Estonia (Estonian: Eesti [ˈeːsti] (listen)),
officially the Republic of Estonia (Estonian:
Eesti Vabariik), is a country in Northern
Europe. It is bordered to the north by the
Gulf of Finland with Finland on the other
side, to the west by the Baltic Sea with Sweden
to the west (Scandinavia to the far west and
north), to the south by Latvia (343 km), and
to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6
km). The territory of Estonia consists of
a mainland and 2,222 islands in the Baltic
Sea, covering a total area of 45,227 km2 (17,462
sq mi), water 2,839 km2 (1,096 sq mi), land
area 42,388 km2 (16,366 sq mi), and is influenced
by a humid continental climate. The official
language of the country, Estonian, is the
second most spoken Finnic language.
The territory of Estonia has been inhabited
since at least 9,000 B.C. Ancient Estonians
were some of the last European pagans to be
Christianized, following the Livonian Crusade
in the 13th century. After centuries of successive
rule by Germans, Danes, Swedes, Poles and
Russians, a distinct Estonian national identity
began to emerge in the 19th and early 20th
centuries. This culminated in independence
from the Russian Empire in 1918 after a brief
War of Independence at the end of World War
I. Initially democratic, Estonia was governed
by authoritarian rule since 1934 during the
Era of Silence and the Great Depression. During
World War II (1939–1945), Estonia was repeatedly
contested and occupied by the Soviet Union
and Germany, ultimately being incorporated
into the former as the Estonian Soviet Socialist
Republic. After the loss of its de facto independence,
Estonia's de jure state continuity was preserved
by the Estonian government-in-exile, which
was recognized by much of the Western World
throughout the Cold War (1945–1991). In
1987 the peaceful Singing Revolution began
against Soviet rule, resulting in the restoration
of de facto independence on 20 August 1991.
The sovereign state of Estonia is a democratic
unitary parliamentary republic divided into
fifteen counties. Its capital and largest
city is Tallinn. With a population of 1.3
million, it is one of the least-populous member
states of the European Union since joining
in 2004, the economic monetary Eurozone, Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development,
Schengen Area, and of the Western military
alliance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO). It is a developed country with an
advanced, high-income economy that has been
among the fastest-growing in the EU. Estonia
ranks very high in the Human Development Index,
and performs favourably in measurements of
economic freedom, civil liberties, education,
and press freedom (third in the world in 2012
and 2007). Estonian citizens are provided
with universal health care, free education,
and the longest-paid maternity leave in the
OECD. One of the world's most digitally advanced
societies, in 2005 Estonia became the first
state to hold elections over the Internet,
and in 2014 the first state to provide e-residency.
== Etymology ==
In the Estonian language, the oldest known
endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning
"country people" or "people of the soil".
The land inhabited by Estonians was called
Maavald meaning "Country Realm" or "Land Realm".
One hypothesis regarding the modern name of
Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti,
a people described by the Roman historian
Tacitus in his Germania (ca. 98 AD). The historic
Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas
the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric. The
geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia
do not match, with Aesti being farther south.
Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land
called Eistland, as the country is still called
in Icelandic, and close to the Danish, German,
Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian term Estland
for the country. Early Latin and other ancient
versions of the name are Estia and Hestia.Esthonia
was a common alternative English spelling
before 1921; the country was admitted to the
League of Nations under this name, and it
continued in the international organization's
records until December 1926.
== History ==
=== Prehistory and Viking Age ===
Human settlement in Estonia became possible
13,000 to 11,000 years ago, when the ice from
the last glacial era melted. The oldest known
settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement,
which was on the banks of the river Pärnu,
near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia.
According to radiocarbon dating it was settled
around 11,000 years ago.The earliest human
inhabitation during the Mesolithic period
is connected to the Kunda culture, named after
the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At
that time the country was covered with forests,
and people lived in semi-nomadic communities
near bodies of water. Subsistence activities
consisted of hunting, gathering and fishing.
Around 4900 BC appear ceramics of the neolithic
period, known as Narva culture. Starting from
around 3200 BC the Corded Ware culture appeared;
this included new activities like primitive
agriculture and animal husbandry.The Bronze
Age started around 1800 BC, and saw the establishment
of the first hill fort settlements. A transition
from hunting-fishing-gathering subsistence
to single-farm-based settlement started around
1000 BC, and was complete by the beginning
of the Iron Age around 500 BC. The large amount
of bronze objects indicate the existence of
active communication with Scandinavian and
Germanic tribes.
A more troubled and war-ridden middle Iron
Age followed, with external threats appearing
from different directions. Several Scandinavian
sagas referred to major confrontations with
Estonians, notably when Estonians defeated
and killed the Swedish king Ingvar. Similar
threats appeared in the east, where Russian
principalities were expanding westward. In
1030 Yaroslav the Wise defeated Estonians
and established a fort in modern-day Tartu;
this foothold lasted until an Estonian tribe,
the Sosols, destroyed it in 1061, followed
by their raid on Pskov. Around the 11th century,
the Scandinavian Viking era around the Baltic
Sea was succeeded by the Baltic Viking era,
with seaborne raids by Curonians and by Estonians
from the island of Saaremaa, known as Oeselians.
In 1187 Estonians (Oeselians), Curonians or/and
Karelians sacked Sigtuna, which was a major
city of Sweden at the time.In the early centuries
AD, political and administrative subdivisions
began to emerge in Estonia. Two larger subdivisions
appeared: the parish (Estonian: kihelkond)
and the county (Estonian: maakond), which
consisted of multiple parishes. A parish was
led by elders and centred around a hill fort;
in some rare cases a parish had multiple forts.
By the 13th century Estonia consisted of eight
major counties: Harjumaa, Järvamaa, Läänemaa,
Revala, Saaremaa, Sakala, Ugandi, and Virumaa;
and six minor, single-parish counties: Alempois,
Jogentagana, Mõhu, Nurmekund, Soopoolitse,
and Vaiga. Counties were independent entities
and engaged only in a loose co-operation against
foreign threats.There is little known of early
Estonian pagan religious practices. The Chronicle
of Henry of Livonia mentions Tharapita as
the superior god of the Oeselians. Spiritual
practices were guided by shamans, with sacred
groves, especially oak groves, serving as
places of worship.
=== Middle Ages ===
In 1199 Pope Innocent III declared a crusade
to "defend the Christians of Livonia". Fighting
reached Estonia in 1206, when Danish king
Valdemar II unsuccessfully invaded Saaremaa.
The German Livonian Brothers of the Sword,
who had previously subjugated Livonians, Latgalians,
and Selonians, started campaigning against
the Estonians in 1208, and over next few years
both sides made numerous raids and counter-raids.
A major leader of the Estonian resistance
was Lembitu, an elder of Sakala County, but
in 1217 the Estonians suffered a significant
defeat in the Battle of St. Matthew's Day,
where Lembitu was killed. In 1219, Valdemar
II landed at Lindanise, defeated the Estonians
in battle, and started conquering Northern
Estonia. The next year, Sweden invaded Western
Estonia, but were repelled by the Oeselians.
In 1223, a major revolt ejected the Germans
and Danes from the whole of Estonia, except
Reval, but the crusaders soon resumed their
offensive, and in 1227, Saaremaa was the last
county to surrender.After the crusade, the
territory of present-day Southern Estonia
and Latvia was named Terra Mariana, but later
it became known simply as Livonia. Northern-Estonia
became the Danish Duchy of Estonia, while
the rest was divided between the Sword Brothers
and prince-bishoprics of Dorpat and Ösel–Wiek.
In 1236, after suffering a major defeat, the
Sword Brothers merged into the Teutonic Order
becoming the Livonian Order. In the next decades
there were several uprisings against foreign
rulers on Saaremaa. In 1343, a major rebellion
started, known as the St. George's Night Uprising,
encompassing the whole area of Northern-Estonia
and Saaremaa. The Teutonic Order finished
suppressing the rebellion in 1345, and the
next year the Danish king sold his possessions
in Estonia to the Order. The unsuccessful
rebellion led to a consolidation of power
for the Baltic German minority. For the subsequent
centuries they remained the ruling elite in
both cities and the countryside.
During the crusade, Reval (Tallinn) was founded,
as the capital of Danish Estonia, on the site
of Lindanise. In 1248 Reval received full
town rights and adopted the Lübeck law. The
Hanseatic League controlled trade on the Baltic
Sea, and overall the four largest towns in
Estonia became members: Reval, Dorpat (Tartu),
Pernau (Pärnu), and Fellin (Viljandi). Reval
acted as a trade intermediary between Novgorod
and Western Hanseatic cities, while Dorpat
filled the same role with Pskov. Many guilds
were formed during that period, but only a
very few allowed the participation of native
Estonians. Protected by their stone walls
and alliance with the Hansa, prosperous cities
like Reval and Dorpat repeatedly defied other
rulers of Livonia. After the decline of the
Teutonic Order after its defeat in the Battle
of Grunwald in 1410, and the defeat of the
Livonian Order in the Battle of Swienta on
1 September 1435, the Livonian Confederation
Agreement was signed on 4 December 1435.The
Reformation in Europe began in 1517, and soon
spread to Livonia despite opposition by the
Livonian Order. Towns were the first to embrace
Protestantism in the 1520s, and by the 1530s
the majority of the gentry had adopted Lutheranism
for themselves and their peasant serfs. Church
services were now conducted in vernacular
language, which initially meant German, but
in the 1530s the first religious services
in Estonian also took place.During the 16th
century, the expansionist monarchies of Muscowy,
Sweden, and Poland–Lithuania consolidated
power, posing a growing threat to decentralised
Livonia weakened by disputes between cities,
nobility, bishops, and the Order.
=== Swedish Era ===
In 1558, Tsar Ivan the Terrible of Russia
invaded Livonia, starting the Livonian War.
The Livonian Order was decisively defeated
in 1560, prompting Livonian factions to seek
foreign protection. 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 result of the war, Northern
Estonia became Swedish Duchy of Estonia, Southern
Estonia became Polish Duchy of Livonia, and
Saaremaa remained under Danish control.In
1600, the Polish-Swedish War broke out, causing
further devastation. The protracted war ended
in 1629 with Sweden gaining Livonia, including
the regions of Southern Estonia and Northern
Latvia. Danish Saaremaa was transferred to
Sweden in 1645. The wars had halved the Estonian
population from about 250–270,000 people
in the mid 16th century to 115–120,000 in
the 1630s.Serfdom was retained under Swedish
rule but legal reforms took place which strengthened
peasants' land usage and inheritance rights,
resulting this period's reputation of the
"Good Old Swedish Time" in people's historical
memory. Swedish king Gustaf II Adolf established
gymnasiums in Reval and Dorpat; the latter
was upgraded to Tartu University in 1632.
Printing presses were also established in
both towns. In the 1680s the beginnings of
Estonian elementary education appeared, largely
due to efforts of Bengt Gottfried Forselius,
who also introduced orthographical reforms
to written Estonian. The population of Estonia
grew rapidly for a 60–70-year period, until
the Great Famine of 1695–97 in which some
70,000–75,000 people perished – about
20% of the population.
=== Russian Era and National Awakening ===
In 1700, the Great Northern War started, and
by 1710 the whole of Estonia was conquered
by the Russian Empire. The war 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 Estonian peasants reached their
lowest point, as serfdom completely dominated
agricultural relations during the 18th century.
Serfdom was formally abolished in 1816–1819,
but this initially had very little practical
effect; major improvements in rights of the
peasantry started with reforms in the mid-19th
century.The Estonian national awakening began
in the 1850s as the leading figures started
promoting an Estonian national identity among
the general populace. Its economic basis was
formed by widespread farm buyouts by peasants,
forming a class of Estonian landowners. In
1857 Johann Voldemar Jannsen started publishing
the first Estonian language newspaper and
began popularising the denomination of oneself
as eestlane (Estonian). Schoolmaster Carl
Robert Jakobson and clergyman Jakob Hurt became
leading figures in a national movement, encouraging
Estonian peasants to take pride in themselves
and in their ethnic identity. The first nationwide
movements formed, such as a campaign to establish
the Estonian language Alexander School, the
founding of the Society of Estonian Literati
and the Estonian Students' Society, and the
first national song festival, held in 1869
in Tartu. Linguistic reforms helped to develop
the Estonian language. The national epic Kalevipoeg
was published in 1862, and 1870 saw the first
performances of Estonian theatre. In 1878
a major split happened in the national movement.
The moderate wing led by Hurt focused on development
of culture and Estonian education, while the
radical wing led by Jacobson started demanding
increased political and economical rights.In
the late 19th century the Russification period
started, as the central government initiated
various administrative and cultural measures
to tie Baltic governorates more closely to
the empire. The Russian language was used
throughout the education system and many Estonian
social and cultural activities were suppressed.
Still, some administrative changes aimed at
reducing power of Baltic German institutions
did prove useful to Estonians. In the late
1890s there was a new surge of nationalism
with the rise of prominent figures like Jaan
Tõnisson and Konstantin Päts. In the early
20th century Estonians started taking over
control of local governments in towns from
Germans.During the 1905 Revolution the first
legal Estonian political parties were founded.
An Estonian national congress was convened
and demanded the unification of Estonian areas
into a single autonomous territory and an
end to Russification. During the unrest peasants
and workers attacked manor houses. The Tsarist
government responded with a brutal crackdown;
some 500 people were executed and hundreds
more were jailed or deported to Siberia.
=== Independence ===
In 1917, after the February Revolution, the
governorate of Estonia was expanded to include
Estonian speaking areas of Livonia and was
granted autonomy, enabling formation of the
Estonian Provincial Assembly. Bolsheviks seized
power during the October Revolution, and disbanded
the Provincial Assembly. However the Provincial
Assembly established the Salvation Committee,
and during the short interlude between Russian
retreat and German arrival, the committee
declared the independence of Estonia on 24
February 1918, and formed the Estonian Provisional
Government. German occupation immediately
followed, but after their defeat in World
War I the Germans were forced to hand over
power to the Provisional Government on 19
November.On 28 November 1918 Soviet Russia
invaded, starting the Estonian War of Independence.
The Red Army came within 30 km from Tallinn,
but in January 1919, the Estonian Army, led
by Johan Laidoner, went on a counter-offensive,
ejecting Bolshevik forces from Estonia within
a few months. Renewed Soviet attacks failed,
and in spring, the Estonian army, in cooperation
with White Russian forces, advanced into Russia
and Latvia. In June 1919, Estonia defeated
the German Landeswehr which had attempted
to dominate Latvia, restoring power to the
government of Kārlis Ulmanis there. After
the collapse of the White Russian forces,
the Red Army launched a major offensive against
Narva in late 1919, but failed to achieve
a breakthrough. On 2 February 1920, the Tartu
Peace Treaty was signed between Estonia and
Soviet Russia, with the latter pledging to
permanently give up all sovereign claims to
Estonia.In April 1919, the Estonian Constituent
Assembly was elected. The Constituent Assembly
passed a sweeping land reform expropriating
large estates, and adopted a new highly liberal
constitution establishing Estonia as a parliamentary
democracy. In 1924, the Soviet Union organized
a communist coup attempt, which quickly failed.
Estonia's cultural autonomy law for ethnic
minorities, adopted in 1925, is widely recognized
as one of the most liberal in the world at
that time. The Great Depression put heavy
pressure on Estonia's political system, and
in 1933, the right-wing Vaps movement spearheaded
a constitutional reform establishing a strong
presidency. On 12 March 1934 the acting head
of state, Konstantin Päts, declared a state
of emergency, falsely claiming that the Vaps
movement had been planning a coup. Päts,
together with general Johan Laidoner and Kaarel
Eenpalu, established an authoritarian regime,
where the parliament was dissolved and the
newly established Patriotic League became
the only legal political party. In order to
legitimize the regime, a new constitution
was adopted and elections were held in 1938.
Opposition candidates were allowed to participate,
but only as independents, while opposition
parties remained banned. The Päts regime
was relatively benign compared to other authoritarian
regimes in interwar Europe, and there was
no systematic terror against political opponents.Estonia
joined the League of Nations in 1921. Attempts
to establish a larger alliance together with
Finland, Poland, and Latvia failed, with only
a mutual defence pact being signed with Latvia
in 1923, and later was followed up with the
Baltic Entente of 1934. In the 1930s, Estonia
also engaged in secret military cooperation
with Finland. Non-aggression pacts were signed
with the Soviet Union in 1932, and with Germany
in 1939. In 1938, Estonia declared neutrality,
but this proved futile in World War II.
=== Second World War ===
On 23 August 1939 Germany and the Soviet Union
signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The
pact's secret protocol divided Eastern Europe
into spheres of influence, with Estonia belonging
to the Soviet sphere. On 24 September, the
Soviet Union presented an ultimatum, demanding
that Estonia sign a treaty of mutual assistance
which would allow Soviet military bases into
the country. The Estonian government felt
that it had no choice but to comply, and the
treaty was signed on 28 September. In May
1940, Red Army forces in bases were set in
combat readiness and, on 14 June, the Soviet
Union instituted a full naval and air blockade
on Estonia. On the same day, the airliner
Kaleva was shot down by the Soviet Air Force.
On 16 June, Soviets presented an ultimatum
demanding completely free passage of the Red
Army into Estonia and the establishment of
a pro-Soviet government. Feeling that resistance
was hopeless, the Estonian government complied
and, on the next day, the whole country was
occupied. On 6 August 1940, Estonia was annexed
by the Soviet Union as the Estonian SSR.The
Soviets established a regime of oppression;
most of the high-ranking civil and military
officials, intelligentsia and industrialists
were arrested, and usually executed soon afterwards.
Soviet repressions culminated on 14 June 1941
with mass deportation of about 11,000 people
to Siberia, among whom more than half perished
in inhumane conditions. When the German Operation
Barbarossa started against the Soviet Union
on 22 June 1941, about 34,000 young Estonian
men were forcibly drafted into the Red Army,
fewer than 30% of whom survived the war. Soviet
destruction battalions initiated a scorched
earth policy. Political prisoners who could
not be evacuated were executed by the NKVD.
Many Estonians went into the forest, starting
an anti-Soviet guerrilla campaign. In July,
German Wehrmacht reached south Estonia. Soviets
evacuated Tallinn in late August with massive
losses, and capture of the Estonian islands
was completed by German forces in October.
Initially many Estonians were hopeful that
Germany would help to restore Estonia's independence,
but this soon proved to be in vain. Only a
puppet collaborationist administration was
established, and occupied Estonia was merged
into Reichskommissariat Ostland, with its
economy being fully subjugated to German military
needs. About a thousand Estonian Jews who
had not managed to leave were almost all quickly
killed in 1941. Numerous forced labour camps
were established where thousands of Estonians,
foreign Jews, Romani, and Soviet prisoners
of war perished. German occupation authorities
started recruiting men into small volunteer
units but, as these efforts provided meagre
results and military situation worsened, a
forced conscription was instituted in 1943,
eventually leading to formation of the Estonian
Waffen-SS division. Thousands of Estonians
who did not want to fight in German military
secretly escaped to Finland, where many volunteered
to fight together with Finns against Soviets.The
Red Army reached the Estonian borders again
in early 1944, but its advance into Estonia
was stopped in heavy fighting near Narva for
six months by German forces, including numerous
Estonian units. In March, the Soviet Air Force
carried out heavy bombing raids against Tallinn
and other Estonian towns. In July, the Soviets
started a major offensive from the south,
forcing the Germans to abandon mainland Estonia
in September, with the Estonian islands being
abandoned in November. As German forces were
retreating from Tallinn, the last pre-war
prime minister Jüri Uluots appointed a government
headed by Otto Tief in an unsuccessful attempt
restore Estonia's independence. Tens of thousands
of people, including most of the Estonian
Swedes, fled westwards to avoid the new Soviet
occupation.
Overall, Estonia lost about 25% of its population
through deaths, deportations and evacuations
in World War II. Estonia also suffered some
permanent territorial losses, as Soviet Union
transferred border areas comprising about
5% of Estonian pre-war territory from the
Estonian SSR to the Russian SFSR.
=== Soviet Period ===
Thousands of Estonians opposing the second
Soviet occupation joined a guerrilla movement
known as Forest Brothers. The armed resistance
was heaviest in the first few years after
the war, but Soviet authorities gradually
wore it down through attrition, and resistance
effectively ceased to exist in the mid 1950s.
The Soviets initiated a policy of collectivization,
but as peasants remained opposed to it a campaign
of terror was unleashed. In March 1949 about
20,000 Estonians were deported to Siberia.
Collectivization was fully completed soon
afterwards.The Soviet Union began Russification,
with hundreds of thousands of Russians being
induced to settle in Estonia, which eventually
threatened to turn Estonians into a minority
in their own land. In early 1945 Estonians
formed 94% of the population, but by 1989
their share of the population had fallen to
61.5%. Economically, heavy industry was strongly
prioritized, but this did not improve the
well-being of the local population, and caused
massive environmental damage through pollution.
Living standards under the Soviet occupation
kept falling further behind nearby independent
Finland. The country was heavily militarized,
with closed military areas covering 2% of
territory. Islands and most of the coastal
areas were turned into a restricted border
zone which required a special permit for entry.The
United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany,
and the majority of other Western countries
considered the annexation of Estonia by the
Soviet Union illegal. Legal continuity of
the Estonian state was preserved through the
government-in-exile and the Estonian diplomatic
representatives which Western governments
continued to recognize.
=== Restoration of Independence ===
The introduction of Perestroika in 1987 made
political activity possible again, starting
an independence restoration process known
as the Singing Revolution. The environmental
Phosphorite War campaign became the first
major protest movement against the central
government. In 1988 new political movements
appeared, such as the Popular Front of Estonia
which came to represent the moderate wing
in the independence movement, and the more
radical Estonian National Independence Party,
which was the first non-communist party in
the Soviet Union and demanded full restoration
of independence. Reformist Vaino Väljas became
the first secretary of Estonian Communist
Party, and under his leadership on 16 November
1988 Estonian Supreme Soviet issued Sovereignty
Declaration asserting the primacy of Estonian
laws over Union laws. Over the next two years
almost all other Soviet Republics followed
the Estonian lead issuing similar declarations.
On 23 August 1989 about 2 million Estonians,
Latvians and Lithuanians participated in a
mass demonstration forming a Baltic Way human
chain across the three republics. In 1990
the Congress of Estonia was formed as representative
body of Estonian citizens. In March 1991 a
referendum was held where 77.7% of voters
supported independence, and during the coup
attempt in Moscow Estonia declared restoration
of independence on 20 August, which is now
the Day of Restoration of Independence, a
national holiday.Soviet authorities recognized
Estonian independence on 6 September, and
on 17 September Estonia was admitted into
the United Nations. The last units of the
Russian army left Estonia in 1994.In 1992
radical economic reforms were launched for
switching over to a market economy, including
privatisation and currency reform. Estonian
foreign policy since independence has been
orientated towards the West, and in 2004 Estonia
joined both the European Union and NATO.
=== Territorial history timeline ===
== Geography ==
Estonia lies on the eastern shores of the
Baltic Sea immediately across the Gulf of
Finland from Finland on the level northwestern
part of the rising East European platform
between 57.3° and 59.5° N and 21.5° and
28.1° E. Average elevation reaches only 50
metres (164 ft) and the country's highest
point is the Suur Munamägi in the southeast
at 318 metres (1,043 ft). There is 3,794 kilometres
(2,357 mi) of coastline marked by numerous
bays, straits, and inlets. The number of islands
and islets is estimated at some 2,355 (including
those in lakes). Two of them are large enough
to constitute separate counties: Saaremaa
and Hiiumaa. A small, recent cluster of meteorite
craters, the largest of which is called Kaali
is found on Saaremaa, Estonia.
Estonia is situated in the northern part of
the temperate climate zone and in the transition
zone between maritime and continental climate.
Estonia has four seasons of near-equal length.
Average temperatures range from 16.3 °C (61.3
°F) on the islands to 18.1 °C (64.6 °F)
inland in July, the warmest month, and from
−3.5 °C (25.7 °F) on the islands to −7.6
°C (18.3 °F) inland in February, the coldest
month. The average annual temperature in Estonia
is 5.2 °C (41.4 °F). The average precipitation
in 1961–1990 ranged from 535 to 727 mm (21.1
to 28.6 in) per year.Snow cover, which is
deepest in the south-eastern part of Estonia,
usually lasts from mid-December to late March.
Estonia has over 1,400 lakes. Most are very
small, with the largest, Lake Peipus, being
3,555 km2 (1,373 sq mi). There are many rivers
in the country. The longest of them are Võhandu
(162 km or 101 mi), Pärnu (144 km or 89 mi),
and Põltsamaa (135 km or 84 mi). Estonia
has numerous fens and bogs. Forest land covers
50% of Estonia. The most common tree species
are pine, spruce and birch.Phytogeographically,
Estonia is shared between the Central European
and Eastern European provinces of the Circumboreal
Region within the Boreal Kingdom. According
to the WWF, the territory of Estonia belongs
to the ecoregion of Sarmatic mixed forests.
=== Biodiversity ===
Many species extinct in most of the European
countries can be still found in Estonia. Mammals
present in Estonia include the grey wolf,
lynx, brown bear, wild boar, moose, roe deer,
elk, grey seal, and ringed seal. Critically
endangered European mink has been successfully
reintroduced to the Hiiumaa island, and the
rare Siberian flying squirrel is present in
east Estonia. Over 300 bird species have been
found in Estonia, including the white-tailed
eagle, lesser spotted eagle, golden eagle,
western capercaillie, black and white stork,
numerous species of owls, waders, geese and
many others. The Barn swallow is the national
bird.Protected areas cover 18% of Estonian
land and 26% of its sea territory. There are
5 national parks, 159 nature reserves, and
many other protection areas.
== Politics ==
Estonia is a parliamentary representative
democratic republic in which the Prime Minister
of Estonia is the head of government and which
includes a multi-party system. The political
culture is stable in Estonia, where power
is held between two and three parties that
have been in politics for a long time. This
situation is similar to other countries in
Northern Europe. The former Prime Minister
of Estonia, Andrus Ansip, is also Europe's
longest-serving Prime Minister (from 2005
until 2014). The current Estonian Prime Minister
is Jüri Ratas, who is the former Second Vice-President
of the Parliament and the head of the Estonian
Centre Party.
=== Parliament ===
The Parliament of Estonia (Estonian: Riigikogu)
or the legislative branch is elected by people
for a four-year term by proportional representation.
The Estonian political system operates under
a framework laid out in the 1992 constitutional
document. The Estonian parliament has 101
members and influences the governing of the
state primarily by determining the income
and the expenses of the state (establishing
taxes and adopting the budget). At the same
time the parliament has the right to present
statements, declarations and appeals to the
people of Estonia, ratify and denounce international
treaties with other states and international
organisations and decide on the Government
loans.The Riigikogu elects and appoints several
high officials of the state, including the
President of the Republic. In addition to
that, the Riigikogu appoints, on the proposal
of the President of Estonia, the Chairman
of the National Court, the chairman of the
board of the Bank of Estonia, the Auditor
General, the Legal Chancellor and the Commander-in-Chief
of the Defence Forces. A member of the Riigikogu
has the right to demand explanations from
the Government of the Republic and its members.
This enables the members of the parliament
to observe the activities of the executive
power and the above-mentioned high officials
of the state.
=== Government ===
The Government of Estonia (Estonian: Vabariigi
Valitsus) or the executive branch is formed
by the Prime Minister of Estonia, nominated
by the president and approved by the parliament.
The government exercises executive power pursuant
to the Constitution of Estonia and the laws
of the Republic of Estonia and consists of
twelve ministers, including the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister also has the right to appoint
other ministers and assign them a subject
to deal with. These are ministers without
portfolio – they don't have a ministry to
control.
The Prime Minister has the right to appoint
a maximum of three such ministers, as the
limit of ministers in one government is fifteen.
It is also known as the cabinet. The cabinet
carries out the country's domestic and foreign
policy, shaped by parliament; it directs and
co-ordinates the work of government institutions
and bears full responsibility for everything
occurring within the authority of executive
power. The government, headed by the Prime
Minister, thus represents the political leadership
of the country and makes decisions in the
name of the whole executive power.
Estonia has pursued the development of the
e-state and e-government. Internet voting
is used in elections in Estonia. The first
internet voting took place in the 2005 local
elections and the first in a parliamentary
election was made available for the 2007 elections,
in which 30,275 individuals voted over the
internet. Voters have a chance to invalidate
their electronic vote in traditional elections,
if they wish to. In 2009 in its eighth Worldwide
Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders
ranked Estonia sixth out of 175 countries.
In the first ever State of World Liberty Index
report, Estonia was ranked first out of 159
countries.
=== Law ===
According to the Constitution of Estonia (Estonian:
Põhiseadus) the supreme power of the state
is vested in the people. The people exercise
their supreme power of the state on the elections
of the Riigikogu through citizens who have
the right to vote. The supreme judicial power
is vested in the Supreme Court or Riigikohus,
with nineteen justices. The Chief Justice
is appointed by the parliament for nine years
on nomination by the president. The official
Head of State is the President of Estonia,
who gives assent to the laws passed by Riigikogu,
also having the right of sending them back
and proposing new laws.
The President, however, does not use these
rights very often, having a largely ceremonial
role. He or she is elected by Riigikogu, with
two-thirds of the votes required. If the candidate
does not gain the number of votes required,
the right to elect the President goes over
to an electoral body, consisting of the 101
members of Riigikogu and representatives from
local councils. As in other spheres, Estonian
law-making has been successfully integrated
with the Information Age.
=== Administrative divisions ===
The Republic of Estonia is divided into fifteen
counties (Maakonnad), which are the administrative
subdivisions of the country. The first documented
reference to Estonian political and administrative
subdivisions comes from the Chronicle of Henry
of Livonia, written in the thirteenth century
during the Northern Crusades.A maakond (county)
is the biggest administrative subdivision.
Several changes were made to the borders of
counties after Estonia became independent,
most notably the formation of Valga County
(from parts of Võru, Tartu and Viljandi counties)
and Petseri County (area acquired from Russia
with the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty). During
the Soviet rule, Petseri County was annexed
and ceded to the Russian SFSR in 1945 where
it became Pechorsky District of Pskov Oblast.
Counties were again re-established on 1 January
1990 in the borders of the Soviet-era districts.
Because of the numerous differences between
the current and historical (pre-1940, and
sometimes pre-1918) layouts, the historical
borders are still used in ethnology, representing
cultural and linguistic differences better.
Now defunct, the county government (Maavalitsus)
of each county used to be led by a county
governor (Maavanem), who represented the national
government at the regional level. Governors
were appointed by the Government of Estonia
for a term of five years.
Each county is further divided into municipalities
(omavalitsus), which is also the smallest
administrative subdivision of Estonia. There
are two types of municipalities: an urban
municipality – linn (town), and a rural
municipality – vald (parish). There is no
other status distinction between them. Each
municipality is a unit of self-government
with its representative and executive bodies.
The municipalities in Estonia cover the entire
territory of the country.
A municipality may contain one or more populated
places. Tallinn is divided into eight districts
(linnaosa) with limited self-government (Haabersti,
Kesklinn (centre), Kristiine, Lasnamäe, Mustamäe,
Nõmme, Pirita and Põhja-Tallinn). Rural
municipalities may also be divided into (rural)
districts (osavald), most prominent being
Hiiumaa Parish with its five, fairly autonomous
districts.
Municipalities range in size of population
from Tallinn with around 450,000 inhabitants
to Ruhnu with as few as around 150. They also
range fairly in area from Saaremaa Parish
(2717,83 km²) to Loksa town (3,82 km²).
As of October 2017, after the Administrative
reform of Estonia, there are a total of 79
municipalities in Estonia, 14 of them being
urban and 65 rural. Previously there were
213 municipalities.
=== Foreign relations ===
Estonia was a member of the League of Nations
from 22 September 1921, and became a member
of the United Nations on 17 September 1991.
Since restoration of independence Estonia
has pursued close relations with the Western
countries, and has been member of NATO since
29 March 2004, as well as the European Union
since 1 May 2004. In 2007 Estonia joined the
Schengen Area, and in 2011 the Eurozone. The
European Union Agency for large-scale IT systems
is based in Tallinn, which started operations
at the end of 2012. Estonia held the Presidency
of the Council of the European Union in the
second half of 2017.Since the early 1990s,
Estonia has been involved in active trilateral
Baltic states co-operation with Latvia and
Lithuania, and Nordic-Baltic co-operation
with the Nordic countries. The Baltic Council
is the joint forum of the interparliamentary
Baltic Assembly and the intergovernmental
Baltic Council of Ministers. Estonia has built
close relationship with the Nordic countries,
especially Finland and Sweden, and is a member
of Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB-8) uniting Nordic
and Baltic countries. Joint Nordic-Baltic
projects include the education programme Nordplus
and mobility programmes for business and industry
and for public administration. The Nordic
Council of Ministers has an office in Tallinn
with a subsidiaries in Tartu and Narva. The
Baltic states are members of Nordic Investment
Bank, European Union's Nordic Battle Group,
and in 2011 were invited to co-operate with
NORDEFCO in selected activities.
The beginning of the attempt to redefine Estonia
as "Nordic" was seen in December 1999, when
then Estonian foreign minister (and President
of Estonia from 2006 until 2016) Toomas Hendrik
Ilves delivered a speech entitled "Estonia
as a Nordic Country" to the Swedish Institute
for International Affairs, with potential
political calculation behind it being wish
to distinguish Estonia from more slowly progressing
southern neighbours, which could have postponed
early participation in European Union enlargement
for Estonia too. Andres Kasekamp argued in
2005 that relevance of identity discussions
in Baltic states decreased with entering to
EU and NATO together, but predicted that in
future attractiveness of Nordic identity in
Baltic states will grow and eventually five
Nordic states plus three Baltic states will
become a single unit.Other Estonian international
organization memberships include OECD, OSCE,
WTO, IMF, and Council of the Baltic Sea States.
Relations with Russia remain generally cold,
although there is some practical cooperation.
=== Military ===
The military of Estonia is based upon the
Estonian Defence Forces (Estonian: Kaitsevägi),
which is the name of the unified armed forces
of the republic with Maavägi (Army), Merevägi
(Navy), Õhuvägi (Air Force) and a paramilitary
national guard organisation Kaitseliit (Defence
League). The Estonian National Defence Policy
aim is to guarantee the preservation of the
independence and sovereignty of the state,
the integrity of its land, territorial waters,
airspace and its constitutional order. Current
strategic goals are to defend the country's
interests, develop the armed forces for interoperability
with other NATO and EU member forces, and
participation in NATO missions.
The current national military service (Estonian:
ajateenistus) is compulsory for men between
18 and 28, and conscripts serve eight-month
to eleven-month tours of duty depending on
the army branch they serve in. Estonia has
retained conscription unlike Latvia and Lithuania
and has no plan to transition to a professional
army. In 2008, annual military spending reached
1.85% of GDP, or 5 billion kroons, and was
expected to continue to increase until 2010,
when a 2.0% level was anticipated.Estonia
co-operates with Latvia and Lithuania in several
trilateral Baltic defence co-operation initiatives,
including Baltic Battalion (BALTBAT), Baltic
Naval Squadron (BALTRON), Baltic Air Surveillance
Network (BALTNET) and joint military educational
institutions such as the Baltic Defence College
in Tartu. Future co-operation will include
sharing of national infrastructures for training
purposes and specialisation of training areas
(BALTTRAIN) and collective formation of battalion-sized
contingents for use in the NATO rapid-response
force. In January 2011 the Baltic states were
invited to join NORDEFCO, the defence framework
of the Nordic countries.
In January 2008, the Estonian military had
almost 300 troops stationed in foreign countries
as part of various international peacekeeping
forces, including 35 Defence League troops
stationed in Kosovo; 120 Ground Forces soldiers
in the NATO-led ISAF force in Afghanistan;
80 soldiers stationed as a part of MNF in
Iraq; and 2 Estonian officers in Bosnia-Herzegovina
and 2 Estonian military agents in Israeli
occupied Golan Heights.The Estonian Defence
Forces have also previously had military missions
in Croatia from March until October 1995,
in Lebanon from December 1996 until June 1997
and in Macedonia from May until December 2003.
Estonia participates in the Nordic Battlegroup
and has announced readiness to send soldiers
also to Sudan to Darfur if necessary, creating
the first African peacekeeping mission for
the armed forces of Estonia.The Ministry of
Defence and the Defence Forces have been working
on a cyberwarfare and defence formation for
some years now. In 2007, a military doctrine
of an e-military of Estonia was officially
introduced as the country was under massive
cyberattacks in 2007. The proposed aim of
the e-military is to secure the vital infrastructure
and e-infrastructure of Estonia. The main
cyber warfare facility is the Computer Emergency
Response Team of Estonia (CERT), founded in
2006. The organisation operates on security
issues in local networks.Then President of
the US, George W. Bush, announced his support
of Estonia as the location of a NATO Cooperative
Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE)
in 2007. In the aftermath of the 2007 cyberattacks,
plans to combine network defence with Estonian
military doctrine have been nicknamed as the
Tiger's Defence, in reference to Tiigrihüpe.
The CCDCOE started its operations in November
2008.
== Economy ==
As a member of the European Union, Estonia
is considered a high-income economy by the
World Bank. The GDP (PPP) per capita of the
country was $29,312 in 2016 according to the
International Monetary Fund. Because of its
rapid growth, Estonia has often been described
as a Baltic Tiger beside Lithuania and Latvia.
Beginning 1 January 2011, Estonia adopted
the euro and became the 17th eurozone member
state.According to Eurostat, Estonia had the
lowest ratio of government debt to GDP among
EU countries at 6.7% at the end of 2010.
A balanced budget, almost non-existent public
debt, flat-rate income tax, free trade regime,
competitive commercial banking sector, innovative
e-Services and even mobile-based services
are all hallmarks of Estonia's market economy.
Estonia produces about 75% of its consumed
electricity. In 2011, about 85% of it was
generated with locally mined oil shale. Alternative
energy sources such as wood, peat, and biomass
make up approximately 9% of primary energy
production. Renewable wind energy was about
6% of total consumption in 2009. Estonia imports
petroleum products from western Europe and
Russia. Estonia imports 100% of its natural
gas from Russia. Oil shale energy, telecommunications,
textiles, chemical products, banking, services,
food and fishing, timber, shipbuilding, electronics,
and transportation are key sectors of the
economy. The ice-free port of Muuga, near
Tallinn, is a modern facility featuring good
transshipment capability, a high-capacity
grain elevator, chill/frozen storage, and
new oil tanker off-loading capabilities. The
railroad serves as a conduit between the West,
Russia, and other points to the East.Because
of the global economic recession that began
in 2007, the GDP of Estonia decreased by 1.4%
in the 2nd quarter of 2008, over 3% in the
3rd quarter of 2008, and over 9% in the 4th
quarter of 2008. The Estonian government made
a supplementary negative budget, which was
passed by Riigikogu. The revenue of the budget
was decreased for 2008 by EEK 6.1 billion
and the expenditure by EEK 3.2 billion. In
2010, the economic situation stabilised and
started a growth based on strong exports.
In the fourth quarter of 2010, Estonian industrial
output increased by 23% compared to the year
before. The country has been experiencing
economic growth ever since.According to Eurostat
data, Estonian PPS GDP per capita stood at
67% of the EU average in 2008. In 2017, the
average monthly gross salary in Estonia was
€1221.However, there are vast disparities
in GDP between different areas of Estonia;
currently, over half of the country's GDP
is created in Tallinn. In 2008, the GDP per
capita of Tallinn stood at 172% of the Estonian
average, which makes the per capita GDP of
Tallinn as high as 115% of the European Union
average, exceeding the average levels of other
counties.
The unemployment rate in March 2016 was 6.4%,
which is below the EU average, while real
GDP growth in 2011 was 8.0%, five times the
euro-zone average. In 2012, Estonia remained
the only euro member with a budget surplus,
and with a national debt of only 6%, it is
one of the least indebted countries in Europe.
=== Economic indicators ===
Estonia's economy continues to benefit from
a transparent government and policies that
sustain a high level of economic freedom,
ranking 6th globally and 2nd in Europe. The
rule of law remains strongly buttressed and
enforced by an independent and efficient judicial
system. A simplified tax system with flat
rates and low indirect taxation, openness
to foreign investment, and a liberal trade
regime have supported the resilient and well-functioning
economy. The 2017 Ease of Doing Business Index
by the World Bank Group places the country
12th in the world, surpassing neighbouring
Finland, Australia, Germany, Canada and Switzerland.
The strong focus on the IT sector has led
to much faster, simpler and efficient public
services where for example filing a tax return
takes less than five minutes and 98% of banking
transactions are conducted through the internet.
Estonia has the third lowest business bribery
risk in the world, according to TRACE Matrix.
=== Historic development ===
In 1928, a stable currency, the kroon, was
established. It is issued by the Bank of Estonia,
the country's central bank. The word kroon
(Estonian pronunciation: [ˈkroːn], "crown")
is related to that of the other Nordic currencies
(such as the Swedish krona and the Danish
and Norwegian krone). The kroon succeeded
the mark in 1928 and was used until 1940.
After Estonia regained its independence, the
kroon was reintroduced in 1992.
Since re-establishing independence, Estonia
has styled itself as the gateway between East
and West and aggressively pursued economic
reform and integration with the West. Estonia's
market reforms put it among the economic leaders
in the former COMECON area. In 1994, based
on the economic theories of Milton Friedman,
Estonia became one of the first countries
to adopt a flat tax, with a uniform rate of
26% regardless of personal income. This rate
has since been reduced three times, to 24%
in January 2005, 23% in January 2006, and
finally to 21% by January 2008. The Government
of Estonia finalised the design of Estonian
euro coins in late 2004, and adopted the euro
as the country's currency on 1 January 2011,
later than planned due to continued high inflation.
A Land Value Tax is levied which is used to
fund local municipalities. It is a state level
tax, however 100% of the revenue is used to
fund Local Councils. The rate is set by the
Local Council within the limits of 0.1–2.5%.
It is one of the most important sources of
funding for municipalities. The Land Value
Tax is levied on the value of the land only
with improvements and buildings not considered.
Very few exemptions are considered on the
land value tax and even public institutions
are subject to the tax. The tax has contributed
to a high rate (~90%) of owner-occupied residences
within Estonia, compared to a rate of 67.4%
in the United States.In 1999, Estonia experienced
its worst year economically since it regained
independence in 1991, largely because of the
impact of the 1998 Russian financial crisis.
Estonia joined the WTO in November 1999. With
assistance from the European Union, the World
Bank and the Nordic Investment Bank, Estonia
completed most of its preparations for European
Union membership by the end of 2002 and now
has one of the strongest economies of the
new member states of the European Union. Estonia
joined the OECD in 2010.
=== Resources ===
Although Estonia is in general resource-poor,
the land still offers a large variety of smaller
resources. The country has large oil shale
and limestone deposits, along with forests
that cover 48% of the land. In addition to
oil shale and limestone, Estonia also has
large reserves of phosphorite, pitchblende,
and granite that currently are not mined,
or not mined extensively.Significant quantities
of rare-earth oxides are found in tailings
accumulated from 50 years of uranium ore,
shale and loparite mining at Sillamäe. Because
of the rising prices of rare earths, extraction
of these oxides has become economically viable.
The country currently exports around 3000
tonnes per annum, representing around 2% of
world production.Since 2008, public debate
has discussed whether Estonia should build
a nuclear power plant to secure energy production
after closure of old units in the Narva Power
Plants, if they are not reconstructed by the
year 2016.
=== Industry and environment ===
Food, construction, and electronic industries
are currently among the most important branches
of Estonia's industry. In 2007, the construction
industry employed more than 80,000 people,
around 12% of the entire country's workforce.
Another important industrial sector is the
machinery and chemical industry, which is
mainly located in Ida-Viru County and around
Tallinn.
The oil shale-based mining industry, which
is also concentrated in East-Estonia, produces
around 90% of the entire country's electricity.
Although the amount of pollutants emitted
to the air have been falling since the 1980s,
the air is still polluted with sulphur dioxide
from the mining industry that the Soviet Union
rapidly developed in the early 1950s. In some
areas the coastal seawater is polluted, mainly
around the Sillamäe industrial complex.Estonia
is a dependent country in the terms of energy
and energy production. In recent years many
local and foreign companies have been investing
in renewable energy sources. The importance
of wind power has been increasing steadily
in Estonia and currently the total amount
of energy production from wind is nearly 60
MW while at the same time roughly 399 MW worth
of projects are currently being developed
and more than 2800 MW worth of projects are
being proposed in the Lake Peipus area and
the coastal areas of Hiiumaa.Currently, there
are plans to renovate some older units of
the Narva Power Plants, establish new power
stations, and provide higher efficiency in
oil shale-based energy production. Estonia
liberalised 35% of its electricity market
in April 2010. The electricity market as whole
will be liberalised by 2013.
Together with Lithuania, Poland, and Latvia,
the country considered participating in constructing
the Visaginas nuclear power plant in Lithuania
to replace the Ignalina. However, due to the
slow pace of the project and problems with
the sector (like Fukushima disaster and bad
example of Olkiluoto plant), Eesti Energia
has shifted its main focus to shale oil production
that is seen as much more profitable business.Estonia
has a strong information technology sector,
partly owing to the Tiigrihüpe project undertaken
in the mid-1990s, and has been mentioned as
the most "wired" and advanced country in Europe
in the terms of e-Government of Estonia. A
new direction is to offer those services present
in Estonia to the non-residents via e-residency
program.
Skype was written by Estonia-based developers
Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn,
who had also originally developed Kazaa. Other
notable tech startups include GrabCAD, Fortumo
and TransferWise. It is even claimed that
Estonia has the most startups per person in
world.The Estonian electricity network forms
a part of the Nord Pool Spot network.
=== Trade ===
Estonia has had a market economy since the
end of the 1990s and one of the highest per
capita income levels in Eastern Europe. Proximity
to the Scandinavian and Finnish markets, its
location between the East and West, competitive
cost structure and a highly skilled labour
force have been the major Estonian comparative
advantages in the beginning of the 2000s (decade).
As the largest city, Tallinn has emerged as
a financial centre and the Tallinn Stock Exchange
joined recently with the OMX system. Several
cryptocurrency trading platforms are officially
recognized by the government, such as CoinMetro.
The current government has pursued tight fiscal
policies, resulting in balanced budgets and
low public debt.
In 2007, however, a large current account
deficit and rising inflation put pressure
on Estonia's currency, which was pegged to
the Euro, highlighting the need for growth
in export-generating industries.
Estonia exports mainly machinery and equipment,
wood and paper, textiles, food products, furniture,
and metals and chemical products. Estonia
also exports 1.562 billion kilowatt hours
of electricity annually. At the same time
Estonia imports machinery and equipment, chemical
products, textiles, food products and transportation
equipment. Estonia imports 200 million kilowatt
hours of electricity annually.
Between 2007 and 2013, Estonia received 53.3
billion kroons (3.4 billion euros) from various
European Union Structural Funds as direct
supports, creating the largest foreign investments
into Estonia. Majority of the European Union
financial aid will be invested into the following
fields: energy economies, entrepreneurship,
administrative capability, education, information
society, environment protection, regional
and local development, research and development
activities, healthcare and welfare, transportation
and labour market. Main sources of foreign
direct investments to Estonia are Sweden and
Finland (As of 31 December 2016 48.3%).
== Demographics ==
Before World War II, ethnic Estonians constituted
88% of the population, with national minorities
constituting the remaining 12%. The largest
minority groups in 1934 were Russians, Germans,
Swedes, Latvians, Jews, Poles, Finns and Ingrians.
The share of Baltic Germans in Estonia had
fallen from 5.3% (~46,700) in 1881 to 1.3%
(16,346) by the year 1934, which was mainly
due to emigration to Germany in the light
of general Russification in the end of the
19th century and the independence of Estonia
in the 20th century.
Between 1945 and 1989, the share of ethnic
Estonians in the population resident within
the currently defined boundaries of Estonia
dropped to 61%, caused primarily by the Soviet
programme promoting mass immigration of urban
industrial workers from Russia, Ukraine, and
Belarus, as well as by wartime emigration
and Joseph Stalin's mass deportations and
executions. By 1989, minorities constituted
more than one-third of the population, as
the number of non-Estonians had grown almost
fivefold.
At the end of the 1980s, Estonians perceived
their demographic change as a national catastrophe.
This was a result of the migration policies
essential to the Soviet Nationalisation Programme
aiming to russify Estonia – administrative
and military immigration of non-Estonians
from the USSR coupled with the deportation
of Estonians to the USSR. In the decade after
the reconstitution of independence, large-scale
emigration by ethnic Russians and the removal
of the Russian military bases in 1994 caused
the proportion of ethnic Estonians in Estonia
to increase from 61% to 69% in 2006.
Modern Estonia is a fairly ethnically heterogeneous
country, but this heterogeneity is not a feature
of much of the country as the non-Estonian
population is concentrated in two of Estonia's
counties. Thirteen of Estonia's 15 counties
are over 80% ethnic Estonian, the most homogeneous
being Hiiumaa, where Estonians account for
98.4% of the population. In the counties of
Harju (including the capital city, Tallinn)
and Ida-Viru, however, ethnic Estonians make
up 60% and 20% of the population, respectively.
Russians make up 25.6% of the total population
but account for 36% of the population in Harju
county and 70% of the population in Ida-Viru
county.
The Estonian Cultural Autonomy law that was
passed in 1925 was unique in Europe at that
time. Cultural autonomies could be granted
to minorities numbering more than 3,000 people
with longstanding ties to the Republic of
Estonia. Before the Soviet occupation, the
Germans and Jewish minorities managed to elect
a cultural council. The Law on Cultural Autonomy
for National Minorities was reinstated in
1993. Historically, large parts of Estonia's
northwestern coast and islands have been populated
by indigenous ethnically Rannarootslased (Coastal
Swedes).
In recent years the numbers of Coastal Swedes
has risen again, numbering in 2008 almost
500 people, owing to the property reforms
in the beginning of the 1990s. In 2004, the
Ingrian Finnish minority in Estonia elected
a cultural council and was granted cultural
autonomy. The Estonian Swedish minority similarly
received cultural autonomy in 2007.
=== Society ===
Estonian society has undergone considerable
changes over the last twenty years, one of
the most notable being the increasing level
of stratification, and the distribution of
family income. The Gini coefficient has been
steadily higher than the European Union average
(31 in 2009), although it has clearly dropped.
The registered unemployment rate in January
2012 was 7.7%.Modern Estonia is a multinational
country in which 109 languages are spoken,
according to a 2000 census. 67.3% of Estonian
citizens speak Estonian as their native language,
29.7% Russian, and 3% speak other languages.
As of 2 July 2010, 84.1% of Estonian residents
are Estonian citizens, 8.6% are citizens of
other countries and 7.3% are "citizens with
undetermined citizenship". Since 1992 roughly
140,000 people have acquired Estonian citizenship
by passing naturalisation exams. Estonia has
also accepted quota refugees under the migrant
plan agreed upon by EU member states in 2015.The
ethnic distribution in Estonia is very homogeneous,
where in most counties over 90% of the people
are ethnic Estonians. This is in contrast
to large urban centres like Tallinn, where
Estonians account for 60% of the population,
and the remainder is composed mostly of Russian
and other Slavic inhabitants, who arrived
in Estonia during the Soviet period.
The 2008 United Nations Human Rights Council
report called "extremely credible" the description
of the citizenship policy of Estonia as "discriminatory".
According to surveys, only 5% of the Russian
community have considered returning to Russia
in the near future. Estonian Russians have
developed their own identity – more than
half of the respondents recognised that Estonian
Russians differ noticeably from the Russians
in Russia. When comparing the result with
a survey from 2000, then Russians' attitude
toward the future is much more positive.Estonia
has been the first post-Soviet republic that
has legalised civil unions of same-sex couples.
The law was approved in October 2014 and came
into effect 1 January 2016.53.3% of ethnically
Estonian youth consider belonging in the Nordic
identity group as important or very important
for them. 52.2% have the same attitude towards
the "Baltic" identity group, according to
a research study from 2013
The image that Estonian youths have of their
identity is rather similar to that of the
Finns as far as the identities of being a
citizen of one’s own country, a Fenno-Ugric
person, or a Nordic person are concerned,
while our identity as a citizen of Europe
is common ground between us and Latvians - being
stronger here than it is among the young people
of Finland and Sweden.
=== Urbanization ===
Tallinn is the capital and the largest city
of Estonia. It lies on the northern coast
of Estonia, along the Gulf of Finland. There
are 33 cities and several town-parish towns
in the country. In total, there are 47 linna,
with "linn" in English meaning both "cities"
and "towns". More than 70% of the population
lives in towns. The 20 largest cities are
listed below:
=== Religion ===
Estonia has a rich and diverse religious history,
but in recent years it has become increasingly
secular, with either a plurality or a majority
of the population declaring themselves nonreligious
in recent censuses, followed by those who
identify as religiously "undeclared". The
largest minority groups are the various Christian
denominations, principally Lutheran and Orthodox
Christians, with very small numbers of adherents
in non-Christian faiths such as Islam or Buddhism.
Other polls suggest the country is broadly
split between Christians and the non-religious
/ religiously undeclared.
In ancient Estonia, prior to Christianization
and according to Livonian Chronicle of Henry,
Tharapita was the predominant deity for the
Oeselians.Estonia was Christianised by the
Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. The
Protestant Reformation led to the establishment
of the Lutheran church in 1686. Before the
Second World War, Estonia was approximately
80% Protestant, overwhelmingly Lutheran, followed
by Calvinism and other Protestant branches.
Many Estonians profess not to be particularly
religious, because religion through the 19th
century was associated with German feudal
rule. There has historically been a small
but noticeable minority of Russian Old-believers
near the Lake Peipus area in Tartu County.
Today, Estonia's constitution guarantees freedom
of religion, separation of church and state,
and individual rights to privacy of belief
and religion. According to the Dentsu Communication
Institute Inc, Estonia is one of the least
religious countries in the world, with 75.7%
of the population claiming to be irreligious.
The Eurobarometer Poll 2005 found that only
16% of Estonians profess a belief in a god,
the lowest belief of all countries studied.
According to the Lutheran World Federation,
the historic Lutheran denomination has a large
presence with 180,000 registered members.New
polls about religiosity in the European Union
in 2012 by Eurobarometer found that Christianity
is the largest religion in Estonia accounting
for 45% of Estonians. Eastern Orthodox are
the largest Christian group in Estonia, accounting
for 17% of Estonia citizens, while Protestants
make up 6%, and Other Christian make up 22%.
Non believer/Agnostic account 22%, Atheist
accounts for 15%, and undeclared accounts
for 15%.The most recent Pew Research Center,
found that in 2015, 51% of the population
of Estonia declared itself Christians, 45%
religiously unaffiliated—a category which
includes atheists, agnostics and those who
describe their religion as "Nothing in Particular",
while 2% belonged to other faiths. The Christians
divided between 25% Eastern Orthodox, 20%
Lutherans, 5% other Christians and 1% Roman
Catholic. While the religiously unaffiliated
divided between 9% as atheists, 1% as agnostics
and 35% as Nothing in Particular.
The largest religious denomination in the
country was Lutheranism, adhered to by 160,000
Estonians (or 13% of the population) according
from 2000 census, principally ethnic Estonians.
Other organisations, such as the World Council
of Churches, report that there are as many
as 265,700 Estonian Lutherans. Additionally,
there are between 8,000–9,000 members abroad.
But however since 2011 census that Eastern
Orthodoxy has surpassed Lutheranism by 16.5%
or 176,773 of Estonian population as more
native Estonians abandoning Lutheranism to
favor without having religion and some they
converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.
Prior to 2011 census, The another major group,
inhabitants who follow Eastern Orthodox Christianity,
practised chiefly by the Russian minority
and several to a smaller minority of Estonian
population, and the Estonian Orthodox Church,
which under the Russian Orthodox Church is
the second largest denomination with 150,000
members. The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church,
under the Greek-Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate,
claims another 20,000 members. Thus, the number
of adherents of Lutheranism and Orthodoxy,
without regard to citizenship or ethnicity,
is roughly equal. Catholics have their Latin
Apostolic Administration of Estonia.
According to the census of 2000 (data in table
to the right), there were about 1,000 adherents
of the Taara faith or Maausk in Estonia (see
Maavalla Koda). The Jewish community has an
estimated population of about 1,900 (see History
of the Jews in Estonia). Around 68,000 people
consider themselves atheists.
=== Languages ===
The official language, Estonian, belongs to
the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages.
Estonian is closely related to Finnish, spoken
in Finland, across the other side of the Gulf
of Finland, and is one of the few languages
of Europe that is not of an Indo-European
origin. Despite some overlaps in the vocabulary
due to borrowings, in terms of its origin,
Estonian and Finnish are not related to their
nearest geographical neighbours, Swedish,
Latvian, and Russian, which are all Indo-European
languages.
Although the Estonian and Germanic languages
are of very different origins, one can identify
many similar words in Estonian and German,
for example. This is primarily because the
Estonian language has borrowed nearly one
third of its vocabulary from Germanic languages,
mainly from Low Saxon (Middle Low German)
during the period of German rule, and High
German (including standard German). The percentage
of Low Saxon and High German loanwords can
be estimated at 22–25 percent, with Low
Saxon making up about 15 percent.
South Estonian languages are spoken by 100,000
people and include the dialects of Võro and
Seto. The languages are spoken in South-Eastern
Estonia, are genealogically distinct from
northern Estonian: but are traditionally and
officially considered as dialects and "regional
forms of the Estonian language", not separate
language(s).Russian is still spoken as a secondary
language by forty- to seventy-year-old ethnic
Estonians, because Russian was the unofficial
language of the Estonian SSR from 1944 to
1991 and taught as a compulsory second language
during the Soviet era. In 1998, most first-
and second-generation industrial immigrants
from the former Soviet Union (mainly the Russian
SFSR) did not speak Estonian. However, by
2010, 64.1% of non-ethnic Estonians spoke
Estonian. The latter, mostly Russian-speaking
ethnic minorities, reside predominantly in
the capital city of Tallinn and the industrial
urban areas in Ida-Virumaa.
From the 13th to the 20th century, there were
Swedish-speaking communities in Estonia, particularly
in the coastal areas and on the islands (e.g.,
Hiiumaa, Vormsi, Ruhnu; in Swedish, known
as Dagö, Ormsö, Runö, respectively) along
the Baltic sea, communities which today have
almost disappeared. The Swedish-speaking minority
was represented in parliament, and entitled
to use their native language in parliamentary
debates.
From 1918 to 1940, when Estonia was independent,
the small Swedish community was well treated.
Municipalities with a Swedish majority, mainly
found along the coast, used Swedish as the
administrative language and Swedish-Estonian
culture saw an upswing. However, most Swedish-speaking
people fled to Sweden before the end of World
War II, that is, before the invasion of Estonia
by the Soviet army in 1944. Only a handful
of older speakers remain.
Apart from many other areas the influence
of Swedish is especially distinct in the Noarootsi
Parish of Lääne County where there are many
villages with bilingual Estonian and/or Swedish
names and street signs.The most common foreign
languages learned by Estonian students are
English, Russian, German and French. Other
popular languages include Finnish, Spanish
and Swedish.
=== Education and science ===
The history of formal education in Estonia
dates back to the 13th and 14th centuries
when the first monastic and cathedral schools
were founded. The first primer in the Estonian
language was published in 1575. The oldest
university is the University of Tartu, established
by the Swedish king Gustav II Adolf in 1632.
In 1919, university courses were first taught
in the Estonian language.
Today's education in Estonia is divided into
general, vocational, and hobby. The education
system is based on four levels: pre-school,
basic, secondary, and higher education. A
wide network of schools and supporting educational
institutions have been established. The Estonian
education system consists of state, municipal,
public, and private institutions. There are
currently 589 schools in Estonia.According
to the Programme for International Student
Assessment, the performance levels of gymnasium-age
pupils in Estonia is among the highest in
the world: in 2010, the country was ranked
13th for the quality of its education system,
well above the OECD average. Additionally,
around 89% of Estonian adults aged 25–64
have earned the equivalent of a high-school
degree, one of the highest rates in the industrialised
world.
Academic higher education in Estonia is divided
into three levels: bachelor's, master's, and
doctoral studies. In some specialties (basic
medical studies, veterinary, pharmacy, dentistry,
architect-engineer, and a classroom teacher
programme) the bachelor's and master's levels
are integrated into one unit. Estonian public
universities have significantly more autonomy
than applied higher education institutions.
In addition to organising the academic life
of the university, universities can create
new curricula, establish admission terms and
conditions, approve the budget, approve the
development plan, elect the rector, and make
restricted decisions in matters concerning
assets. Estonia has a moderate number of public
and private universities. The largest public
universities are the University of Tartu,
Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn
University, Estonian University of Life Sciences,
Estonian Academy of Arts; the largest private
university is Estonian Business School.
The Estonian Academy of Sciences is the national
academy of science. The strongest public non-profit
research institute that carries out fundamental
and applied research is the National Institute
of Chemical Physics and Biophysics (NICPB;
Estonian KBFI). The first computer centres
were established in the late 1950s in Tartu
and Tallinn. Estonian specialists contributed
in the development of software engineering
standards for ministries of the Soviet Union
during the 1980s. As of 2011, Estonia spends
around 2.38% of its GDP on Research and Development,
compared to an EU average of around 2.0%.Some
of the best-known scientists related to Estonia
include astronomers Friedrich Georg Wilhelm
von Struve, Ernst Öpik and Jaan Einasto,
biologist Karl Ernst von Baer, Jakob von Uexküll,
chemists Wilhelm Ostwald and Carl Schmidt,
economist Ragnar Nurkse, mathematician Edgar
Krahn, medical researchers Ludvig Puusepp
and Nikolay Pirogov, physicist Thomas Johann
Seebeck, political scientist Rein Taagepera,
psychologist Endel Tulving and Risto Näätänen,
semiotician Yuri Lotman.
According to New Scientist, Estonia will be
the first nation to provide personal genetic
information service sponsored by the state.
They aim to minimize and prevent future ailments
for those whose genes make them extra prone
to conditions like adult-onset diabetes and
cardiovascular diseases. The government plans
to provide lifestyle advice based on the DNA
for 100,000 of its 1.3 million citizens.
== Culture ==
The culture of Estonia incorporates indigenous
heritage, as represented by the Estonian language
and the sauna, with mainstream Nordic and
European cultural aspects. Because of its
history and geography, Estonia's culture has
been influenced by the traditions of the adjacent
area's various Finnic, Baltic, Slavic and
Germanic peoples as well as the cultural developments
in the former dominant powers Sweden and Russia.
Today, Estonian society encourages liberty
and liberalism, with popular commitment to
the ideals of the limited government, discouraging
centralised power and corruption. The Protestant
work ethic remains a significant cultural
staple, and free education is a highly prized
institution. Like the mainstream culture in
the other Nordic countries, Estonian culture
can be seen to build upon the ascetic environmental
realities and traditional livelihoods, a heritage
of comparatively widespread egalitarianism
out of practical reasons (see: Everyman's
right and universal suffrage), and the ideals
of closeness to nature and self-sufficiency
(see: summer cottage).
The Estonian Academy of Arts (Estonian: Eesti
Kunstiakadeemia, EKA) is providing higher
education in art, design, architecture, media,
art history and conservation while Viljandi
Culture Academy of University of Tartu has
an approach to popularise native culture through
such curricula as native construction, native
blacksmithing, native textile design, traditional
handicraft and traditional music, but also
jazz and church music. In 2010, there were
245 museums in Estonia whose combined collections
contain more than 10 million objects.
=== Music ===
The earliest mention of Estonian singing dates
back to Saxo Grammaticus Gesta Danorum (ca.
1179). Saxo speaks of Estonian warriors who
sang at night while waiting for a battle.
The older folksongs are also referred to as
regilaulud, songs in the poetic metre regivärss
the tradition shared by all Baltic Finns.
Runic singing was widespread among Estonians
until the 18th century, when rhythmic folk
songs began to replace them.Traditional wind
instruments derived from those used by shepherds
were once widespread, but are now becoming
again more commonly played. Other instruments,
including the fiddle, zither, concertina,
and accordion are used to play polka or other
dance music. The kannel is a native instrument
that is now again becoming more popular in
Estonia. A Native Music Preserving Centre
was opened in 2008 in Viljandi.
The tradition of Estonian Song Festivals (Laulupidu)
started at the height of the Estonian national
awakening in 1869. Today, it is one of the
largest amateur choral events in the world.
In 2004, about 100,000 people participated
in the Song Festival. Since 1928, the Tallinn
Song Festival Grounds (Lauluväljak) have
hosted the event every five years in July.
The last festival took place in July 2014.
In addition, Youth Song Festivals are also
held every four or five years, the last of
them in 2017.Professional Estonian musicians
and composers such as Rudolf Tobias, Miina
Härma, Mart Saar, Artur Kapp, Juhan Aavik,
Aleksander Kunileid, Artur Lemba and Heino
Eller emerged in the late 19th century. At
the time of this writing, the most known Estonian
composers are Arvo Pärt, Eduard Tubin, and
Veljo Tormis. In 2014, Arvo Pärt was the
world's most performed living composer for
the fourth year in a row.In the 1950s, Estonian
baritone Georg Ots rose to worldwide prominence
as an opera singer.
In popular music, Estonian artist Kerli Kõiv
has become popular in Europe, as well as gaining
moderate popularity in North America. She
has provided music for the 2010 Disney film
Alice in Wonderland and the television series
Smallville in the United States of America.
Estonia won the Eurovision Song Contest in
2001 with the song "Everybody" performed by
Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. In 2002, Estonia
hosted the event. Maarja-Liis Ilus has competed
for Estonia on two occasions (1996 and 1997),
while Eda-Ines Etti, Koit Toome and Evelin
Samuel owe their popularity partly to the
Eurovision Song Contest. Lenna Kuurmaa is
a very popular singer in Europe, with her
band Vanilla Ninja. "Rändajad" by Urban Symphony,
was the first ever song in Estonian to chart
in the UK, Belgium, and Switzerland.
=== Literature ===
The Estonian literature refers to literature
written in the Estonian language (ca. 1 million
speakers). The domination of Estonia after
the Northern Crusades, from the 13th century
to 1918 by Germany, Sweden, and Russia resulted
in few early written literary works in the
Estonian language. The oldest records of written
Estonian date from the 13th century. Originates
Livoniae in Chronicle of Henry of Livonia
contains Estonian place names, words and fragments
of sentences. The Liber Census Daniae (1241)
contains Estonian place and family names.
Many folk tales are told to this day and some
have been written down and translated to make
them accessible to an international readership.The
cultural stratum of Estonian was originally
characterised by a largely lyrical form of
folk poetry based on syllabic quantity. Apart
from a few albeit remarkable exceptions, this
archaic form has not been much employed in
later times. One of the most outstanding achievements
in this field is the national epic Kalevipoeg.
At a professional level, traditional folk
song reached its new heyday during the last
quarter of the 20th century, primarily thanks
to the work of composer Veljo Tormis.
Oskar Luts was the most prominent prose writer
of the early Estonian literature, who is still
widely read today, especially his lyrical
school novel Kevade (Spring). Anton Hansen
Tammsaare's social epic and psychological
realist pentalogy Truth and Justice captured
the evolution of Estonian society from a peasant
community to an independent nation. In modern
times, Jaan Kross and Jaan Kaplinski are Estonia's
best known and most translated writers. Among
the most popular writers of the late 20th
and early 21st centuries are Tõnu Õnnepalu
and Andrus Kivirähk, who uses elements of
Estonian folklore and mythology, deforming
them into absurd and grotesque.
=== Media ===
The cinema of Estonia started in 1908 with
the production of a newsreel about Swedish
King Gustav V's visit to Tallinn. The first
public TV broadcast in Estonia was in July
1955. Regular, live radio broadcasts began
in December 1926. Deregulation in the field
of electronic media has brought radical changes
compared to the beginning of the 1990s. The
first licenses for private TV broadcasters
were issued in 1992. The first private radio
station went on the air in 1990.
Today the media is a vibrant and competitive
sector. There is a plethora of weekly newspapers
and magazines, and Estonians have a choice
of 9 domestic TV channels and a host of radio
stations. The Constitution guarantees freedom
of speech, and Estonia has been internationally
recognised for its high rate of press freedom,
having been ranked 3rd in the 2012 Press Freedom
Index by Reporters Without Borders.Estonia
has two news agencies. The Baltic News Service
(BNS), founded in 1990, is a private regional
news agency covering Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The ETV24 is an agency owned by Eesti Rahvusringhääling
who is a publicly funded radio and television
organisation created on 30 June 2007 to take
over the functions of the formerly separate
Eesti Raadio and Eesti Televisioon under the
terms of the Estonian National Broadcasting
Act.
=== Architecture ===
The architectural history of Estonia mainly
reflects its contemporary development in northern
Europe. Worth mentioning is especially the
architectural ensemble that makes out the
medieval old town of Tallinn, which is on
the UNESCO World Heritage List. In addition,
the country has several unique, more or less
preserved hill forts dating from pre-Christian
times, a large number of still intact medieval
castles and churches, while the countryside
is still shaped by the presence of a vast
number of manor houses from earlier centuries.
=== Holidays ===
The Estonian National Day is the Independence
Day celebrated on 24 February, the day the
Estonian Declaration of Independence was issued.
As of 2013, there are 12 public holidays (which
come with a day off) and 12 national holidays
celebrated annually.
=== Cuisine ===
Historically, the cuisine of Estonia has been
heavily dependent on seasons and simple peasant
food. Today, it includes many typical international
foods. The most typical foods in Estonia are
black bread, pork, potatoes, and dairy products.
Traditionally in summer and spring, Estonians
like to eat everything fresh – berries,
herbs, vegetables, and everything else that
comes straight from the garden. Hunting and
fishing have also been very common, although
currently hunting and fishing are enjoyed
mostly as hobbies. Today, it is also very
popular to grill outside in summer.
Traditionally in winter, jams, preserves,
and pickles are brought to the table. Gathering
and conserving fruits, mushrooms, and vegetables
for winter has always been popular, but today
gathering and conserving is becoming less
common because everything can be bought from
stores. However, preparing food for winter
is still very popular in the countryside.
=== Sports ===
Sport plays an important role in Estonian
culture. After declaring independence from
Russia in 1918, Estonia first competed as
a nation at the 1920 Summer Olympics, although
the National Olympic Committee was established
in 1923. Estonian athletes took part of the
Olympic Games until the country was annexed
by the Soviet Union in 1940. The 1980 Summer
Olympics Sailing regatta was held in the capital
city Tallinn. After regaining independence
in 1991, Estonia has participated in all Olympics.
Estonia has won most of its medals in athletics,
weightlifting, wrestling and cross-country
skiing. Estonia has had very good success
at the Olympic games given the country's small
population. Estonia's best results were being
ranked 13th in the medal table at the 1936
Summer Olympics, and 12th at the 2006 Winter
Olympics.
The list of notable Estonian athletes include
wrestlers Kristjan Palusalu, Johannes Kotkas,
Voldemar Väli, and Georg Lurich, skiers Andrus
Veerpalu and Kristina Šmigun-Vähi, fencer
Nikolai Novosjolov, decathlete Erki Nool,
tennis players Kaia Kanepi and Anett Kontaveit,
cyclists Jaan Kirsipuu and Erika Salumäe
and discus throwers Gerd Kanter and Aleksander
Tammert.
Kiiking, a relatively new sport, was invented
in 1996 by Ado Kosk in Estonia. Kiiking involves
a modified swing in which the rider of the
swing tries to go around 360 degrees.
Paul Keres, Estonian and Soviet chess grandmaster,
was among the world's top players from the
mid-1930s to the mid-1960s. He narrowly missed
a chance at a World Chess Championship match
on five occasions.
Basketball is also a notable sport in Estonia.
The domestic top-tier basketball championship
is called the Korvpalli Meistriliiga. BC Kalev/Cramo
are the most recent champions, having won
the league in the 2016–17 season. University
of Tartu team has won the league a record
26 times. Estonian clubs also participate
in European and regional competitions. Estonia
national basketball team previously participated
in 1936 Summer Olympics, appeared in EuroBasket
four times. Estonian national team also competed
at the EuroBasket 2015.
Kelly Sildaru, an Estonian freestyle skier,
won the gold medal in the slopestyle event
in the 2016 Winter X Games. At age 13, she
became the youngest gold medalist to date
at a Winter X Games event, and the first person
to win a Winter X Games medal for Estonia.
She has also won the women's slopestyle at
2015 and 2016 Winter Dew Tour.
In modern-era motorsports, World Rally Championship
has seen two very successful Estonian drivers
reach high results, with Markko Märtin achieving
5 rally victories and finishing 3rd overall
in the 2004 World Rally Championship and Ott
Tänak (active driver) winning his first WRC
event at 2017 Rally d'Italia. In circuit racing,
Marko Asmer was the first Estonian driver
to test a Formula One car in 2003 with Williams
Grand Prix Engineering, in other series Sten
Pentus and Kevin Korjus (active driver) have
enjoyed success on a global scale.
== International rankings ==
The following are links to international rankings
of Estonia.
== See also ==
Outline of Estonia
Index of Estonia-related articles
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
== Further reading ==
== 
External links ==
GovernmentThe President of Estonia
The Parliament of Estonia
Estonian Government
Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Statistical Office of Estonia
Chief of State and Cabinet MembersTravelOfficial
gateway to Estonia
E-Estonia Portal
VisitEstonia Portal
Estonia travel guide from WikivoyageMapsgoogle.com
map of Estonia
Geographic data related to Estonia at OpenStreetMapGeneral
informationEncyclopedia Estonica
Estonian Institute
"Estonia". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence
Agency.
BBC News – Estonia country profile
Estonia at UCB Libraries GovPubs
Estonia at Curlie
Wikimedia Atlas of Estonia
