The Country of Estonia
San Ramon Valley High School
In 1625 Estonia was conquered by the Swedes and remained under their control until the late 18th century. In 1721 Russia annexed the country, which led to a movement in the 20th century towards independence. The Bolshevik Revolution and the invasion of Russia by Germany in 1917 led the Estonians to declare independence on the 24th of February in 1918, as there were no longer any Russian troops left to suppress them. Later that year Russian troops attempted to reoccupy Russia after having withdrawn during the war, but the Estonians fought back, and drove the Russians out of their country by April 1919. A year later Russia finally acknowledged that Estonia was now independent. In 1939 the Nazi-Soviet pact (of 1939), accompanied by an invasion of the Red Army again put Estonia under Russia’s control, a period involving mass deportations of Estonian citizens to Siberia. From 1941-1944 Hitler controlled Estonia. When it appeared that Hitler was losing power, Estonia tried to form a small army to keep Russia out again, but this attempt failed and they were once again placed under Russia’s control, and the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (ECP) was formed. During this time the majority of Estonian government officials went into a self-imposed exile in Sweden until 1992. After a period of terror under Stalin’s regime, Communist party membership expanded to include more ethnic Estonians, and in the late 1950s contact between Estonian citizens and other countries was authorized. As Estonia reopened ties with Finland through media and economy, it became more aware of international affairs and the western perspective than any other Soviet satellite state. Increased media contact with the western world prepared the country for the role they played in expanding perestroika under Gorbachev. In response to increasing Russification and other perceived threats to Estonian cultural identity and due to the waning power of the ECP, other political movements and parties began to emerge and gain power, especially those that emphasized Estonian nationalism, such as the Estonian Popular Front. As Soviet/Russian power slowly waned, Estonia gained more and more sovereignty as more broad and independent political parties rose to power. Estonia declared independence again on the 20th of August in 1991. They created a new constitution on June 28th 1992. In 1994 the Russian troops finally left. Despite this, Russia still claimed some of the land that Estonia had owned before WWII. They officially reclaimed these lands, but Russia began building guarded fences around them.
Estonia’s foreign policy was focused on combining its culture with that of Western Europe, and gaining membership to the European Union and NATO. Estonia was formally invited into the EU in 2002, and it joined in 2004, at which time it also joined NATO.
Currently Estonia has the best information infrastructure of any former Easter communist country. The president, Rüütel, announced that he supported the US war in Iraq, though made it clear that he had wanted it to end without violence.
Estonia is a relatively small country in northeastern Europe that borders the Baltic Sea, Russia, and Latvia. Estonia's border with Latvia is about 339 kilometers long while the border with Russia is about 295 kilometers long and the coastline on the Baltic Sea is about 3794 kilometers long. Estonia's coastline is scattered with 1,520 islands but the two largest islands, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, are located on the eastern part of the Baltic Sea near Estonia. Estonia has an area of about 45,226 kilometers, a little smaller than New Hampshire and Vermont combined, and the land consists of forests, meadows, pastures, arable land, rivers, lakes, and mountains. The highest mountain is Suur Munamagi, which is about 318 meters above sea level. There are about 1,400 natural and artificial lakes and the largest lake is Lake Peipsi with an area of about 3,555 kilometers. The two most important rivers for Estonia are Narva and Emajogi. The Narva River is about 300 meters long and runs from Lake Peipsi along the border of Estonia and Russia. The Emajogi River runs from Lake Vortsjarv to Lake Peipsi and is about 101 kilometers long.
There are 1.8 million hectares of forests, 296,000 hectares of arable land, 252,000 hectares of meadows, and 181,000 hectares of pastures. The climate has mild winters and cool summers but four seasons are still identifiable. The rain season is late summer and on average the rainfall is about 568 millimeters per year. Estonia's natural resources include shale oil, peat, phosphorite, clay, amber, limestone, sand, and dolomite. One hazard in Estonia is flooding which usually occurs in the spring. Some issues in Estonia include air pollution due to power plants that burn shale oil and release sulfur dioxide, soil and groundwater contamination from petroleum products, sea water pollution, and small lakes affected by organic waste.
The Estonian constitution consists of democratic beliefs, along with added components to maintain a balance of power. Estonia is an independent sovereign state whose international agreements take precedence over national law. The power in Estonia is distributed among several branches. The Parliament, or Riigikogu, consists of 101 members, whose primary responsibilities include making laws, supervising the executive power, and appointing officials. The Government of the Republic contains the executive power, such as carrying out domestic and foreign policy. The Government is headed by the Prime Minister, who does not have any specified role in the government, but acts as a supervisor. The Prime Minister, currently Andrus Ansip, is nominated by the President and is further approved by the Riigikogu. The President is mainly elected as a ceremonial role, but still has the power to veto or approve the laws made by parliament, and he is the supreme commander of the armed forces. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who was born in Sweden, is currently the President of Estonia. Estonia's judicial branch is divided into three different levels: the city and county court, circuit courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court. The Estonian judicial system takes after the court system in Germany. Courts are independent, and judges are appointed for life (Estonica).
There are many political parties in Estonia, the three largest factions are: Estonian Reform Party, which has very liberal views, Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica, which is conservative, and Estonian Centre Party, which is social liberal. There are currently no major Russian based parties, due to their history of fighting and rilvarlies within the party. No Russian party has neared the 5% needed to gain representation in the parliament. Currenty, many Russians vote in the Centre Party, and it looks unlikely that a strong Russian party will ever emerge (The Economist).
Estonia is a member of the European Union and NATO. The support of Estonia's membership in the EU has continuously rose since joining in May 2004, with now 84% of the voting population supporting the European Union. Also in 2004, Estonia joined NATO in order to add to the security of the nation. Estonia is currently very loyal to both of these groups. However, the people of Estonia have historically been very concerned with only local self-government policies. This prevents Estonians from having a full understanding of government policies that are outside of their local councils (Estonica).
Estonia has a relatively weak economy compared to the other European countries with about half the average income of other European countries. The economy is market-based and diverse, consisting of industry, transport, commerce, and services. Estonia is most dependent on the forest for products timber, paper, and furniture, and the farm for milk, cattle, pigs, and poultry. Food processing is one of the most important industries. Estonia imports products from Finland, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Lithuania, and Latvia. The average money spent on imports is roughly $14.71 billion f.o.b. and the average money spent on exports is about $11.31 billion f.o.b. Estonia exports products to Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Russia, the United States, Germany, Lithuania, and Gibraltar. The currency of Estonia is the Kroon. One Euro equals about 15.645 Kroons but the Kroon was originally based on the German currency, Mark, where one Mark equals about 8 Kroons. The GDP per capita was $21,800 as of 2007 and the GNP per capita was about $9,107 in 2003. The average monthly income is about 2161 Kroons, which averages out to about 96,003.51 Kroons per year. The external debt is about $270 million and the public debt is about 3.8% GDP, which is relatively low compared to other countries.
Because of its deeply rooted history and geographic location in an already tense region of the world, Estonia, the former Soviet Satellite state has an interesting demographic. According to the Human Rights Report, Estonians feel a great deal of resentment and hatred towards the ethnic Russians who call Estonia their home. Russians make up 29.7 percent of the 1,315,912 person Estonian population. While Estonia has faced its share of problems since the collapse of the Soviet Union it is considered to be one of the more stable former satellite states. Interestingly enough however, over the last few years Estonia has experienced and negative population growth of about .3% according to most estimates. According to human rights reports Estonia ranks relatively poorly because of ethnic discrimination and sexism.
In summary, Estonia is a nation deeply rooted in its heritage yet stratified because of its history. Perhaps it can be summed up with a proverb from this proud nation. “If you go only once around the room, you are wiser than he who sits still.”
Sources:
Photius Coutsoukis, Estonia Geography 2000, November 1, 2000, http://www.photius.com/wfb2000/countries/estonia/estonia_geography.html
Portrait of the Regions, Employment, December 2003, http://circa.europa.eu/irc/dsis/regportraits/info/data/en/ee008_emp.htm
Students of the World, Estonia, October 10, 2006, http://www.studentsoftheworld.info/country_information.php?Pays=EST
World Tree, Encyclopedia about Estonia, Economy, http://www.estonica.org/eng/teema.html?kateg=40
"State" Estonica. Estonian Institute. 1 Feb. 2008 <http://www.estonica.org/index.html>
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