Portal:Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia (Estonian: Eesti or Eesti Vabariik; Germanic languages: Estland; Finnish: Viro), is a country in Northern Europe. Estonia has land borders to the south with Latvia and to the east with Russia. It is separated from Finland in the north by the Gulf of Finland and from Sweden in the west by the Baltic Sea. Estonia has been a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004 and of NATO since 29 March 2004. The Estonians are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns, with the Estonian language sharing many similarities to Finnish. The modern name of Estonia is thought to originate from the Roman historian Tacitus, who in his book Germania (ca. AD 98) described a people called the Aestii. Similarly, ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the country's name are Estia and Hestia. Template:/box-footer Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Box-header/colours' not found. Estonian (Audio file "et-eesti keel.ogg" not found; 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]. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Box-header/colours' not found. Tahkuna is the northernmost part of the island Hiiumaa, Estonia. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Box-header/colours' not found. Toomas Hendrik Ilves (born December 26, 1953) is the current President of Estonia. He is a former diplomat and journalist, was the leader of the Social Democratic Party in the 1990s and later a member of the European Parliament. He was elected to the post by an electoral college on September 23, 2006 and his term as President began on October 9, 2006.Ilves was born in Stockholm, Sweden but his parents were Estonian refugees. He grew up in the United States and graduated from Leonia High School in Leonia, New Jersey in 1972 as valedictorian. He attended a bachelors degree in psychology from Columbia University and a masters degree in the same subject from the University of Pennsylvania. 
 Counties: Harju County • Hiiu County • Ida-Viru County • Järva County • Jõgeva County • Lääne County • Lääne-Viru County • Pärnu County • Põlva County • Rapla County • Saare County • Tartu County • Valga County • Viljandi County • Võru County History: Ancient Estonia • Estonian Crusade • Danish Estonia • Livonian War • Duchy of Livonia • Swedish Estonia • Estophilia • Estonian Age of Awakening • Autonomous Governorate of Estonia • Estonia in World War II • Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany • History of the Jews in Estonia • Occupation of Estonia by Soviets (Estonian SSR) Politics: Parliament • President • Prime Minister • Cabinet • Constitution • Elections • Political parties Geography: Islands • Lakes • Rivers Economy: Tallinn Stock Exchange • Estonian kroon Military: Maavägi • Merevägi • Estonian Air Force Culture: Cinema • Cuisine • Education • Literature • Music • Public holidays Symbols: Flag • Coat of arms • National anthem (Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm) 
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