Estonia




	Estonia is a small street-wise country recovering from Soviet domination.

Imagine a population of half of Inner London, England, spread over 45,000 square kilometers and you can see that Estonia is a land different indeed. Estonia has been overrun many times by conquerors including the Romans, Danes, Swedes, Poles and the Russians. It was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. The sea borders to the north of the country were closed and guarded. The Russians feared that people would escape to Sweden and Norway. The country obtained her independence comparatively recently on August 20^th 1991. On August 23, 1991 Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians joined hands in a freedom protest and formed a human chain 530 km long linking the three Baltic Capitals. There were no casualties.

The Russians eventually left Estonia on August 31^st 1994 thus ending the second world was in Estonia.

The total population is 1.360,000 of which 33% live in the Capital Tallinn, a medieval city that your editor has visited eight times.

The remainder of the population is spread thinly as you might imagine. As a result, everyone knows everyone and the spirit of community is high.

Industries include lumber, fishing, agriculture (many types of wheat). Many people work during the week in neighboring Finland where they can earn three times as much.




	During the Russian occupation, any healer showing any promise at all was forcibly exported to Moscow to 'heal' the hierarchy. As a result many were destroyed and lost their gifts. There are now 'hundreds' of healers practicing in Estonia. Many ex-patriots have come back from for example Canada to help their countryman and women catch up. Healers are respected as people of the land. Where the standards of the doctors are poor, the healers fill in the gap. There is a wonderful tradition of music, producing outstanding composers such as Arvo Part. Singing is particularly strong and the quality sublime. The country is repairing itself after decades of repression. Whereas the physical infrastructure can be built up in say 10 years but the emotional trauma lingers on. There is an old proverb in Estonia that no one can lock up the forest. 10% of the land is regarded as suited for recreation and spending free time. The government has established hiking and camping sites. (see images for some idea) As for Internet use, be not deceived. 43% of the population are Internet users, 33% of the population have a computer at home and 68% of home computer are connected to the Internet. There are 1,000,000 Estonian web sites. 43% of people conduct their everyday banking via the Internet and 61% of the population are mobile phone users. There, that was interesting eh? Nagemiseni! (good bye)

		More on Estonia

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