Editing History of Estonia (section)

==Ancient Estonia: pre-history==
{{Main|Ancient Estonia}}

===Mesolithic Period===
[[File:KundaCultureTools.jpg|thumb|Tools made by [[Kunda culture]], the Estonian History Museum]]
The region has been populated since the end of the [[Quaternary glaciation|Late Pleistocene glaciation]], about 9,000 BC. The earliest traces of human settlement in Estonia are connected with the [[Kunda culture]], a culture whose origins involved a mix of [[Western hunter-gatherer|Western Hunter-Gatherer]] and [[Eastern hunter-gatherer|Eastern Hunter-Gatherer]] ancestry, with more of the former than the latter.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jones |first=Eppie R. |last2=Zarina |first2=Gunita |last3=Moiseyev |first3=Vyacheslav |last4=Lightfoot |first4=Emma |last5=Nigst |first5=Philip R. |last6=Manica |first6=Andrea |last7=Pinhasi |first7=Ron |last8=Bradley |first8=Daniel G. |date=February 2017 |title=The Neolithic Transition in the Baltic Was Not Driven by Admixture with Early European Farmers |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.060 |journal=Current Biology |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=576–582 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.060 |issn=0960-9822}}</ref> The early [[Mesolithic]] [[Pulli settlement]] is located by the [[Pärnu]] River. It has been dated to the beginning of the 9th millennium BC. The Kunda culture received its name from the [[Kunda, Estonia|''Lammasmäe'']] settlement site in northern Estonia, which dates from earlier than 8500 BC.<ref>{{Harvnb|Subrenat|2004|p=24}}</ref> Bone and stone artifacts similar to those found at Kunda have been discovered elsewhere in Estonia, as well as in [[Latvia]], northern [[Lithuania]] and southern [[Finland]]. Among minerals, [[flint]] and [[quartz]] were used the most for making cutting tools.

===Neolithic Period===
The beginning of the [[Neolithic Period]] is marked by the [[ceramics]] of the Narva culture, and appear in Estonia at the beginning of the 5th millennium. The oldest finds date from around 4900 BC. The first pottery was made of thick clay mixed with pebbles, shells or plants. The Narva-type ceramics are found throughout almost the entire Estonian coastal region and on the islands. The stone and bone tools of the era have a notable similarity with the artifacts of the Kunda culture.
[[File:CombCeramicPottery.jpg|thumb|left|[[Pit–Comb Ware culture|Comb Ceramic]] pottery at the Estonian History Museum]]
Around the beginning of 4th millennium BC [[Pit–Comb Ware culture|Comb Ceramic culture]] arrived in Estonia.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvnb|Mäesalu|Lukas|Laur|Tannberg|2004|p=}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> Until the early 1980s the arrival of [[Balto-Finnic peoples]], the ancestors of the Estonians, Finns, and Livonians, on the shores of the [[Baltic Sea]] was associated with the Comb Ceramic Culture.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FxBJAQAAMAAJ&dq=the+ancestors+of+the+Estonians%2C+Finns%2C+and+Livonians%2C+on+the+shores+of+the+Baltic+Sea+was+associated+with+the+Comb+Ceramic+Culture.&pg=PA2 |title=Background Notes, Estonia, September 1997 |date=1997 |language=en}}</ref><!--auto-deleted deprecated source may need replacement--> However, such a linking of archaeologically defined cultural entities with linguistic ones cannot be proven, and it has been suggested that the increase of settlement finds in the period is more likely to have been associated with an economic boom related to the warming of climate. Some researchers have even argued that a [[Uralic language]] may have been spoken in Estonia and Finland since the end of the last glaciation.<ref name="the_cambridge_history_of_scandinavia">{{Cite book
| last1 = Helle
| first1 = Knut
| author1-link = Knut Helle
| title = The Cambridge History of Scandinavia
| year = 2003
| publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]
| location = Cambridge, UK
| isbn = 0-521-47299-7
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PFBtfXG6fXAC&pg=PA51
| page = 51
}}</ref>
[[File:CordWareBoatAxe.jpg|thumb|[[Corded Ware culture]] pottery and stone axes, at the EHM]]
The burial customs of the comb pottery people included additions of figures of animals, birds, snakes and men carved from bone and [[amber]]. Antiquities from comb pottery culture are found from northern Finland to eastern [[Prussia]].

The beginning of the Late Neolithic Period about 2200 BC is characterized by the appearance of the [[Corded Ware culture]], pottery with corded decoration and well-polished stone axes (s.c. boat-shape axes). Evidence of agriculture is provided by charred grains of wheat on the wall of a corded-ware vessel found in Iru settlement. Osteological analysis show an attempt was made to domesticate the [[wild boar]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Subrenat|2004|p=}}</ref>

Specific burial customs were characterized by the dead being laid on their sides with their knees pressed against their breast, one hand under the head. Objects placed into the graves were made of the bones of domesticated animals.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===Bronze Age===
[[File:StoneCistGraves.jpg|thumb|Stone [[cist]] graves from the Bronze Age in northern Estonia]]
[[File:Rebala kivikalmed 2021.ogv|thumb|Drone video of stone cist graves in Jõelähtme, Estonia]]

The beginning of the [[Bronze Age]] in Estonia is dated to approximately 1800 BC. The development of the borders between the [[Balto-Finnic peoples|Finnic peoples]] and the [[Balts]] was under way. The first fortified settlements, Asva and Ridala on the island of [[Saaremaa]] and Iru in northern Estonia, began to be built. The development of shipbuilding facilitated the spread of bronze. Changes took place in burial customs, a new type of burial ground spread from Germanic to Estonian areas, and stone [[cist]] graves and cremation burials became increasingly common, alongside a small number of boat-shaped stone graves.<ref>{{Harvnb|Subrenat|2004|p=26}}</ref>

About the 7th century BC, a large meteorite hit [[Saaremaa]] island and created the [[Kaali crater]]s.

About 325 BC, the Greek explorer [[Pytheas]] possibly visited Estonia. The [[Thule]] island he described has been identified as [[Saaremaa]] by [[Lennart Meri]],<ref name="Silverwhite">{{Cite book
 | first = Lennart
 | last = Meri
 | author-link = Lennart Meri
 | year = 1976
 | title = Hõbevalge: Reisikiri tuultest ja muinasluulest
 | publisher = Eesti Raamat
 | location = [[Tallinn]]
}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> though this identification is not widely considered probable, as Saaremaa lies far south of the [[Arctic Circle]].

===Iron Age===
The [[Pre-Roman Iron Age]] began in Estonia about 500 BC and lasted until the middle of the 1st century AD. The oldest iron items were imported, although since the 1st century iron was [[smelting|smelted]] from local marsh and lake ore. Settlement sites were located mostly in places that offered natural protection. Fortresses were built, although used temporarily. The appearance of square [[Celtic field]]s surrounded by enclosures in Estonia date from the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The majority of stones with man-made indents, which presumably were connected with magic designed to increase crop fertility, date from this period. A new type of grave, quadrangular burial mounds, began to develop. Burial traditions show the clear beginning of [[social stratification]].<!--

This period saw a single Siberian Y-DNA haplogroup making up half of male lineages in Estonia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saag |first1=Lehti |last2=Laneman |first2=Margot |last3=Varul |first3=Liivi |last4=Malve |first4=Martin |last5=Valk |first5=Heiki |last6=Razzak |first6=Maria A. |last7=Shirobokov |first7=Ivan G. |last8=Khartanovich |first8=Valeri I. |last9=Mikhaylova |first9=Elena R. |last10=Kushniarevich |first10=Alena |last11=Scheib |first11=Christiana Lyn |last12=Solnik |first12=Anu |last13=Reisberg |first13=Tuuli |last14=Parik |first14=Jüri |last15=Saag |first15=Lauri |last16=Metspalu |first16=Ene |last17=Rootsi |first17=Siiri |last18=Montinaro |first18=Francesco |last19=Remm |first19=Maido |last20=Mägi |first20=Reedik |last21=D’Atanasio |first21=Eugenia |last22=Crema |first22=Enrico Ryunosuke |last23=Díez-del-Molino |first23=David |last24=Thomas |first24=Mark G. |last25=Kriiska |first25=Aivar |last26=Kivisild |first26=Toomas |last27=Villems |first27=Richard |last28=Lang |first28=Valter |last29=Metspalu |first29=Mait |last30=Tambets |first30=Kristiina |title=The Arrival of Siberian Ancestry Connecting the Eastern Baltic to Uralic Speakers further East |journal=Current Biology |date=20 May 2019 |volume=29 |issue=10 |pages=1701–1711.e16 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2019.04.026 |pmid=31080083 |pmc=6544527 }}</ref>-->
The [[Roman Iron Age]] in Estonia is roughly dated to between 50 and 450 AD, the era that was affected by the influence of the [[Roman Empire]]. In material culture this is reflected by a few Roman coins, some jewellery and artefacts. The abundance of iron artefacts in southern Estonia speaks of closer mainland ties with southern areas, while the islands of western and northern Estonia communicated with their neighbors mainly by sea. By the end of the period three clearly defined tribal dialectical areas—northern Estonia, southern Estonia, and western Estonia including the islands—had emerged, the population of each having formed its own understanding of identity.<ref>{{Harvnb|Subrenat|2004|pp=28–31}}</ref>

===Early Middle Ages===
[[File:Europe 814.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Europe in the 9th century]]

The name "Estonia" occurs first in a form of [[Aestii]] in the 1st century AD by [[Tacitus]]; however, it might have indicated Baltic tribes living in the area. In the Scandinavian [[sagas]] (9th century) the term started to be used to indicate the Estonians.<ref name="the_uralic_language_family_facts_myths_and_statistics">{{Cite book
| last1 = Marcantonio
| first1 = Angela
| title = The Uralic Language Family: Facts, myths and statistics
| year = 2002
| publisher = [[Wiley-Blackwell|Blackwell]]
| location = Oxford, UK
| isbn = 0-631-23170-6
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Cp-tB08yd2EC&pg=PA21
| pages = 21–23
}}</ref>

[[Ptolemy]] in his ''Geography III'' in the middle of the 2nd century AD mentions the [[Osilians]] among other dwellers on the Baltic shore.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|Pennick|1995|p=195}}</ref>

According to the 5th-century Roman historian [[Cassiodorus]], the people known to Tacitus as ''Aestii'' were the Estonians. The extent of their territory in early medieval times is disputed, but the nature of their religion is not. They were known to the Scandinavians as experts in wind-magic, as were the [[Sami people]] (known at the time as Finns) in the North.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|Pennick|1995|p=179}}</ref> Cassiodorus mentions Estonia in his book V. Letters 1–2 dating from the 6th century.<ref name="Cassiodorus">{{Cite book
| author1 = Cassiodorus
| first2 = Thomas
| last2 = Hodgkin
| title = The Letters of Cassiodorus: Being a condensed translation of the Variae epistolae of Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator
| year = 1886
| publisher = [[Oxford University Press|Frowde]]
| location = London
| page = 265
| isbn = 1-152-37425-7
}}</ref>

The [[Chud]] people, mentioned in early [[Rus' chronicles]], starting with the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', are thought to be the Ests or Esthonians by some historians.<!--while others have other opinions--><ref name="PPFP141">{{Cite book
| last = Abercromby
| first = John
| title = The pre- and proto-historic Finns, both eastern and western: with the magic songs of the west Finns
| year = 1898
| publisher = [[D. Nutt]]
| location = London
| page = 141
| isbn = 0-404-53592-5
}}</ref>

[[File:VarbolaByMellin.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Map of [[Varbola Stronghold]] by L. A. Mellin]]
In the 1st centuries AD political and administrative subdivisions began to emerge in Estonia. Two larger subdivisions appeared: the parish (''kihelkond'') and the county (''maakond''). The parish consisted of several villages. Nearly all parishes had at least one fortress. The defense of the local area was directed by the highest official, the parish elder. The county was composed of several parishes, also headed by an elder. By the 13th century the following major counties had developed in Estonia: [[Saare County|Saaremaa]] (Osilia), [[Läänemaa]] (Rotalia or Maritima), [[Harjumaa (ancient county)|Harjumaa]] (Harria), [[Rävala]] (Revalia), [[Virumaa]] (Vironia), [[Järvamaa]] (Jervia), [[Sakala County|Sakala]] (Saccala), and [[Ugandi County|Ugandi]] (Ugaunia).<ref name="estonia_and_the_estonians">{{Cite book
| last1 = Raun
| first1 = Toivo U.
| title = Estonia and the Estonians
| year = 2001
| publisher = [[Hoover Institution Press]], Stanford University
| location = Stanford, California
| isbn = 0-8179-2852-9
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YQ1NRJlUrwkC&pg=PA11
| page = 11
}}</ref>

[[Varbola Stronghold]] was one of the largest circular rampart fortresses and trading centers built in Estonia, [[Harju County]] ({{langx|la|Harria}}) at the time.

In the 11th century the Scandinavians are frequently chronicled as combating the [[Vikings]] from the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.
With the rise of Christianity, centralized authority in Scandinavia and Germany eventually led to the [[Baltic crusades]].
The east Baltic world was transformed by military conquest: first the [[Livs]], [[Latvians|Letts]] and [[Estonians]], then the [[Old Prussians|Prussians]] and the [[Finns]] underwent defeat, [[baptism]], [[military occupation]] and sometimes extermination by groups of Germans, Danes and Swedes.<ref name="the_northern_crusades">{{Cite book
| last1 = Christiansen
| first1 = Eric
| title = The Northern Crusades
| edition = 2nd
| year = 1997
| publisher = [[Penguin Group|Penguin]]
| location = London, England
| isbn = 0-14-026653-4
| page = [https://archive.org/details/northerncrusades00eric/page/93 93]
| url = https://archive.org/details/northerncrusades00eric/page/93
}}</ref>