"Amazing capital of Estonia" a Tallinn Travel Page by bugulma

In the beginning of May of 2006 I spent wonderful days in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. I was lucky with weather first of all and it was sunny and quite warm. I saw a lot and I'd like to thank Svetlana (valeria 78 in VT) as well her husband Valery and her son Kirill, who showed me the city and some interesting places outside the city center.
Tallinn is not big city and in comparision with Moscow it is ver small, with inhabitants of 400.000 people.
The site of Tallinn is thought to have been settled by Finno-Ugric people around 2500 BC. There was probably an Estonian trading settlement here from around the 9th century AD, and a wooden stronghold was built on Toompea in the 11th century. The Danes under King Waldemar II (who conquered northern Estonia in 1219) met tough resistance at Tallinn. The Danes set their own castle on Toompea. The origin of the name Tallinn is thought to be from Taani linn which is Estonian for 'Danish town'. The Knights of the Sword took Tallinn from the Danes in 1227 and built the first stone fort on Toompea. German traders arrived on the Baltic island of Gotland and founded a colony beneath the fortress. In 1238 Tallinn returned to Danish control, but in 1285 it joined the German-dominated Hanseatic League as a channel for trade between Novgorod, Pskov and the west. By the mid-14th century, when the Danes sold northern Estonia to the Teutonic Order, Tallinn was a major Hanseatic town with about 4000 people.
Tallinn was held by Sweden from 1561 to 1710 until Tallinn was surrendered to Russia's Peter the Great and had name Revel' in Russian Empire.
In 1920 Estonia got independence after Russian Empire was collapsed. In 1940, though, USSR brought troops into Estonian territory and Estonia became a part of Soviet Union. Since 1991, after USSR collapse, Estonia is independent country again.