The following is a list of the 47 cities and towns in
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
. Before the Republic of Estonia became an in independent nation in 1918, many of these locations were known in the rest of the world by their
German language
German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...
names which were occasionally quite different from the ones used in the
Estonian language
Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language, written in the Latin script. It is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the European Union, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160, ...
. During the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation of Estonia, placenames were
transliterated into
Russian (
Cyrillic alphabet) in the Soviet central government's documents, which in turn lead to the use of several incorrect back-transliterations from Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet into English (and other
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the ...
s) in some English-language maps and texts during the second half of the 20th century (for example, incorrect ''Pyarnu'', ''Vilyandi'', ''Pylva'', instead of the correct Pärnu, Viljandi, Põlva).
Tallinn is the capital and the most populous city of Estonia. There are 46 other ''linn'', i.e. cities and towns in Estonia (as of 2022). The Estonian word ''linn'' means both "a city" or "a town". More than 70% of the country's population lives in the cities and towns.
List
Former towns
*
Ahtme
Ahtme is a settlement in Ida-Viru County, Estonia with a population of around 18,000. It is administered as the second major district of the town of Kohtla-Järve, despite being separate from the central district of Järve and geographically c ...
, 1953–1960, 1993–1995, merged with
Kohtla-Järve
Kohtla-Järve is a city and municipality in northeastern Estonia, founded in 1924 and incorporated as a town in 1946. The city is highly industrial, and is both a processor of oil shales and is a large producer of various petrochemical products ...
;
*
Jaanilinn (Ivangorod), 1617-1649, merged with
Narva
Narva, russian: Нарва is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in Ida-Viru county, at the eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva river which forms the Estonia–Russia international border. With 5 ...
, annexed to the
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
in 1945.
*
Mustla
Mustla is a small borough (') in Viljandi Parish, Viljandi County, Estonia. As of 2011 Census, the settlement's population was 818.
1938–1979 Mustla was a town with town privileges.
In June 2018, a plaque commemorating Alfons Rebane was unv ...
, 1938-1979, town rights revoked;
*
Nõmme, 1926-1940, merged with
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
;
*
Petseri (Pechory), 1776-onwards, annexed to the Russian SFSR in 1945.
*
Toompea, 1248/1265/1288-1785, 1796-1878, merged with Tallinn;
*
Vana-Pärnu, 1251-1617, merged with
Pärnu.
See also
*
Populated places in Estonia
Populated places in Estonia (officially: settlement units), are cities or settlement units of rural municipality, municipalities, but only cities have administrative functions. Settlement units are divided into settlements and urban regions et, ...
*
Municipalities of Estonia
A municipality ( et, omavalitsus, plural ) is the smallest administrative subdivision of Estonia. Each municipality is a unit of self-government with its representative and executive bodies. The municipalities in Estonia cover the entire terri ...
*
Counties of Estonia
Counties ( et, maakond, plural ') are the first-level administrative subdivisions of Estonia. Estonian territory is composed of 15 counties, including 13 on the mainland and 2 on islands. The government (') of each county is led by a ' (gov ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Europe topic, List of towns in, EE={{PAGENAME
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
Towns
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an or ...
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...