Tartu County ( or ''Tartumaa'') is one of 15

counties of Estonia The counties of Estonia () are the state administrative subdivisions of Estonia. Estonian territory is composed of 15 counties, including 13 on the mainland and 2 on islands. County governments () were abolished at the end of 2017, with their ...

. It is located in eastern Estonia bordering

Põlva County Põlva County ( or ''Põlvamaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in south-eastern part of the country and borders Tartu, Valga and Võru counties. 23,989 people live in Põlva County – constituting 1.8% of the total popula ...

Valga County Valga County ( or ''Valgamaa'') is a first-level administrative unit and one of 15 counties of Estonia. It comprises the former area of Valga District. The present-day county was created on 1 January 1990. The capital and largest town of Valga Co ...

Viljandi County Viljandi County ( or ''Viljandimaa''; ) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is located in southern Estonia bordering Pärnu, Järva, Jõgeva, Tartu and Valga counties as well as Latvia. History Viljandimaa, under the German name of ''Krei ...

and

Jõgeva County Jõgeva County ( or ''Jõgevamaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in eastern part of the country and borders Ida-Viru County to the north-east, Lake Peipus to the east, Tartu County to the south, Viljandi County to the south-we ...

. The area of Tartu County is , which covers 6.9% of the territory of Estonia. In 2022 Tartu County had a population of 157,758 – constituting 11.9% of the total population in Estonia. The city of

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

is the centre of the county located at a distance of from

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. Tartu County is divided into 8 local governments – 1 urban and 7 rural municipalities.

Geography

Tartu County lies in South Estonia, between

Lake Võrtsjärv A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

and

Lake Peipus Lake Peipus is the largest trans-boundary lake in Europe, lying on the international border between Estonia and Russia. The lake is the fifth-largest in Europe after Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega (in Russia), Lake Vänern (in Sweden), and Lake ...

. Estonia's only navigable river, River

Emajõgi The Emajõgi (; meaning 'mother river') is a river in Estonia which flows from Võrtsjärv, Lake Võrtsjärv through Tartu County into Lake Peipus, crossing the city of Tartu for . It has a length of . The Emajõgi is sometimes called the Suur E ...

(100 km long), flows through the county, connecting Lake Peipus 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 A drumlin, from the Irish word ("little ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or groun ...

fields with lakes between them. Nature reserves, such as Pähklisaar Nature Reserve,

Emajõe Suursoo Peipsiveere Nature Reserve () is a nature reserve in Tartu County, Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by t ...

and Alam-Pedja take up about 10% of the county's territory.

History

Archaeological findings suggest that people first inhabited the territory of the current Tartu County about 5000 years ago. City of Tartu was first mentioned in historical records in 1030, when

Yaroslav I the Wise Yaroslav I Vladimirovich ( 978 – 20 February 1054), better known as Yaroslav the Wise, was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1019 until his death in 1054. He was also earlier Prince of Novgorod from 1010 to 1034 and Prince of Rostov from 987 to 1010, ...

organized a military campaign against

Chud Chud or Chude (, , ) is a term historically applied in the early East Slavic annals to several Baltic Finnic peoples in the area of what is now Estonia, Karelia and Northwestern Russia. It has also been used to refer to other Finno-Ugric peo ...

s, defeated them and established fort Yuryev in what is modern day Tartu. 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 Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. Since the 13th century, Tartu belonged to the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

, and the town became a well-known trade centre in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

region. In 1569, together with

Duchy of Livonia The Duchy of Livonia, also referred to as Polish Livonia or Livonia, was a territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that existed from 1561 to 1621. It corresponds to the present-day areas of northe ...

, Tartu became part of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. In 1598 Tartu became capital of the Dorpat Voivodeship, which remained part of the PLC until the 1620s, when the city was conquered by the Swedes. King

Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

established the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

in 1632. Estonia's first teachers' training school was established in Tartu County in 1684, as well as the first Estonian schools for the children of peasants. Closed during and after the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

, Tartu University was re-opened in 1802 as the only university operating in

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Economic development of the region was further encouraged by the construction of the railway connecting Tartu with Tallinn,

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

and

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. In the second half of the 19th century, the national awakening of Estonians began from Tartu region. After Estonia gained independence in 1918, Tartu, along with Tallinn, became one of the two main cultural centres of Estonia, where most of the Estonian intelligentsia of the time lived and worked. In 1987–1989, the students' environmental and cultural heritage movement in Tartu initiated Estonia's

Singing Revolution The Singing Revolution was a series of events from 1987 to 1991 that led to the restoration of independence of the three Soviet-occupied Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania at the end of the Cold War. The term was coined by a ...

and restoration of the country's independence.

Economy

Tartu County is an integrated economic system and labour area with its centre in the City of

. 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 The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

provides 2/3 of the employment in the county. The City of Tartu is the service and

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

centre for the whole of South Estonia. A significant part of these jobs are in the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

– especially

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

– and the biggest employer in the county is Tartu University Clinics with around 3000 employees, incl 455 doctors. The biggest

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

employer is Tarmeko, producing furniture and components, with 900 employees.

Unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

rate in the county has been 2–3% in the recent years. Typical products of Tartu County are furniture, foodstuffs, clothes, building materials, glass and plastics. The main export target countries are

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. 40% of the exports is wood and furniture, other export production includes machinery and appliances, building materials, glass and clothing. Thanks to the fertile lands, there are many big agricultural enterprises in the West of the county. Fishery is an important activity on the coast of

. There is development potential for knowledge intensive production in the region due to its universities. Some successful spin-offs of

Tartu University The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

and biomedicine. Since 2004, several ICT companies, orientated on the international markets, have been growing fast. In order to facilitate

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

and

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

transfer, Tartu Science Park is offering incubation and consultation services to research-based and high-tech oriented companies, and promoting cooperation between research institutions.

Tartu University The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.R&D centres have been established in the areas of material and chemical technology, biomedical technology, environmental technology and information technology. The key actors of the region have signed an agreement about the county's development strategy, which is economic and social development through increase of the knowledge input into production and services. Economic development priorities: #Modernization of studying and working environment, technologies and methods in the schools and universities; internationalization of the universities; development of vocational and technical education; #support of entrepreneurship and start-ups, increase of knowledge input to the production; #improvement of living environment and social infrastructure of regional centres in the rural areas; #enhancement of international availability by roads, transport and communications networks.

Education and culture

Tartu County has 69 schools with approximately 23,000 pupils. 11 vocational schools provide practical training in 50 specialities. 40% of Estonia's students live and study in Tartu. In addition to the

and the

Estonian University of Life Sciences The Estonian University of Life Sciences ( Estonian: ''Eesti Maaülikool'', EMÜ) is a public university located in Tartu, Estonia. Its roots trace back to 1802 when the Chair of Agriculture was founded in the University of Tartu. EMÜ is the fo ...

there are 9 other institutions of higher education, the most recent of them the Baltic Defence College. In the City of Tartu, Estonia's oldest professional theatre,

Vanemuine Vanemuine () is a theatre in Tartu, Estonia. It is the first Estonian language, Estonian-language theatre. Stemming from the Vanemuine Society (1865), the theatre's first performance was Lydia Koidula's ''Saaremaa Onupoeg'' ("The cousin from S ...

, stages drama, opera and ballet. In 1869 the first

Estonian Song Festival The Estonian Song Festival (, or simply ) held since 1869, is one of the largest choral events in the world, a Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. It i ...

was held in Tartu, starting a tradition of choral song festivals which are now held in

every 4 years with 15,000–30,000 participants. Today Tartu Song Festival arena hosts various open-air concerts in summer. There are over 30 museums and art galleries in Tartu County, including Tartu City Museum,

Tartu Art Museum The Tartu Art Museum (Estonian language, Estonian: ''Tartu Kunstimuuseum'') is a state-owned museum of art located in Tartu, Estonia. It was founded in 1940 on a private initiative by the members of local art school Pallas. This is the largest ar ...

, Toy Museum, Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum, Estonian Postal Museum, Estonian Aviation Museum, Estonian Museum of Agriculture, Old-Believers' Museum of Living History, and others. Biggest and most important of them is

Estonian National Museum The Estonian National Museum () founded 1909 in Tartu is a museum devoted to folklorist Jakob Hurt's heritage, to Estonian ethnography and folk art. The first items for the museum were originally collected in the latter part of the 19th centur ...

, that was founded in 1909. Student festivals and Hanseatic festivals take place in Tartu regularly. The best known sports event hosted by Tartu County is the Tartu Ski Marathon, which is a member of the Worldloppet series.

Government

In Estonia, there is no regional self-government on county level. Until 2017 the County Governments () were led by County Governors (), who were appointed by the National Government. In accordance with the Government of the Republic Act,https://web.archive.org/web/20070927012225/http://www.legaltext.ee/text/en/X0007K16.htm the County Governor represented interests of the state in the county and provides for integral and balanced development of the county. The County Governor co-ordinated co-operation of ministries and other organs of executive power located in a county with its local governments and performs supervision over the activities of the local governments. The County Governor was appointed for a five-year term by the Government of the Republic, on the basis of the Prime Minister's proposal and in co-ordination with the representatives of the local governments. On February 2, 2006, Esta Tamm was appointed Tartu County Governor. She assumed office February 15, 2006. The County Government managed the operations of and provides support services to the County Governor; prepared draft documents required by the County Governor; managed and controlled the execution of orders of the County Governor; managed the preparation of draft budgets of state agencies administered by the County Government, and controlled adherence to the budgets; managed relations of the County Governor with government agencies and local government agencies.

Municipalities

The county is subdivided into

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

. As of 2017, there is 1 urban municipality ( – "town") and 7 rural municipalities () in Tartu County. Tartu_municipalities_2017

Religion

The following congregations of the

Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC; Estonian: ''Eesti Evangeelne Luterlik Kirik'', abbreviated EELK) is a Lutheran church in Estonia. The EELC is member of the Lutheran World Federation and belongs to the Community of Protestant Ch ...

(EELC) operate in Tartu County under EELC's Tartu Deanery: Alatskivi, Kambja, Kodavere, Vara, Võnnu, Äksi, Tartu St. Mary's, Tartu University-St. John's, Tartu Finnish, Tartu St. Paul's and Tartu St. Peter's congregations. The following congregations operate under EELC's Valga Deanery: Rõngu, Elva, Nõo and Puhja congregations. As for the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

, under the administration of the Tallinn Diocese of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church there are Kavilda, Nõo, Tartu Saint Alexander's congregations and Tartu Dormition of the Mother of God Cathedral congregation. The following Eastern Orthodox congregations operate under the jurisdiction of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate: Nina and Tartu congregation of St.George-the-Conqueror. There are Old Believer congregations in Raja, Kallaste, Kasepää, Suur-Kolkja, Väike-Kolkja, Kükita, Piirissaar, Varnja and in the city of Tartu. The congregation belonging to the Catholic Church in Estonia that operate in Tartu County are: Tartu Immaculate Conception congregation and Tartu Ukrainian congregation. Catholic masses are also held in the Chapel of St. Luigi Gonzaga. There are 8 Baptist congregations in the county. Several Adventist, Methodist, Pentecostal and Jehovah's Witnesses congregations operate in the county. Of the other religions, an Estonian Neopagan congregation and a Buddhist congregation operate in the county.

Gallery

Alatskivi mõisa peahoone.jpg, Alatskivi manor Mustjärv.jpg, Lake Mustjärv Elva raudteejaama peahoone.jpg, Elva train station Tartu Toomkiriku varemed 2012.jpg, Tartu Cathedral ruins

References

External links

Association of Municipalities of Tartu County

Tartu and Tartu County Tourist Information
{{Coord, 58, 22, N, 26, 43, E, type:adm1st_region:EE, display=title Counties of Estonia