| Show TINY ESTONIA IS COVETED BY SOVIET frew prepared ted by national geographic society washington sh ington D C service estonia tiny baltic republic born of the last world war has barely reached the age of 21 when european war news again puts her name in the headlines russian military forces now occupy many fortifications within the nations boundaries for nearly years estonia was a part of the old imperial russia and d her declaration of independence 1 in n 1918 deprived russia of the highly pr prized iced ice free port of tallinn tallian Tal linn with an area only as large as vermont and new hampshire combined and a population of less than that of los angeles calif estonia Is one of the smallest of the states that came into being after the conflict of tallinn tallian Tal linn now the capital and chief city is about the size of bridgeport conn with people freedom sought in 1917 18 19 Es estonia I 1 onla fought tor for freedom in 1917 18 after being ruled by y a long succession slon of mau masters aters danes germans swedes poles and russians held all or parts of what Is now estonia tonia at various times the danes sold the city of tallinn tallian to the teutonic knights of germany for or silver marks in 1343 1346 the swedes held estonia for or nearly years until 1721 after which russia ruled it until 1917 german troops occupied the country in 1918 then bolshevik forces arces invaded it in 1919 but were driven out by the estonians Eston ians estonians Eston ians related to finns estonia Is a flat land of forests farms arms and a small m all villages no part of it Is more than feet beet above the sea the estonians Eston Esto 11 ians nans ari are probably of asiatic origin like their northern neighbors the finns and their language called one of eu FINLAN D sea ta T IX LATVIA LITHUANIA GERMANY importance TO russia can be seen front from a glance at the above map with complete control tallinn tallian Tal linn the no na city as a key port the soviet would have an excellent outlet to the baltic sea ropes most musical Is related to finnish and hungarian founded as a republic estonia adopted a form ol of government in 1934 but returned to the democratic system in 1937 by popular vote butter is Es leading export with other food stuffs and timber products also ranking high on the list s rye barley and flax are raised oil are one of her few ew mineral resources two thirds of estonia consists of farms one fifth Is devoted to forests and a large area also is covered by water tor for estonia has some 1 1500 lakes tallinn tallian Tal linn the capital called the nightcap town for or the pointed towers on its remnant of med medieval levil wall Is a busy modern seaport with grain eleia elevators tors and refrigerating plants plant prominent on the skyline |
