Oulu County, Finland Genealogy

Guide to Oulu ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

History
Oulu County (Oulun lääni, Swedish: Swedish: Uleåborgs län) was first created in 1642 from Korsholm castle fief or castle county (Korsholman linnalääni, Swedish: Korsholms slottslän) as part of Axel Oxenstierna's 1634 Instrument of Government. In 1648 Oulu County was combined with Vaasa County to create Ostrobothnia County (Pohjanmaan lääni, Swedish:Österbottens län). In 1775 the county was divided back into Oulu and Vaasa counties. In 1938 the northern part of the county was separated to form Lappi County (Lapin lääni, Swedish: Lapplands län). In 2010 it was replaced by the Northern Finland Regional Administrative Office (Pohjois-Suomen aluehallintovirasto) as part of the Regional Administrative Agency (Aluehallintovirasto, Swedish: Regionförvaltningsverk)

Districts
There are four districts in Oulu County, Haapajärvi, Kajaani, Oulu, Saloinen. As is true of all municipalities in Finland, the municipalities of Kajaani, Oulu, and Raahe have their own administration and are not part of any districts.