conventional long form: Republic of Estonia
conventional short form: Estonia
local long form: Eesti Vabariik
local short form: Eesti
former: Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
45,226 km²
Tallinn
Estonian kroon (EEK)
372
.ee
Estonian, Russian, unknown
Evangelical Lutheran, Orthodox, other Christian, Seventh-Day Adventist, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal)
1,315,912
parliamentary republic
pre-1940 flag restored by Supreme Soviet in May 1990 - three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), black, and white
After centuries of Danish, Swedish, German, and Russian rule, Estonia attained independence in 1918. Forcibly incorporated into the USSR in 1940 - an action never recognized by the US - it regained its freedom in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since the last Russian troops left in 1994, Estonia has been free to promote economic and political ties with Western Europe. It joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.
maritime, wet, moderate winters, cool summers
