Estonia
Although Estonia is a
relatively small country covering only about 45,000 km2, its
landscapes are diverse. Over 1,500 islands and about the same number
of lakes can be found in this country. Estonia has a 3,780 km long
coastline, which includes different habitat types such as sand dunes, stone ridges, coastal meadows, coastal lakes, reedbeds, coastal cliffs, forest etc.
Because human population
is relatively low, and is mainly concentrated in towns,
this means that large land areas are covered with natural or semi-natural habitats.
Estonia
Estonia /i'stoniə/
(Estonian: Eesti), officially the Republic of Estonia (Estonian:
Eesti Vabariik), is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe.
It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by
the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia (343 km), and to the east by
Lake Peipus and Russia (338.6 km).[9] Across the Baltic Sea lies
Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia
covers 45,227 km2 (17,462 sq mi), and is influenced by a temperate
seasonal climate. The Estonians are a Finnic people, and the official
language, Estonian, is a Finno-Ugric language closely related to
Finnish and distantly to Hungarian.
Estonia is a democratic
parliamentary republic divided into 15 counties. The capital and
largest city is Tallinn. With a population of 1.29 million, it is one
of the least-populous members of the European Union, Eurozone and the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Urbanization
Tallinn is the
capital and the largest city of Estonia. It lies on the northern
coast of Estonia, along the Gulf of Finland. There are 33 cities and
several town-parish towns in the country. In total, there are 47
linna, with "linn" in English meaning both "cities"
and "towns". More than 70% of the population lives in
towns.
Estonian
nature
A sea
climate and dramatic cliffs
The Estonian climate
resembles that of other countries on the Baltic littoral. On account
of the country's proximity to the sea, the skies are often cloudy,
and rain often falls in the spring and autumn, in the winter the rain
turns to snow. The sea improves the climate; in the spring and summer
cool breezes waft in from the sea, so that the average temperature in
July is 17 degrees Celsius. It is not unusual, however, that the
temperature rises to 30 degrees in summers. In the autumn and winter,
the sea releases the heat it has soaked up during the summer so that
the average temperature is around -5 degrees Celsius.
The highest point in
Estonia is Suur Munamägi (Great Egg Hill), whose tip
is 318 metres above sea level. Estonians are proud of this highest
point and the pride is justified - Suur Munamägi is in fact the
highest point in the Baltic region. The most dramatic geological
features near the sea are the limestone cliffs on the Gulf of
Finland, which plunge sheer 50 metres into the sea. Nowhere else on
the shores of the Baltic can such terraced powerful limestone cliffs
be found. Limestone is the national stone.
Forests,
meadows, lakes and bogs
Forest
cover over one half of Estonia. The most common types of tree
are pine, spruce and birch. The forests are rich in game.
There are some 11 700 elk, 50 000 roe deer, 17 000 wild boar, 17 000
beavers, 800 lynxes, 600 bears and 100 wolves. Estonia, along with
Finland and Sweden are the countries with the greatest percentage of
forested land. Forest management and wood production are particularly
important for the Estonian economy. One third of Estonian forests are
protected areas. In these protected forests you can come across types
of primeval forest cover, which have long ago disappeared from other
parts of Europe. Examples of such primeval forests are the Järvselja
forest in Tartumaa County and Poruni in Ida- Virumaa County.
Forest covers over one
half of Estonia
Meadows
in Estonia are rich in different species much more so than in
Western Europe. In the summer, tourists travelling around the
countryside can discover the variety and colour of the roadside
meadows. The type of meadow richest in species is the wooded meadow.
In one wooded meadow in Vahenurme in Pärnumaa county one can find 74
different species of flora per square metre. Such a density of
botanic life is rare in Europe. Centuries ago, there were many such
wooded meadows in, among other places, southern Finland, Sweden and
elsewhere in Europe. Nowadays, such meadows can only be found in
Estonia.
Estonia
is a country of thousand of lakes. In the Estonian
territory there are about 1200 natural lakes whose water area exceeds
1 ha. The largest of these is Lake Peipsi, which is the fourth
largest freshwater lake in Europe. Most of Estonia's lakes are small
and are found in the south of the country. Larger lakes such as Lake
Peipsi and Lake Võrtsjärv are rich in fish. One can find rare
species of fish such as the lake whitefish and the Peipsi smelt in
Lake Peipsi. Võrtsjärv is famous for its catches of pike-perch and
eel, which are regarded as a delicacy.
There are also many
rivers in Estonia, but only ten of them are longer than 100
kilometres. The most important rivers are the Pärnu River and the
Emajõgi River.
About
one fifth of Estonia is covered with marshes and bogs.
Most of these are located in the central and eastern parts of
the country. The best place to visit marshes is in the Soomaa
National Park in Western Estonia. Soomaa means "Bogland" in
Estonian and impressive bogs cover the majority of the park with the
thickness of the peat layer reaching up to 7 metres in some places.
About one fifth of Estonia
is covered with marshes and bogs
Islands
Estonia has more than 1
500 islands. The largest of these is Saaremaa, which is about
2 900 square kilometres in size. Saaremaa is followed in size by
Hiiumaa, Muhu and Vormsi. The islands and the coastal areas of the
mainland are interesting owing to the fact that they are on the
migratory route for waterfowl. Twice a year – in the spring and
autumn – several hundreds of thousands of birds are visitors in
Estonia. The barnacle goose, the swan, the eider plus many more are
protected species.
The mild sea climate and
the rather level landscape of the island, makes Saaremaa an area
abundant in flora and fauna. Rare and beautiful species of orchids
can be found in many places, and a large number of rare animals
including seals live there.
Twice a year several
hundreds of thousands of birds are visitors in Estonia
More
about Estonia and its nature
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