Estonia

Estonia ( Estonian : Eesti), officially the Republic of Estonia (Eesti Vabariik) is a country in Northern Europe in the west is bordered by the Baltic Sea, to the north by the Gulf of Finland , to the east by Russia and in the south by Latvia . It is the northernmost and smallest of the three Baltic countries, and it differs from the other Baltic states, Latvia and Lithuania by including the language , which Finoegrisch and not Baltic . On 1 January 2011 was the Estonian kroon replaced by the euro . Estonia is a member of the EU and a member of NATO .

Content

 * 1 History
 * 2 Geography
 * 3 Provinces and cities
 * 4 Population
 * 4.1 Russian-speaking minority
 * 4.2 Aids
 * 4.3 Religion
 * 5 Economics
 * 6 Digital Society
 * 7 Politics and government
 * 8 Transport
 * 9 Environment
 * 10 See also
 * 11 External links

History [ edit ]
From the 7th century settled Vikings on the Estonian coast. [source?] In 1202, Estonia became property of the Sword Brothers, one of the Teutonic Order related spiritual knighthood, which the pagan population by force christmas income. The southern part remained with the current Latvia under the authority of the Order, but the northern part came in 1224 under the Danish king in 1346 and went on to the Order. Meanwhile were next to the capital Reval (now Tallinn ) a dozen castles and thereby founded small towns, from which the country was governed economically and militarily. The city belonged to the Association of the Hanseatic League and were inhabited by a citizenry that was originally from the north of the German Reich . After the Reformation developed chivalry into a caste of landowners who owned nine-tenths of the land surface. The urban bourgeoisie remained German culture and Lutheran respect her religion.

After the introduction of the Lutheran Reformation, the 'Ordensstaat' became secularized, which weakened him so that in 1561 the northern part of Estonia under Swedish, and the southern part, along with the current Latvia, came under the Polish king. That changed the internal relations little. Attempts to rekatholicering Poland booked hardly result. In 1621 Poland had weakened his part cede to Sweden and were present Estonia and Latvia became a Swedish province. After the Great Northern War conquered Russia in the field in 1721. The German elite (Deutschbalten '), however, remained in the possession of its dominant position to the end of the 19th century . She directed the Russian province of Estonia, north of present-day Estonia) as an autonomous province, which was also the case with the Province of Livonia, whose northern part since 1918 also belongs to the present-day Estonia, and the southern part to the current Latvia. In these two provinces occupied the Baltic Germans as servants of the tsar high positions in government and military, while the Estonians were serf peasants and in the cities formed the underclass. In the last decades of the 19th century slowly developed a nationally-Estonian citizens in addition to the German Balts. The offense was given to them from the circle of Lutheran theologians and preachers, self-rule as Baltic Germans. Estonians bolstering their national awareness without which connect with the church. After all, for them it was the Lutheran church an oppressive instrument of power in the hands of the German Baltic "Ritter Schaft 'which blocked the development of Estonian and Lutheran church, so that tens of thousands of Estonians eventually to Russian Orthodoxy left turn after the Tsarist Regime before them legal status and promised material advantages. The emancipation of Estonians and Estonian language only came from 1860 from the ground under the influence of modern nationalism . Until 1918, this emancipation was suppressed by the russificeringspolitiek. After 1918, the Estonian national state language. After 1944. Pro forma remained the case, but the Russian took in fact the role of dominant language on.

Estonia is only from 1918 an independent state. Estonia became independent in 1940 by Soviet troops then occupied by German troops in 1941. Prior to that, nearly all 'Baltic' Germans and then also emigrated Swedes. Many Estonians joined as a volunteer increased to Estonian units of the Waffen-SS in order on the side of Germany, the independence of their country against the Soviet Union to fight. After expulsion of the German forces in late 1944 Estonia was again annexed by the Soviet Union.Several hundred thousand Estonians fled to the west and with similar numbers of Estonians were interned in prison camps. A large part of them never came back from the camps and their places were taken by Russians who eventually went on to form more than one-third of the population; in cities that ran on to half. The Soviet Republic of Estonia regained its independence in 1991 as a sovereign democratic republic.

Estonia joined on 1 May 2004 the European Union on 9 December 2010 and was a member of the OECD .

[Geography edit ]
Estonia has a total of 561 kilometers of borders. The coastline is much longer and measure 3794 km. There are three major rivers: the Emajögi, the Pärnu and Narva .Only the Emajõgi and Narva be navigated.

Estonia is a mainly flat country, but whose northern coast in many places steeply rising from the sea, and that becomes the southeast hills. Here also is the highest mountain in Estonia, Suur Munamägi (Big Egg Mountain, 318 m), which is slightly lower than the highest of Netherlands . The eastern border with Russia is largely formed by the Lake Peipus (3555 km²) and the Lake of Pskov, and the north by the river Narva . Only in southern Estonia has no natural boundary.

West and north of Estonia are hundreds of islands, the majority of which is uninhabited, some by the Soviet Union have been used as a military area. The largest islands are Saaremaa and densely forested Hiiumaa, both with a recognizable character. These two islands are home provinces. Smaller islands are inhabited Muhu , Vormsi ,Vilsandi , Abruka , Kihnu and Ruhnu .

Provinces and cities [ edit ]
The country is divided into fifteen counties (maakond, plural: maakonnad) and this country in 193 municipalities (vald) and 34 cities (linn).

The largest cities in Estonia are successively Tallinn (396 010 inhab.), Tartu (101 483), Narva (67 144), Kohtla-Järve (46 032) and Pärnu (44 396; population numbers by 2005 )

Population [ edit ]
The Estonians make up 68.6% of the majority of the population. In addition, there is a large Russian minority (25.7%) and smaller minorities of Ukrainians (2.1%), Belarusians (1.2%) and Finns (0.8%). About 45% of the inhabitants of the capital Tallinn consists of non-Estonians. In it, during the Soviet regime industrialized northeast of the country, around the town of Narva, Russians constitute an overwhelming majority of the population. Of Russians hold two thirds however an Estonian passport. In addition there are small remnants of the Estonian Swedes (300), whose ancestors in the 14th century when fishermen settled on the Estonian coast and the Baltic Germans from the 13th century until the end of the 19th century dominated the country. German and Swedish Balts left between 1939 and 1945 the country.

Russian-speaking minority [ edit ]
As in Latvia is located in Estonia, largely owing to a from Moscow stimulated immigration at the time of the Soviet Union, a sizeable Russian-speaking minority. This came voluntarily to the area because of the slightly higher wages, because there were more things to buy than in the rest of the Soviet Union . They also had many privileges. The Estonian language was at the time of the Soviet Union strongly discouraged;everyone was supposed to speak Russian, making Estonian residents felt second-class citizens. Between 1959 and 1989 the percentage of Russians from 22% to 35%. The Russian-speaking minority is concentrated in the capital Tallinn (40% of the population of 397,000 inhabitants) and in some industrial cities in Northeast Estonia, whose Narva and Kohtla-Järve are key. In these two cities is about 95% of the Russian speaking population. In the second city of the country, Tartu (population 114,000 until recently, now just over 100,000), but there is a small Russian-speaking minority (13%). Many Russians remained because of better social services in Estonia.

According to the Estonian Ministry of population affairs were in December 2005 136.533 inhabitants (about 10%) of Estonia no Estonian citizen, and they constitute one third of the Russian-speaking minority [4] . One of the main conditions for obtaining Estonian nationality is to speak the Estonian language or to make a language exam. The Russian minority and smaller minorities of Belarusians, Ukrainians and Finns, are thus deemed to learn the Estonian language. To obtain a job in Estonia, the Estonian language required in different gradients; For some professions, such as doctor, much is required Estonian language skills for other professions as manufacturing is a limited Estonian vocabulary sufficient. Many factories where the Russians were working however went bankrupt and therefore there is high unemployment among this population. InLithuania was then chosen to naturalize all resident Russians in the country, but there was only about 6% of the population.

This tension between the Eststalige and the Russian-speaking population and guided between the Estonian and Russian government. Despite the traditional tolerance of the Estonian population broke in April 2007riots between a part of the Russian population and the Estonian police after the relocation of a bronze statue, a symbol of the Russian population in Estonia but for Estonians also a symbol Soviet occupation. This image has been moved from a square near the National Library of Estonia to the war cemetery in the district Juhkentali . Here are many soldiers of the Red Army buried.

During Soviet rule, most Russians living in Estonia never felt the need to learn the Estonian language and they find it unreasonable that they are still forced to do so if they wish to acquire Estonian nationality.Russian and Estonian are no other spoken languages ​​and Estonian has the reputation of being a difficult language. Return to Russia like many Russians as Russia them because of high unemployment and the migrant problem does not receive with open arms. Additionally counts that people feel safer in Estonia and unemployment benefits and pensions, there are many times higher. Many Russians moreover who were born in Estonia during the Soviet period often little family ties with Russia and are therefore much less likely to go to Russia. Finally, is that Russians do not have Estonian citizenship basically stateless and therefore the country can not unless they have a Russian passport.

Also play indifference and cultural or political motives are involved. Many Russians living in Estonia are, as speakers of a world language, Estonian a minor language. They often do not agree with the official Estonian reading that the country between 1940 and 1990 by the Soviet Union occupied and feel that it is an autonomous Soviet republic voluntarily belonged. This was the official and compulsory reading during the Soviet Union and many Russians still adhere value here. The Russian population in Estonia has put himself through this arrangement after 1990 in the position of "fifth column" and called mistrust, especially among Estonians who have an anti-Russian stance and the Russians regard as former occupiers that they would prefer to return to Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian-born children of immigrants have less to do with this problem, because they had to learn to speak Estonian at school. The OSCE Commissioner on National Minorities has continued the Estonian government convinced of the necessity of a number of measures, including the right of children of Russian parents who were born after 1991 will automatically receive Estonian citizenship [5] .

AIDS [ edit ]
Estimated figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that 1.3 percent of Estonians between 15 and 49 is infected with the virus that can cause AIDS, which after Ukraine makes the most contaminated country in Europe. Definitely more than 5,000 Estonians are infected, but the number of new infections is gradually taking something off; from 899 in 2002 to 621 in 2005. [6] Presumably not all carriers of the HIValready registered as such. Estonia has 1,266,375  (2013)  inhabitants.

The majority of carriers are in Narva concentrated where since the colonization policy of 1946, the majority of the population of Russian origin. Located adjacent to the border with Russia here also other problems such as drug addiction and prostitution a major role.

[Religion edit ]
The majority of the Estonian population is now on ecclesiastical, partly as a result of political atheism of the era under the Soviet Union .

The Lutheran Protestantism has always been the religion of the Estonians after the Reformation around 1525 as a state religion was introduced in the surrounding states, especially the Duchy of Prussia and the Scandinavian countries. The Lutheran church was in the hands of the German upper class of landowners and townspeople and, although the Estonians from the beginning came forward in their own language, they treated them as minors. The awakening nationalism therefore spent at the end of the 19th century many Estonians help from the church, which they regarded as an instrument of power of the "German Balts' to avert. Simultaneously, the Russian Orthodox Church with State tried to convert the Estonians. The privileges of spent were given the prospect of tens of thousands of Estonians States to be orthodox, a choice that it was only after the declaration of independence again were undone, because it was forbidden under Russian rule to unsubscribe from the Russian state church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Estonia was between 1920 and 1940 a national church, but after the annexation by the Soviet Union marginalized. Since 1992 she has again been given the status of official church. The opening of the Parliament of Estonia is preceded by church services and the country bishop of the Lutheran church is a central personality in the Latvian religious life and theological faculties in Tallinn and Tartu . Nowadays, only 30% of the population registered as belonging to a Christian denomination. Are: The Council of Christian Churches in Estonia includes the ten most important churches of the country.
 * 13.6% Evangelical Lutheran
 * 12.8% Russian Orthodox
 * 0.5% Baptists
 * 0.5% Roman Catholic

A special minority are the 5000 Russian Orthodox Old Believers, who could not accept the authority of the Russian state and church in the 18th century were severely prosecuted. They drew from Russia to East Prussia and the Baltic states, when they have not been under Russian rule. On the Estonian shores of Lake Peipus are some Russian Old Rite villages.

Approximately 4,248 people are members of the Jehovah's Witnesses . Only 0.1% of the Estonian population is a member of a Jewish congregation. There are also smaller communities of Muslim minorities in the former Soviet Union .

Economy [ edit ]
In the 90 Estonia has implemented far-reaching economic liberalization, so there is a 1994 flat tax introduced. In 2004 it grew gross domestic product by 6.2%. Estonia in 2007 was on the twelfth place in the ranking of economic freedom of the conservative Heritage Foundation . In addition, Estonia was in 2014 at number 12 of the 27 most competitive economies in the EU, behind Ireland and before Spain and Portugal. [7]

In May 2010 decided the European Commission that Estonia on 1 January 2011, the euro was allowed to enter. Estonia had at that time a budget deficit of 1.7% of gross domestic product, which was better than any other member of the eurozone, and a debt ratio of 7.5%, which was about one-tenth of the average for the eurozone. Estonia's accession to the eurozone came just during the Greek crisis and came under a lot of analysts therefore at a bad time. [8]

Digital society [ edit ]
Computers and the internet are a part of the national identity became Estonia. Until August 1991, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union . Saddled with outdated Soviet technology, the country decided to become the most advanced technological country in the world. Estonians felt by the rest of the world abandoned and decided to become a nation of doers: "If you need anything, you have to make it yourself." [9]

In 2007, Estonia was the first country affected by a cyber attack hit. After that e-cyber division of the army founded, staffed by concerned citizens and intended to hackers to keep out the door. [10]

Estonia has been running for a time at the forefront of digital innovation. Thus, Estonians can since 2005 via the Internet voting in elections. Also, many technology companies have been established, such as Skype .

The digitization of Estonia aims to the contact between the government and citizens, and to improve the governments themselves and reduce bureaucracy. The technical solutions also serve as an export to other countries.

Estonia has many digital applications that can make citizens' lives easier, such as voting via the Internet, from any computer, anywhere in the world. The tax form can be filled out digitally; any refund is arranged within 48 hours. All legislation in Estonia, from 2003, can be accessed from the computer. A paper prescription for the pharmacy is also no longer necessary. For more than 85% of schools in Estonia makes use of the electronic school. Thus 95% of all students are met. [11]

Secure, authenticated identity is the birthright of every Est: before a newborn baby comes home, the hospital has already issued a digital birth certificate and his health insurance addressed immediately. Due to new regulations, it is possible for foreigners to apply for an Estonian electronic ID card. 2025 would be 10 million people worldwide may have a digital ID. Thus the number of Estonians would eightfold. The digital Estonians not have the same rights as citizens of the country. Their legal position is similar to that of foreigners living in the Baltic state. [12]

Soon there will be a European law into effect, requiring member states to accept each other's digital IDs. Finland and other EU states are planning to take over parts of the Estonian IT system. [13]

[Politics and government Edit ]
The presidential palace of Kadriorg in Tallinn

The meeting of parliament the Riigikogu Estonia is a parliamentary democracy with a head of state Toomas Hendrik Ilves (SDE), which in October 2006 Arnold Rüütel (ERL) succeeded. Premier Taavi Rõivas(RE) since 26 March 2014. The President has relatively few powers. The government consists of a coalition of RE, K and ERL. The Estonian parliament is Riigikogumentioned. It consists of one room which has 101 members. These are elected every four years by universal suffrage. Riigikogu elect every four years the president.Executive power rests with the Cabinet, which is chaired by the Prime Minister is appointed by the President of the Republic. In the last elections took eleven parties involved, which eventually managed to conquer a six place in the Riigikogu (there is a threshold of 5%).

Estonia is the first country in the world where one could vote via the Internet in the parliament. [14] Earlier, one could already online voting during the municipal elections.[15]

[Transportation edit ]
The Port of Muuga

The length of the closed roads of Estonia was in 2000 30.300 km, of which 1601 km road and 2618 km roads . [16] The total length of the railway network amounted to 968 km, of which only 132 km were electrified. [16]

Estonia is conveniently located on the Baltic Sea, which implies that the ports of Tallinn and Muuga better able to receive his ships than more distant competitors like St. Petersburg . Estonian transport sector might even be seen as the sector where the future lie with the greatest potential. [17]

[Environmental edit ]
Estonia to Western European standards, a clean country with high biodiversity. However, she has to deal with the aftermath of the Soviet domination. For example, there was in the port city of Paldiski a Russian training center for nuclear submarines . In 1994 the base closed and decommissioned nuclear installation.

The energy sector is the biggest air polluter in Estonia, and particularly in the province of Ida-Viru . This contamination is closely linked to the presence of oil shale in the area. Estonia has a low CO 2 emissions as a country, but a high per capita emissions. Since the end of Soviet rule, the amount of pollution has decreased, mainly due to the introduction of filters, water treatment plants and the closure of old industry.

The increase in the number of roads has led to increased fragmentation of the present nature. The deforestation has increased since 1992 strongly. The increased prosperity and has associated consumption led to an increase in the amount of household waste. Between 1993 and 1997 it even increased by 40%. However, since 1997 there has been a decrease of 5% [18]

See also [ edit ]

 * Estonia from A to Z
 * Monuments on the World Heritage List
 * Konstantin Päts