50 Fun Facts About Estonia

After Tallinn, which city is Estonia's second-largest urban area and home to its oldest university?

The first nationwide song festival was held there in 1869, and the 1920 peace treaty with Soviet Russia was signed there.

The Estonian language belongs to which family, alongside Finnish?

Unlike Latvian and Lithuanian, it is not Indo-European at all.

Estonia restored full independence from the Soviet Union on 20 August of which year?

It followed the peaceful Singing Revolution of 1988-90; the country joined NATO and the EU in 2004.

The peaceful 1988-90 movement toward Estonian independence is known as what?

Artist Heinz Valk coined the term after spontaneous mass singing at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in June 1988.

What was the 1989 human chain of two million across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania called?

It stretched 675 km and marked the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

How long was the 1989 human chain from Estonia through Latvia to Lithuania?

The three Baltic states had a combined population of only about eight million.

Estonia first declared independence on 24 February of which year?

The Salvation Committee acted in the gap between the Russian retreat and the German arrival.

Estonia became the first country in the world to do what in its 2005 local elections?

Nearly all public services are now offered online.

Estonia's e-residency programme, launched in 2014, extends what to non-residents?

It lets foreigners run EU-based companies remotely with an Estonian digital identity.

Which 2003 video-calling service was built by four Estonian developers?

Later Estonian tech successes include Bolt, Wise, GrabCAD and Fortumo.

Estonia adopted the euro on 1 January of which year?

The kroon had circulated from 1928 to 1940 and again from 1992.

Estonia's flag is a horizontal tricolour of blue, white and which third colour?

The Soviet regime banned the flag in 1940 and even made the colour combination itself punishable.

Estonia's highest point, Suur Munamägi, rises to what height?

The name means Big Egg Hill; it sits in the Haanja Upland in the far south-east.

Besides the mainland, Estonia's territory includes roughly how many islands and islets?

Saaremaa and Hiiumaa are the largest; the Saaremaa islanders once lived a Viking lifestyle.

The Kaali crater field on Saaremaa was formed by what?

The nine craters may be about 7,600 years old and feature in local mythology.

The Estonian Song Festival, first held in Tartu in 1869, takes place how often?

It draws up to 100,000 participants to the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds and is a UNESCO Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage.

Which Estonian composer, inventor of tintinnabuli, was the world's most performed living composer from 2010 to 2018?

His best-known works include Fratres, Spiegel im Spiegel and Für Alina.

The University of Tartu, Estonia's oldest, was founded in 1632 by which king?

He signed the founding act while campaigning in Germany, months before dying at the Battle of Lützen.

Which kingdom won the 1219 Battle of Lyndanisse under Valdemar II at what is now Tallinn?

The city received full town rights under Lübeck law in 1248 as the capital of Danish Estonia.

By what name was Tallinn known to most of the world from the 13th to the early 20th century?

It grew rich as the northernmost member city of the Hanseatic League.

The 1920 treaty in which Soviet Russia renounced all claims to Estonia was signed in which city?

It ended the War of Independence, in which the Red Army had failed to break through at Narva.

Estonians who resisted the second Soviet occupation as guerrillas were known as what?

The country lost about a quarter of its population to war deaths, deportations and evacuations.

The 2007 relocation of which Soviet war memorial in Tallinn triggered riots and cyberattacks on Estonia?

NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence opened in Tallinn the following year.

Kaja Kallas, Estonia's first female prime minister, left in 2024 to take which post?

She is the daughter of former prime minister Siim Kallas.

Kersti Kaljulaid, president from 2016 to 2021, was Estonia's first what?

At 46 she was also the youngest person elected to the office.

Lennart Meri, president from 1992 to 2001, had earlier worked in which creative field?

Barred from working as a historian under Soviet rule, he became a dramatist and radio-play producer.

Estonia's national epic, published in 1862, is called what?

Its giant hero shares folklore space with Suur Tõll of Saaremaa; Finland's Kalevala is a different work.

Kiiking, a sport invented in Estonia in 1993, involves doing what?

Ado Kosk built swings with steel arms so riders could pass over the fulcrum; kiik means swing.

The kroon, replaced by the euro, had been Estonia's currency in which two periods?

It succeeded the mark and was in turn replaced by the Soviet ruble after 1940.

In 1994, following Milton Friedman's ideas, Estonia became one of the first countries to adopt what?

The uniform rate was 26% regardless of income.

Which fossil fuel, mined locally, provided over 85% of Estonia's energy in the early 2010s?

The industry has dominated the energy sector since the 1920s.

The 1994 sinking of the ferry MS Estonia, en route from Tallinn to Stockholm, killed how many people?

It was one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters of the 20th century.

Which country lies across the gulf directly to the north of Estonia?

Finland lies across the Gulf of Finland to the north and Sweden across the Baltic to the west.

Estonia's national bird is which species?

The national flower is the cornflower.

Kama, a traditional Estonian food, is what?

It is eaten uncooked, often as a dessert with buttermilk or kefir.

Which staple, made from rye, is served with almost every Estonian meal?

It serves as an open-sandwich base and accompanies soups; spiced sprats on it are a national appetiser.

Estonia's oldest and most widely celebrated festival, Jaanipäev on 24 June, marks what?

Estonians gather around bonfires by the village swing on the eve.

Estonia is described as one of the least what countries in the world?

The medieval Estonians were also among the last pagans in Europe, converted only after the 13th-century Northern Crusades.

Estonia's parliament, the Riigikogu, is what kind of legislature?

The president nominates the government, subject to the parliament's approval.

Estonians sacked Sigtuna, then a major Swedish city, in 1187 together with which peoples?

Sagas also record 7th-century 'Estonian Vikings' killing the Swedish king Ingvar Harra.

Estonia's two largest lakes are Võrtsjärv and which other, on the Russian border?

The country has about 1,560 natural lakes.

Estonia's best ever Olympic finish, 12th, came at which Games?

With 44 medals for 1.4 million people, it ranks 12th in the world for medals per capita.

The most ethnically Estonian county, at 98.4%, is which island?

Harju County around Tallinn and Ida-Viru in the east have large Russian-speaking minorities.

Estonia joined the Schengen Area in which year?

The last Russian troops had left only in 1994.

The Seto people, a small Estonian group in the south-east, mostly follow which faith?

Orthodoxy is now the largest religious group in the country, chiefly among Russian speakers.

Kiluvõileib, the open sandwich eaten at Independence Day celebrations, is topped with what?

The sprat and the tiny Baltic herring are the national fish.

Estonia is a country in which region of Northern Europe?

It is one of the least populous EU member states.

The Tsarist crackdown after the 1905 revolution in Estonia saw roughly how many people executed?

Hundreds more were jailed or deported to Siberia.

Estonia exports 3,000 tonnes a year of oxides of which materials, 2% of world output?

Rising prices have made extraction economically viable.

Through the port of Reval, Estonia held the northernmost member city of which medieval trading network?

The port grew in importance from the 14th to the 16th centuries.