Traditions invented

Read an interesting book on the topic. “Many practices which are considered traditional are in fact quite recent inventions, often deliberately constructed to serve particular ideological ends.”

Reading on the aftermath of WW2 in Asia

This book.

History of Estonia etc

Estonia statistics and various picks.

1/5 of the area is swamps, 1/2 forests.

• Country inhabited at least 10,000 years (I wonder if by the same people?) Oldest discovered settlement in the Pulli village near Pärnu.
• 1154 Tallinn first placed on the world map by Arabian geographer al-Idrisi.
• 13th century fights against German crusaders. In 1219 the Danes led by King Valdemar II joined in. Tallinn conquered by the Danes and called Taani Linnus by the locals.
• Coastal Swedes lived on Estonian islands and on the western coast.
• In Stenby Peace Treaty in 1238 the country was divided among the invaders: northern Estonia to the Danes and the rest to the Teutonic Order and bishoprics.
• The land was mostly feudalised to vassals of German origin, and the local people had to start paying for land usage to the manors.
• 1230 Tartu received its town bylaws.
• 1240 Dome Church consecrated in Tallinn.
• 5th April 1242 Battle on the Ice, Lake Peipus. Prince of Novgorod Alexander Nevsky defeated the Teutonic Order.
• 14th-15th centuries Tallinn gained fame as a member of the Hanseatic League.
• Estonians rebelled on 23rd April 1343. This is called the St. George’s Night Uprising.
• The Danes had had enough and a few years later King Valdemar IV sold his possessions to the Teutonic Order.
• 1404 Tallinn Town Hall built.
• 1422 Town Hall Pharmacy started operation in Tallinn. The business is still running.
• 1558 Russian Czar Ival IV declares war againts Livonia. Denmark, Poland and Sweden get involved. War lasted 25 years and the lands of Estonia again divided: northern Estonia to Sweden, southern to Poland and the Island of Saaremaa to Denmark.
• 1570-1578 Põltsamaa was capital of the Livonian vassal kingdom.
• Incidentally, the Estonians have never established a kingdom of their own.
• First half of 17th Century King Gustav II Adolph of Sweden conquered south Estonia from Poland and in the Brömsebro Peace Treaty of 1645 the island of Saaremaa was also transferred to Sweden.
• The year 1700 saw the beginning of the Northern War between Russia and Sweden. In the Nystad Peace Treaty of 1721 Estonia was ceded to Russia.
• Old Believers who left Russia arrived in Estonia; some are still living in small communities on the banks of Lake Peipus, still preserving Old Slavic church language.
• 1816-1819 dissolution of serfdom.
• 1857 Kreenholm cotton mill established. World’s most powerful waterwheel built on Narva waterfall. Local textile production got Grand Prix in the world exhibition in Paris, 1900.
• 1869 first Song Festival.
• 1892 Pühtitsa Orthodox Convent commenced.
• 24th February 1918 Estonian Independence Manifesto read in Tallinn. German occupation and war with Russia. War of Independence.
• 2nd February 1920 Russia signed a peace treaty in Tartu and recognized the new nation de jure.
• 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Soviet Union invades.
• 1941 over 10,000 people deported to Siberia.
• 1941-1944 German occupation.
• 6th March 1944 Narva town bombed nearly out of existence.
• Soviet regime restored after WW II.
• Night of 25th March over 20,000 people deported to Siberia.
• 20th August 1991 Estonian independence.

Literature:

• Kalevipoeg 

People:

• Wilhelm Ostwald, founder of physical chemistry and Nobel Prize winner
• Karl Ernst von Baer, founder of modern embryology
• Yuri Lotman, founder of the Tartu school of semiotics
• Lydia Koidula, poetess
• Raimond Valgre, musician
• Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, author of Kalevipoeg
• August Weitzenberg, sculptor
• Ants Laikmaa, Kirstjan Raud, Jakob Hurt, pioneers of national art
• Johann Köler, painter
• Amandus Adamson,painter
• Eduard Wiiralt, graphic artist

Media:

• Pärnu Postimees, first newspaper in the Estonian language, published since 1857.

Economy:

• Oil shale provides most of Estonian electric energy.

Various:

• Seto tribe, still preserving ancient customs
• Kihnu culture
• Kaali meteorite
• Kõpu lighthouse, one of the oldest in Europe

Learning Estonian is on my To Do List…