Welcome to Estonia, the northernmost of the Baltic countries!
Subdivisions
Estonia is divided into 15 counties, also known as maakonnad:
- Harju
- Hiiu
- Ida-Viru
- Jõgeva
- Järva
- Lääne
- Lääne-Viru
- Põlva
- Pärnu
- Rapla
- Saare
- Tartu
- Valga
- Viljandi
- Võru
License Plates
As a member of the EU, Estonia's license plates feature a blue band on the left side of the plate with the EU circle of stars and the country code EST. Plates are white with black text: EST123 ABC.
Phone Codes
Estonian telephone numbers are not geographically linked; as such, there is no area code system.
Roads, Markings, and Signage
Highways & Road Numbering Schemes
The Estonian road network is divided into three tiers: põhimaantee (main roads), tugimaantee (basic roads), and korvalmaantee (community roads).
Main Roads (Põhimaantee)
These are the main routes across the country, and are signposted with white text on a red background: 7. There appears to be no pattern as to the numbering, although there are only twelve routes that are distinctive on maps.
They are numbered up to 11, plus an outlier in route 92. Routes 1, 2, 4, 8, and 9 extend outwards from Tallinn roughly clockwise, while routes 3, 5, and 7 are lateral routes running through Tartu, Pärnu, and Misso respectively. Route 10 is a disconnected route in the Lääne and Saare counties, and routes 6 and 92 run through the south of the country.
Basic Roads (Tugimaantee)
These roads continue from the main roads numbering, being numbered from 12 to 95 (excluding 92). While there is no discernible pattern to their numbering, they are mostly clustered by their first digit. They are signposted with black text on a yellow background: 12.
Community Roads (Korvalmaantee)
These roads are signposted with black text on a white background: 123. While officially they have five digits, with the first two representing the county, this code does not appear on signs; only the final three digits are used, and so are not unique to the county.
Architecture
Language
The official language of Estonia is Estonian, which is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, and is thus very similar to Finnish. Like Finnish, it has many double-vowel sequences, which is characteristic of the language.
Script
Estonian uses the Latin alphabet, plus several extra characters:
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk
Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv
Ww Xx Yy Zz Ää Öö Üü Õõ Šš Žž
The letters C, Q, W, X, and Y are only used for foreign names, while F, Z, Š, and Ž are used for loanwords and foreign names.
Sample
Kõik inimesed sünnivad vabadena ja võrdsetena oma väärikuselt ja õigustelt. Neile on antud mõistus ja südametunnistus ja nende suhtumist üksteisesse peab kandma vendluse vaim.