Arab cartographer al-Idrisi was the first to mention Tallinn in his Tabula Rogeriana, published in 1154, and this date is officially considered the birth year of the present capital of Estonia, even though it had probably been founded much earlier. Al-Idrisi described the place as a small town, more like a settlement, set near a big port. The town got its name from the shortened Estonian phrase taani linn, which means Danish town, and over the centuries it has also been known as Reval, Kolyvan and Lyndanisse.

The Danes took over the area in the early 13th century, followed by the Teutonic Order a century later and the Swedish kingdom in the mid-16th century. Russian tzar Peter the Great conquered the region in the early 18th century, but the German nobility enjoyed a strong local influence until the end of the 19th century. Estonia’s independence, proclaimed in Tallinn on 24th February 1918, lasted until the Soviet occupation of 1940-1991.

The city has survived many wars and, fortunately, its beautiful and compact Old Town has been preserved. It is now on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Renovation of the city after the Second World War brought in both interesting and ugly examples of Soviet architecture, and the city is now experiencing both a face-lift and the construction of entirely new residential, retail and office districts. Tallinn’s population has decreased from nearly half a million residents in 1989 to a little over 400,000 in 2005, although the number of officially registered residents has been increasing in recent months thanks to the social and transport benefits they can enjoy.

POLITICS

Estonia is a parliamentary democracy with a multi-party system. Parliamentary elections for the 101-strong legislative body the Riigikogu are held every four years. The actual head of the state is the Prime Minister, who heads the government. The President is elected every five years by a special electoral body of MPs and local councils’ deputies, but his duties are more as a representative than a policy-maker. According to the official plans of the leading political parties, direct presidential elections may be introduced in future.

The country’s main right-wing parties— which represent different hues with some variations in economic policy—are the Reform Party, Pro Patria Union and Res Publica. The key centre-left and leftist players are the Social Democrats, the Centre Party and the People’s Union. At the local elections held in October 2005, the Centre Party, led by Estonia’s most popular politician Edgar Savisaar, got the majority in Tallinn city council—32 seats out of 63. The Reform Party came second and has 15 seats.

RELIGION

Most of the active followers of a particular religion belong to the Estonian Evanglical Lutheran Church, followed by the Orthodox Church, Baptists and Roman Catholics. Only one-third of the country’s 1.3 million population consider themselves to be religious.

In addition to about a dozen existing temples of various confessions, a new Orthodox church is planned in the district of Lasnamäe, which is mostly populated by Russian-speakers. Construction of the city’s first synagogue since the Second World War will finish in the city centre in May 2006.

ECONOMY

Tallinn is the business capital of Estonia, being the banking and the transit hub of the country. Companies based in Tallinn produce over 50% of the country’s GDP and the city’s credit rating once stood one step higher than that of the country. Despite major attempts by the national government to bridge the gap between Tallinn and the rest of the country, most of the money keeps coming to the capital. There are over 8,000 companies in Tallinn whose annual turnover exceeds one million kroons, or about 64,000 euros. The total number of companies registered in Tallinn exceeds 50,000 and about 338 of these are branches of foreign companies. A number of major enterprises, such as the country’s largest confectionery producer Kalev, have recently moved their main production out of the city to the nearby county districts in order to cut costs. This is mainly explained by the development of necessary infrastructure around the city and more affordable land prices there.

POPULATION

About 53% of the city’s residents are Estonian, 37% are Russian, 4% are Ukrainian, 2% Belarussian and the rest belong to other, smaller national groups. That makes the Russian language the second most widely spoken. English and Finnish are also commonly understood. About 65% of the city’s residents are aged 16 to 62 and some 56% of the total city population are female. The city has an average population density of about 3,000 people per square kilometre, the highest in Mustamäe (about 8,000) and the lowest in Pirita (around 600).