Estonia is the northernmost country of the three Baltic States that occupy the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea ( the other two nations being its southern neighbour Latvia, and Lithuania). To the east is Lake Peipus which is shared with its other neighbour – Russia.

The country includes the islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa as well as around 2,300 smaller islands and islets. Generally speaking, the terrain is predominantly flat and wet, with bogs and mires covering more than 23% of the country. There are at least 7,000 rivers and watercourses and over 1,560 lakes, the largest of which is Vortsjarv. The southern part of the country however is somewhat hillier and includes Suur Munamaqi, which at 1,043 ft (318 m) makes it the highest peak in the Baltics.

The land occupied by present day Estonia has been inhabited by humans since at least 9000 BC and the medieval indigenous population was one of the last pagan civilizations in Europe to adopt Christianity. Today’s population is around 1.4 million with the two largest urban areas being Tartu (97,400) and the capital, Tallinn (453,000)

Historically, for centuries the country was ruled successively by the Teutonic Order, Denmark, Sweden and the Russian Empire, but in the mid-19^th century a national identity began to re-emerge which culminated in the 1918 Estonian Declaration of Independence from the then warring Russian and German Empires.

At the outbreak of WWII, Estonia declared itself neutral, but was invaded and occupied, firstly by the Soviet Union in 1940, then Nazi Germany in 1941, but was reoccupied again by the Soviets in 1944 who annexed it into the USSR. During the Soviet occupation between 1944 and 1991, Estonia was recognized as an independent state by the wider world community until the 1988-90 ‘Singing Revolution’ brought about the end of Soviet rule. Full independence was officially restored on 20^th August 1991.