Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland, the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and over 2,300 other islands and islets on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. Its capital city of Tallinn, along with the city of Tartu, are the country's two largest urban areas. The Estonian language, of the Finnic family, is the official language and the first language of the majority of nearly 1.4 million people. Estonia is one of the least populous members of the European Union and NATO.
Present-day Estonia has been inhabited since at least 9,000 BC. The medieval indigenous population of Estonia was one of the last pagan civilisations in Europe to adopt Christianity following the Northern Crusades in the 13th century. After centuries of foreign rule by the Teutonic Order, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, and the Russian Empire, a distinct Estonian national identity gained new momentum with the Age of Awakening in the mid-19th century. This culminated in the 1918 Estonian Declaration of Independence. Democratic throughout most of the interwar period, Estonia declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War II, but the country was repeatedly invaded and occupied, and ultimately annexed into the USSR. Throughout the de facto Soviet occupation, from World War II until 1991, Estonia's de jure state continuity was preserved by diplomatic representatives and the government-in-exile. Following the 1988–1990 "Singing Revolution" against Soviet rule, full independence was restored on 20 August 1991.
Estonia is a developed country with a high-income, advanced economy, and Eurozone membership. It is a democratic unitary parliamentary republic, with a single-tier local government system consisting of 79 municipalities. Estonia is among the least corrupt countries in the world and ranks very highly in international rankings for education, human development, press freedom, online public services, and the prevalence of technology companies.
Name
The name Estonia has been connected to the Aesti, a people first mentioned by Roman historian Tacitus around AD 98. Some historians believe he was referring to the Balts, while others think the name applied to all inhabitants of the eastern Baltic Sea region. Scandinavian sagas and Viking runestones referring to Eistland are the earliest sources known to use the name in its modern geographic meaning.History
Prehistory
Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000–11,000 years ago, when the glaciers of the last ice age melted. The Pulli settlement, dated around 9000 BC, is the oldest known settlement in Estonia. The earliest human habitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to the Kunda culture. Around 5300 BC, Neolithic ceramics of the Narva culture appear. Next, the Comb Ceramic culture around 3900 BC brought early agriculture and sophisticated religious art. The emergence of the Corded Ware culture, which introduced primitive farming and animal husbandry, began approximately 2800 BC. Archaeological estimates place the population within Estonian territory at inhabitants in 2000 BC.The first hillfort settlements were established in the Bronze Age. A transition from hunter-fisher subsistence to single-farm-based settlement started around 1000 BC, and was complete by around 500 BC. The large amount of bronze objects indicates active communication with Scandinavian and Germanic tribes. During the Iron Age, the local iron production began around 200 BC; north Estonia, particularly the coastal region of Virumaa, emerged as a trade hub. North Estonian settlers gradually moved into nearby areas in the Baltic Sea region, spreading the Proto-Finnic language.
The Viking Age
The Estonian coast was a key trade hub situated on a major waterway, making it both a target and a starting point for numerous raids. Coastal Estonians, particularly the Saaremaa islanders, adopted a Viking lifestyle. Several Scandinavian sagas referred to major confrontations with Estonians, notably when 7th-century "Estonian Vikings" defeated and killed Ingvar Harra, the King of the Swedes. In, Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kievan Rus' attempted to subjugate the Chuds in southeast Estonia and captured Tartu. Chuds destroyed this foothold in 1061. In 1187, Estonians, Curonians, and Karelians sacked Sigtuna, a major Swedish city at the time.Estonia had two regional cultures in this period. Northern and western coastal areas maintained close connections with Scandinavia, while the inland had stronger ties to the Balts and the principality of Pskov. Ancient Estonia had a professional warrior caste, while international trade provided nobles with wealth and prestige. This era's Estonian burial sites often contain both individual and collective graves, with artefacts like weapons and jewelry reflecting the shared material culture of Scandinavia and Northern Europe. Very little is known about the religious beliefs of medieval Estonians prior to Christianisation. A 1229 chronicle mentions Tharapita as the supreme deity of the islanders of Saaremaa. Sacred groves, particularly of oak trees, factored prominently into pagan worship practices.
In the early centuries AD, Estonia's first administrative subdivisions emerged, primarily the parish and the county, usually including multiple parishes. Parishes were commonly centred on hill forts and ruled by local nobles. By the 13th century, Estonia was divided into eight major counties – Harjumaa, Järvamaa, Läänemaa, Revala, Saaremaa, Sakala, Ugandi, and Virumaa – as well as several smaller, single-parish counties. Counties operated independently, forming only loose defensive alliances against foreign threats.
Christianisation and the Middle Ages
In 1199, Pope Innocent III declared a crusade to "defend the Christians of Livonia". The crusading German Swordbrothers, who had previously subjugated Livonians, Latgalians, and Selonians, started campaigning against Estonians in 1208. The following years saw many raids and counter-raids. In 1217, the Estonians suffered a significant defeat in the battle where their most prominent leader, Lembitu, an elder of Sakala, was killed. In 1219, the armies of King Valdemar II of Denmark defeated Estonians in the Battle of Lyndanisse, and conquered northern Estonia. In the uprising of 1223, Estonians were able to push the German and Danish invaders out of the whole country, except Tallinn. The crusaders soon resumed their offensive, and in 1227, Saaremaa was the last Estonian county to surrender and convert to Christianity.In the 13th century, the newly Christian territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia was named Terra Mariana; later it became known simply as Livonia. North Estonia became part of the Kingdom of Denmark. The rest was divided between Swordbrothers and the prince-bishops of Dorpat and Ösel–Wiek. In 1236, the Swordbrothers merged into the then larger Teutonic Order. In 1343, a major anti-German uprising encompassed north Estonia and Saaremaa. The Teutonic Order suppressed the rebellion by 1345, and the next year bought the Estonian lands from the king of Denmark. The German upper-class minority consolidated its power after the unsuccessful rebellion. For the subsequent centuries, Low German remained the language of the ruling elite in both Estonian cities and the countryside.
Tallinn, the capital of Danish Estonia, founded on the site of Lindanise, adopted the Lübeck law and received full town rights in 1248. The Hanseatic League controlled trade on the Baltic Sea, and the four largest cities in Estonia became members: Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu, and Viljandi. Protected by stone walls and membership in the Hansa, prosperous cities like Tallinn and Tartu often defied other rulers of medieval Livonia. In 1435, a treaty establishing the Livonian Confederation was signed by representatives of the Livonian Order, the bishoprics, and the major cities.
The Reformation began in central Europe in 1517, and soon spread northward to Livonia despite some opposition by the Livonian Order. Towns were the first to embrace Protestantism in the 1520s, and by the 1530s, the majority of the landowners and rural population had adopted Lutheranism. Church services were now conducted in the vernacular, which initially meant Low German, but from the 1530s onward, the regular religious services were held in Estonian.
Swedish and Russian rule
In 1558, Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia invaded Livonia, starting the Livonian War. The Livonian Order was decisively defeated in 1560. The majority of Livonia accepted Polish rule, while Reval and the nobles of Northern Estonia swore loyalty to the Swedish king, and the Bishop of Ösel-Wiek sold his lands to the Danish king. Russian forces gradually conquered the majority of Livonia, but in the late 1570s, the Polish-Lithuanian and Swedish armies started their own offensives, and the bloody war finally ended in 1583 with Russian defeat. As a result of the war, Northern Estonia became the Swedish Duchy of Estonia, Southern Estonia became the Polish Duchy of Livonia, and Saaremaa remained under Danish control. Wars between Sweden and Poland-Lithuania continued until 1629, when the victorious Sweden acquired south Estonia and northern Latvia. Sweden gained Saaremaa from Denmark in 1645. The wars cut the population of Estonia from about 250–270,000 people in the mid-16th century to 115–120,000 in the 1630s.The Swedish era in Estonia was marked by both religious repression and significant reforms. Initially, it brought Protestant puritans who opposed traditional Estonian beliefs and practices, leading to witch trials and bans on folk music. While large parts of the rural population remained in serfdom, legal reforms under King Charles XI of Sweden strengthened both serfs' and free tenant farmers' land usage and inheritance rights, resulting in this period's reputation as "The Good Old Swedish Time" in historical memory. King Gustavus Adolphus established gymnasiums in Tartu and Tallinn. Printers were established in both towns. The beginnings of the Estonian-language public education system appeared in the 1680s, largely owing to Bengt Forselius. The population of Estonia grew rapidly until about 20% of the population died in the Great Famine of 1695–97.
During the 1700–1721 Great Northern War, the Tsardom of Russia conquered the whole of Estonia by 1710. The war and plague again devastated the population of Estonia, with the 1712 population estimated at only 150,000–170,000. Russian administration restored all the political and landholding rights of Baltic Germans. The rights of local farmers reached their lowest point, as serfdom completely dominated agricultural relations during the 18th century. Tsarist regime sought to avoid conflicts with the local nobility, and the Baltic autonomous "special order" remained largely in effect until the late 19th century, marking a distinctive period of localised governance within the Russian Empire. Although serfdom had been abolished in Estonia in 1816–1819, major reforms improving farmers' rights started only in the mid-19th century.