{{Ethnic group| |group=Estonians |image=[[Image:Lydia Koidula.jpg|81px]][[Image:Arvo Part pr3.jpg|67px]][[Image:Lennart Meri 1998.jpg|66px]][[Image:Veljo Tormis.jpg|92px]] |poptime=''c. '' 1,100,000 |popplace=[[Estonia]]:
   930,219
[[Canada]]:
  30,000
[[Russia]]:
  28,113 (2002 census)[http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_04_01.htm]
[[United States]]:
  25,034 (2000)[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/QTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U_QTP13&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF3_U]
[[Sweden]]:
  25,000
[[Brazil]]:
  20,000
[[Finland]]:
  10,000
|langs=[[Estonian language|Estonian]] |rels=less than one fifth are official members of a church, most of them [[Lutherans|Lutheran]] |related=[[Finnish people|Finns]], [[Livonians]], and other [[Finnic people|Finnic]] peoples;}} '''Estonians''' are an [[ethnic group]] primarily associated with [[Estonia]] and the [[Finnic languages|Finnic]] [[Estonian language]]. ==History== The name "Eesti", or Estonia, is thought to be derived from the word ''[[Aestii]]'', the name given by the ancient [[Germanic peoples]] to the peoples living northeast of the [[Vistula River]]. The Roman historian [[Gaius Cornelius Tacitus|Tacitus]] in [[98]] A.D. was the first to mention the "''Aestii''" people, and early [[Scandinavia]]ns called the land south of the Gulf of Finland "''Eistland''", and the people "''eistr''". Proto-Estonians (as well as other Finnic-speaking peoples) were also called ''[[Chud]]s'' (''чудь'') in [[Old East Slavic language|Old East Slavic]] [[chronicle]]s. Estonian language belongs to the [[Balto-Finnic]] branch of the [[Finno-Ugric languages|Finno-Ugric]] group of languages, as does the [[Finnish language]]. The first book in [[Estonian language|Estonian]] was printed in [[1525]], while the oldest known examples of written Estonian originate in 13th century chronicles. Estonians have strong ties to the [[Nordic countries]] stemming from strong cultural and religious influences gained over centuries during [[Scandinavia]]n and [[Germany|German]] rule and settlement. From 1945-89 the share of ethnic Estonians in Estonia dropped from 94% to 61%, caused primarily by the deportations organized by the Soviet regime and the Soviet mass immigration program from [[Russia]] and other parts of the former [[USSR]] into industrial urban areas of Estonia, as well as by wartime emigration and Stalin's [[population transfer|mass deportations]] and executions. The ethnic Estonian population has now risen close to 69%. Most of emigré Estonians live in Russia, Finland, Sweden, US, Canada or other Western countries. In neighbouring [[Latvia]], there are around 2,700 ethnic Estonians (1997 census), in [[Lithuania]], the number was 600 in 1989. == Emigration == During [[World War II]], when Estonia was invaded by the [[Soviet Army]] in [[1944]], large numbers of Estonians fled their homeland on ships or smaller boats over the [[Baltic Sea]]. Many of those refugees who survived the risky sea voyage to [[Sweden]] and [[Germany]], later moved on from there and settled in [[Canada]], the [[United States]] and [[Australia]]. Some of these refugees and their descendants returned to Estonia after the nation regained its independence in [[1991]]. ==See also== * [[List of Estonians|List of notable Estonians]] * [[Demographics of Estonia]] * [[List of Estonian Americans]] * [[:Category:Estonian-Americans]] [[Category:Estonian people| Estonians]] [[Category:Estonian society]] [[Category:Ethnic groups in Europe]] [[Category:Finnic peoples]] [[cy:Estonwyr]] [[de:Esten]] [[et:Eestlased]] [[ka:ესტონელები]] [[lt:Estai]] [[ro:Estoni]] [[ru:Эсты]] [[fi:Virolaiset]] [[tr:Eston]]