Huitaperi Hill
Huitaperi Hill is located in Ylitornio municipality, near village Kainuunkylä, about 10 kilometres south of the municipal centre of Ylitornio. Signs of the earliest permanent dense settlement of the riverside have been found in Kainuunkylä and is from the 11th to the 12th century at the latest. The Torne is wide and filled with fertile alluvial islands at Kainuunkylä.
Huitaperi is one of the three treeless hills in the chain of survey triangulations, along with Kaakamavaara Hill and Nivavaara Hill in Tornio. Outhier mentions how these three hills were challenging to find suitable sites for tents due to their rocky terrain.
From the top of the hill there is a view to the southwest of the Torne and the floodplain meadows of its islands. To the north is a landscape of hills and to the east a gently undulating wooded and marshy landscape.
As of 2018, there is a monument to the Maupertuis expedition on the Huitaperi.
After arriving at Huitaperi, the expedition wanted to get the tents up quickly, as the weather was foggy and rainy. The next day, the fog lifted and the researchers were able to start their measurements.
The expedition climbed Huitaperi for the first time in early July and returned again at the end of August. By then they had managed to erect a marker on the west side of the river at the southern end of the baseline in the village of Niemis.
While on the previous occasion fog had delayed the measurements, on the second occasion the delay was caused by smoke from forest fires.
The name Huitaperi may be puzzling to some Finnish speaking people. It is a phonetic translation of the Swedish word hvitaberg or vitaberg, translating as white hill in English.
Next to Huitaperi there are two similarly named hills, Riisperi to the west and Uksperi a little further north.
In fact, Huitaperi actually has two peaks formed Huitaperi itself and Riisperi.
There are several ancient shorelines on the top and slopes of the hill, dating back to around 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age. They are poorly defined in the landscape. The top of the hill has been washed clean by the waves of the ancient sea. The Huitaperi rocky area is designated as a rocky area of national importance.
Sources:
Maupertuis, Pierre Louis Moreau de. “Maan muoto”. Maan muoto ynnä muita kirjoituksia Lapista. Ed. Osmo Pekonen. Väyläkirjat, 2019 (orig. 1738).
Outhier, Réginald. Matka Pohjan perille. Maupertuis Foundation and Väyläkirjat, 2011 (orig. 1744).
Pellijeff, Gunnar. Ortnamnen i Norrbottens län. Del 14, Övertorneå kommun, bebyggelsenamn. Dialekt-, ortnamns- och folkminnesarkivet i Umeå, 1996. https://isof.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1087870/FULLTEXT02.pdf
Finnish Heritage Agency: https://www.rky.fi/read/asp/r_kohde_det.aspx?KOHDE_ID=2173
Ympäristö.fi: http://wwwd3.ymparisto.fi/d3/Tuura/pdf/TUU-13-152.pdf
A map
Guidelines for using the map
- Red = Measurement point of the triangulation chain.
- Green = Walking route.
- Blue = Arrival from the main road (highway 21).
- Markers: Tap or click to get more information about the destinations.
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- Measure tool: Measure distances between locations.
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On the old map
Huitaperi Hill on the map drawn by Réginald Outhier (Carte du fleuve de Torneå, 1736).

Information
Pictures from Huitaperi
The pictures open in large size in the gallery by clicking on the picture.

The expedition on the map
Réginald Outhier has written a detailed description of the expedition’s journey from Paris to Tornio and back. The journey took two months each way and was made by boat and wagon. On the way back, the expedition was in a shipwreck in the Bay of Bothnia.
Measurement points and other destinations
- Aavasaksa
- Baseline
- Iso-Horila
- Kaakamavaara
- Kittisvaara
- Niemivaara
- Nivavaara
- Pullinki
- The Church of Matarengi
- The Church of Tornio
- The rapids of the Torne