1.
Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country 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, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, covering 45,339 km2 of land and water, and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, in 1988, during the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule, and independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties. Its capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OECD and Schengen Area. Estonia is a country with an advanced, high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU. Its Human Development Index ranks very highly, and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, the 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world, behind Singapore and Japan. Citizens of Estonia are provided with health care, free education. Since independence the country has developed its IT sector, becoming one of the worlds most digitally advanced societies. In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet, in the Estonian language, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning country people or people of the land. The land inhabited by Estonians was called Maavald meaning Country Parish or Land Parish, one hypothesis regarding the modern name of Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti, a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania. The historic Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric, the geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia do not match, with Aesti being further down south. Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is called in Icelandic. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia, esthonia was a common alternative English spelling prior to 1921. Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, the oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating it was settled around 11,000 years ago, the earliest human inhabitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to Kunda culture, which is named after the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At that time the country was covered with forests, and people lived in communities near bodies of water
2.
Ethnic group
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An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups, ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives, in some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Ethnic groups, derived from the historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group. Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic, generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, the largest ethnic groups in modern times comprise hundreds of millions of individuals, while the smallest are limited to a few dozen individuals. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a pan-ethnicity, whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis. The term ethnic is derived from the Greek word ἔθνος ethnos, the inherited English language term for this concept is folk, used alongside the latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan, as the Septuagint used ta ethne to translate the Hebrew goyim the nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews. The Greek term in antiquity could refer to any large group, a host of men. In the 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of peculiar to a race, people or nation, the abstract ethnicity had been used for paganism in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an ethnic character. The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972, depending on the context that is used, the term nationality may either be used synonymously with ethnicity, or synonymously with citizenship. The process that results in the emergence of an ethnicity is called ethnogenesis, the Greeks at this time did not describe foreign nations but had also developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes. Herodotus gave an account of what defined Greek ethnic identity in his day, enumerating shared descent. Whether ethnicity qualifies as a universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf and they regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen, the study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently, one is between primordialism and instrumentalism. In the primordialist view, the participant perceives ethnic ties collectively, as a given, even coercive
3.
Vehicle registration plate
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A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or a license plate, is metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the owner within the issuing regions database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered, the next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well, the third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the government holds a monopoly on the manufacturing of vehicle registration plates for that jurisdiction. Thus, it is illegal for private citizens to make and affix their own plates. Alternately, the government will merely assign plate numbers, and it is the owners responsibility to find an approved private supplier to make a plate with that number. In some jurisdictions, plates will be assigned to that particular vehicle for its lifetime. If the vehicle is destroyed or exported to a different country. Other jurisdictions follow a policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold the seller removes the current plate from the vehicle. Buyers must either obtain new plates or attach plates they already hold, as well as register their vehicles under the buyers name, a person who sells a car and then purchases a new one can apply to have the old plates put onto the new car. One who sells a car and does not buy a new one may, depending on the laws involved, have to turn the old plates in or destroy them. Some jurisdictions permit the registration of the vehicle with personal plates, in some jurisdictions, plates require periodic replacement, often associated with a design change of the plate itself. Vehicle owners may or may not have the option to keep their original plate number, alternately, or additionally, vehicle owners have to replace a small decal on the plate or use a decal on the windshield to indicate the expiration date of the vehicle registration. Plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a frame that is fixed to the vehicle. Sometimes, the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can also purchase customized frames to replace the original frames, in some jurisdictions licence plate frames are illegal
4.
Tartu County
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Tartu County, or Tartumaa, is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County, the area of Tartu County is 2,992.74 km², which covers 6. 9% of the territory of Estonia. In January 2013 Tartu County had a population of 150,139 – constituting 11. 6% of the population in Estonia. The city of Tartu is the centre of the county located at a distance of 186 km from Tallinn, Tartu County is divided into 22 local governments –3 urban and 19 rural municipalities. Tartu County lies in South Estonia, between Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipsi, Estonias only navigable river, River Emajõgi, flows through the county, connecting Lake Peipsi and Lake Võrtsjärv. Wavy plains are typical landscapes of Tartu County, one third of the county is covered with forests, a third is cultivated. A quarter is made up of wetlands at the headwaters and lower course of the Emajõgi, in the northern part of the county, there are drumlin fields with lakes between them. Nature preserves take up about 10% of the territory, the biggest of them being Emajõe Suursoo. Archaeological findings suggest that people first inhabited the territory of the current Tartu County about 5000 years ago, in 1224, after the conquest of the stronghold by the German invaders, Tartu became the capital of a diocese, stretching from Northern Estonia to Latvia. Since the 13th century, Tartu belonged to the Hanseatic League, in 1569, together with Duchy of Livonia, Tartu became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1598 Tartu became capital of the Dorpat Voivodeship, which remained part of the PLC until the 1620s, king Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden established the University of Tartu in 1632. Estonias first teachers training school was established in Tartu County in 1684, closed during and after the Great Northern War, Tartu University was re-opened in 1802 as the only university operating in German language in the Russian Empire. Economic development of the region was encouraged by the construction of the railway connecting Tartu with Tallinn, Riga. In the second half of the 19th century, the awakening of Estonians began from Tartu region. After Estonia gained independence in 1918, Tartu, along with Tallinn, in 1987–1989, the students environmental and cultural heritage movement in Tartu initiated Estonias Singing Revolution and restoration of the countrys independence. Tartu County is an economic system and labour area with its centre in the City of Tartu. There are 6000 companies and 2000 self-employed persons registered in Tartu County, more than 80% of the companies employ 10 or fewer people, only 5 companies in the whole region have more than 250 employees. Service sector provides 2/3 of the employment in the county, the City of Tartu is the service and logistics centre for the whole of South Estonia
5.
Valga County
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Valga County, or Valgamaa is the first-level administrative unit in Estonia and one of 15 counties of Estonia. It comprises the area of Valga District. The present-day county was created on 1 January 1990, the capital and the biggest town of Valga County is Valga, followed by Tõrva and Otepää. It is situated in part of the country and borders Põlva County and Võru County to the east, Latvia to the south and to the west, Viljandi County. 29,944 people live in Valga County, Valga County is located in the southern part of Estonia. By the economic-geographical and regional-political distribution it belongs to the area of South-East Estonia, by historical ties and landscape the county belongs to the region of South Estonia. The total area of the county is 2,043.53 km², with the population of 30,176 people, it reaches the north-south direction of 65 km, Valga County ranks the 12th in Estonia by population and the 14th by the area. The distances from the county centre, Valga, are the following, Tallinn 267 km, Tartu 86 km, Viljandi 88 km, Võru 73 km, Põlva 96 km, Pärnu 141 km, Narva 264 km and Riga 157 km. Valga County borders with Viljandi County in the north-west, with Tartu County in the north and Põlva, Valga County has a borderline with the Republic of Latvia in the south and west. It can be read from the Livonian Chronicle of Henry that the history of the county back to the 13th century when the Germans conquered the settlement. By the Chronicle the River Ümera was the borderline between Estonia and Latvia, historians suggest that the River Säde was the borderline, flowing through the northern part of Tireli Bog and falling into Lake Burtnieks. Meadows and forests surrounding the big Tireli Bog and the stream of the River Säde were probably even wider and impassable at that time. The ancient national border ran in a different place. Most likely the area of Kaagjärve and Valga Town belonged to ancient Latgalians, on the 3rdof July,1783, the Empress Catherine II established a new administration order in the Baltic provinces. A new kreis, Valga Kreis, was constituted mainly from the territories of Riga, Valga Town which formerly belonged to Riga Kreis, went over to Valga Kreis. City rights were given to Valga by a Polish King Stefan Batory in 1584, in 1789, there were 891 citizens in Valga. As Valga became the centre of the kreis, St John´s Church was founded, on 12 February 1919, the Government of the Republic of Estonia issued a regulation of constitution of Valga County, consisting of the territories gained during the Estonian War of Independence. Several parts of Võru, Tartu and Viljandi Counties were close to Valga from the other side, on 19 April the first county governor was elected – Johann Kurvits, a farmer of Karula
6.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
7.
Harju County
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Harju County, or Harjumaa is one of the 15 counties of Estonia. In January 2015 Harju County had a population of 575,601 – constituting 43. 8% of the population of Estonia. Tallinn, the capital and largest city of Estonia, constitutes about 72% of the population with its 413,782 inhabitants. Lindanise, then a trading post at the Gulf of Finland. It eventually grew into the mostly German-populated Hanseatic town of Reval, in 1219, the Danish King Valdemar II landed in Lindanise and conquered both Revala and Harju counties, while the inhabitants were forced into Christianity. At the end of the Livonian Crusade, both counties were captured by the Order of the Sword Brothers until given back to Denmark with the Treaty of Stensby in 1238. The Danes built the Toompea Castle on Toompea Hill in Tallinn, in 1248, it was the first settlement in Estonia to receive its town rights, and in 1285 it became the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League. German dominance led to the St. Georges Night Uprising, that out in 1343 with the burning of Padise Abbey in modern Padise Parish. The uprising led to Denmark selling its possessions in Northern Estonia to the Livonian Order, after the outbreak of the Livonian War the North Estonian nobility and Tallinn Town Council declared loyalty to Sweden in 1561. Swedish possessions were secured with the Treaty of Plyussa in 1583, the Great Northern War left Harju County one of the few regions in Estonia untouched by warfare for a long time. Nonetheless, Harju County was greatly affected by the 1710-1713 Plague, Russian forces finally arrived in 1710 and laid siege to Tallinn for a month until the Swedish garrison surrendered, thus ending the Great Northern War in Estonia. Russian rule was secured with the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, the plague raged on for several years, eventually leaving several parts of Harju County completely empty. Imperial Russian rule started with the construction of harbours in Tallinn. Russian Tsar Peter I visited Tallinn at least nine times in 1711-1723 and he personally opened the construction for Tallinn Naval Harbour in 1714 and Paldiski Naval Harbour in 1718. Petersburg Railway was opened, after several smaller settlements along the line - Paldiski, Keila, Saue, Nõmme, Aruküla, Raasiku, Kehra. Several elements of Peter the Greats Naval Fortress were built in Harju County, during World War I in 1914, the native population of Naissaar island was expelled from the island as it was turned into a military base. A narrow-gauge railway network was built on the island, on 9 November 1917, the Bolsheviks took power from Governor Jaan Poska. After the coup, refusing to cooperate with the Estonian Soviet Executive Committee, in December 1917, Russian sailors under the leadership of Stepan Maximovich Petrichenko declared the Soviet Republic of Soldiers and Fortress-Builders of Naissaar
