Estonia, Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It lies on the northern coast of Estonia, along the Gulf of Finland. The city is an important industrial, political and cultural center, and seaport.

Geography

Tallinn is situated on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, in north central Estonia.

The largest lake in Tallinn is Lake Ülemiste (covers 9.6 km²). It is the main source of the city's drinking water. Lake Harku is the second largest lake within the borders of Tallinn and its area is 1.6 km².

The highest point of Tallinn, at 64 meters above the sea level, is situated in the district of Nõmme, in the south-west of the city.

History

The southern coast of the Gulf of Finland is thought to have been settled by Finnic-speaking tribes already in the 2nd millennium BC.

Supposedly, in 1154 Tallinn was placed on the world map of the Almoravid cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi as Kolyvan.As an important port for trade between Russia and Scandinavia, it became a target for the expansion of the Teutonic Knights and Kingdom of Denmark during the period of Northern Crusades in the beginning of the 13th century when Christianity was forcibly imposed on the local population.

Population

Tallinn's population is registered 400,200 (as of May 2007).

According to Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, of all EU member states' capital cities, Tallinn has the largest number of non-EU nationals: 27.8% of its population are not EU citizens. This is because planned immigration from other Soviet republics during the period of Soviet control (1944-1991) brought large numbers of non-Estonians, mostly Russians, to Tallinn and other areas of Northern Estonia. These immigrants and their offspring do not qualify automatically for Estonian citizenship.

Economy

In addition to longtime functions as seaport and capital city, Tallinn has seen development of an information technology sector in recent years; in its 13 December 2005, edition, The New York Times characterized Estonia as "a sort of Silicon Valley on the Baltic Sea." One of Tallinn's sister cities is the Silicon Valley town of Los Gatos, California.

Transport

City transport
The city operates an extensive system of bus (64 lines), tram (4 lines) and trolley-bus (8 lines) routes to all districts. Fares are reasonably-priced and a flat-fare system is used.
Air
Tallinn Airport is about four kilometres from Raekoja plats (Town Hall square), there is a local bus connection between the airport and the edge of the city centre (bus no. 2). Nearest railway station Ülemiste is only 1.5 km from airport.
Rail and road
The Edelaraudtee railway company operates train services from Tallinn to Tartu, Valga, Türi, Viljandi, Tapa, Narva, Orava, and Pärnu. Buses are also available to all these and various other destinations in Estonia, as well as to St Petersburg in Russia and Riga in Latvia.