Visiting Researcher's Guide - EURAXESS Estonia

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2.2 History
ESTONIA
According to archaeological finds, the first settlements in Estonia emerged 11,000 years ago. Thus
on the one hand Estonians like to refer to themselves as one of the oldest nations in Europe, and on
the other there are lively disputes about whether or not the people fighting against the 13th century
crusaders were in fact Estonians. It is sometimes said that Estonians have not fared well in the course
of history. After conquering Estonia, which was part of the Viking culture and lay at the junction of
trading routes, the German-Danish armies and merchants seized power here and laid the foundation
for the Baltic nobility, whereas Estonians remained peasants. Under the German, Swedish and Russian
crowns, the land was ravaged by wars in which Estonians were onlookers.
The 150 years popularly known as the “good old Swedish time”, brought a longer interval of peace.
Another such period followed the devastating Great Northern War in the early 18th century when
Estonia was seized by the Russian tsarist empire. Nevertheless, we must admit that not all nations
have been so lucky: in the 19th century Estonia’s own culture was so well established that, following
the national awakening movement, an independent state was declared in 1918. This twenty-year
period of national statehood in turn produced a foundation strong enough for the re-establishment of
independence in 1991, even after the 50-year Soviet occupation.