TALLINN, ESTONIA

TALLINN - OLD TOWN

First traces of human settlement in Tallinn's city centre by archeologists are pieces of pottery dating to 3000 BCE. The first fortress was built in 1050 as Tallinn became an important trading centre located between between Russia and Scandinavia. During the period of the northern Crusades at the beginning of the 13th Century, Christianity was forcibly imposed on the local population. Danish rule of Tallinn started in 1219. In 1285 the city was known as Reval and became a member of the Hanseatic League - a mercantile and military alliance of German dominated cities of northern Europe. With the Protestant Reformation, the city converted to Lutheranism and in 1561 Reval became a dominion of Sweden. Centuries of war and plagues and industrialisation eventually brought about a return to the name Tallinn and in 1920 a peace treaty was signed with Russia acknowledging the independence of the Estonian Republic for which Tallinn was the capital. During WWII, Estonia was occupied by the Nazis and after the war was annexed by Russia as part of the USSR. Independence was not fully achieved until the break up of the Soviet Union.