Finland's third oldest town, Rauma is considered to have been founded in 1442. On 17 April of that year, the knight Karl Knutsson validated the right to trade of Rauma's townsmen with his seal. This was done in the name of King Kristoffer, who had just been elected king of the union.

The town charter introduced certain rights to the townsmen. Even before it was issued, Rauma had become the commercial and ecclesiastical centre of the region because of its monastery. Franciscans had settled in Rauma no later than the early 15th century as the Vregdenborg castle in Eurajoki was abandoned.

Rauma and sea traffic are inseparable. Local traditions refer to longstanding trade relations with countries on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The sea and natural harbour brought Rauma the status of a trade centre to which many roads lead. The town developed gradually in the late Middle Ages. As early as the mid-1300s Rauma's first church, the Church of the Holy Trinity, had been built. The monastery of the Franciscan friary was probably founded in the same century. The trade centre had become a cultural centre.

The townspeople were extremely active. They retained the rights they had been granted and sought fresh verification of these when the monarch changed. These rights were utilised in industrial and commercial activity. Rauma was by this time already a notable seaport that supplied centres of consumption in the south with goods. Rauma's townsmen and shippers sailed their ships to Stockholm, Germany and the Baltics and even to the North Sea in their export of timber, wooden dishes, butter, hides, dried pike and seal oil. Salt, cloth, wine, spices and corn were imported to Rauma.

In the 16th century, the Plague raged twice through Rauma wiping out the majority of the town's population. It has been calculated that there were 500-600 people living in Rauma in the late 16th century. With a statute issued in 1636, Rauma lost its right for international seafaring for 130 years. Goods could be delivered to only Stockholm and Turku.

In addition, the great fires in Rauma worsened the recession. Two fires nearly destroyed the town completely. The old Church of the Holy Trinity burnt to the ground, and the monastery church, the Church of the Holy Cross, was brought into use as the town parish church.

The Crimean War brought foreign ships to Rauma in the summer of 1855. The town was bombed twice, and the storerooms in the harbour and the timber storage area were torched. After the war, commerce and industry were quickly revived and Rauma again developed into an important seaport

The end of the 19th century was a time of great investment. Rauma was the only town in Finland to build its own full-gauge railway. It was 47 kilometres long. The town invested a lot of money to establish a teacher's college in Rauma. Both of these big projects of the 1890s integrated the town with the rest of Finland and boosted economic and spiritual life in the area.

Rauma was pre-eminent in ocean-going shipping in Finland at the end of the century, with steamboats already beginning to dominate the high seas and industrialisation making its way to Rauma.

Finland evolved from an agricultural country to an industrial state in a few decades, and the seafaring and educational town of Rauma turned into an industrial town. The biggest change did not take place until after the Second World War. Industrial life in Rauma expanded and diversified, and the population grew rapidly.

Sources:
Halmeenmäki et. al. 1991. Rauma. Rauma, Oy Länsi-Suomi.146 pp.
Eino Mäkinen 1954. Raum o ain Raum. Helsinki,
Kustannusosakeyhtiö Kivi. 79 pp.
Leino, Nurmi-Nielsen, Vaahtoranta. Rauman seudun kotiseutukirja

Updated: 27.10.2005