Baltic states

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"Baltics" redirects here. For other uses, see Baltic.
This article is about a geopolitical term used for grouping the three countries on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is not to be confused with States as a federal union, the wider Baltic region or the Balkans in southeastern Europe.

Baltic states
Location of the  Baltic states  (dark green)in Europe  (dark grey)  –  [Legend]
Location of the  Baltic states  (dark green)

in Europe  (dark grey)  –  [Legend]

Official languages
Currency Euro (€) (EUR)
Time zone UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)
 UTC+3 (EEST)
Drives on the right
Calling code +370a, +371b, +372c
Internet TLD .lta, .lvb, .eec, .eud
  1. Lithuania
  2. Latvia
  3. Estonia
  4. Shared with other European Union member states.

Coordinates: 55°N 24°E / 55°N 24°E / 55; 24

The Baltic states, also known as the Baltic countries, Baltic republics, Baltic nations or simply the Baltics (Estonian: Balti riigid, Baltimaad, Latvian: Baltijas valstis, Lithuanian: Baltijos valstybės), is a geopolitical term used for grouping the three sovereign states in Northern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The term is not used in the context of cultural areas, national identity or language. The three countries cooperate on a regional level in several intergovernmental organizations.[1]

All three countries are members of the European Union, NATO and the Eurozone. They are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain high Human Development Index. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are also members of the OECD.[2]

Etymology[edit]

The term "Baltic" stems from the name of the Baltic Sea – a hydronym dating back to the 11th century (Adam of Bremen mentioned Latin: Mare Balticum) and earlier. Although there are several theories about its origin, most ultimately trace it to Indo-European root *bhel[3] meaning white, fair. This meaning is retained in modern Baltic languages, where baltas (in Lithuanian) and balts (in Latvian) mean "white".[4] However the modern names of the region and the sea, that originate from this root, were not used in either of the two languages prior to the 19th century.[5]

Beginning in the Middle Ages and through the present day, the Baltic Sea appears on the maps described in Germanic languages as German: Ostsee, Danish: Østersøen, Dutch: Oostzee, Swedish: Östersjön, etc. In English "Ost" is "East", and in fact, the Baltic Sea mostly lies to the east of Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The term was historically also used to refer to Baltic Dominions of The Swedish Empire (Swedish: Östersjöprovinserna) and, after, the Baltic governorates of Russian Empire (Russian: Остзейские губернии, translit. Ostzejskie gubernii).[5] The terms related to modern name "Baltic" appear in ancient texts, but had fallen in disuse until reappearing as adjective "Baltisch" in German from which it was adopted in other languages.[6] During 19th century "Baltic" started to surpass "Ostsee" as the name for the region. Officially its Russian equivalent "Прибалтийский" was first used in 1859.[5] This process was a result of the Baltic German elite adopting terms derived from stem "Baltic" to refer to themselves.[6][7]

The term "Baltic states" was, until the early 20th century, used in the context of countries neighbouring the Baltic Sea – Namely Sweden and Denmark, sometimes also Germany and the Russian Empire. With the advent of Foreningen Norden, the term was no longer used for Sweden and Denmark.[8][9] After World War I the new sovereign states that emerged on the east coast of the Baltic sea – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and during the Interwar period, Finland – became known as "The Baltic states".[6]

History[edit]

Northern Crusades[edit]

In the 13th century pagan and Eastern Orthodox Baltic and Finnic peoples in the region became a target of the Northern Crusades.[10][11] In the aftermath of the Livonian crusade, a crusader state officially named Terra Mariana, but also known as Livonia, was established in the territory of modern Latvia and Southern Estonia. It was divided into four autonomous bishoprics and lands of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. After the Brothers of the Sword suffered defeat at the Battle of Saule, the remaining Brothers were integrated into the Teutonic Order as the autonomous Livonian Order. Northern Estonia initially became a Danish dominion, but it was purchased by the Teutonic Order in the mid-14th century. The majority of the crusaders and clergy were German and remained influential in Estonia and most of Latvia until the first half of the 20th century – Baltic Germans formed the backbone of the local gentry, and German served both as a lingua franca and for record-keeping.[6]

The Lithuanians were also targeted by the crusaders; however, they were able to resist and established the Kingdom of Lithuania in 1251 which later became Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It expanded to the east conquering former principalities of Kiev up to the Black sea. After the Union of Krewo in 1385, Grand Duchy of Lithuania created a dynastic union with Kingdom of Poland, they became ever more closely integrated and finally merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. After victory in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the Polish–Lithuanian union became a major political and military power in the region.

Baltic dominions of Swedish Empire[edit]

Main article: Dominium maris baltici
The Duchies of Estland and Livland within the Swedish Empire

In 1558 Livonia was attacked by the Tsardom of Russia and the Livonian war broke out, lasting until 1583. The rulers of different regions within Livonia sought to ally with foreign powers, which resulted in Polish–Lithuanian, Swedish and Danish involvement. As a result, by 1561 the Livonian confederation had ceased to exist and its lands in modern Latvia and Southern Estonia became the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia and the Duchy of Livonia, which were vassals to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Osel island came under Danish rule and Northern Estonia became the Swedish Duchy of Estonia. In the aftermath of later conflicts of the 17th century, much of the Duchy of Livonia and Osel also came under Swedish control as Swedish Livonia. These newly acquired Swedish territories, as well as Ingria and Kexholm (now the western part of the Leningrad Oblast of Russia), became known as the Baltic Dominions. Parts of the Duchy of Livonia that remained in the Commonwealth became Inflanty Voivodeship, which contributed to the modern Latgale region of Eastern Latvia becoming culturally distinct from the rest of Latvia as the German nobility lost its influence and the region remained Catholic just like Poland-Lithuania, while the rest of Latvia (and also Estonia) became Lutheran.

Baltic governates of Russian Empire[edit]

Territorial changes in 1709–1721. Note that Livonia and Estonia were lost by Sweden and annexed by Russia in this period.

At the beginning of the 18th century the Swedish Empire was attacked by a coalition of several European powers in the Great Northern War. Among these powers was Russia, seeking to restore its access to the Baltic Sea. During the course of the war it conquered all of the Swedish provinces on the Eastern Baltic coast. This acquisition was legalized by the Treaty of Nystad in which the Baltic Dominions were ceded to Russia.[12] The treaty also granted the Baltic-German nobility within Estonia and Livonia the rights to self-government, maintaining their financial system, existing customs border, Lutheran religion, and the German language; this special position in the Russian Empire was reconfirmed by all Russian Tsars from Peter the Great to Alexander II.[13] Initially these were two governorates named after the largest cities: Riga and Reval (now Tallinn). After the Partitions of Poland which took place in the last quarter of the 18th century, the third Ostsee governorate was created, as the Courland Governorate (presently a part of Latvia). This toponym stems from the Curonians, one of the Baltic[14] indigenous tribes. Following the annexation of Courland the two other governates were renamed to the Governorate of Livland and the Governorate of Estland.

In the late 19th century, nationalist sentiment grew in Estonia and in Latvia morphing into an aspiration to national statehood after the 1905 Russian Revolution.

Newly independent countries East of the Baltic Sea[edit]

After the First World War the term "Baltic states" came to refer to countries by the Baltic Sea that had gained independence from Russia in its aftermath. As such it included not only former Baltic governorates, but also Latgale, Lithuania and Finland.[15] As World War I came to a close, Lithuania declared independence and Latvia formed a provisional government. Estonia had already obtained autonomy from tsarist Russia in 1917, but was subsequently occupied by the German Empire; they fought an independence war against Soviet Russia and Baltic nobility before gaining true independence from 1920 to 1939. Latvia and Lithuanians followed a similar process, until the Latvian War of Independence and Lithuanian Wars of Independence were extinguished in 1920.

During the Interwar period these countries were sometimes referred to as limitrophe states between the two World Wars, from the French, indicating their collectively forming a rim along Bolshevik Russia's, later the Soviet Union's, western border. They were also part of what Clemenceau considered a strategic cordon sanitaire, the entire territory from Finland in the north to Romania in the south, standing between Western Europe and potential Bolshevik territorial ambitions.[16][17]

Prior to World War II Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania each experienced an authoritarian head of state who had come to power after a bloodless coup: Antanas Smetona in Lithuania (December 1926), Konstantin Päts in Estonia (March 1934), and Kārlis Ulmanis in Latvia (May 1934). Some note that the events in Lithuania differed from its two more northerly neighbors, with Smetona having different motivations as well as securing power 8 years before any such events in Latvia or Estonia took place. Despite considerable political turmoil in Finland no such events took place there. Finland did however get embroiled in a bloody civil war, something that did not happen in the Baltics.[18] Some controversy surrounds the Baltic authoritarian régimes – due to the general stability and rapid economic growth of the period (even if brief), some commenters avoid the label "authoritarian"; others, however, condemn such an "apologetic" attitude, for example in later assessments of Kārlis Ulmanis.

Soviet and German occupations[edit]

Map of present-day Baltic states

In accordance with a secret protocol within the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 that divided Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence, the Soviet Army entered eastern Poland in September 1939, and then coerced Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into mutual assistance treaties which granted them the right to establish military bases in these. In June 1940, the Red Army occupied all of the territory of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and the Red Army installed new, pro-Soviet governments in all three countries. Following rigged elections, in which only pro-communist candidates were allowed to run, the newly "elected" parliaments of the three countries formally applied to "join" the Soviet Union in August 1940 and were incorporated into it as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Repressions, executions and mass deportations followed after that in the Baltics.[19][20] Deportations were used as a part of the Soviet Union's attempts, along with instituting the Russian Language as the only working language and other such tactics, at Sovietization of its occupied territories. More than 200,000 people were deported by the Soviet government from the Baltic in 1940–1953 to remote, inhospitable locations in the Soviet Union. In addition, at least 75,000 were sent to Gulag. Approximately 10% of the entire adult Baltic population was deported or sent to labor camps.[21][22] (See June deportation, Soviet deportations from Estonia, Sovietization of the Baltic states)

The Soviet control of the Baltic states was interrupted by Nazi German invasion of this region in 1941. Initially, many Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians considered the Germans as liberators from the Soviet Union. The Baltic countries hoped for the restoration of independence, but instead the Germans established civil administration, known as the Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the occupation the Germans carried out discrimination, mass deportations and mass killings generating Baltic resistance movements (see German occupation of the Baltic states during World War II).[23] Over 190,000 Lithuanian Jews, nearly 95% of Lithuania's pre-war Jewish community, and 66,000 Latvian Jews had been killed. The German occupation lasted until late 1944 (in Courland, until early 1945), when the countries were reoccupied by the Red Army and Soviet rule was re-established, with the passive agreement of the United States and Britain (see Yalta Conference and Potsdam Agreement).

The forced collectivisation of agriculture began in 1947, and was completed after the mass deportation in March 1949 (see Operation Priboi). Private farms were confiscated, and farmers were made to join the collective farms. In all three countries, Baltic partisans, known colloquially as the Forest Brothers, Latvian national partisans, and Lithuanian partisans, waged unsuccessful guerrilla warfare against the Soviet occupation for the next eight years in a bid to regain their nations' independence. Although the armed resistance was defeated, the population remained anti-Soviet.

The Baltic Way was a mass anti-Soviet demonstration where approx. 25% of the population of the Baltic states participated

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were considered to be under Soviet occupation by the United States, the United Kingdom,[24] Canada, NATO, and many other countries and international organizations.[25] During the Cold War period Lithuania and Latvia maintained legations in Washington, DC, while Estonia had a mission in New York. Each was staffed, initially by diplomats from the last governments before USSR occupation.[26]

In the late 1980s a massive campaign of civil resistance against Soviet rule, known as the Singing revolution, began. On 23 August 1989, the Baltic Way, a two-million-strong human chain, stretched for 600 km from Tallinn to Vilnius. In the wake of this campaign Gorbachev's government had privately concluded that the departure of the Baltic republics had become "inevitable".[27] This process contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union setting a precedent for the other Soviet republics to secede from the USSR. Soviet Union recognized the independence of three Baltic states on 6 September 1991. There was a subsequent withdrawal of troops from the region (starting from Lithuania) in August 1993. The last Russian troops were withdrawn from there in August 1994.[28] Skrunda-1, the last Russian military radar in the Baltics, officially suspended operations in August 1998.[29]

Politics[edit]

The Baltic countries are located in Northern Europe, and because each has access to the sea, it is able to interact with many European countries. All three countries are parliamentary democracies, which have unicameral parliaments that are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms – Riigikogu in Estonia, Saeima in Latvia and Seimas in Lithuania. In Latvia and Estonia, the president is elected by parliament while Lithuania has a semi-presidential system where the president is elected by popular vote. All are parts of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Each of the three countries has declared itself to be the restoration of the sovereign nation that had existed from 1918 to 1940, emphasizing their contention that Soviet domination over the Baltic nations during the Cold War period had been an illegal occupation and annexation.

The same legal interpretation is shared by the United States, the United Kingdom, and most other Western democracies,[citation needed] who held the forcible incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union to be illegal. At least formally, most Western democracies never considered the three Baltic states to be constituent parts of the Soviet Union. Australia was a brief exception to this support of Baltic independence – in 1974, the Labor government of Australia did recognize Soviet dominion, but this decision was reversed by the next Australian Parliament.[30] Other exceptions included Sweden, which was the first Western country, and one of the very few to ever do so, to recognize the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union as lawful.[31]

After the Baltic states had restored their independence, integration with Western Europe became a major strategic goal. In 2002, the Baltic nations applied for membership in NATO and the EU. All three became NATO members on 29 March 2004, and accessed to the EU on 1 May 2004. The Baltic states are currently the only former-Soviet states that have joined either organization.

Regional cooperation[edit]

During the Baltic struggle for independence 1989–1992, a personal friendship developed between the (at that time unrecognized) Baltic ministers of foreign affairs and the Nordic ministers of foreign affairs. This friendship led to the creation of the Council of the Baltic Sea States in 1992, and the EuroFaculty in 1993.[32]

Between 1994 and 2004, the BAFTA free trade agreement was established to help prepare the countries for their accession to the EU, rather than out of the Baltic states' desire to trade among themselves. The Baltic countries were more interested in gaining access to the rest of the European market.

Currently, the governments of the Baltic states cooperate in multiple ways, including cooperation among presidents, parliament speakers, heads of government, and foreign ministers. On 8 November 1991, the Baltic Assembly, which includes 15 to 20 MPs from each parliament, was established to facilitate inter-parliamentary cooperation.The Baltic Council of Ministers was established on 13 June 1994 to facilitate intergovernmental cooperation. Since 2003, there is coordination between the two organizations.[33]

Compared with other regional groupings in Europe, such as Nordic council or Visegrad Four, Baltic cooperation is rather limited. Possible explanations include the short history of restored sovereignty and fear of losing it again, along with an orientation toward Nordic countries and Baltic-Nordic cooperation in The Nordic-Baltic Eight. Estonia especially has attempted to construct a Nordic identity for itself and denounced Baltic identity, despite still seeking to preserve close relationship with other countries in the region.[34][35]

Current leaders[edit]

Economies[edit]

Main article: Baltic Tiger
State budget revenues per capita for 2016 in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Downtown Tallinn
Downtown Riga
Downtown Vilnius
Tallink is the largest passenger shipping company in the Baltic sea region in Northern Europe.

All three countries are members of the European Union, and the Eurozone. They are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain high Human Development Index. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are also members of the OECD.[2]

Estonia adopted the euro in January 2011, Latvia in January 2014, and Lithuania in January 2015.

Culture[edit]

St. Olaf's church in Tallinn, Estonia

Ethnic groups[edit]

Language branches in Northern Europe
  North Germanic (Iceland and Scandinavia)
  Finnic (Finland, Estonia)
  Baltic (Latvia, Lithuania)

Estonians are Finnic people, together with the neighboring Finns. The Latvians and Lithuanians, linguistically and culturally related to each other, are Baltic and Indo-European people. The peoples comprising the Baltic states have together inhabited the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea for millennia, although not always peacefully in ancient times, over which period their populations, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian have remained remarkably stable within the approximate territorial boundaries of the current Baltic states. While separate peoples with their own customs and traditions, historical factors have introduced cultural commonalities across and differences within them.

The population of the Baltic countries belong to different Christian denominations, a reflection of historical circumstances. Both Western and Eastern Christianity had been introduced by the end of the first millennium. The current divide between Lutheranism to the north and Catholicism to the south is the remnant of Swedish and Polish hegemony, respectively, with Orthodox Christianity remaining the dominant faith among Russian and other East Slavic minorities.

St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Riga, Latvia

The Baltic states have historically been in many different spheres of influence, from Danish over Swedish and Polish–Lithuanian, to German (Hansa and Holy Roman Empire), and before independence in the Russian sphere of influence.

The Baltic states have a considerable Slavic minority: in Latvia: 33.0% (including 25.4% Russian, 3.3% Belarusian, 2.2% Ukrainian, and 2.1% Polish),[36] in Estonia: 27.6%[37] and in Lithuania: 12.2% (including 5.6% Polish and 4.5% Russian).[38]

The Soviet Union conducted a policy of Russification by encouraging Russians and other Russian-speaking ethnic groups of the Soviet Union to settle in the Baltic Republics. Today, ethnic Russian immigrants from the former Soviet Union and their descendants make up a sizable minority in the Baltic states, particularly in Latvia (about one-quarter of the total population and close to one-half in the capital Riga) and Estonia (one-quarter of the population).

Because the three Baltic states had been occupied by Soviet Union later than other territories (hence, e.g., the higher living standard), there was a strong feeling of national identity (often labeled "bourgeois nationalism" by Soviets) and popular resentment towards the imposed Soviet rule in the three countries, in combination with Soviet cultural policy, which employed superficial multiculturalism (in order for the Soviet Union to appear as a multinational union based on free will of peoples) in limits allowed by the Communist "internationalist" (but in effect pro-Russification) ideology and under tight control of the Communist Party (those of the Baltic nationals who crossed the line were called "bourgeois nationalists" and repressed). This let Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians preserve a high degree of Europe-oriented national identity.[39] In Soviet times this made them appear as the "West" of the Soviet Union in the cultural and political sense, thus as close to emigration a Russian could get without leaving the Soviet Union.

Languages[edit]

The languages of Baltic nations belong to two distinct language families. The Latvian and Lithuanian languages belong to the Indo-European language family and are the only extant members of the Baltic language group (or more specifically, Eastern Baltic subgroup of Baltic).

The Estonian language is a Finnic language, together with the neighboring Finland.

Catholic Church of All Saints, Vilnius, Lithuania

Apart from the indigenous languages, German was the dominant language in Estonia and Latvia in academics, professional life, and upper society from the 13th century until World War I. Polish served a similar function in Lithuania. Numerous Swedish loanwords have made it into the Estonian language; it was under the Swedish rule that schools were established and education propagated in the 17th century. Swedish remains spoken in Estonia, particularly the Estonian Swedish dialect of the Estonian Swedes of northern Estonia and the islands (though many fled to Sweden as the Soviet Union invaded and re-occupied Estonia in 1944). There is also significant proficiency in Finnish in Estonia owing to its closeness to the native Estonian and also the widespread practice of listening to Finnish broadcasts during the Soviet era. Russian also achieved significant usage particularly in commerce.

Russian was the most commonly studied foreign language at all levels of schooling during the Soviet era. Despite schooling available and administration conducted in local languages, Russian settlers were neither encouraged nor motivated to learn the official local languages, so knowledge of Russian became a practical necessity in daily life. Even to this day, the majority of the population of the Baltic states profess to be proficient in Russian, especially those who lived during Soviet rule. Meanwhile, the minority of Russian origin generally do not speak the national language. The question of their assimilation is a major factor in social and diplomatic affairs.[40]

Sports[edit]

Basketball is a notable sport across the Baltic states. Teams from the three countries compete in the respective national championships and the Baltic Basketball League. The Lithuanian teams have been the strongest, with the BC Žalgiris winning the 1999 FIBA Euroleague.

The Lithuania men's national basketball team has won the EuroBasket on three occasions and has claimed third place at the 2010 World Cup and three Olympic tournaments. Meanwhile, the Latvia men's national basketball team won the 1935 Eurobasket and finished second in 1939, but has performed poorly since the 1990s. Lithuania hosted the Eurobasket in 1939 and 2011, whereas Latvia was one of the hosts in 2015. The historic Lithuanian basketball team Kauno Žalgiris won the Euroleague in 1999. However, the Latvia women's national basketball team finished fourth at the 2007 Eurobasket.

Ice hockey is also popular in Latvia. Dinamo Riga is the country's strongest hockey club, playing in the Kontinental Hockey League. The 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships were held in Latvia.

Association football is popular in the Baltic states, but the only appearance of a Baltic team in a major international competition was Latvia's qualification for Euro 2004. The national teams of the three states have played in the Baltic Cup since 1928.

Estonian and Soviet chess grandmaster Paul Keres was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s. He narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five occasions. Estonian Markko Märtin was successful in the World Rally Championship in the early 2000, where he got five wins and 18 podiums, as well as a third place in the 2004 standings.

Latvian tennis player Jeļena Ostapenko won the 2017 French Open, another Latvian tennis player Ernests Gulbis was a semifinalist at the 2010 Rome Masters and 2014 French Open.

Geography[edit]

Nature[edit]

  • Forests cover over half the landmass of Estonia

  • Devonian sandstone cliffs in Gauja National Park, Latvia's largest and oldest national park

  • Winter landscape of Lithuania

Statistics[edit]

General statistics[edit]

All three are Unitary republics, joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, share EET/EEST time zone schedules and euro currency.

Estonia Latvia Lithuania Total
Coat of arms Estonia Latvia Lithuania N/A
Flag Estonia Latvia Lithuania N/A
Capital Tallinn Riga Vilnius N/A
Independence -until 13th century
-24 February 1918
-restored 20 August 1991 		-Until 13th century
-18 November 1918
-restored 21 August 1991 		-Until 18th century
-16 February 1918
-restored 11 March 1990 		N/A
Political system Parliamentary republic Parliamentary republic Semi-presidential republic N/A
Parliament Riigikogu Saeima Seimas N/A
Current President Kersti Kaljulaid Raimonds Vējonis Dalia Grybauskaitė N/A
Population (2018) Increase1,319,133[41] Decrease1,934,379[42] Decrease2,800,738[43] Decrease6,054,250
Area 45,339 km2 = 17,505 sq mi 64,589 km2 = 24,938 sq mi 65,300 km2 = 25,212 sq mi 175,228 km2 = 67,656 sq mi
Density 29/km2 = 75/sq mi 31/km2 = 79/sq mi 44/km2 = 115/sq mi 35/km2 = 92/sq mi
Water area % 4.56% 1.5% 1.35% 2.23%
GDP (nominal) total (2018)[44] $30.821 billion $35.915 billion $54.352 billion $121.088 billion
GDP (nominal) per capita (2018)[44] $23,610 $18,472 $19,534 $20,000
GDP (PPP) total (2018)[44] $44.177 billion $57.336 billion $96.261 billion $197.774 billion
GDP (PPP) per capita (2018)[44] $33,842 $29,489 $34,596 $32,667
Military budget (2018) €533 million(€523mil.+additional €10mil.)[45] €576 million[46] €891 million(€873mil.+additional €18mil.)[47] €2.000 billion
Gini Index (2015)[48] 32.7 34.2 37.4 N/A
HDI (2017)[49] 0.871 (Very High) 0.847 (Very High) 0.858 (Very High) N/A
Internet TLD .ee .lv .lt N/A
Calling code +372 +371 +370 N/A

Cities[edit]

 
Largest cities in Baltic states
Statistics Estonia, Statistics Latvia and Statistics Lithuania estimates for 1 October 2015
Rank Country Pop. Rank Country Pop.
Riga
Riga
Vilnius
Vilnius 		1 Riga Latvia 696,593 11 Jelgava Latvia 61,961 Tallinn
Tallinn
Kaunas
Kaunas
2 Vilnius Lithuania 542,664 12 Narva Estonia 58,375
3 Tallinn Estonia 444,085 13 Marijampolė Lithuania 58,027
4 Kaunas Lithuania 297,669 14 Jūrmala Latvia 57,671
5 Klaipėda Lithuania 154,275 15 Alytus Lithuania 55,526
6 Šiauliai Lithuania 102,983 16 Pärnu Estonia 41,170
7 Tartu Estonia 98,449 17 Ventspils Latvia 40,273
8 Daugavpils Latvia 96,818 18 Kohtla-Järve Estonia 36,622
9 Panevėžys Lithuania 95,218 19 Mažeikiai Lithuania 35,997
10 Liepāja Latvia 78,787 20 Rēzekne Latvia 31,886

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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  2. ^ a b "Colombia and Lithuania join the OECD". France 24. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018. 
  3. ^ "Indo-European etymology : Query result". starling.rinet.ru. Archived from the original on 25 February 2007. Retrieved 28 May 2018. 
  4. ^ Dini, Pierto Umberto (2000) [1997]. Baltu valodas (in Latvian). Translated from Italian by Dace Meiere. Riga: Jānis Roze. ISBN 9984-623-96-3. 
  5. ^ a b c Krauklis, Konstantīns (1992). Latviešu etimoloģijas vārdnīca (in Latvian). I. Rīga: Avots. pp. 103–104. OCLC 28891146. 
  6. ^ a b c d Bojtar, Endre (1999). Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People. Central European University Press. ISBN 9789639116429. 
  7. ^ Skutāns, Gints. "Latvija – jēdziena ģenēze". old.historia.lv. Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018. 
  8. ^ l.l.b, charles mayo (1804). a compendious view of universal history. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018. 
  9. ^ Mahan, Alfred Thayer (2006). The Life of Nelson. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-4116-7198-0. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018. 
  10. ^ Tarlow, Sarah (30 September 2015). The Archaeology of Death in Post-medieval Europe. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-043973-1. 
  11. ^ Kasekamp, Andres (30 August 2010). A History of the Baltic States. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-36450-9. 
  12. ^ "Ништадтский мир" [Treaty of Nystad]. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. 30: Николаев – Олонки (2nd ed.). М.: Сов. энциклопедия. 1954. 
  13. ^ Ragsdale, Hugh; V. N. Ponomarev (1993). Imperial Russian foreign policy. Cambridge University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-521-44229-9. 
  14. ^ Matthews, W. K. (May 1947). "Nationality and Language in the East Baltic Area". American Slavic and East European Review. 6 (No. 1/2): 62–78. 
  15. ^ Maude, George (2010). Aspects of the Governing of the Finns. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-1-4331-0713-9. 
  16. ^ Smele, John (1996). Civil war in Siberia: the anti-Bolshevik government of Admiral Kolchak, 1918–1920. London: Cambridge University Press. p. 305. 
  17. ^ Calvo, Carlos (2009). Dictionnaire Manuel de Diplomatie et de Droit International Public et Privé. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. p. 246. 
  18. ^ "Why did Finland remain a democracy between the two World Wars, whereas the Baltic States developed authoritarian regimes?". January 2004. as [Lithuania] is a distinct case from the other two Baltic countries. Not only was an authoritarian regime set up in 1926, eight years before those of Estonia and Latvia, but it was also formed not to counter a threat from the right, but through a military coup d'etat against a leftist government. (...) The hostility between socialists and non-socialists in Finland had been amplified by a bloody civil war 
  19. ^ "These Names Accuse—Nominal List of Latvians Deported to Soviet Russia". latvians.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2018. 
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Further reading[edit]

  • Bojtár, Endre (1999). Forward to the Past – A Cultural History of the Baltic People. Budapest: Central European University Press. ISBN 978-963-9116-42-9. 
  • Bousfield, Jonathan (2004). Baltic States. Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-85828-840-6. 
  • Clerc, Louis; Glover, Nikolas; Jordan, Paul, eds. Histories of Public Diplomacy and Nation Branding in the Nordic and Baltic Countries: Representing the Periphery (Leiden: Brill Nijhoff, 2015). 348 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-30548-9. for an online book review see online review
  • D'Amato, Giuseppe (2004). Travel to the Baltic Hansa – The European Union and its enlargement to the East (Book in Italian: Viaggio nell’Hansa baltica – L’Unione europea e l’allargamento ad Est). Milano: Greco&Greco editori. ISBN 88-7980-355-7. 
  • Hiden, John; Patrick Salmon (1991). The Baltic Nations and Europe: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the Twentieth Century. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-08246-3. 
  • Hiden, John; Vahur Made; David J. Smith (2008). The Baltic Question during the Cold War. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-56934-7. 
  • Jacobsson, Bengt (2009). The European Union and the Baltic States: Changing forms of governance. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-48276-9. 
  • Kasekamp, Andres (2010). A History of the Baltic States. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-01940-9. 
  • Lane, Thomas; Artis Pabriks; Aldis Purs; David J. Smith (2013). The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-48304-2. 
  • Lehti, Marko; David J. Smith, eds. (2003). Post-Cold War Identity Politics – Northern and Baltic Experiences. London/Portland: Frank Cass Publishers. ISBN 0-7146-8351-5. 
  • Lieven, Anatol (1993). The Baltic Revolution: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Path to Independence. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-05552-8. 
  • O'Connor, Kevin (2006). Culture and Customs of the Baltic States. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-33125-1. 
  • O'Connor, Kevin (2003). The History of the Baltic States. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-32355-3. 
  • Plakans, Andrejs (2011). A Concise History of the Baltic States. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54155-8. 
  • Smith, Graham (1994). The Baltic States: The National Self-determination of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-12060-5. 
  • Palmer, Alan. The Baltic: A new history of the region and its people (New York: Overlook Press, 2006; published In London with the title Northern shores: a history of the Baltic Sea and its peoples (John Murray, 2006).
  • Šleivyte, Janina (2010). Russia's European Agenda and the Baltic States. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-55400-8. 
  • Vilkauskaite, Dovile O. "From Empire to Independence: The Curious Case of the Baltic States 1917-1922." (thesis, University of Connecticut, 2013). online; Bibliography pp 70 – 75.
  • Williams, Nicola; Debra Herrmann; Cathryn Kemp (2003). Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (3rd ed.). London: Lonely Planet. ISBN 1-74059-132-1. 

International peer-reviewed journals, media and book series dedicated to the Baltic region include:

External links[edit]

Official statistics of the Baltic states:

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