The Republic of Estonia

Lahemaa National Park, established in 1971 on Estonia’s northern coast, was the first national park in the former Soviet Union.

On 23 August 1989, Estonians joined people in Latvia and Lithuania to form the Baltic Way, a peaceful human chain stretching about 600 kilometers across the three countries.

In 2005, Estonia became the first country in the world to allow internet voting in nationwide elections, and online voting has been an option in every election since.

Estonia launched the world’s first e-Residency program in 2014, giving people abroad secure digital access to Estonian business services.

Tallinn’s Old Town was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997 as an exceptionally well-preserved medieval northern European trading city.

The Baltic Song and Dance Celebrations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

The smoke sauna tradition of Estonia’s Voromaa region was recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2014.

The NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence was established in Tallinn in 2008 through the initiative of Estonia and six other countries.

The movement that became World Cleanup Day began in Estonia in 2008, when more than 50,000 people collected over 10,000 metric tons of waste in about five hours.

Estonia has 2,317 islands, although only a small number of them are inhabited or easily accessible.

The software behind Skype was created by Estonian developers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn, helping Estonia gain international recognition as a technology hub.

Three points of the UNESCO-listed Struve Geodetic Arc are located in Estonia, forming part of a historic scientific network used to measure the size and shape of the Earth.