Kaskinen (; ) is a town, municipality and island of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The population of Kaskinen is () and the municipality covers an area of (excluding sea areas) of which is inland water (). The population density is . The population is bilingual with a majority speaking Finnish () and the minority Swedish (). Kaskinen is the smallest municipality in Finland with town status. The town is located on an island with two bridges to the mainland, and its only border neighbor is the town of Närpes. The townscape of Kaskinen consists of uniform wooden construction. Even though it is planned mainly as a port town, the also runs from the town to the to Seinäjoki. Today, however, the railway is only used for freight traffic, mainly for the Port of Kaskinen. The paddle appearing in the coat of arms of Kaskinen describes the excellent natural harbor that has influenced the establishment of the town in its place. The laurel leaf may have been intended to refer to flowering, but its origin may also be in the name of the Bladh family (Swedish: blad, "leaf"); Two members of the family – father and son – acquired both city rights and township status for the village at that time. The coat of arms has been redrawn by A. W. Rancken (1880–1954) based on the old coat of arms, which was originally confirmed on 9 April 1793. Etymology The older name forms of Kaskinen island found in the documents are Kaskisöyen (1546), Casköö (1553), Kaskisöö (1573) and the later Kaskin or Kyperäsaari (1844). Although the oldest known written mention of the name Kaskinen for the town dates back to 1863, the name in Finnish is original. This is also indicated by the fact that in old Swedish island names, the body of the name is Kaskis-, to which the explanatory ending -ö has been added, which means island in Swedish. The most likely interpretation of the island's original name is Kaskisaari ("Slash-burn island"), because the Slash-and-burn agriculture has therefore been practiced on the island in the early days. History The town was founded in 1785 on an island by King Gustav III of Sweden and since then it has been one of the most important harbours of Finland. In the 18th century, a town plan with long,