Estonia

Map Credit: © Maps of the World (mapsofworld.com)
Click on map to enlarge it in a lightbox window. The north arrow (top-right corner) is supposed to point more towards the northwest, parallel to the lines of longitude (24° E, 25° E, etc.)

Officially known as EESTI Vabariik ("Estonian Republic") in the Estonian language, ESTONIA is one of three Baltic states and is located in Eastern Europe. Estonia is east of the Baltic Sea, northeast of the Gulf of Riga, north of Latvia, and west of Russia. Finland is north of Estonia, with the Gulf of Finland in between both countries. About 1.35 million people call Estonia home. Independence from the Soviet Union was declared on August 20th, 1991 and officially recognized by the Soviet Union on September 6th — and Estonia has been a sovereign country since then. February 24th and August 20th are celebrated as Independence Days. Estonia's currency once was the Estonian Kroon, which had an ISO 4217 currency code of EEK. Since 2011, Estonians use the Euro as their currency.

● ● ● ● ●  People and Places  ● ● ● ● ●  Estonian is the country's official language with over 1,200,000 communicators, and other languages in Estonia include Baltic Romani, Estonian Sign Language (6,300 communicators), Russian (1,100,000), Russian Sign Language, and Võro (over 80,000). According to Ethnologue, Baltic Romani is a developing language with approximately 360 communicators in Estonia (2013 census). Pertaining to ethnic groups, about 70% of citizens are Estonian. Ethnic Russians comprise about 25% of Estonia's population, followed by Ukrainians (2%), Belorussians (0.9%), Finns, Latvians, and Germans. Over 50% of Estonians identify as atheist or do not adhere to any religion (over 590,000), while an additional 17% of people have not or did not want to declare their religion according to the Estonian government's official statistics website: Statistics Estonia.

Approximately 310,000 people (28%) are Christians, followed by Jewish people (2,000), Earth Believers (2,000), Muslims (1,500), Buddhists (1,150), and Taara neo-pagan believers (1,050). Housing over 440,000 residents, the capital and most-populated city of Estonia is Tallinn. Popular sites and attractions in Tallinn include Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Kadriorg Park, the 1939-era Kajsamoor ship, Kalamaja District, Kumu Art Museum, Oleviste Church, Patarei Sea Fortress-Prison, Patkuli Observation Tower, St. Catherine's Passage, Tallinn Old Town district, Toompea Hill, and the Town Hall Square.

Other major cities include Haapsalu, Narva, Pärnu, and Tartu. Lower-populated communities include Kõpu, Kuressaare, Lohusuu, Mõisaküla, Mustjala, Otepää, Pärnu-Jaagupi (Pärnu-Saint James), Rakvere, Riguldi, Sääre, Tapa, Tõstmaa, Virtsu, and Võru. Landmarks located outside of Tallinn include the Episcopal Castle (in Kuressaare), Kissing Students Fountain (Tartu), Narva Castle (Narva), Rakvere Castle (Rakvere), Tartu's Old City, and Tartu's Town Hall Square.

● ● ● ● ●  Land Features  ● ● ● ● ●  Like in neighboring Latvia, the landscape of Estonia features a variety of farmland shapes and sizes interspersed with forests, freshwater lakes, and wetlands on flat and gently rolling surfaces. Major crops growing on the land include barley, berries, carrots, cucumbers, hay, peas, potatoes, and tomatoes. Livestock farming and timber harvesting are other prominent land uses. Unlike Latvia, however, Estonia boasts over 2,300 islands while Latvia has about a couple dozen — none of which are in the Baltic Sea. Located west of mainland Estonia, two largest Estonian islands are Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Saaremaa dwarfs the size of Hiiumaa by over two-and-a-half times, with a size of 2672 km² and 1032 mi² to Hiiumaa's 989 km² and 382 mi². Smaller islands and islets include Kesselaid, Kihnu, Kõinastu, Muhu, Naissaar, Osmussaare, Ruhnu (near Latvia), and Vormsi.

There are national parks and reserves practically everywhere to protect forests, wetlands, prairies, and bogs! These environment-preservation treasures include Agusalu (northeast), Alam-Pedja (southeast-central), Emajõe-Suursoo (east), Endla (northeast-central), Lahemaa (north), Matsalu (west), Muraka (northeast), Nigula (southwest), Soomaa (west-central), Viidumäe (western Saaremaa island), and Vilsandi (western Saaremaa and on other islands). Estonia's highest point is Suur Munamägi, which is nicknamed "big egg mountain" in English. Located in the Haanja Upland of southeastern Estonia, this "big egg" hill stands 318 meters and 1,043 feet tall in elevation. Other hilly upland regions include Otepää in the southeast (northwest of Haanja) and Pandivere in northeastern Estonia.

Pärnu — Estonia's longest river at 143 kilometers and 89 miles — begins in north-central Estonia and winds its way past the city of Pärnu before emptying into the Gulf of Riga. At the other end of Estonia, the Narva river runs 77.2 kilometers and 48 miles long and connects three water bodies together, from north to south: Narva Bay, Narva Reservoir, and Lake Peipus. Other rivers include Ema, Jägala, Pedja, and Võhandu. Typically frozen for half of a year, Lake Peipus is the largest lake — covering about 3,560 km² and 1,370 mi². This lake and its southern connection — Lake Pskov — straddle much of the Estonia-Russia border. Surrounded by forests and tidy agricultural plots, Estonia's second-largest lake is the 280-km² Võrtsjärv (Lake Võrts). The southern end is pointy while the northern coast is rounded; therefore, the lake looks like the red Google Maps marker!

This post was updated with more information on April 6th, 2017.