Baltic states

The Baltic states are three countries in Northern Europe to the east of the Baltic Sea and the south of the Gulf of Finland. They are, from north to south, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The languages that are spoken in these countries are different: while Lithuanians and Latvians speak Baltic languages (Latvian and Lithuanian), Estonians speak a Finnic language (Estonian).

By their culture and history, the Baltic countries are close to the Nordic countries and were sometimes ruled by the Swedish Empire. The biggest difference in the history was that the Baltic countries were invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 (during the Second World War), but not the Nordic countries. After the Second World War, the three Soviet-occupied countries would be called  Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Lithuanian SSR.

All three Baltic countries had their freedom back in August 1991, a few months before the former Soviet Union came to an end. The governments and the people of the three countries all consider the 1940-1991 Soviet occupation to be illegal, which has been supported by the United States, European Union, and United Nations. Today, the Baltic countries are some of the most advanced and highest quality of life countries in the world. They became members of the European Union and NATO in 2004, joined the Schengen Area in 2007, and became part of the eurozone by 2015.

Paganism was the religion of Baltic people before most of them took Christianity during the Middle Ages. Baltic paganism never died out and some people are still pagans.