Tallinn

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is well known for her fully preserved medieval Old Town and a pulsating nightlife. Recently many stylish places for eating and drinking have sprung up in Tallinn, many of them offering decent quality food, and it is not hard to find a place for dancing. Those who travel out of the city will get acquainted with our beautiful countryside (for instance, Estonia is known as the land of 1000 islands), the long seashore, the picturesque Baltic German manor houses etc.

And there are not many cities whose face is designed by the 21st century rather than the 18th or 19th.

Situation

Tallinn is situated in Northern Europe in the northeastern part of the Baltic Sea region. Its unique position between the high-tech Nordic countries and Russia, which her huge natural resources as well as an enormous market, has made the city an attractive place for investors from all over the world. Foreign investments into Estonia amounted to 189.7 billion kroons as of June 2004, making Estonia the most successful country in Eastern Europe in this respect

Distances from some European cities (by plane):

• Helsinki 82km

• Riga 280km

• St Petersburg 315km

• Stockholm 380km

• Copenhagen and Moscow 860km

• Berlin 1030km.

Tallinn Top Culture Events

The top summer event in Tallinn is the Old Town Days in the first week of June; in December the Black Nights Film Festival brings the best of the year's European films to Tallinn, and there are a lot of other annual cultural events like Jazzkaar, Orient, NYYD, and more,

Economic Life

About half of the GDP of Estonia is produced in Tallinn (and its Suburbs) and more than half of the foreign-owned companies reside here. The economy is boosted by close relations with Finland and Sweden and a liberal economy that is favorable to foreign investments. Rapid development of the communications infrastructure has created a situation where mobile technologies and the Internet are used more widely than in some larger and wealthier EU countries (e.g. Internet banking is used by more than 10% of the population, active users of the Internet are more than 50% of the whole population, every second Estonian has a mobile phone etc,

e-government and e-tax system are working etc). The projected economic growth for this year is 5.9% The GNP per capita Estonia in 2004 was 40% of the EU average (39% in Lithuania, 34% in Latvia)

Inhabitants

Tallinn has about 400,000 inhabitants, half of whom are Estonians 40% Russians and 10% other nationalities. You probably didn’t know that there are over 120 nationalities living in Estonia. The major ethnic groups are Russians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Finns, Tatars, Latvians, Poles, Jews, Lithuanians, Germans and Armenians. Basically every third inhabitant of Estonia speaks some other language.

Short History

• 10th century: ancient Estonians have already established the central trading point on the coast of the Gulf of Finland.

• 1219: Northern Estonia is conquered by the Danes. led by King Waldemar 2nd, who later establishes a stone castle at Toompea -multinational town grows around it.

• 1248: Tallinn acquires town rights.

• 1219-1346: the Danish period. A network of streets is formed inside the town wall, with a guild house, churches and convents, warehouses and defense buildings,

• 1347-1561: the Livonian Order acts as the sovereign; the building of the Old Town with its principal stone buildings is completed

• 1561-1710: the Swedish period Tallinn's trading success has faded because of long lasting wars

• 1710: Tallinn capitulates to the Russian Army (Great Northern War)

• 1857: An important evolution in the town's development was caused by the loss of stronghold status and the building of a railway connection to St Petersburg. Rapid industrial development begins, resulting in the swift growth of the town

• February 24. 1918: the Estonian Salvation Committee declares the independent democratic Republic of Estonia. The new government immediately has to organize a defense against the attacking Russian bolshevist troops and the Estonian War of Independence begins. It ends in 1920

• 1920: Tallinn becomes the capital of the independent Republic of Estonia

• June, 1940: Soviet troops occupy Estonia, abolishing its independence and establishing Soviet order.

• 1944-1991: Estonia belongs to the Soviet Union.

.1st August 20, 1991: the Supreme Soviet of Estonia declares re-establishment of the independence of Estonia based on legal continuity

• August 29. 1994: the last troops of Russian army are withdrawn from Estonia. The Second World War has come to an end for Estonia.

• May 1. 2004: Estonia joins the European Union.