda Swedish å ) is a 99 km long river in southern Finland. It rises in the Erkylänjärvi lake in the municipality Hausjärvi and ends at Helsinki in the Gulf of Finland.

After his source at Hausjärvi the Vantaanjoki initially flows northwest through the town of Riihimäki, where he makes a bow and flows from now on to the south. Next he crosses Hyvinkää Nurmijärvi and Vantaa, before flowing into the bay Vanhankaupunginlahti in the northeast of Helsinki.

The size of the catchment area of 1685 km ² is Vantaanjoki. The river has several rapids, the biggest of which is Vantaankoski with a length of 240 m and a height of 5 m. The longest tributary of Vantaa is the Keravanjoki. The valley of the River Vantaa is mostly used for agriculture. Until the completion of Päijänne tunnel in 1982, the drinking water was removed from the Helsinki Vantaa.

Was named the river after the estate Vanantaa at Janakkala. The name of the farm that in turn means as much as " behind Vanaja ", or " beyond the Lake Vanajavesi ". The City of Vantaa, a suburb of Helsinki along the lower reaches of the river, was named in 1972 after the river, before she was known as " rural municipality of Helsinki ".

The mouth of the Vantaa is located in the Helsinki suburb Vanhakaupunki. At this point, Helsinki was founded under the Swedish name Helsingfors in 1550, only 1640 were moved to the city to its present location further south. The name derives at Helsingfors of rapids (in Swedish fors ) of Vantaa, the one time designated on its lower reaches as Helsinge å (Finnish Helsinginjoki ).