Vaasa (Swedish: Vasa) is a city on the west coast of Finland. It received its charter in 1606, during the reign of Charles IX of Sweden and is named after the Royal House of Vasa. Today, Vaasa has a population of 57,501 (July 2007), and is part of the administrative province of Western Finland and is the regional capital of Ostrobothnia. The city is bilingual with 71.5% of the population speaking Finnish as their first language and 24.9% speaking Swedish. The city is an important centre for Finland-Swedish culture.