Tallinn is the Capitale of the Estonia and the main thing port of the country (commercial port of Muuga). It is located on the coast of the Golfe of Finland, which belongs to the the Baltic. Its old name, of use until the 20th century, is Reval .
In 2003, the city counted approximately 430 000 inhabitants ( Tallinnois ), which makes of it more the big city of Estonia, on a territory of 158 km ².
The current Maire of Tallinn is Edgar Savisaar (since 2007).
Etymology
The origin of the name Tallinn (a) is clearly Estonian, although the original direction is prone to debate. One agrees to think that it comes from " Taani-flax (a)" who means Dane-castle/ city. However, it may be that it comes from " tali-linna" who means winter-castle/ city, or " talu-linna" for house/firm-castle/ city. The " part; - linna" is often used to form names of city and means either castle, or city, with the image of the suffix " - grad" in the Slavic languages.Tallinna replaced the old German name of use: Russian Reval (: Ревель) in 1918, when Estonia receipt are independence. In the years 1920, the official orthography of the name of the city was changed into Tallinn, which is singular, because the place names in Estonian generally end in a vowel (use of the Génitif).
Other historical names
The name of Reval, used by the Germans and the Swedes to indicate Tallinn, finds its origin at the century and comes from the name which carried the adjacent Estonian county: Rävala. One finds other names old of Tallinn, in particular of the variations around the name of Lindanise, for example Lyndanisse in Danish, Lindanäs in Swedish and Ledenets in Slavic Vieux of the east. Kesoniemi in Finnish and Kolyvan (Колывань) as Slavic old man of the east are also old names which Tallinn carried.
History
The first traces of settlement go up in the middle of the 2nd millénaire av. J. - C.With 9th and 10th centuries of the Christian era, Tallinn was a place of trade very important, known until in Scandinavia and Russia. It appears already in the Livre of Roger , an atlas of the world compiled in Sicily by Al Idrissi, a geographer, in 1154. A fortress (out of wood), built on the hill of Toompea, protected the port. The city was then the center of the province of Revala (or Rävala). It is known in the Russian chronicles under the name of Kolyvan , and under that of Lindanise in the chronicle of Livonie of Henri-the-Latvian.
In 1219, the city was invaded by the Danish troops . The Danes built a stone fortress. The foreign occupants at that time started to call the city Reval , according to the name of the province of which it was the center. At that time also the name of Tallinn appears, used by the autochtones (name formed by contraction of Taani flax “Danish city”)
With the the Middle Ages, the city was rich and prosperous. Member of the Hanse, it was in particular in the center commercial of salt. It was bought by the order of the Chevaliers Teutoniques in 1346. It will then pass under the Swedish domination (1561), then Russian (1710).
Although intensively bombarded by Soviet aviation during the last phases of the Second world war, most of the medieval old city still has much charm. It is almost a miracle: 50% of inhabited space were destroyed during the war, but only 11% of the historical center. Nevertheless, the population of the city then dropped with 127.000 inhabitants.
Estonia belonged to the Soviet Union of 1944 with 1991. Under the pretext of the rebuilding of Tallinn and development with large scales of industry, a massive emigration from Russia and the other Soviet republics took place; the population then exceeded the half-million, and the portion of Estonians among this one was lower than 50%. The Soviet architectural heritage is important. That is partly due to the large wave of construction of the Années 1970, which preceded unfolding in Tallinn by the regatta for sailing ships of the Moscow Olympic Games.
In 1997, the historical center of Tallinn was included in the Liste of the world heritage of the UNESCO, which allows the safeguarding present and future of the old city.
Population
The population of Tallinn in May 2007 is of: 400200 inhabitants.
According to Eurostat, of all the capitals of the European Union, Tallinn comprises the strongest rate of nationals not belonging to the EU: 27,8%. That is mainly due to the immigration organized by the the USSR for the Soviet period (1944-1991). Thus, of many Soviet citizens, for the majority of the Russian , immigrated in Estonia. However, the fact of residing at Tallinn does not allow them, nor with their descendants, of reaching the Estonian citizenship.
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Culture
In addition to the Estonian language (which belongs to the Finno-ugric group, narrowly related with the Finnois) which is spoken by the Estonians, the Russian is spoken like native tongue by a third about the population. The English is also largely practiced.The city is animated by many festivals, of which that of beer, historical center, jazz, Baroque music, song, etc It has a big room in concerts, the “Saku suurhall”. Tallinn shelters 10 Théâtre S professionals, which 5 are maintained by the State. Their representations are rather traditional. However, beside these ten large theaters were born from smaller theaters and the theatrical projects. One also finds 30 museums there, recalling the Histoire of Estonia, his capital, of his campaigns, etc There are also many art galleries and exposures.
Historical center
Classified reserve of State since 1966 by the government, the old city of Tallinn constitutes one of the most complete testimonys in the world on medieval architecture. Surrounded by ramparts (XIVe - XVIe century), the prosperous city was a station-key of the Hanseatic League.
Twinnings
Transport
Tallinn is served by a Aéroport (Ülemiste), located at roughly five kilometers of the center town.
A service of ferry puts Tallinn at less than two hours of Helsinki in Finland, supplemented recently by a connection by Hélicoptère, praised as being “the bond between Capitale the S fastest of the world” (18 minutes), although expensive.
A direct air link exists between Paris and Tallinn since spring 2003 (Estonian Air).
A connection in the bus serves Rīga in the south (5 hours) and Saint-Petersbourg in north.
The city is suitably served by a network of Autobus, Trolleybus and Tramway S, whose however rolling stock was not renewed for a long time. One finds there also many Taxi S. Until today (but of the changes are foreseeable after adhesion with the European Union), these means of transport remarkably cheap are compared with those of the European Union.
Sports
The city counts several clubs of Football. Currently 4 clubs evolve/move in 1 {{Re}} division:
Photograph gallery
| Random links: | 1900 in the railroads | Grèbe with black neck | Jia Qinglin | Nicolas Amelot of Houssaye | Himlad |