History of Estonia began with the last ice age, nearly 11,000 to 13,000 years ago. The ancient settlement began in southern Estonia, known as the Pulli settlement. The cultural changes came with the end of Bronze Age and beginning of the Iron Age, when the inhabitants of Estonia moved onto farming from hunting. Since the history of Estonia is influenced from the Roman Empire, henceforth, this period of time is also designated as the Roman Iron Age. Initially, Estonia followed a Pagan religion but was later Christianized with the Germans conquest in the early 13th century. In the later 16th century, with the commencement of the Protestant Reformation, Estonia began to follow Lutheranism.
In the 16th century, after the Livonian war, Sweden began to control Northern Estonia and finally she was divided in the north, the provinces of Estonia and in the south, Livonia and Northern Latvia. The 17th century, with the initiation of the printing press and the university in Estonia, the history of Estonia came to known as ‘the Good Old Swedish Time’. Finally, after the great Northern war in the 19th century, Estonia came under the control of Russia.
The 19th century saw the cultural revival in Estonia with the end of serfdom and the establishment of education in Estonian language. Many important leaders entered the scene during this period. After the Bolshevik revolution, Estonia gained independence in 1918. In the 20th century, Estonia was under the Soviet control but between 1941 to 1944 Estonia was occupied by Germany. After this the Soviet Union once again reconquered Estonia. However, this was not supported by the United States and United Kingdom, and finally on 20th August 1991 Estonia was declared independent from the clutches of Soviet Union.
After independence Estonia gained access into NATO and the European Union in 2004. Estonia developed cordial relationship with Finland and Sweden and in the year 2005 she became a member of the European Union’s Nordic Battle Group. The revised income tax rate and her non-welfare-state model makes Estonia stand aside than other Nordic States.
| 
