Konnevesi is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the former province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. Neighbouring municipalities are Hankasalmi, Laukaa, Rautalampi, Vesanto and Äänekoski. The municipality is unilingually Finnish. There are all together exactly 100 lakes in Konnevesi. The biggest lakes are Keitele, Lake Konnevesi and Liesvesi. The population density is . The logging tongs appearing in Konnevesi's coat of arms refer to local forestry. The coat of arms was designed by Gustaf von Numers, and the Konnevesi municipal council approved it in its meetings on April 23, 1964. The Ministry of the Interior approved the coat of arms for use on August 21 of the same year. History Konnevesi was first mentioned in 1554 as Konnevessij äremarch. The name is derived from the lake Konnevesi, which in turn likely got its name from a Sámic word meaning "deer" (reconstructed proto-Sámic *kontē). Konnevesi became a separate parish from Rautalampi in 1919 and a separate municipality in 1922. Villages Hänniskylä Hytölä Istunmäki Kärkkäiskylä (l. Kirkonkylä) Lummukka Mäkäräniemi Pukara Pyhälahti Rossinkylä Siikakoski Sirkkamäki Särkisalo Lahdenkylä Pyydyskylä (l.Välimäki) Leskelänkylä Jouhtikylä Tankolampi Dialect The dialect of Konnevesi is a Savonian dialect. The dialect is transitional between the Central Finnish and Northern Savonian subgroups, with the speech of the western villages having more Central Finnish features while the speech in the eastern villages (such as Mäkäräniemi) is closer to the Northern Savonian dialects. Notable individuals Juha Karjalainen, former soccer player Miika Lahti, ice hockey player Gallery See also Finnish national road 69 References External links Municipality of Konnevesi – Official website Populated places established in 1922