Portal:Estonia/Featured article/2007 archive
This is an archive of article summaries that have appeared in the Selected article section of Portal:Estonia in 2007. For past archives, see the complete archive page.
Estonia was a dominion of Denmark during Middle Ages. Between 1206 and 1645 Denmark for several periods of time either held claims to, or ruled over, parts of present-day Estonia.
Denmark rose as a great military and merchant power in the 12th century. It had an interest to end the occasional Estonian and Couronian pirate attacks that threatened its Baltic trade. Danish fleets made attacks against Estonia in 1170, 1194, and 1197. In 1206 King Valdemar II and archbishop Andreas Sunonis made a raid to Ösel (Saaremaa) island. The islanders were forced to submit and the Danes built a fortress there, but they found no volunteers to man it. They burned it down themselves and left the island. However, they laid a claim to Estonia as their possession, which was recognized by the pope.
In 1219 Valdemar gathered a fleet of hundreds of ships against the Estonians, led by the archbishop, bishops and the army of Rugians under their prince Wizlav. They landed in Lyndanisse (Tallinn) harbor in the province of Revelia (Revala, Rävälä, later merged into Harria province) in northern Estonia. According to a legend, the first ever flag of Denmark fell from sky and helped the Danes to win the battle against Revelians and Harrians. The date of the battle, June 15th, is the annual holiday of Valdemarsdag in present Denmark.
Tartu County (Estonian: Tartu maakond), or Tartumaa, is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering to Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County. The area of Tartu County is 2,992.74 km², which covers 6.9% of the territory of Estonia. The population of the county is 148,992, which is 11.0% of the population of Estonia. The city of Tartu is the centre of the county located at a distance of 186 km from Tallinn. Tartu County is divided into 22 local governments — 3 urban and 19 rural municipalities.
Archaeological findings suggest that people first inhabited the territory of the current Tartu County about 5000 years ago. City of Tartu was first mentioned in historical records in 1030, then a site of a wooden stronghold. In 1224, after the conquest of the stronghold by the German invaders, Tartu became the capital of a diocese, stretching from Northern Estonia to Latvia. Since the 13th century, Tartu belonged to the Hanseatic League, and the town became a well-known trade centre in the Baltic Sea region.
Estonian (; IPA: [ˈeːs.ti ˈkeːl]) is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and by some ten thousand in various émigré communities. It is a Finno-Ugric language and is closely related to Finnish.
One distinctive feature that has caused a great amount of interest in linguists is that Estonian has what is traditionally seen as three degrees of phoneme length: short, long, and "overlong", such that IPA /toto/, /toːto/ and /toːˑto/ are distinct, as are /toto/, /totːo/, and /totːˑo/. In actuality, the distinction isn't purely in the phoneme length, and the underlying phonological mechanism is still disputed.
Another feature that sets Estonian apart from most languages is the vowel õ ([ɤ]), a close-mid near-back unrounded vowel, which is farther back than the schwa ([ə]), but fronter than [o].
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, also known as the Hitler-Stalin Pact or German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact or Nazi-Soviet Pact and formally known as the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a non-aggression treaty between the German Third Reich and the Soviet Union. It was signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939, by the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The mutual non-aggression treaty lasted until Operation Barbarossa of June 22, 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
Although officially labeled a "non-aggression treaty", the pact included a secret protocol, in which the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania were divided into spheres of interest of the parties. The secret protocol explicitly assumed "territorial and political rearrangements" in the areas of these countries. Subsequently all the mentioned countries were invaded, occupied or forced to cede part of their territory by either the Soviet Union, Germany, or both.
Geography of Estonia, between 57.3 and 59.5 latitude and 21.5 and 28.1 longitude, Estonia lies on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea on the level northwestern part of the rising east European platform. It borders the Gulf of Finland, between Latvia and Russia. Average elevation reaches only 50m (160 ft.).
The climate resembles that of New England, maritime, wet, with moderate winters and cool summers. Oil shale and limestone deposits, along with forests which cover 47% of the land, play key economic roles in this generally resource-poor country. Estonia boasts over 1,500 lakes, numerous bogs, and 3,794 kilometers of coastline marked by numerous bays, straits, and inlets. Tallinn's Muuga port offers one of Europe's finest warm-water harbor facilities.
Estonia's strategic location has precipitated many wars that were fought on its territory between other rival powers at its expense. In 1944, under Soviet occupation, the Jaanilinn and Petseri regions were annexed to Russian SFSR territory. The legal status of these territories, the border question, remains unsettled between Republic of Estonia and Russian Federation, successor of Soviet Union.
Saaremaa is the largest island (2673 km²) belonging to Estonia. It is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the west Estonian archipelago. The capital of Saaremaa is Kuressaare, which has about 16,000 inhabitants; the whole island has about 40,000 inhabitants.
Saaremaa is the main island of Saare County, called Saaremaa or Saare maakond in Estonian, and in Finnish Saarenmaa — literally isle's land. The Swedish and German name of the island is Ösel, and the Danish is Øsel.
According to archeological finds, the territory of Saaremaa has been inhabited for at least five thousand years. In old Scandinavian sagas, Saaremaa is called Eysysla which means exactly the same as the name of the island in Estonian: the district (land) of island. This is the origin of the island's name in German and Swedish, Ösel, Danish, Øsel, and in Latin Osilia. The name Eysysla appears sometimes together with Adalsysla, 'the big land', perhaps 'Suuremaa' or 'Suur Maa' in Estonian which refers to mainland Estonia. Sagas talk about numerous skirmishes between islanders and Vikings. Saaremaa was the wealthiest county of ancient Estonia and the home of notorious Estonian pirates, sometimes called the Eastern Vikings. The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia describes a fleet of sixteen ships and five hundred Osilians ravaging the area that is now southern Sweden, then belonging to Denmark.
The Livonian Brothers of the Sword (Latin: Fratres miliciæ Christi de Livonia, German: Schwertbrüderorden), was a military order organized in 1202 by Albert of Buxhoeveden and composed of German "warrior monks". Their rule was primarily based on that of the Knights Templar. They were also known as the Livonian Order, Christ Knights, Sword Brethren, and The Militia of Christ of Livonia. The Brothers were incorporated to Teutonic Knights in 1236.
Oil shale is a general term applied to a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing significant traces of kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) that have not been buried for sufficient time to produce conventional fossil fuels. When heated to a sufficiently high temperature a vapor is driven off which can be distilled (retorted) to yield a petroleum-like 'shale oil' - a form of non-conventional oil - and combustible 'shale gas'.
The kerogen in oil shale can be converted to oil through the chemical process of pyrolysis. Oil shale can also be burnt directly as a low-grade fuel for power generation and heating, and be used as a raw material in the chemical and construction materials industries. Currently oil shales are used commercially for oil production in Estonia, Brazil and China, for power generation in Estonia, China, Israel and Germany, for cement production in Estonia, Germany and China, and for chemical industry in Estonia and Russia.
The Prime Minister of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti Vabariigi Peaminister) is the head of government of the Republic of Estonia. The prime minister is chosen by the President and conferred by Parliament. This is usually the leader of the largest party or coalition in the Parliament. The current Prime Minister is Andrus Ansip, who took office on 12 April 2005, representing the coalition of Estonian Reform Party (Eesti Reformierakond), the Estonian Centre Party (Eesti Keskerakond), and the People's Union of Estonia (Eestimaa Rahvaliit).
The activity of the government is directed by the Prime Minister, who is the actual political head of state. He does not head any specific ministry, but is, in accordance with the constitution, the supervisor of the work of the government. The Prime Minister’s significance and role in the government and his relations with other ministries often depend on the position of the party led by the prime minister in vis-à-vis the coalition partners, and on how much influence the prime minister possesses within his own party. If the prime minister has a strong position within his party, and the government is made up solely of representatives of that party, he can enjoy considerable authority. In all crucial national questions, however, the final word rests with Riigikogu as the legislative power.
Portal:Estonia/Featured article/October 2007
Portal:Estonia/Featured article/November 2007
Portal:Estonia/Featured article/December 2007