 Haparanda was made a market town ("köping") in 1821 and received its city charter in 1842.Into the early twentieth century Haparanda enjoyed commercial and political significance out of proportion to its size because of its position at the mouth of the Torne river at the head of the Gulf of Bothnia.Timber and furs from across northern Scandinavia and Russia arrived by water for shipping on to the rest of the world via the Baltic.