Estonia

The Republic of Estonia is a country in Northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the north. Estonia has land borders with its fellow Baltic state, Latvia, to the south, with Russia to the east, and maritime border with Finland to the north. {| border=1 align=right cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=300 style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" |+Eesti Vabariik |- | align="center" colspan="2" | {| style="background:#f9f9f9;" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" height="120px" | align="center" width="140px" | | align="center" width="140px" | |- | align="center" width="140px" | (Flag of Estonia) | align="center" width="140px" | (Coat of Arms of Estonia) |} |- | align="center" colspan="2" | ''National motto: None'' |- | align=center colspan=2 | |- | Official language | Estonian language |- | Capital | Tallinn |- | President of Estonia | Arnold R��tel |- | Prime Minister of Estonia | Andrus Ansip |- | Area
- Total
- % water | List of countries by area
1 E10 m�
4.56% |- | Population
- Total (As of 2003)
- Population density | List of countries by population
1,408,556
31/km² |- | Independence
- Declared
- Recognised
- Lost
Collapse of the Soviet Union
- Declared
- Recognised | From Imperial Russia
24 February 1918
2 February 1920
June 1940
From Soviet Union
(16 November 1988)
20 August 1991 |- | Currency | Estonian kroon |- | Time zone
- in European Summer Time | Eastern European Time (Coordinated Universal Time+2)
Eastern European Summer Time (Coordinated Universal Time+3) |- | National anthem | Mu isamaa, mu �nn ja r��m |- | Top-level domain | .ee |- | List_of_country_calling_codes | 372 |- | National Bird | Barn Swallow |- | National Flower | Blue Cornflower |} == History == ''Main article: History of Estonia'' Estonia has been populated by the native Finno Ugric Estonians since prehistory. It was first christianization when the Germany "Livonian Sword Brethren" and Denmark conquered the land by 1227. Subsequent foreign powers that controlled Estonia at various times included Denmark, Sweden, Poland and finally (1710 de facto, 1721 de jure, see Treaty of Nystad) Russia. However, the upper classes and the higher middle class remained primarily Baltic German until roughly 1918; the Germans who had stayed then were either forced by Hitler or later Stalin to leave during or after the end of World War II. Following the collapse of Imperial Russia after the October Revolution, Estonia declared its independence as a republic on February 24, 1918. It maintained this independence for twenty-two years, and the very same parliamentary government was reinstated in 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It included a parliament called ''Riigikogu'', elected by all Estonians age 20 or above. In 1934, the parliamentary government was replaced with a more centralized, authoritarian system by President Konstantin P�ts. The country was included in the Soviet Union in June 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Many of its political and intellectual leaders were repressed or killed, including Estonia's first president Konstantin P�ts, who was deported to Siberia. The country was occupied by the Third Reich from 1941 to 1944, when Soviet forces reconquered it. Estonia regained its independence on August 20, 1991, with the Singing Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union. August 20 is now a national holiday in Estonia. The last Russian troops left on August 31, 1994, and Estonia joined NATO on March 29, 2004 and the European Union on May 1, 2004. Estonia signed a border agreement with Russia on May 18, 2005, slightly redefining the border they had been using since 1991, which the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament, ratified on June 20, 2005. The treaty awaits ratification by the Russian State Duma, the country's parliament. == Politics == ''Main article: Politics of Estonia'' Estonia is a constitutional democracy, with a president elected by its unicameral parliament (elections every five years). The government or the executive branch is formed by the prime minister, nominated by the president, and a total of 14 ministers. The government is appointed by the president after approval by the parliament. Legislative power lies with the unicameral parliament, the ''Riigikogu'' or State Assembly, which consists of 101 seats. Members are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The supreme judiciary court is the National Court or ''Riigikohus'', with 17 justices whose chairman is appointed by the parliament for life on nomination by the president. == Counties == ''Main article: Counties of Estonia'' Estonia numbers 15 main administrative subdivisions. Due to the geographical and demographic size of these subdivisions, they are to be considered counties rather than states (Estonian: pl. ''maakonnad''; sg. - ''maakond''). Here is a list of them: *Harju County (Estonian: ''Harjumaa'') *Hiiu County (Estonian: ''Hiiumaa'') *Ida-Viru County (Estonian: ''Ida-Virumaa'') *J�rva County (Estonian: ''J�rvamaa'') *J�geva County (Estonian: ''J�gevamaa'') *L��ne County (Estonian: ''L��nemaa'') *L��ne-Viru County (Estonian: ''L��ne-Virumaa'') *P�rnu County (Estonian: ''P�rnumaa'') *P�lva County (Estonian: ''P�lvamaa'') *Rapla County (Estonian: ''Raplamaa'') *Saare County (Estonian: ''Saaremaa'') *Tartu County (Estonian: ''Tartumaa'') *Valga County (Estonian: ''Valgamaa'') *Viljandi County (Estonian: ''Viljandimaa'') *V�ru County (Estonian: ''V�rumaa'') == Geography == ''Main article: Geography of Estonia'' Between 57.3� and 59.5� latitude and 21.5� and 28.1� longitude, Estonia lies on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea on the level northwestern part of the rising east European platform. Average elevation reaches only 50 m, and the country's highest point is the Suur Munam�gi in the southeast (318 m). Oil shale (or kukersite) and limestone deposits, along with forests which cover 47% of the land, play key economic roles in this generally resource-poor country. Estonia boasts over List of lakes in Estonia (most very small, with the largest, Lake Peipsi, being 3,555 km�), numerous bogs, and 3,794 kilometers of coastline marked by numerous bays, straits, and inlets. The number of islands and islets is estimated at some 1,500, with two of them large enough to constitute their own counties, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. == Climate == See [http://weather.ee/ Weather] (English), [http://ilm.ee/ Ilm] (Estonian) or [http://pogoda.ee/ Pogoda] (Russian). == Economy == ''Main article: Economy of Estonia'' As a member of the European Union, Estonia is part of the world's largest economic zone. In 1999, Estonia experienced its worst year economically since it regained independence in 1991, largely because of the impact of the August 1998 Russian financial crisis. Estonia joined the World Trade Organization in November 1999 — the second Baltic state to join — and continued its EU accession talks. Privatization of energy, telecommunications, railways, and other state-owned companies is a continuing process. With assistance from the European Union, the World Bank and the Nordic Bank, Estonia completed most of its preparations for EU membership by the end of 2002 and now has one of the strongest economies of the new members states of the European Union, which Estonia joined on 1 May 2004. The Estonian economy is growing fast, partly due to a number of Scandinavian companies relocating their routine operations and Russian oil transit using Estonian ports. Estonia has a strong information technology (IT) sector. List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita is at $16,461, the highest among the Baltic states. In 1994, Estonia became among the first in the world to adopt a flat tax, with a uniform rate of 26% regardless of the income a person makes. In January 2005 the personal income tax rate was reduced to 24%. Since January 1, 2000, companies have not had to pay income tax on re-invested income. == Demographics == ''Main article: Demographics of Estonia'' About seventy percent of the population consist of ethnic Estonians, with the rest from other former Soviet republics, mainly Russia, who predominantly live in the industrial north eastern county of Ida-Virumaa and in the capital Tallinn. There is also a small group of Finland descent. The country's official language is Estonian language, which is closely related to Finnish language. Russian language is also widely spoken by the older generation (during the Soviet era learning Russian in a large volume was compulsory). Younger people usually speak English language, having learned it as their first foreign language. === Ethnicity === According to a regional census undertaken in 2003, the Estonian population is comprised of the following ethnic groups: * 68.4% Estonians * 25.7% Russians * 2.1% Ukrainians * 1.2% Belarusians * 0.8% Finns * 1.7% others ==Religion== The predominant religion of Estonians is the Christianity belief in the form the Evangelical Lutheran confession. Less than a third of the population define themselves as believers; of these the majority are Lutheran, whereas the Russian minority is Eastern Orthodox. Some ancient equinoctial Heathenry traditions are still held in high regard, and the summer equinox is a time of great celebration and festivities. Some neopagans revere the local ancient God Taara. Today, about 32% of the population are members of a church or religious group; they are made up of: * 14.8% Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church * 13.9% Orthodox * ca. 6,000 Baptists * ca. 6,000 Roman-Catholics There are also a number of smaller Protestant and Jewish groups. ==Language== The Estonian language, together with Finnish language and Hungarian language, belong to a language group called the Finno-Ugric languages. They are linguistically unrelated to what linguists call the Indo-European language family, which includes all other European languages except Basque language, Turkish language and Maltese language. Speakers of English language or another Indo-European language (such as Spanish language, Russian language, or German language) who learn Estonian, or speakers of Estonian who learn an Indo-European language, face a harder task than speakers of one Indo-European language learning another. Estonia has the highest practical rate of literacy in the world. == Culture == ''Main article: Culture of Estonia'' * University of Tartu * Tallinn University of Technology * List of famous Estonians * Music of Estonia * Estonian mythology == Miscellaneous topics == * Communications in Estonia * Transportation in Estonia * Military of Estonia * Foreign relations of Estonia * Tourism in the Baltics * List of cities in Estonia * List of municipalities of Estonia * Crime in Estonia * The Estonian State Decorations * List of people on stamps of Estonia * Public holidays in Estonia == External links == * [http://www.riik.ee/en/ Official State Website (''e''Riik)] - in English * [http://english.eesti.pl Estonia onLine - website about Estonia] * [http://webcam.deili.info/en,1,32 Webcam in Estonia] * [http://www.ciesin.ee/ESTCG/ Estonia Country Guide] * [http://www.estonica.org/ Estonica - from A to Z about Estonia] * [http://wikitravel.org/en/article/Estonia Estonia at Wikitravel] * [http://estonia.europe-countries.com/ Estonia Pictures] * [http://www.europe-atlas.com/estonia-map.htm Estonia Map] * [http://www.rate.ee Estonian youth] Estonia Republics European Union member states bs:Estonija fo:Estland la:Estonia lv:Igaunija li:Esland ms:Estonia zh-min-nan:Eesti nds:Estland os:Эстони se:Estl�nda simple:Estonia

Estonia

''An event mentioned in this article is an Template:August 20 selected anniversaries''. ------ When did the ship sink? -User:corvus13 September 28, 1994. User:Andres 08:22, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC) ---- "Estonia has the highest practical rate of literacy in the world." what sources are used to support that? Does it really belong here? ---- There is a problem with linking to the counties. Estonian counties have pairs of synonymous names. For example, Harjumaa ('Harjuland') is also called ''Harju maakond'' ('Harju County'). On the other hand, Hiiumaa and Saaremaa are islands. At least in the case of Saaremaa the county involves other islands as well, so the name Saaremaa is ambiguous between the island and the county. I am not sure about Hiiumaa. As to now, the articles about Saaremaa and Hiiumaa are about islands. User:Andres 08:21, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC) I created the Counties of Estonia entry to replace a bad cut and paste version posted at ''List of Estonian counties''. I'm not proficient in Estonian but I might be able to give some advice based on the work I've done with the Counties of Sweden. In Sweden there were two types of disambiguation issues affecting the naming of the county articles: cities and historical provinces. Two examples: *"Stockholms l�n" needed to be disambiguated from the city of Stockholm. Outcome: Stockholm (county). *"Hallands l�n" needed to be to be disambiguated from the historical province of Halland. Outcome: Halland (county) It can be a good idea to construct a uniform template to be used for the separate county articles. This can be done by starting a Wikipedia:WikiProject Estonian counties, which can be based on Wikipedia:WikiProject Swedish counties. Are there -- User:Mic 12:58, Aug 30, 2003 (UTC) : Thank you for your advice. User:Andres 16:18, 31 Aug 2003 (UTC) : My proposal for the nomenclature of counties in titles is: J�rva County, Saare County, Ida-Viru County etc. Then the island of Saaremaa could be discriminated from the Saare County. User:Andres 20:22, 6 Dec 2003 (UTC) : This also corresponds to the map we have (except that Tallinn is part of Harju County). : ---- I suggest that ve could make just namelist in here, in the page Estonia, and give link to Counties of Estonia... --User:Egon 16:52, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC) : My plan is to copy the list here to the page "Counties of Estonia" when all counties have articles and all redirects is done. On this page would be just names in style "Harju County". The link to "Counties of Estonia" alreafy exists. User:Andres 18:06, 10 Dec 2003 (UTC) == Infobox Move == I am gonna move the infobox over to a template, keep the main page a bit clean, if anyone has any concerns just not them here. --User:Boothy443 04:14, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC) hey! someone has messed the whole article up! why is it in estonian now... do we have to start translating it or here's way to recover messed up pages? ==Vote for deletion== I think people here will be interested to tell their opinion at this vote for deletion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Votes_for_deletion/Occupied_territories_of_Baltic_States == Occupation, annexation == I don't understand why terms as annexation and occupation are used as they are. if Germans occupied this country in 1941, then why SU annexed it in 1944? I'd consider that SU both occupied it and annexed, for example Eastern Germany was only occupied, but not annexed and remained semi-indepandant. As for 1940 may be possible to consider the issue as unclear, though occupation is most widely used term, at least if to take into account resolution of Parliament Assembly of Council of Europe of 1960 concerning 20 years of Soviet occupation of Baltic states or Europaen Parliament's resolution of 1983 on occupied Baltic States. I propose this should be in line with the other Baltic states

Estonia

European Union member states European countries Baltic states Baltic Sea

See other meanings of words starting from letter:

E

EA | EB | EC | ED | EF | EG | EH | EI | EJ | EK | EL | EM | EN | EO | EP | ER | ES | ET | EU | EW | EX | EY | EZ |

Words begining with Estonia:

Estonia
Estonia
Estonia
Estonia-bio-stub
Estonia-related_stubs
Estonia-stub
Estonia/Communications
Estonia/Economy
Estonia/Geography
Estonia/Government
Estonia/History
Estonia/Military
Estonia/People
Estonia/Transnational_issues
Estonia/Transportation
Estonian
Estonians
Estonian_actors
Estonian_Air
Estonian_albums
Estonian_alphabet
Estonian_anthem
Estonian_artists
Estonian_athletes
Estonian_basketball_players
Estonian_Center_Party
Estonian_Centre_Party
Estonian_chess_players
Estonian_Christian_People's_Party
Estonian_composers
Estonian_culture
Estonian_cyclists
Estonian_Defence_Forces
Estonian_Embassy_in_Washington
Estonian_euro_coins
Estonian_euro_coins
Estonian_Evangelical_Lutheran_Church
Estonian_football
Estonian_footballers
Estonian_Football_Association
Estonian_football_clubs
Estonian_Foreign_Minister
Estonian_history
Estonian_Independence_Party
Estonian_islands
Estonian_journalists
Estonian_Kroon
Estonian_kroon
Estonian_Language
Estonian_language
Estonian_language
Estonian_Left_Party
Estonian_Liberation_War
Estonian_Liberation_War
Estonian_literature
Estonian_media
Estonian_Minister_of_Defence
Estonian_Minister_of_Defense
Estonian_Minister_of_Foreign_Affairs
Estonian_Minister_of_War
Estonian_Ministry_of_Foreign_Affairs
Estonian_models
Estonian_music
Estonian_music
Estonian_musical_groups
Estonian_musicians
Estonian_mythology
Estonian_mythology
Estonian_mythology
Estonian_National_Council
Estonian_newspapers
Estonian_opera_singers
Estonian_painters
Estonian_Parliament
Estonian_parliamentary_election,_1992
Estonian_parliamentary_election,_1995
Estonian_parliamentary_election,_1999
Estonian_parliamentary_election,_2003
Estonian_people
Estonian_people_by_occupation
Estonian_people_stubs
Estonian_poets
Estonian_politicians
Estonian_Prime_Minister
Estonian_Reform_Party
Estonian_rock
Estonian_S.S.R
Estonian_S.S.R
Estonian_scholars
Estonian_scientists
Estonian_singers
Estonian_society
Estonian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic
Estonian_sport
Estonian_sportspeople
Estonian_SSR
Estonian_SSR
Estonian_SSR/temp
Estonian_SSR/temp
Estonian_State_Decorations
Estonian_State_Decorations
Estonian_State_Decorations
Estonian_television
Estonian_United_People's_Party
Estonian_War_of_Independence
Estonian_writers
Estonia_(disambiguation)
Estonia_(province)
Estonia_at_the_1992_Summer_Olympics
Estonia_at_the_1996_Summer_Olympics
Estonia_at_the_2004_Summer_Olympics
Estonia_disaster
Estonia_disaster
Estonia_infobox
Estonia_national_football_team
Estonia_ship
Estonia_sinking