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Uusikaupunki
was electrified by anchovy power
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The Bonk story is closely
interwoven with the history of Uusikaupunki. The company was founded
here more than a century ago, and the Bonk Vertical Reality assembly
plant still provides local employment.
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| In his founding speech of
1893, Pär Bonk declared "I shall make machines that make
Man happy". But the roots of the company are even older. The
Bonks were a simple fishing family from the island of Helgoland, not
far from Uusikaupunki. They made several discoveries, based on the
anchovy, which were to change the region completely. |
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| Firstly they re-invented Garum, an ancient
Roman fishy relish based on the Baltic anchovy. Garum is still made
and exported worldwide today. A by-product of this process was Anchovy
oil, an extremely viscous lubricant ideal for the harsh Northern climate,
which greased the wheels of nascent Nordic industries. |
| Overfishing lead to the extinction of the
Baltic anchovy, but imported Giant Peruvian anchovies were bred in
heated rock pools revealing the existence of the Anchovy Effect –
a marine dynamo. So began the rapid growth of an industrial empire
that has brought forth a cornucopia of inventions. |
| And it all started
here – in Uusikaupunki. |
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