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Reference.org
History of Estonia
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<p>The history of <a href="/facts/Estonia/PVjB16TI">Estonia</a> forms a part of the <a href="/facts/History_of_Europe/UwUVuaUH">history of Europe</a>. Human settlement in what is now Estonia became possible 13,000–11,000 years ago, after the ice from the last <a href="/facts/Ice_age/agSMvAgX">glacial era</a> had melted, and signs of the first permanent population in the region date from around 9000 BC. </p><p>The <a href="/facts/Ancient_Estonia/7MHMnshk">medieval indigenous</a> population of Estonia was one of the last <a href="/facts/Pagan/JaWTHBtJ">pagan</a> civilisations in Europe to adopt <a href="/facts/Christianity/nKyJHlqq">Christianity</a> following the <a href="/facts/Northern_Crusades/jaq4cjSc">Northern Crusades</a> in the 13th century. After the crusaders had conquered the area by 1227, Estonia was first ruled by the <a href="/facts/King_of_Denmark/0b0AdNlL">King of Denmark</a> in the north (until 1345), and then until 1559 by the <a href="/facts/State_of_the_Teutonic_Order/zqMjf28h">Teutonic Order</a>, and by the ecclesiastical states of the <a href="/facts/List_of_states_in_the_Holy_Roman_Empire/yNgV4zlK">Holy Roman Empire</a>, which from 1418 to 1562 covered the whole of Estonia, forming a part of the <a href="/facts/Livonian_Confederation/hseteHpQ">Livonian Confederation</a>. After 1559, Estonia became part of the <a href="/facts/Sweden/u3qC7lyj">Kingdom of Sweden</a> until 1710, when the <a href="/facts/Tsardom_of_Russia/m0scLsSq">Tsardom of Russia</a> (Muscovy) conquered the entire area during the <a href="/facts/Great_Northern_War/YVw3GjYw">Great Northern War</a> of 1700–1721. Throughout this period the <a href="/facts/Baltic_Germans/zjwxu4lK">local German-speaking</a> nobility enjoyed significant autonomy, and <a href="/facts/German_language/oWaQIDA8">High German</a> (earlier also <a href="/facts/Low_German/BPxhrjlB">Low German</a> and <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a>) served as the main language of administration and education. </p> <p>The <a href="/facts/Estophilia/FdMgvEfx">Estophile Enlightenment Period</a> (1750–1840) led to the <a href="/facts/Estonian_national_awakening/ArWeY5XP">Estonian national awakening</a> in the middle of the 19th century. In the aftermath of World War I (1914–1918) and the revolutions of 1917 that brought the end to the <a href="/facts/Russian_Empire/hg1g5SpV">Russian Empire</a>, Estonia was <a href="/facts/Estonian_Declaration_of_Independence/ewXFsDQJ">declared an independent democratic republic</a> in February 1918. In the <a href="/facts/Estonian_War_of_Independence/N9CaL4XP">Estonian War of Independence</a> (1918–1920) the newly proclaimed state successfully fought against the Soviet <a href="/facts/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic/W9pC4bK6">Russian</a> <a href="/facts/Bolshevist/UAHzalnN">Bolshevist</a> invasion, and in the February 1920 <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Tartu_(Russian%25E2%2580%2593Estonian)/rzFlTBxN">Russian-Estonian Peace Treaty</a> the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Russia/W9pC4bK6">Soviet Russia</a> recognised Estonian independence in perpetuity. </p><p>During World War II (1939–1945) the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> invaded and occupied Estonia in June 1940 and illegally annexed the country. In the course of <a href="/facts/Operation_Barbarossa/YKjYBQWn">Operation Barbarossa</a>, <a href="/facts/Nazi_Germany/8kRbqRpo">Nazi Germany</a> occupied Estonia in 1941; the Soviet Army reoccupied Estonia in 1944. Estonia regained its independence in August 1991 and joined the <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">European Union</a> and <a href="/facts/NATO/dCeTddMY">NATO</a> in 2004. </p>