page_title: History of Estonia
section_title: Terra Mariana
hierarchical_section_title: History of Estonia / Terra Mariana
caption_attribution_description: Latin: Livoniae nova descriptio, Joanne Portantio auctore. Deutsch: Historische Karte von Livland, vermutlich im 15. Jahrhundert. English: Historical map of Livonian Confederation, Antwerpen, 1573–1598. First published in Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570–1612) by Abraham Ortelius. 22 × 24 cm (8.7 × 9.4 in)
context_page_description: The history of Estonia forms a part of the history of Europe. Humans settled in the region of Estonia near the end of the last glacial era, beginning from around 8500 BC. Before German crusaders invaded in the early 13th century, proto-Estonians of ancient Estonia worshipped spirits of nature. Starting with the Northern Crusades in the Middle Ages, Estonia became a battleground for centuries where Denmark, Germany, Russia, Sweden and Poland fought their many wars over controlling the important geographical position of the country as a gateway between East and West.
  After Danes and Germans conquered the area in 1227, Estonia was ruled initially by Denmark in the north, by the Livonian Order, an autonomous part of the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights and by Baltic German ecclesiastical states of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1418 to 1562 the whole of Estonia formed part of the Livonian Confederation. After the Livonian War of 1558–1583, Estonia became part of the Swedish Empire until 1710/1721, when Sweden ceded it to Russia as a result of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721.
context_section_description: In 1227 the Sword Brethren conquered the last indigenous stronghold on the Estonian island of Saaremaa. After the conquest, all the remaining local pagans of Estonia were ostensibly Christianized. An ecclesiastical state Terra Mariana was established. The conquerors exercised control through a network of strategically located castles.
  The territory was then divided between the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order, the Bishopric of Dorpat (in Estonian: Tartu piiskopkond) and the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek (in Estonian: Saare-Lääne piiskopkond). The northern part of Estonia – more exactly Harjumaa and Virumaa districts (in German: Harrien und Wierland) – was a nominal possession of Denmark until 1346. Tallinn (Reval) was given the Lübeck Rights in 1248 and joined the Hanseatic League at the end of the 13th century. In 1343 the people of northern Estonia and Saaremaa (Oesel) Island started a rebellion (St. George's Night Uprising) against the rule of their German-speaking landlords. The uprising was put down, and four elected Estonian "kings" were killed in Paide during peace negotiations in 1343. Vesse, the rebel King of Saaremaa, was hanged in 1344.
  Despite local rebellions and Muscovian invasions in 1481 and 1558, the local Low German-speaking upper class continued to rule Estonia. By the end of the Middle Ages, these Baltic Germans had established themselves as the governing elite in Estonia, both as traders and the urban middle-class in the cities, and as landowners in the countryside, through a network of manorial estates.
caption: Livonian Confederation in the 15th century
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