Estonia before it joined the European Union

Estonia Flag

In 2011 Estonia will be trading the Euro. How was Estonia before it joined the European Union ?

No such entity as Estonia existed before the twentieth century states Toivo Raun in Estonia and Estonians. In 1918 the Republic of Estonia is created.

Estonia borders the Baltic sea, Russia, and Latvia. The Estonian capital is Talinn and it is situated near the Baltic Sea and only about 100 miles across water from Helsinki, Finland.

There are less than 1.5 million people in this small Baltic country. Estonia became a member of the European Union on May 1, 2004 and it is the last of the seventeen nations to adopt the currency rules or the Eurozone or Euro area.

Much of Estonia is completely flat and the highest peak is a mere 318 meters above sea level. The average peak is 100 meters above sea level. This flat land is abundant in limestone and dolomite which is a good resource to have when construction materials are needed. However the economy of Estonia is based on the production of electronic and telecommunication gadgets. It's main trading partners are neighbouring countries such as Finland, Sweden, and Germany. The gross domestic products are 3 percent agricultural, 71 percent services, and 26 percent industry.

About 70 percent of Estonians speak a Uralic language while about 25 percent of the population speaks Russian.

Eurasia was populated by the earliest of humans. The Finno-Ugric emerged in the area where Estonia is today. In about 9000 BC gatherer hunters find resources around the River Parnu and the Kunda culture begins to develop around lakes like Peipsi and Vortsjar.

Recall that 9000 BC is when the period of the great floods occuring. It is the beginning of the Holocene period and the ice is giving way to land. Flash floods would certainly have been a hazard of pre-Estonians for many centuries.

Bronze working appears in about 1800 BC and during the Viking age the Kundra culture mixes heavily with Germanic tribes and Scandinavian tribes. Cattle raising, seal hunting, seems to lead the trade potential of these early Estonians who are now very able in using the dolomite and limestone quaries to their constructions. With wealth comes a need to defend sovereignty and fortified settlements begin to emerge. In about 500 BC Estonia enters the iron age. In this age of iron working the Estonian are also advancing their funerary rituals and "Celtic fields", or underground enclosed burial graves are replacing the earlier "burial mounds".

The Romans make their appearance in the first centuries AD. The Estonians are placed on trading routes between Scandinavia and Byzantium.  While the Estonians are more into raising animals than into agriculture they nonetheless have surpluses of grains which they export in about 1200 AD.

When the religious revolts began and protesters of the Catholic Holy Roman Empire adopted their own foundations of faith the people of Estonia became predominantly protestants. However this is only true for about 20 percent of the population since most of the people of this area are secularists and do not have strict religious convictions. Paganism or animism is a method of faith that was evident before the Germanic tribes brought with them the Roman Catholic rules of faith. With the reformation of 1520 Lutheran evangelical churches became the norm.

In the 1700's Russian Czars became the rulers of pre-Estonian society. With the Czars of Russia came the Orthodox Russian Church. This period is marked by places of worship like the Alexander Nevski  cathedral in Tulinn.

In 1945 the Soviets occupy the Republic of Estonia and religious worshippers were persecuted. This religious repression continued into the 1980's. The fight for indepence sees a resurgence of the Lutheran movement.

Note - Paganism is to the earliest Estonians. Roman Christians fight paganism with Catholic edicts. Reformists like the Lutherans fight the Papal religion of the Romans. Lutheranism is the religion of the Germanic tribes which eventually rule the Roman empire. Russian Orthodoxy is a Christian based faith and is highly influenced by the politics of the Czars.

The currency of Estonia before it joined the European Union and adopted the Euro was the Estii Kroon which was broken into 100 senti. The Kroon replaced the Ruble in 1992 and became pegged to the Euro.