Short answers, pulled from the story.
Tampere was officially founded as a market town in 1775 by Gustav III of Sweden. It was granted full town rights on the 1st of October 1779, following a proposal by Finnish pastor Erik Edner in 1771-1772 to establish a town on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids.
Tampere earned the nickname "Manchester of the North" because of its history as a major centre of Finnish industry, built around textile mills, ironworks, and other factories powered by the Tammerkoski rapids. The Finlayson textile factory, founded in 1820, employed around 2,000 people by 1850 and set the pattern for the city's industrial identity.
Nokia Corporation traces its origins to 1865, when mining engineer Fredrik Idestam established a pulp mill on the banks of the Tammerkoski rapids in the Tampere area. A second pulp mill opened in 1868 near the neighbouring town of Nokia. The company later became a global telecommunications firm, and Nokia's Tampere research and development units remain a significant presence in the city.
Tampere was the most strategically important stronghold for the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic during the 1918 Civil War. The city was a Red stronghold commanded by Hugo Salmela. White forces led by General Mannerheim captured Tampere after the Battle of Tampere, taking about 10,000 Red prisoners on the 6th of April 1918.
Lenin led a 1905 conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party at the Tampere Workers' Hall while the party was fleeing Russia. The conference decided, among other things, to pursue an armed insurrection that eventually contributed to the October 1917 revolution. Lenin later moved to Tampere in August 1905 but fled for Sweden in November 1907. Tampere is also the site where Lenin first met Joseph Stalin.
The Pyynikki Ridge is a large esker formed from glacial moraine during the Weichselian glaciation, rising 160 metres above sea level near the centre of Tampere. It is said to be the largest gravel esker in the world. The ridge is also part of the Salpausselkä system, a 200-kilometre-long ridge left over from the Ice Age.