Wikipedia portal for content related to Estonia
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Estonia Republic of Estonia , is a country by the Baltic Sea in Europe . It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland , to the west by the sea across from Sweden , to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and 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 eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of 45,335 square kilometres (17,504 sq mi). The capital city Tallinn and Tartu are the two largest urban areas of the country. The Estonian language is the indigenous and the official language of Estonia; it is the first language of the majority of its population , as well as the world's second-most spoken Finnic language .
The land of what is now modern Estonia has been inhabited by humans since at least 9,000 BCE. The medieval indigenous population of Estonia was one of the last pagan civilisations in Europe to adopt Christianity following the Papal -sanctioned Livonian Crusade in the 13th century. After centuries of successive rule by the Teutonic Order , Denmark , Sweden , and the Russian Empire , a distinct Estonian national identity began to emerge in the mid-19th century. This culminated in the 24 February 1918 Estonian Declaration of Independence from the then-warring Russian and German empires. Democratic throughout most of the interwar period , Estonia declared neutrality at the outbreak of World War II , however the country was repeatedly contested, invaded, and occupied ; first by the Soviet Union in 1940 , then by Nazi Germany in 1941, and was ultimately reoccupied in 1944 by, and annexed into, the USSR as an administrative subunit (Estonian SSR ). Throughout the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation, Estonia's de jure state continuity was preserved by diplomatic representatives and the government-in-exile . Following the bloodless Estonian "Singing Revolution " of 1988–1990, the nation's de facto independence from the Soviet Union was restored on 20 August 1991 .
Estonia is a developed country , with a high-income advanced economy , ranking 31st (out of 191) in the Human Development Index . The sovereign state of Estonia is a democratic unitary parliamentary republic , administratively subdivided into 15 maakond (counties) . With a population of just around 1.4 million, it is one of the least populous members of the European Union , the Eurozone , the OECD , the Schengen Area , and NATO . Estonia has consistently ranked highly in international rankings for quality of life , education , press freedom , digitalisation of public services and the prevalence of technology companies. (Full article...
Credit: taken by
LHOON in 1999.
Narva River with Narva castle on the left and Ivangorod castle on the right.
The following are images from various Estonia-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 2 Counties of Ancient Estonia in the beginning of the 13th century. (from
Ancient Estonia )
Image 3 The Estonian Army High Command in 1920 (from
History of Estonia )
Image 4 Estonia's greatest territorial extent ever, reached during its War of Independence, marked by the light blue line on the map. (from
History of Estonia )
Image 5 Comb Ceramic pottery at the Estonian History Museum (from
Ancient Estonia )
Image 6 Comb Ceramic pottery at the Estonian History Museum (from
History of Estonia )
Image 8 Tools made by
Kunda culture , the Estonian History Museum (from
History of Estonia )
Image 10 A moment before the opening of the 25th
Estonian Song Festival (2009) at the Tallinn Song Festival grounds. (from
Culture of Estonia )
Image 11 Livonian Confederation in the 15th century (from
History of Estonia )
Image 12 From
Dirham hoards in Estonia, 8th–11th centuries. (from
Ancient Estonia )
Image 14 Ancient Estonia until 21 September 1217 (from
History of Estonia )
Image 15 Europe in 19th century (from
History of Estonia )
Image 16 Estonian Soviet politician
Johannes Käbin led the
Estonian Communist Party from 1950 to 1978 (from
History of Estonia )
Image 17 Tartu University (Universität Dorpat) in 1860, during its 'Golden Age' (from
History of Estonia )
Image 18 Corded Ware culture pottery and stone axes at the Estonian History Museum. (from
Ancient Estonia )
Image 19 Formation of the Swedish Empire, 1560–1660 (from
History of Estonia )
Image 20 Stone Cist Graves from The Bronze Age in Northern Estonia (from
Ancient Estonia )
Image 21 Dannebrog falling from the sky during the
Battle of Lindanise , 1219 (from
History of Estonia )
Image 22 Map of
Varbola Stronghold by L. A. Mellin (from
History of Estonia )
Image 23 Varbola ruins (from
Ancient Estonia )
Image 24 Outline of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (from
History of Estonia )
Image 28 Toompea castle – the seat of the
Riigikogu (from
History of Estonia )
Image 29 Livonia, as shown in the map of 1573 of Joann Portantius (from
History of Estonia )
Image 31 Artifacts of the hoard from Kumna, Estonia (from
Ancient Estonia )
Image 32 Hermann Castle , Narva, was one of the Teutonic Order's castles in Estonia. (from
History of Estonia )
Image 33 Stone
cist graves from the Bronze Age in northern Estonia (from
History of Estonia )
Image 34 Estonian President
Kersti Kaljulaid with Russian President
Vladimir Putin in April 2019 (from
History of Estonia )
Image 35 Monument to
Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald , the composer of Estonian national epic
Kalevipoeg . (from
Culture of Estonia )
Image 36 Europe in the 9th century (from
History of Estonia )
Image 37 Soviet prison doors on display in the Museum of Occupations, Tallinn (from
History of Estonia )
Image 39 Tools made by Kunda culture, the
Estonian History Museum (from
Ancient Estonia )
Image 40 Corded Ware culture pottery and stone axes, at the EHM (from
History of Estonia )
Image 42 Registration card for Estonian citizenship from 1989 (from
History of Estonia )
Image 43 Estonian red
currant kissel . (from
Culture of Estonia )
Image 45 Tallinn, 28 August 1941 (from
History of Estonia )
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