Editing Tallinn (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Tallinn}}
{{For timeline}}
The first archaeological traces of a small hunter-fisherman community's presence<ref name="postimees.ee"/> in what is now Tallinn's city centre are {{Circa|5,000}} years old. The [[Comb Ceramic culture|comb ceramic pottery]] found on the site dates to about 3000 BCE and [[Corded Ware culture|corded ware pottery]] to around 2500 BCE.<ref>{{cite news |first=Askur |last=Alas |language=et |title=The mystery of Tallinn's Central Square |url=http://www.ekspress.ee/2008/10/29/eesti-uudised/5040-vabaduse-platsi-mysteerium-kuhu-kadus-kaks-sajandit-ajalugu |publisher=EE |access-date=29 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081105044712/http://www.ekspress.ee/2008/10/29/eesti-uudised/5040-vabaduse-platsi-mysteerium-kuhu-kadus-kaks-sajandit-ajalugu |archive-date=5 November 2008  }}</ref>[[File:Coat of arms of Tallinn (small).svg|thumb|The lesser coat of arms of Tallinn depicts the [[Flag of Denmark|Dannebrog]] cross.|left|113x113px]]
Around 1050 AD, a fortress was built in what is now central Tallinn, on the hill of [[Toompea]].<ref name="TUE">{{cite book |title=Toward an Understanding of Europe |last=Ertl |first=Alan |year=2008 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=978-1-59942-983-0 |page=381 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9PGRaZt-zcC&pg=PA381 |access-date=25 October 2015 |archive-date=26 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926220423/https://books.google.com/books?id=X9PGRaZt-zcC&pg=PA381#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

As an important port on a major trade route between [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]] and western Europe, it became a target for the expansion of the [[Teutonic Knights]] and the Kingdom of Denmark during the period of [[Northern Crusades]] in the beginning of the 13th century when [[Roman Catholic Church|Christianity]] was forcibly imposed on the local population. The king of Denmark conquered Tallinn and northern Estonia in 1219.

In 1285, Tallinn, then known more widely as Reval, became the northernmost member of the [[Hanseatic League]]&nbsp;– a mercantile and military alliance of German-dominated cities in [[Northern Europe]]. The king of Denmark sold Reval along with other land possessions in northern Estonia to the Teutonic Knights in 1346. Reval was arguably the most significant [[Middle Ages|medieval]] port in the Gulf of Finland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/fi/article/20110110STO11392/turku-ja-tallinna-euroopan-kulttuuripaakaupungit-2011|title=Turku ja Tallinna – Euroopan kulttuuripääkaupungit 2011|date=1 October 2011|website=Aiheet &#124; Euroopan parlamentti|access-date=16 May 2024|archive-date=16 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240516161418/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/fi/article/20110110STO11392/turku-ja-tallinna-euroopan-kulttuuripaakaupungit-2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Reval enjoyed a strategic position at the crossroads of trade between the rest of western Europe and [[Republic of Novgorod|Novgorod]] and [[Grand Duchy of Moscow|Muscovy]] in the east. The city, with a population of about 8,000, was very well fortified with [[Tallinn City Walls|city walls and 66 defence towers]]. The city wall has been described as an outstanding example of German Medieval fortification architecture.<ref>{{cite book|series=Studien zum Deutschtum im Osten|volume=6|title=Der Ostseeraum im Blickfeld der Deutschen Geschichte|publisher=Böhlau Verlag|author=Günther Grundmann|chapter=Die mittelalterliche Stadtbaukunst|pages=83}}</ref>

A [[weather vane]], the figure of an old warrior called [[Old Thomas]], was put on top of the spire of the [[Tallinn Town Hall]] in 1530. Old Thomas later became a popular symbol of the city.
[[File:Reval im Jahre 1650.png|600px|left|City skyline of Tallinn (Reval) and the harbour in 1650]]
In the early years of the [[Protestant Reformation]], the city converted to [[Lutheranism]]. In 1561, Reval (Tallinn) became a [[Dominions of Sweden|dominion]] of Sweden.

During the 1700–1721 [[Great Northern War]], [[Plague (disease)|plague]]-[[The plague during the Great Northern War#Lithuania, Livonia, Estonia|stricken]] Tallinn along with Swedish Estonia and Livonia [[Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia|capitulated]] to [[Tsardom of Russia]] (Muscovy) in 1710, but the local self-government institutions ([[Magistracy]] of Reval and [[Estonian Knighthood]]) retained their cultural and economical autonomy within Imperial Russia as the [[Governorate of Estonia]]. The Magistracy of Reval was abolished in 1889. The 19th century brought industrialisation of the city and the port kept its importance.

On 24 February 1918, the [[Estonian Declaration of Independence]] was proclaimed in Tallinn. It was followed by [[German Empire|Imperial German]] [[German occupation of Estonia during World War I|occupation]] until the end of [[World War I]] in November 1918, after which Tallinn became the capital of independent Estonia. During [[Estonia in World War II|World War II]], Estonia was first [[Occupation of the Baltic states|occupied]] by the Soviet army and annexed into the USSR in the summer of 1940, then [[German occupation of the Baltic states during World War II|occupied]] by [[Nazi Germany]] from 1941 to 1944.<!-- See History of Estonia, German Occupation of Estonia -- When German forces invaded there were about 1,000 remaining Jews in the city of Tallinn, nearly all of whom would die in the [[Holocaust]] at the hands of the Nazis before the war's end.<ref name="bh.org.il">{{cite web |title=The Jewish Community of Tallinn |url=https://dbs.bh.org.il/place/tallinn |publisher=The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot |access-date=26 June 2018}}</ref> --> During the German occupation Tallinn suffered from many instances of [[Aerial bombing of cities|aerial bombing]] by the [[Long-Range Aviation|Soviet air force]]. During the most destructive Soviet [[Bombing of Tallinn in World War II|bombing raid on 9–10 March 1944]], over a thousand incendiary bombs were dropped on the town, causing widespread fires, killing 757 people, and leaving over 20,000 residents of Tallinn without shelter. After the German retreat in September 1944, the city was [[Occupation of the Baltic states|occupied again by the Soviet Union]].
[[File:TLA_1465_1_973_Varemetes_Harju_tänav,_vasakul_Kuld_Lõvi_varemed_1944.jpg|thumb|Harju Street in Tallinn old town after the [[Bombing of Tallinn in World War II|Soviet aerial bombing in March 1944]]]]

During the [[1980 Summer Olympics]], the [[Sailing at the 1980 Summer Olympics|sailing (then known as yachting)]] events were held at [[Pirita (subdistrict)|Pirita]], north-east of central Tallinn. Many buildings, such as the [[Tallinn TV Tower]], "Olümpia" hotel, the new Main Post Office building, and the Regatta Centre, were built for the Olympics.

In 1991, the independent democratic Estonian nation was restored and a period of quick development as a modern European capital ensued. Tallinn became the capital of a ''de facto'' independent country once again on 20 August 1991. The Old Town became a [[World Heritage Site]] in 1997,<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic Centre (Old Town) of Tallinn |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/822/#:~:text=The%20Historic%20Centre%20(Old%20Town,coast%20of%20the%20Baltic%20Sea. |website=UNESCO |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |access-date=11 March 2022 |archive-date=11 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311015917/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/822/#:~:text=The%20Historic%20Centre%20(Old%20Town,coast%20of%20the%20Baltic%20Sea. |url-status=live }}</ref> and the city hosted the [[Eurovision Song Contest 2002|2002 Eurovision Song Contest]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Tallinn 2002 |url=https://eurovision.tv/event/tallinn-2002 |website=Eurovision Song Contest |publisher=European Broadcasting Union |access-date=11 March 2022 |archive-date=27 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327123624/https://eurovision.tv/event/tallinn-2002 |url-status=live }}</ref> Tallinn was the 2011 [[European Capital of Culture]], and is the recipient of the 2023 [[European Green Capital|European Green Capital Award]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nikel |first1=David |title=Introducing Estonia's Tallinn, European Green Capital 2023 |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidnikel/2021/09/11/introducing-estonias-tallinn-european-green-capital-2023/?sh=467d6b7c735d |access-date=11 March 2022 |agency=Forbes |publisher=Integrated Whale Media Investments |date=September 11, 2021 |archive-date=11 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311015917/https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidnikel/2021/09/11/introducing-estonias-tallinn-european-green-capital-2023/?sh=467d6b7c735d |url-status=live }}</ref> The city has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and takes pride in its biodiversity and high air quality.<ref name=":55">{{Cite book |last=Bank |first=European Investment |url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/sustainability-report-2021 |title=EIB Group Sustainability Report 2021 |date=2022-07-06 |publisher=European Investment Bank |isbn=978-92-861-5237-5 |language=EN |access-date=26 July 2022 |archive-date=16 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230716182307/https://www.eib.org/en/publications/sustainability-report-2021 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Saarniit |first=Helen |title=How can Estonia's transport and housing sectors contribute to cleaner air and a safer climate? |url=https://www.sei.org/featured/how-can-estonias-transport-and-housing-sectors-contribute-to-cleaner-air-and-a-safer-climate/ |access-date=2022-07-26 |website=SEI}}</ref> But critics say that the award was received on false promises since it won the title with its "[[15-minute city]]" concept, according to which key facilities and services should be accessible within a 15-minute walk or bike ride but the concept was left out of the green capital program and other parts of the 12 million euro program amount to a collection of temporary and one-off projects without any structural and lasting changes.<ref name="Pärli 2023">{{cite web | last=Pärli | first=Merilin | title=Critics: Tallinn's green capital program doesn't offer permanent changes | website=ERR | date=24 January 2023 | url=https://news.err.ee/1608861140/critics-tallinn-s-green-capital-program-doesn-t-offer-permanent-changes | access-date=13 February 2023 | archive-date=7 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207082336/https://news.err.ee/1608861140/critics-tallinn-s-green-capital-program-doesn-t-offer-permanent-changes | url-status=live }}</ref>