Estonia, republic in northeastern Europe, bounded on the north by the Gulf of Finland (an extension of the Baltic Sea), on the east by Russia, on the south by Latvia, and on the west by the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga. With Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia is one of the Baltic states. Its name in Estonian, the official language, is Eesti Vabariik (Republic of Estonia). Tallinn is the capital as well as the largest city and chief port.

Estonia is the smallest of the Baltic states in both land area and population. Ethnic Estonians make up the majority of the population, and Russians form the second largest group. Many of the Russians or their ancestors settled in Estonia after the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) annexed the republic in 1940. After independence was restored in 1991, Estonia adopted a new, democratic constitution and accelerated its transition from the centralized economy of the Soviet period to a free-market one.

Estonia covers an area of 45,227 sq km (17,462 sq mi). The country has more than 1,500 islands; the largest, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, separate the Gulf of Riga from the Baltic Sea. The mainland has a coastline 1,393 km (866 mi) long.

Estonia is mostly a low-lying plain, with some hills in the central and southern regions. Wetlands cover more than 20 percent of the country�s territory. Lakes and reservoirs cover an additional 5 percent, with the two largest lakes, Lake Peipus (Peipsi Järv) on the eastern border and Võrtsjärv in the south central part of the country, accounting for nearly four-fifths of the total lake surface area. The longest river in Estonia is the Pärnu, which follows a southwesterly course and empties into the Gulf of Riga at Pärnu Bay. Other important rivers include the Narva, which forms the republic�s northeastern border with Russia, and the Emajõgi in the southeast, which is celebrated by Estonian poets.

Forests, mainly pine, birch, aspen, and fir, cover nearly 50 percent of Estonia�s territory. Elk and deer are common wildlife. Several species have been protected by legislation because of their small numbers, including the beaver, red deer, and willow grouse. Estonia�s natural resources include oil shale, peat (a carbon-rich material used as fuel and mulch), and phosphorite.

Estonia generally has cool summers and cold winters. Its marine location keeps the climate moderate, although temperatures can be slightly more extreme in the interior. Temperatures rarely exceed 18�C (64�F) in summer and often stay below freezing from mid-December to late February. Annual precipitation is moderate, ranging from 500 to 700 mm (19 to 27 in), and July and August are the wettest months. The combination of rain and melting snow in the spring often causes some flooding of rivers.

Industrial pollution is a major environmental problem in Estonia. Almost 100 percent (1998) of the electricity produced in Estonia is generated by thermal plants, which burn fossil fuels. Of specific concern are the country�s oil-shale-burning power plants, which heavily pollute air in the northeast with sulfur dioxide. These power plants, combined with Estonia�s chemical factories, paper plants, and other industries, emit very high levels of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and particulates (tiny solids suspended in the air). These emissions are linked to a decline in health among children and to eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. Coniferous forests in northern Estonia are damaged by acid rain. In many places, soil and groundwater are contaminated with petroleum products, and many of the country�s lakes are polluted with organic waste. The Gulf of Riga is severely polluted by industrial waste.

Environmental awareness is strong in Estonia, however. The Estonian government has enacted several environmental measures and has curtailed the expansion of phosphorite mining. Forest area is increasing 1 percent annually (1990-1996), and 12 percent (1997) of the country�s total land area is designated protected. The government has ratified international environmental agreements pertaining to biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, hazardous wastes, ozone layer protection, ship pollution, and wetlands.

The population of Estonia, estimated at 1,423,316 in 2001, is the smallest of any republic of the former USSR. Population density is 31 persons per sq km (82 per sq mi); the northern portion of the country is more densely inhabited. Estonia is highly urbanized. Some 74 percent of the people live in cities or towns, with nearly one-third of the total population residing in the capital, Tallinn, located on the northern coast. Other important cities include Tartu, an industrial and cultural center, and Pärnu, Estonia�s leading seaside resort. Russians mostly reside in urban areas, especially in the northeast. The city of Narva, in the northeastern corner of the country, is inhabited almost exclusively by Russians. Estonians cherish the countryside, however, and even urban dwellers maintain strong rural ties.

Ethnic Estonians are 64 percent of the people. They are ethnically and linguistically close to the Finns. Russians make up the largest minority with 29 percent of the total population. Other minorities include Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Finns. Before Soviet annexation in 1940, Russians made up only 4 percent of the total population within the country�s current borders. They immigrated in large numbers to Estonia during the period of large-scale industrialization after World War II.

After Estonia regained its independence in 1991, only those citizens and their descendants who lived in Estonia before Soviet occupation received automatic citizenship, regardless of ethnicity. Russians who came to Estonia during the Soviet era have been slow to pass the citizenship exam, which involves knowledge of the Estonian language. As of 1998, about 22 percent of Estonia�s residents were not Estonian citizens (about 9 percent Russians, about 13 percent stateless). In December 1998 the government eased citizenship regulations to allow children of stateless residents to become citizens.

About 80 percent of the people of Estonia have a Lutheran background. Other forms of Christianity, most notably Eastern Orthodoxy, are also practiced in the country. Estonia also has very small numbers of Jews and Muslims. During the Soviet period, religious activity was strongly discouraged and at times banned by the officially atheistic Communist government. In the late 1980s, however, most Soviet restrictions regarding religion were lifted, stimulating a revival of religious practice.

The official language of the republic is Estonian, which with the Finnish language belongs to the Finno-Ugric subfamily of Uralic languages. Estonian was adopted as the state language in 1989 as part of the movement toward independence from the Soviet Union. Members of minority ethnic groups often speak their own native languages, especially Russian, and in some places Estonian is rarely heard.

Estonia has an adult literacy rate of nearly 100 percent. Education is compulsory for 9 years beginning at the age of 7. Schools offer instruction at all levels in both Estonian and Russian. Estonia has several institutions of higher education. The oldest is the University of Tartu, founded in 1632 by King Gustav II of Sweden. Another major university is Tallinn Technical University, founded in 1936.

Folk songs are an important part of Estonian culture. During the Soviet period, many signs of national culture, such as the Estonian national anthem and other songs, were suppressed. The independence movement of the late 1980s was known as the Singing Revolution because huge song festivals were held in which previously banned songs were again publicly heard.

A literary tradition began to develop in Estonia in the early 19th century with the poems of Kristjan Jaak Peterson. In the mid-1800s a national epic poem, Kalevipoeg (Son of Kalev), which incorporated hundreds of Estonian legends and folk tales, was written by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald. The most notable poet of the late 1800s was Lydia Koidula, whose works represent Estonia�s national awakening. The foremost literary figure of Estonia was early 20th-century novelist Anton Hansen Tammsaare, who wrote a five-volume saga, Tõde ja õigus (Truth and Justice), written between 1926 and 1933. The Estonian works probably known best abroad include Jaan Kross�s 1978 novel, Keisri hull (The Tsar�s Madman) and the late 20th century poetry of Jaan Kaplinski.

Cultural events in Estonia include ballet, opera, and drama performances; most troupes are based in Tallinn. Estonia has two symphony orchestras that perform at the Estonia Concert Hall in Tallinn. Spectator sports such as basketball and ice hockey are popular. Museums include the Estonian Museum of Art and the Estonian History Museum, both located in the capital, and the Estonian National Museum, located in Tartu.

In the 1990s Estonia rapidly transformed its economy from a centrally planned system to a free market�the fourth radical transformation in the 20th century. Estonia was an agrarian country in the early 1900s, with native peasants farming large foreign-owned estates. In the 1920s the newly created Estonian republic reformed land ownership, breaking up the estate holdings and distributing smaller farms to citizens. In the 1940s the Soviet Union forcibly annexed Estonia, and the country suffered much destruction during World War II; both events crippled Estonia�s economy. After the war the Soviet Union fully integrated the region into its economic system. The Soviets forced farmers to join collectives and pushed heavy industrial development, causing extensive environmental degradation. As one of the last republics to be absorbed into the Soviet Union, Estonia had a stronger economy than most and was better prepared for renewed independence five decades later. The USSR used Estonia as an outlet to the West, an interaction that gave its residents the highest per capita income in the Soviet Union, a high level of education, and frequent contact with Western institutions. When Estonians regained independence in 1991 they built quickly on these advantages to institute a free-market economy.

As a country with a small population and limited natural resources, Estonia views trade as a key to economic growth. The country�s leadership positioned it as a gateway between other former Soviet republics (including Russia) and established economies of Western countries. The government adopted business-protection laws, such as those covering bankruptcy, trademarks, and copyrights, to attract foreign investment. The leadership also negotiated trade and investment agreements with Western countries, and the country�s trading system became one of the most barrier-free in the world. To further encourage investment, the government eased the flow of money across Estonia�s borders by tying its currency to the German mark. The government�s program to put businesses and industry in private ownership also moved quickly, with industrial privatization essentially completed by 1995.

Estonia�s gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the value of all goods and services in the country, was $5.2 billion in 1999. Industry in that year accounted for 26 percent of GDP. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing together produced 6 percent of GDP, and the services sector, which includes trade and financial activities, produced 69 percent. GDP grew by 11 percent in 1997.

In the 1990s the large collective farms that dominated Estonian agriculture during the Soviet era were broken up and placed in private hands. Farm production fell during this period of restructuring, but stabilized in the mid-1990s. The principal agricultural activity is raising animals for meat and milk production. Leading crops are potatoes and grains such as barley, rye, oats, and wheat. With 49 percent of the country�s land area covered by forests, the cutting and processing of timber is a significant economic activity. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing employs 10 percent of the labor force.

Machine building, electronics manufacturing, and electrical engineering dominate Estonia�s industrial sector. The processing of the country�s fish catch and farm products also adds value, and timber is used to make paper and other wood products. Mining is focused on extracting oil shale and peat. The oil shale is processed into gas and chemicals and used to generate electricity, some of which is exported. The industrial sector employs 33 percent of workers.

Estonia experienced a rapid reorientation of its trading relationships after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Trade with Western economies, particularly those in Nordic countries, increased substantially while the flow of goods between Estonia and other former Soviet republics dropped precipitously. In the mid-1990s chief exports were food and animal products, textiles, and timber products. Leading imports were machinery and transportation equipment, mineral products, textiles, and foods. Finland has become Estonia�s principal trading partner, and many Finns travel by boat from Helsinki to shop for bargains in the markets of Tallinn. Other leading buyers of Estonian exports are Russia, Sweden, Germany, and Latvia. Chief sources for imports in addition to Finland are Russia, Germany, and Sweden.

In 1992 Estonia became the first former Soviet republic to issue its own stable currency, the kroon (14.68 kroon equal U.S.$1; 1999 average). In 1992 Estonia became a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Estonia became an associate member of the European Union (EU) in mid-1995, and discussions for full EU membership began in 1997.

The present republic of Estonia is a legal successor to the independent republic of the same name that existed from 1918 to 1940. Following the country�s independence from the Soviet Union, a new constitution was approved by referendum in 1992.

The legislative branch consists of a unicameral (single-chamber) national legislative body, the Riigikogu. The 101 members of the Riigikogu are elected by direct popular vote for four-year terms. The Riigikogu elects from its members a chairperson, or speaker, who with two deputies directs the work of the legislature.

The head of state is the president, who is granted very limited executive authority. The president is elected for a term of five years by secret ballot of the Riigikogu. If no presidential candidate wins the votes of two-thirds of the legislature in any of three rounds of voting, the speaker must convene an electoral college to elect a president by simple majority. The president nominates the prime minister, subject to approval by the Riigikogu. The prime minister, who heads the executive branch, selects a cabinet of ministers to carry out the day-to-day operations of government.

All citizens aged 18 and older may vote. Political parties must receive at least 5 percent of the total votes cast to gain representation in the Riigikogu. In the legislative elections of March 1999, seven parties qualified for representation. Although the Estonian Center Party won the most seats in the Riigikogu, the Fatherland Union formed a ruling coalition with the Estonian Reform Party and the Moderates. So the prime minister and cabinet came from those parties, not the Estonian Center Party.

Estonia has a three-tiered judicial system with the National Court, or State Court, at its apex. The National Court is the final court of appeal and also carries out the functions of a constitutional court. Its members are elected by the Riigikogu. District courts act as courts of appeal and may thus overrule city, rural, and administrative courts. All judges other than those of the National Court are appointed by the president of the republic.

For administrative purposes, Estonia is divided into 15 counties and 6 municipalities (towns). Directly elected councils manage local governments. The state pays modest pensions and child support, and there is low-cost national medical care. However, life is difficult for young families, who are hit hard by a shortage of housing and lack of childcare support, and for retirees, who lost all their savings when Soviet rubles became worthless.

During the Soviet period, Estonia had no defense forces separate from those of the USSR. Since 1991 the republic has developed its armed forces to include an army of 4,320 troops, a navy of 250, and a small air force. There are also sea-based and land-based border guards. Twelve months of military service is required for men at age 18, with an alternative option of civilian service for 15 months.

Estonia is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe, and the Partnership for Peace program of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Estonia�s relations with Latvia and Lithuania are loosely coordinated through the Baltic Assembly, a consultative interparliamentary body created in 1991. Like its Baltic counterparts, Estonia is not a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose political alliance of most other former Soviet republics that was established in late 1991.

The ancestors of Estonians most likely settled on the Baltic shores around 3500 bc and were organized in loosely federated small states by the 1st century ad. They spoke a Finnic language. After Germans began to attack southern Estonia in 1208, King Waldemar II of Denmark invaded northern Estonia, built the Tallinn-Reval castle in 1219, and established the episcopal see, or seat, of Reval. After an uprising from 1343 to 1345, the Danish king sold his territories in northern Estonia to the Livonian Order of Teutonic Knights, who were already in control of the southern region (Livonia). The knights and Hanseatic merchants (see Hanseatic League), who established trading centers along the coast, dominated the country until 1561, when the Livonian Order was dissolved. Tallinn and the nobility of northern Estonia then submitted to the protection of the Swedish crown, and Poland temporarily retained the southern part of Estonia, including Tartu. By 1645 all of Estonia was in Swedish hands. In the 1670s and 1680s Sweden introduced reforms that improved the lot of the people but embittered the nobility.

Sweden ruled Estonia until 1721, when it was ceded to Russia by the Peace of Nystadt. Russian emperor Peter the Great restored former privileges of the nobility. Between 1816 and 1819 Russian emperor Alexander I abolished serfdom in Estonia. After the middle of the century peasants were granted the right to purchase land, and the system of forced labor was suppressed. At the same time, Estonian national consciousness was aroused. Vigorous cooperative and educational movements sprang up after the revolution that took place in Russia in 1905 after the Russo-Japanese War, and national feeling in Estonia was further developed by the press and modern literature.

The February phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917 (in which the monarchy was toppled and a democratic provisional government took power) brought self-government to the Estonians, and on February 24, 1918, an independent democratic republic was proclaimed. The new government was unable to assume power until the end of World War I in November, when German forces withdrew from Estonia. After a period of armed conflict between Estonian troops and the invading Red Army of the Bolsheviks (militant socialist revolutionaries who seized power in Russia in October 1917) a peace treaty was signed at Tartu between Russia and Estonia on February 2, 1920, and all Russian claims to sovereignty over Estonia were dropped. In January 1921 legal recognition was accorded the new republic by the major Western powers, and Estonia became a member of the League of Nations. The republic continued to have a democratic political system until March 1934, when the prime minister, Konstantin Päts, led a bloodless coup and established authoritarian rule. In 1938, however, a new constitution was put into effect that provided for a presidential system of government with a bicameral legislature, and Päts became president (there was no election because electoral rules prevented nomination of competing candidates).

A week before the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939, Estonia was placed under the Soviet sphere of influence by the secret terms of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. In June 1940 Soviet forces occupied Estonia and the other Baltic republics, Latvia and Lithuania. Elections were then organized in which only Soviet-supported candidates were permitted to participate. On August 6, 1940, Estonia was officially incorporated into the USSR as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). All non-Communist political and social organizations in the country were banned and many leaders arrested. Germany attacked the USSR in June 1941, however, and Nazi troops occupied Estonia in July. An estimated 90,000 Estonians died during the war, about 60,000 during the Soviet occupation, and 30,000 during the Nazi occupation. In September 1944, when the Germans retreated from the country and the Soviet army returned, more than 60,000 Estonians fled to Sweden and Germany.

Patriotic groups made a short-lived attempt to reinstate Estonian independence, but the Soviet army prevailed and Estonia was reincorporated into the USSR. Cultural and political institutions immediately began to be reorganized to conform to Soviet models. Estonian language and culture were suppressed, and all organizations other than the Communist Party were banned. The Estonian national elite was imprisoned, executed, or exiled. Tens of thousands of Estonians suspected of opposing the regime were deported to the gulags (Soviet concentration camps) in Siberia and Central Asia until the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953. A patriotic guerrilla movement continued to agitate against the Soviet regime until the mid-1950s.

Soviet economic policies entailed the confiscation of property, and privately owned farms were forcibly merged into large state-run farms; the collectivization of agriculture was nearly complete by the end of 1949. Another pillar of the postwar Soviet economy was the rapid expansion of heavy industry. Many new factories were built in Estonia, primarily in the northern cities. Russians and other Soviet peoples immigrated to work in Estonia�s new industries, resulting in a more urbanized and Russified population. Before the 1940 annexation, ethnic Estonians made up about 90 percent of the population, whereas by 1989 they constituted only 61.5 percent.

Together with Latvia and Lithuania, Estonia was among the first Soviet republics to move toward independence in the late 1980s, in defiance of the central government. After Communist rule collapsed in the USSR in August 1991, the Soviet government formally recognized the independence of the Baltic republics in September, and all three were admitted to the United Nations later that month. The USSR itself collapsed in December.

Following independence, the continued presence of former Soviet troops (under Russia�s jurisdiction) on Estonian territory was a point of contention. In July 1994 Russia agreed to remove remaining troops by the end of August, and in return Estonia agreed to guarantee the civil rights of all retired Russian military personnel living in Estonia. All of the troops departed as scheduled. Estonian-Russian relations remained strained over a border dispute in which Estonia demanded the return of a segment of Estonian territory that the Soviet government had transferred to Russia in 1944. In 1996, however, Estonia dropped the demand, and in March 1999 the two countries initialed a border treaty.

In other foreign relations, the Estonian government has sought to strengthen political and economic ties with its Baltic neighbors, Latvia and Lithuania. In September 1993 the countries signed a free-trade agreement that removes duties on imports and standardizes visa and customs regulations. However, in early 1995 Estonia�s relations with Latvia became heated over the demarcation of their maritime border. After extensive negotiations, the two countries reached a final sea border agreement in February 1997.

Estonia also has sought closer ties with the Western powers. In February 1994 the country joined the Partnership for Peace program, which allows for limited military cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In July 1995 Estonia became an associate member of the European Union (EU), the world�s largest trading bloc, with the goal of eventually attaining full membership. In December 1997 Estonia was one of five countries invited to participate in the first round of negotiations for full entry into the EU.

Meanwhile, in September 1994 the Riigikogu passed a vote of no confidence in the government of Mart Laar, a member of the reform-minded Fatherland Union. Laar stepped down, and an interim government took office until after legislative elections of 1995. In the March elections, the postindependence reform parties were ousted and replaced by a coalition of left-centrist parties. The coalition was headed by an alliance of the Estonian Coalition Party (ECP) and the Rural Union. Tiit Vähi, the head of the ECP, was named prime minister. The vote was seen as a protest against the fast pace of reform, which sharply reduced the living standards of retirees and rural people in particular. Vähi and his cabinet resigned in October 1996 after a scandal arose involving the interior minister. However, President Lennart Meri reappointed Vähi as prime minister and a new coalition government took office in November, only to collapse within a month, leaving Vähi with less than a majority in the legislature. In the August 1996 presidential elections, neither of two candidates won enough votes (cast by the members of the Riigikogu) to be elected. An electoral college subsequently elected President Meri to a second term in office.

Estonia�s GDP dropped during the early reforms but began to rise again in the mid-1990s as inefficient state enterprises shrunk or were privatized. A Baltic free trade area was established in January 1997. In February Prime Minister Vähi resigned for the second time in two years, this time under a cloud of corruption charges. He was replaced by Mart Siimann, who took power within the same shaky minority government.