32 Amazing Photos of Estonia in the Early 1990s ~ Vintage Everyday

Estonia is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Lake Peipus and Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland and of 2,222 islands on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, covering a total area of 45,227 km2 (17,462 sq mi), the land area is 43,432 km², and is influenced by a humid continental climate.

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and Tartu are the largest cities and urban areas in the country. Other notable cities include Narva, Pärnu, Kohtla-Järve and Viljandi. The official language of the country, Estonian, is the second-most-spoken Finnic language.

After the loss of its de facto independence to the Soviet Union, Estonia’s de jure state continuity was preserved by diplomatic representatives and the government-in-exile. In 1987, after the peaceful Singing Revolution, its de facto independence was restored on 20 August 1991.

Estonia is a developed country, with a high-income advanced economy; ranking very high in the Human Development Index. It has a population of 1.3 million, and is one of the least populous members of the European Union. Estonia has consistently ranked highly in international rankings for quality of life, education, digitalization of public services and the prevalence of technology companies.

Just after independence restoration, these amazing photos from Jens-Olaf Walter show what Estonia looked like in 1990 and 1991.