Area: 45 227 sq kms (approx the size of The Netherlands or Denmark). More than 1500 islands, 3794 kms coastline, Saaremaa (2671 sq kms) is the 2nd largest island of the Baltic Sea. More than 1400 lakes, Lake Peipsi (3555 sq kms) is the 4th largest lake in Europe.
Population: 1 445 580. 68 pct thereof are Estonians, 29 pct Russians, 3 pct Ukrainians, Belorussians, Finns etc.
Language: Estonian. This is a Finno-Ugric language closely related to Finnish and distantly related to Hungarian. Finno-Ugric languages are not Indo-European, so there is no relation to Slavic languages such as Russian or Baltic languages such as Latvian or Lithuanian. Neither is there any relation to Germanic languages. Latin alphabet.
Religion: Lutheran, Russian Orthodox.
Estonia first declared itself independent 24 Feb 1918. In summer 1940 Estonia was occupied by the USSR and could only restore its independence 20 Aug 1991. The last units of Soviet (then already ex-Soviet) armed forces left Estonia 31 Aug 1994.
Estonia is a member of NATO since 29 March 2004 and of the EU since 1 May 2004.
Distance to Helsinki 85 kms, to Riga 307 kms, to St Petersburg 395 kms, to Stockholm 405 kms.
Area 158 sq kms. Population: 402 000.
Historical names: Lindanise, Kolyvan, Reval. Tallin is an offensive misspelling!
Tallinn was first mentioned in a written source by the Arab geographer Al Idrisi in 1154.
The city was granted the Lübeck City Rights in 1248.
Tallinn used to be a member of the Hanseatic League.
Until late 1800s, St. Olaf's Church in Tallinn was the tallest building ever built on the planet. In 1500, its spire rose to the height of 159 meters. Tallinn's Town Hall Apothecary has been continually functioning at least since 1422, making it the oldest such in the world.
Since 1997, Tallinn's Old Town is on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
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