Estonian Geography and Nature

Geography and Nature

200 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 200 questions

  1. Which is the largest island of Estonia?
  2. What is the highest point in Estonia, in the south-east of the country?
  3. Which large lake forms part of the border between Estonia and Russia?
  4. Which sea lies to the north of Estonia, between it and Finland?
  5. Which city is the second largest in Estonia and the home of its oldest university?
  6. About how much of Estonia's land is covered by forest?
  7. Which of these groups of animals live wild in the forests of Estonia?
  8. Which time zone does Estonia use?
  9. Which gulf separates the island of Saaremaa from the coast of Latvia?
  10. Which island is the second largest in Estonia?
  11. Which is the largest lake that lies wholly inside Estonia?
  12. Which river is the longest in Estonia?
  13. Which is the oldest national park in Estonia, on the north coast?
  14. What is the fifth season in the Soomaa National Park?
  15. What is the Kaali crater on the island of Saaremaa?
  16. What is the Baltic Glint (Põhja-Eesti klint)?
  17. Which natural resource in the north-east of Estonia has long been used for energy and for oil?
  18. Which Estonian town faces the Russian town of Ivangorod across a river and a bridge?
  19. Which Estonian city is known as the summer capital?
  20. Which historic centre in Tallinn was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997?
  21. What is the Struve Geodetic Arc, which passes through Estonia?
  22. Why is the Matsalu area on the west coast important?
  23. Which island is known for its traditional culture, with women in colourful striped skirts, and is listed by UNESCO?
  24. What is special about the Kõpu lighthouse on the island of Hiiumaa?
  25. Why does the coast of western Estonia keep growing slowly, forming new islets and bays?
  26. Why are bogs so common in Estonia?
  27. Estonia has an area of about 45,000 square kilometres and about 1.3 million inhabitants. What is the approximate population density?
  28. At noon in Tallinn on a July day, with summer time in use, what is the time in London, which is on British Summer Time (UTC+1)?
  29. Why are the June days long in Tallinn, with the sun setting late and the nights bright?
  30. How does the Baltic Sea moderate Estonia's climate?
  31. Which statement about Estonia's neighbours is correct?
  32. Why is ice breaking important for shipping in the Gulf of Finland in some winters?
  33. Which bird is the national bird of Estonia?
  34. Which flower is the national flower of Estonia?
  35. Roughly how many lakes does Estonia have?
  36. Which part of Estonia has the most hilly landscape, with the Haanja and Otepää uplands?
  37. Complete the sentence about Narva with the correct year: Narva was nearly completely destroyed in ______, during World War II.
  38. Complete the sentence about Narva with the correct year: Narva's population, 65% ethnic Estonian as of the ______ census, became overwhelmingly non-Estonian in the second half of the 20th century.
  39. Complete the sentence about Narva with the correct year: The fortified settlement at Narva Joaoru is the oldest known in Estonia, dated to around ______ BC.
  40. Complete the sentence about Narva with the correct year: The castle was founded during the Danish rule of northern Estonia in the second half of the 13th century; the earliest written record of the ca…
  41. Complete the sentence about Pärnu with the correct year: Pärnu belonged to the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire until ______, when it was transferred to the short-lived autonomous Governor…
  42. Complete the sentence about Pärnu with the correct year: The city became part of independent Estonia in ______ following World War I.
  43. Complete the sentence about Pärnu with the correct year: During World War II, Estonia was invaded and occupied by the Soviet army in June ______.
  44. Complete the sentence about Pärnu with the correct year: After the war, Pärnu was part of Soviet-occupied Estonia until ______, when Estonia restored its independence.
  45. Complete the sentence with the correct year: As of ______, 21% of the city's population are ethnic Estonians; most of the rest are Russians.
  46. Complete the sentence about Kohtla-Järve with the correct year: In ______, the Estonian State Oil Shale Industrial Corporation was formed and extraction by shaft and open-pit mining was extended.
  47. Complete the sentence about Kohtla-Järve with the correct year: In ______ the oil shale processing factory was built near Kohtla railway station, and the nearby settlement, named Kohtla-Järve, started…
  48. Complete the sentence about Viljandi with the correct year: The town was first mentioned in ______, upon being granted its town charter by Wilhelm von Endorpe.
  49. Complete the sentence about Viljandi with the correct year: The once influential Estonian newspaper Sakala was founded in Viljandi in ______.
  50. Complete the sentence about Viljandi with the correct year: The first written record of the earthen stronghold of Viljandi was in the year ______ in the commentaries to al-Idrisi's world atlas Geograp…
  51. Complete the sentence about Viljandi with the correct year: In ______ the hillfort of the Estonians in Viljandi was besieged by a joint army of Germans, Latvians, and Livonians.
  52. Complete the sentence about Rakvere with the correct year: A settlement called Tarvanpea, which means the 'head of an aurochs', was first mentioned in ______ in the Livonian Chronicle of Henry.
  53. Complete the sentence about Rakvere with the correct year: After the Kingdom of Denmark conquered northern Estonia, it started to erect stone buildings in ______.
  54. Complete the sentence about Maardu with the correct year: The landlord of the manor Herman Jensen Bohn in ______ funded the printing of the first bible printed in Estonian.
  55. Complete the sentence about Sillamäe with the correct year: The locality of Sillamäggi was first mentioned in ______ when the area was under the control of the Livonian Order.
  56. Complete the sentence about Sillamäe with the correct year: The bridge across the Sõtke River and a mill in Sillamäggi were documented in ______.
  57. Complete the sentence about Kuressaare with the correct year: Eventually, the town's name shortened to Kuressaare and became the official name when Estonia became an independent country in ______.
  58. Complete the sentence about Kuressaare with the correct year: The western and southern portions of Saaremaa then became part of the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek in ______, a vassal statelet of the Holy Roma…
  59. Complete the sentence about Kuressaare with the correct year: The bishopric was finally secularised in ______ and Kuressaare as well as the entire island of Saaremaa became part of the Kingdom of Denm…
  60. Complete the sentence about Kuressaare with the correct year: In ______, Saaremaa passed from Denmark to the Kingdom of Sweden through the Treaty of Brömsebro.
  61. Complete the sentence about Kuressaare with the correct year: During the Great Northern War, the city suffered heavily from the plague, and eventually burnt to the ground by the invading troops of the…
  62. Complete the sentence about Kuressaare with the correct year: Saaremaa was incorporated into the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire through the Treaty of Nystad in ______.
  63. Complete the sentence about Valga, Estonia with the correct year: Until their separation in ______, Valga and the town of Valka in northern Latvia were one town.
  64. Complete the sentence about Valga, Estonia with the correct year: On 21 December ______ all border-crossing points were removed and roads and fences opened between the two countries with both countrie…
  65. Complete the sentence about Valga, Estonia with the correct year: The Valga-Võru-Koidula railway runs to the town but the passenger train service has been interrupted since ______.
  66. Complete the sentence about Võru with the correct year: The development of the town was facilitated by the Pskov-Riga railway completed in ______, which enabled Võru to have a direct connection with R…
  67. Complete the sentence about Võru with the correct year: The Võru Folklore Festival has been held annually in Võru in July since ______.
  68. Complete the sentence about Jõhvi with the correct year: Jõhvi was first mentioned as a village in ______ in Liber Census Daniae when it was ruled by Denmark.
  69. Complete the sentence about Jõhvi with the correct year: On 1 May ______, the government of Estonia upgraded the official status of Jõhvi from a borough to that of an independent town.
  70. Complete the sentence about Haapsalu with the correct year: A military doctor, Carl Abraham Hunnius, founded the first mud cure resort in ______.
  71. Complete the sentence about Keila with the correct year: The oldest traces of human settlement in Keila trace back ______ to 3000 years BC.
  72. Complete the sentence about Keila with the correct year: Around ______ years ago the village of Keila was established along the Keila river.
  73. Complete the sentence about Keila with the correct year: In ______, the Danish conquered Northern-Estonia and chose Keila as the site on which the Vomentakæ parochial Revala county church was to be bu…
  74. Complete the sentence about Paide with the correct year: The Estonian name Paide was first recorded in ______ as Paida.
  75. Complete the sentence about Paide with the correct year: During the Livonian War, the castle was repeatedly besieged by Russian troops, and in ______ it was occupied by troops loyal to Ivan the Terrib…
  76. Complete the sentence about Põlva with the correct year: Around ______, shortly after the Christianization of Estonia, the Bernardine monks built a church, which they dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
  77. Complete the sentence about Põlva with the correct year: In ______ it became part of Dorpat Voivodeship under Polish sovereignty, and later it belonged to Sweden.
  78. Complete the sentence about Põlva with the correct year: In ______, in the Treaty of Nystad, Estonia and Livonia were then ceded to Russia.
  79. Complete the sentence about Põlva with the correct year: Then Põlva and its church parish belonged first to Tartu County and from ______ to newly established Võru County, part of the Governorate of Li…
  80. Complete the sentence about Põlva with the correct year: In ______, a railway from Tartu to Petseri through Põlva was completed.
  81. Complete the sentence about Jõgeva with the correct year: Jõgeva was first mentioned in ______ as Jagiwa manor, being established only recently on the lands of the same named village by the orders of…
  82. Complete the sentence about Rapla with the correct year: The oldest records date back to ______ in the Danish Census Book, when it was said that it was a small village with 8 acres of cultivated field…
  83. Complete the sentence about Rapla with the correct year: In ______, Rapla consisted of around 20 stone and 60 wooden houses.
  84. Complete the sentence about Kärdla with the correct year: Kärdla was first mentioned in ______ as a village inhabited by Swedes.
  85. Complete the sentence about Paldiski with the correct year: Prior to ______, the official spelling of the name in Estonian was Baltiski.
  86. Complete the sentence about Paldiski with the correct year: The village of Laoküla, situated just south-east of Paldiski, was first mentioned in the Danish Census Book in ______ CE as Laiduscæ.
  87. Complete the sentence about Paldiski with the correct year: In ______, Suur-Pakri Island, belonging to Padise Monastery, and some territories in Laoküla, belonging to Keila Manor, were sold to Swedish…
  88. Complete the sentence about Otepää with the correct year: The fortress was first mentioned in Rus' sources in ______ when the princes of Novgorod and Pskov undertook an expedition against Tartu and Ot…
  89. Complete the sentence about Otepää with the correct year: The conquest of Estonia during the Northern Crusades began with an attack on the fortress at Otepää in ______.
  90. Complete the sentence about Otepää with the correct year: The fort was attacked again in ______, when Christianized southern Estonians stopped the Kievan Rus' advances.
  91. Complete the sentence about Otepää with the correct year: The fort at Otepää was finally conquered in ______ by German crusaders.
  92. Complete the sentence with the correct year: The earliest recorded version of the name is Kyne, from ______.
  93. Complete the sentence about Hiiumaa with the correct year: The first documented record of the island was as Dageida in ______, when Hiiumaa and the rest of Estonia were conquered by Germanic crusaders…
  94. Complete the sentence about Hiiumaa with the correct year: In ______, Hiiumaa was divided between the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek and the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order, acting partly on behalf of t…
  95. Complete the sentence about Muhu with the correct year: Muhu is connected to Saaremaa by the Väinatamm causeway, opened in ______.
  96. Complete the sentence about Ruhnu with the correct year: Before ______, it was for centuries populated by ethnic Swedes and traditional Swedish law was used.
  97. Complete the sentence about Ruhnu with the correct year: According to a census taken in ______, Ruhnu had a population of 282: 277 ethnic Swedes and 5 ethnic Estonians.
  98. Complete the sentence about Ruhnu with the correct year: In November ______, the first group of about 75 islanders relocated to Sweden.
  99. Complete the sentence about Ruhnu with the correct year: In August ______, shortly before the Red Army of the Soviet Union reoccupied Estonia, the remaining population of the island, except for two fa…
  100. Complete the sentence about Tallinn Old Town with the correct year: Since ______, the area has been registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

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