Count Per Brahe, Queen Kristina of Sweden’s governor general, gave a charter to the town of Salo in 1649 with the intention of building a town near the old harbour site of Satamakangas. Unfortunately, the harbour area had become so shallow that the location of the future town had to be changed. A new and better place was found further north, at the current bay of Raahe. After acquiring possession of the parish of Salo in 1652, Per Brahe renamed the town. It became Brahestad in Swedish, or Raahe in Finnish.