Saaremaa

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Saaremaa

Saaremaa is the largest island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
belonging to Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
, measuring 2,673 km². The main island of Saare County

Saare County

Saare County , or Saaremaa, is one of 15 Counties of Estonia of Estonia. It consists of Saaremaa , the largest island of Estonia, and several smaller islands near it....
, it is located in the Baltic Sea

Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53?N to 66?N latitude and from 20?E to 26?E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Denmark islands....
, south of Hiiumaa

Hiiumaa

Hiiumaa is the second largest island belonging to Estonia. It is located in the Baltic Sea, north of the island of Saaremaa, a part of the west Estonian archipelago ....
island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago (Moonsund archipelago

Moonsund archipelago

Moonsund archipelago is a group of Estonian islands, located in the Baltic Sea.Islands:* Saaremaa* Hiiumaa* Muhu* Vormsiand about 500 smaller islands....
). The capital of Saaremaa is Kuressaare

Kuressaare

Kuressaare is a Populated places in Estonia and a Municipalities of Estonia on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the capital of Saare County. The current population is about 15,300....
, which has about 15,000 inhabitants; the whole island has over 39,000 inhabitants.

Etymology
The island is called Saaremaa in Estonian

Estonian language

Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various ?migr? communities....
, and in Finnish

Finnish language

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Encyclopedia

Saaremaa is the largest island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
belonging to Estonia

Estonia

Saare County

Baltic Sea

Hiiumaa

Moonsund archipelago

Moonsund archipelago is a group of Estonian islands, located in the Baltic Sea.Islands:* Saaremaa* Hiiumaa* Muhu* Vormsiand about 500 smaller islands....
). The capital of Saaremaa is Kuressaare

Kuressaare

Etymology

The island is called Saaremaa in Estonian

Estonian language

Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various ?migr? communities....
, and in Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
Saarenmaa — literally "isle's land". In old Scandinavian sagas, Saaremaa is called Eysysla, which means exactly the same as the name of the island in Estonian: "the district (land) of island". This is the origin of the island's name in German

German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
and Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic languages language, spoken by around 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the ?land islands....
, Ösel, Danish

Danish language

Danish is one of the North Germanic languages , a sub-group of the Germanic languages branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken by around 6 million people, mainly in Denmark; the language is also used by the 50,000 Danes in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany where it holds the status of minority language....
, Øsel, Gutnish Oysl, and in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
, Osilia. The name Eysysla appears sometimes together with Adalsysla, "the big land", perhaps 'Suuremaa' or 'Suur Maa' in Estonian, which refers to mainland Estonia.

History

According to archaeological finds, the territory of Saaremaa has been inhabited for at least five thousand years. Sagas talk about numerous skirmishes between islanders and Vikings. Saaremaa was the wealthiest county of ancient Estonia and the home of notorious Estonian pirates, sometimes called the Eastern Vikings. The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia describes a fleet of sixteen ships and five hundred Osilians ravaging the area that is now southern Sweden

Skåneland

Sk?neland, or Sk?nelandskapen, are Swedish scientific denominations, used in historical contexts for the historical lands of Denmark in southern Scandinavia, which as the autonomous polity Scania joined Zealand and Jutland in the formation of a Denmark state in the early 800s....
, then belonging to Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
. In 1206, the King Valdemar II of Denmark

Valdemar II of Denmark

Valdemar II , called Valdemar the Conqueror or Valdemar the Victorious , was the King of Denmark from November 12, 1202 until his death in 1241....
built a fortress on the island but they found no volunteers to man it. They burned it themselves and left.

In 1227, Saaremaa was conquered by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword

Livonian Brothers of the Sword

Bishop Albert of Riga founded the military order of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1202; Pope Innocent III sanctioned the establishment in 1204....
during the Livonian Crusade

Livonian Crusade

The Livonian Crusade refers to the Germany and Denmark conquest and colonization of medieval Livonia, the territory constituting modern Latvia and Estonia, during the Northern Crusades....
, but remained a hotbed of Estonian resistance. The crusaders founded the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek

Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek

The Bishopric of ?sel-Wiek was a semi-independent Roman Catholic Church prince-bishopric in what is now Saare County and L??ne County counties of Estonia....
there. When the Order was defeated by the Lithuanian

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was an Eastern and Central European state from the 12th /13th century until the 18th century. It was founded by Lithuanians, at the time one of the Lithuanian mythology Baltic tribes, whose initial lands covered Auk?taitija, the eastern part of present day Lithuania....
army in the Battle of Saule in 1236, the Saaremaa islanders rebelled. The conflict was ended by a treaty that was signed by the Osilians and the Master of the Order. In the following year, the Sword-Brothers were absorbed into the Teutonic Order

Teutonic Knights

The Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem , or for short the Teutonic Order was a Germans Roman Catholic religious order....
.

Most of Saaremaa was ruled directly by the Bishopric of Ösel-Wiek, while some parts were enfeoffed to the Livonian Order. In 1559, the bishopric and Saaremaa were sold to Denmark, becoming part of Danish Estonia

Danish Estonia

Danish Estonia refers to the territories of present-day Estonia that were ruled by Denmark firstly during the 13th-14th centuries and again in the 16th-17th centuries....
. From 1570 until 1645 the entire island was under Danish possession.

In 1645, Saaremaa was ceded from Denmark to Sweden

Dominions of Sweden

The Dominions of Sweden or Svenska besittningar were territories that historically came under control of the Swedish The Crown, but never became fully integrated with Sweden....
by the Treaty of Brömsebro

Treaty of Brömsebro

The Treaty of Br?msebro was signed on August 13, 1645, which ended the Torstenson War between Sweden and Denmark-Norway. Negotiations for the treaty began in February the same year in the village of Br?msebro on the border between provinces Blekinge and Sm?land....
. In 1721, along with the rest of Livonia, Saaremaa (then known by its Swedish name of Ösel) was ceded to the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
by the Treaty of Nystad

Treaty of Nystad

The Treaty of Nystad was signed in 1721 in the then Swedish town of Uusikaupunki . It ended the Great Northern War, in which Russian Empire received the territories of Duchy of Estonia , Duchy of Livonia and Duchy of Ingria, as well as much of Finnish Karelia and number of islands in Baltic sea from Swedish Empire and Tsar Peter I of Russia...
, becoming a part of the Governorate of Livonia. In 1840 the first spa opened in Kuressaare (then known as Arensburg), and the town became a resort for Russians and Baltic Germans.

In World War I

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, the Estonian islands were conquered by Imperial German Army

German Army (German Empire)

The German Army was the name given the combined armed forces of the German Empire, also known as the Imperial Army or Imperial German Army. The term "Deutsches Heer" is also used for the modern German Army, the land component of the German Bundeswehr....
in October 1917 and occupied (Operation Albion

Operation Albion

Operation Albion was the German land and naval operation in September and October 1917 to invade and occupy the Estonian islands of Saaremaa , Hiiumaa and Muhu , then part of the Russian Empire....
) until the end of hostilities. Estonia became independent after the October Revolution and the collapse of the Russian Empire. As a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The Molotov?Ribbentrop Pact, colloquially named after Soviet Union foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and Nazi Germany foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and signed in Moscow in the early hours of August 24...
, the new state was incorporated into the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
in June 1940 as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. Most of the Baltic German

Baltic German

The Baltic Germans were mostly ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today form the countries of Estonia and Latvia....
population of the island was evacuated to Germany following the Pact.

The island was occupied by Nazi Germany

Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany

After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Army Group North reached Estonia in July 1941.Although initially the Germans were perceived by most Estonians as liberators from the USSR and its repressions, and hopes were raised for the restoration of the country's independence, it was soon realized that they were but another occupyi...
in 1941 (Operation Beowulf

Operation Beowulf

Operation Beowulf refers to two German plans to occupy the islands of Saaremaa, Hiiumaa and Muhu, off the Estonia west coast. Both plans had the same objectives but assumed differing start points....
); German troops remained there until expelled by the Red Army

Red Army

The Red Army was the armed force first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union....
in the Moonzund Landing Operation

Moonzund Landing Operation

The Moonsund Landing Operation, , also known as the Moonzund landing operation, was an amphibious operation and offensive by the Red Army during World war II, taking place in late 1944....
in October and November 1944.

In 1946 Saaremaa was declared a restricted zone, closed to foreigners and to most mainland Estonians. It remained a restricted area until 1989.

Estonian independence was regained on August 20 1991, in the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Geography

The island forms the main barrier between the Gulf of Riga

Gulf of Riga

The Gulf of Riga, or Bay of Riga, is a Headlands and bays of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia.The area of the Gulf of Riga is about 18,000 km?....
and the Baltic Sea. To the south of it is the main passage out of the gulf, the Irbe Strait

Irbe Strait

Irbe Strait, also known as Irben Strait , forms the main exit out of the Gulf of Riga to the Baltic Sea, between the S?rve Peninsula forming the southern end of the island Saaremaa in Estonia and Courland in Latvia....
, next to Sõrve Peninsula

Sõrve Peninsula

S?rve Peninsula is a peninsula which forms the southernmost section of the Estonian island Saaremaa. Its length is 32 km, and its maximum width 10 km....
, the southernmost portion of the island. The highest point on the island is 54 m above sea level. One particularly interesting feature found on the island is the Kaali crater

Kaali crater

Kaali is a small group of 9 meteorite impact craters on Saaremaa, Estonia.The largest of the craters measures 110 meters in diameter and contains a small lake ...
. The island has lots of forested terrain. One of the symbols of the island is the juniper

Juniper

Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the mountains of Central America....
.

Nature

More than 10,000 years ago the first parts of Saaremaa arose from the Baltic Ice Lake

Baltic ice lake

The Baltic ice lake is a name given by geologists to a freshwater lake that gradually formed in the Baltic Sea basin as glacier retreated from that region at the end of the Pleistocene....
. The uplift of the earth's crust is continuing even today - 2mm per year. The West - Estonian islands are lowlying plains resting on limestone, their average elevation being about 15 meters above sea level. Limestone

Limestone

File:Limestone Formation In Waitomo.jpgLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite . The deposition of limestone strata is often a by-product and indicator of biological activity in the geology record....
has become denuded in a great number of places, resulting in cliffs, limestone pits and quarries at Mustjala, Ninase, Pulli, Üügu and Kaugatuma. Because of its mild maritime climate and a variety of soils, Saaremaa has a rich flora

Flora

In botany, flora has two meanings. The first meaning, flora of an area or of time period, refers to all plant life occurring in an area or time period, especially the naturally occurring or indigenous plant life....
, illustrated by the fact that 80% of the plant species found in Estonia are represented here. Altogether 1200 species of vascular plants can be found in Saaremaa. About 120 of the local plant species are rare ones which have received special protection status. The most famous endemic species is Rhinanthus osiliensis - a rare little flower growing mostly in spring fens; rare and beautiful flowers are widespread - out of the 36 species found in Estonia, 35 of them are found on Saaremaa and neighbouring islands. Over 40% of Saaremaa is covered with forests. They are mostly mixed forests but in some areas one can also find broad - leaved (deciduous), which are relict plant communities of former milder climatic periods. Wooded meadows were still common in Saaremaa before World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, but many of these unique natural complexes have gradually become overgrown and thus turned into the ordinary forest. The same is true for alvar

Alvar

An alvar or pavement barren is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse vegetation....
s (limestone areas covered with thin soil and stunted vegetation). Once a typical and exclusive landscape element in Saaremaa alvars are now in decline. Nature conservation planning for Saaremaa now includes protection of the largest and most unusual alvar areas.

Saaremaa has a wide variety of rare wildlife species - ranging from insects to seals. The smallest protected wildlife species include Cloude Apolle butterflies and Roman snails.

The coastal areas of Saaremaa are famous seal habitats. The gray seal which is common here can be found in three large permanent resting areas on the islets off the coast in the western and southern parts of Saaremaa. The local population of grey seal is slightly increasing Ringed seals can also be encountered everywhere in the coastal waters of Saaremaa, but because of their timidity it has not been possible to make an estimation of their number. The islands lie within the East - Atlantic flyway, which is the migration path of waterfowl. This "bird - road" connects northeastern Europe with Arctic regions and each year hundreds of thousands of migratory birds visit Saaremaa in spring and autumn. The barnacle goose

Barnacle Goose

The Barnacle Goose belongs to the genus Branta of black goose, which contains species with largely black plumage, distinguishing them from the grey Anser species....
, mute swan

Mute Swan

The Mute Swan is a Eurasian member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. Although they tend to be quieter than other kinds of swans, they are not mute, and do vocalize....
, whooper swan

Whooper Swan

The Whooper Swan is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Old World counterpart of the North American Trumpeter Swan....
, eider

Eider

Eiders are large seaducks in the genus Somateria. Steller's Eider, despite its name, is in a different genus.The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern hemisphere....
, shelduck

Shelduck

The Shelducks, genus Tadorna, are a group of large birds in the Tadorninae subfamily of the Anatidae, the biological family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the goose and swans....
and a great many other bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
species have been given protection status. But on the whole, the islands are somewhat poorer in wildlife species than the mainland. Neither mole

Mole (animal)

Moles are the majority of the members of the mammal family Talpidae in the order Soricomorpha. Although most moles burrow, some species are aquatic or semi-aquatic....
, mink

Mink

There are two living species of mink: the American Mink and the European Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but is much larger....
, nor otter

Otter

Otters are semi-aquatic fish-eating mammals. The otter Rank Lutrinae forms part of the Family Mustelidae, which also includes weasels, polecats, badgers, as well as others....
can be found here, the lynx

Lynx

A lynx is any of four medium-sized wild Felidae. All are members of the genus Lynx, but there is considerable confusion about the best way to classify felids at present, and some authorities classify them as part of the genus Felis....
and the brown bear

Brown Bear

The Brown Bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It weighs 100 to 700 kg and its larger populations such as the Kodiak bear match the Polar bear as the largest extant land predator....
are but infrequent guests.Saaremaa County - nature

Kaali Meteorite

Kaali is a small group of nine unique meteorite

Meteorite

A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives an impact with the Earth's surface. While in space it is called a meteoroid....
crater

Impact crater

In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with larger body....
s on Saaremaa. The largest of the craters measures 110 meters in diameter

Diameter

In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle....
and contains a small lake (known as Kaali järv (Lake Kaali)). The meteor cluster had an impact velocity of 10-20 km/s and a mass of 20-80 tons. At the altitude of 5-10 km the meteor broke into pieces. The largest fragment produced the main crater with a depth of 22 m. Eight smaller craters with diameters ranging from 12 to 40 m and depths varying from 1 to 4 m are all within 1 kilometer of the main crater. The explosion that caused the craters is estimated to have happened 660 ± 85 B.C. (Holocene

Holocene

The Holocene is a geological Epoch which began approximately 11,700 years ago . According to traditional geological thinking, the Holocene continues to the present....
). The energy of the impact (about 80 TJ

Joule

The joule is the SI derived unit of energy in the International System of Units. It is defined as:One joule is the amount of energy required to perform the following actions:...
(20 kilotons of TNT), comparable with the Hiroshima bomb

Little Boy

Little Boy was the codename of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945 by the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets in the 393d Bomb Squadron of the United States Army Air Forces....
) burned forests within a radius of 6 km. There are numerous legends related to the crater; these are summarized by Lennart Meri

Lennart Meri

Lennart Georg Meri was a writer, film director and statesman who served as President of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was a leader of the Estonian independence movement....
in his book Hõbevalge.

Resources

Dolomite

Dolomite is the name of a sedimentary carbonate rock and a mineral, both composed of calcium magnesium carbonate calciummagnesium2 found in crystals....
, limestone

Limestone

Mineral water

Mineral water is water containing minerals or other dissolved substances that alter its taste or give it therapeutic value. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the water....
, sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.As the term is used by geologists, sand particles range in diameter from 0.0625 to 2 millimeters....
and gravel

Gravel

Gravel is rock that is of a specific particle size range. Specifically, it is is any loose rock that is larger than two millimeters in its largest dimension and no more than 64 millimeters ....
, ceramic clay are the major local minerals. Of these local resources the dolomite is perhaps the most famous above all.Saaremaa County - resources

Characteristics

The majority of the population is Estonian

Estonians

Estonians are a Finnic people closely related to the Finns and inhabiting, primarily, the country of Estonia. The Estonians speak a Finno-Ugric languages language, known as Estonian....
(97%). The biggest minority nationality is Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
, equaling 2% of the inhabitants. Compared to the Republic of Estonia on the whole, the population of Saare County

Saare County

Kuressaare

Kuressaare is a Populated places in Estonia and a Municipalities of Estonia on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the capital of Saare County. The current population is about 15,300....
town is younger, whereas the number of the retired people is considerably smaller. Saaremaa is located in the centre of the Baltic region with the most rapidly growing market in Europe containing 70 million consumers. Gates to the West include not only the newly reconstructed Kuressaare Airport

Kuressaare Airport

Kuressaare Airport is an airport in Estonia. The airport is situated 3 km from the town of Kuressaare on Saaremaa island.The first runway was built in the last half of the 1930s....
and Roomassaare Port, the operation of modern ferries between Saaremaa and the mainland but also the rapid development of the telecommunications, highly important for the island. Saaremaa is a tourist destination, revisited by 35% of foreign and 95% of domestic tourists. Saaremaa has an entrepreneur-friendly, safe, and strain-free economic environment.Saaremaa County - population

Transportation

Saaremaa is reached by ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, used to carry passengers and their vehicles across a body of water. Ferries are also used to transport freight and even railroad cars....
from Virtsu

Virtsu

Virtsu is a town in Western coast of continental Estonia, and a location of the main port for traffic to and from Saaremaa, the largest island of Estonia....
on the Estonian mainland to Muhu

Muhu

Muhu , is an island in the Baltic Sea. With an area of 198 km? it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa....
island, which is itself connected to Saaremaa by a causeway

Causeway

In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated on a sandbank, usually across a broad body of water or wetland. A transport corridor that is carried instead on a series of arches, perhaps approaching a bridge, is a viaduct....
, the Väinatamm

Väinatamm

V?inatamm is the name of the largest causeway in Estonia. The causeway, opened in 1896, connects the island of Muhu, located between Saaremaa and the continent, with Saaremaa....
. Saaremaa can also be reached by ferry from Sõru

Soru

Soru is a village and municipality in the Lerik Rayon of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 1,238.References ...
on the island of Hiiumaa

Hiiumaa

Hiiumaa is the second largest island belonging to Estonia. It is located in the Baltic Sea, north of the island of Saaremaa, a part of the west Estonian archipelago ....
. In summer it is also possible to reach Saaremaa by ferry from Ventspils

Ventspils

Ventspils is a city in northwestern Latvia in the Kurzeme region of Latvia, the sixth largest city in the country. As of 2006, Ventspils had a population of 43,806....
in Latvia

Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
. This service started in 2005 and is run by .

In winter it is possible to drive to Saaremaa by an ice road

Ice road

Ice roads or ice crossings are frozen man-made structures formed on the surface of Headlands and bayss, inlets, rivers, lakes, or seas. They are linked from frozen waterway to frozen waterway by overland portages or winter roads that are usually consistently used from year to year....
between the mainland and Muhu.

There are regular bus services from Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city in the Republic of Estonia and of Harju County. It occupies a surface of 159.2 km? in which 397,617 inhabitants live....
, Pärnu

Pärnu

P?rnu is a city in southwestern Estonia on the coast of P?rnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is a popular summer vacation resort with many hotels, restaurants, and large beaches....
and Tartu

Tartu

For the French captain, see Jean-Fran?ois TartuTartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned University of Tartu....
on the mainland, which use the ferry from Virtsu to Muhu. There is an airport at Kuressaare

Kuressaare Airport

Estonian Air

AS Estonian Air is Estonia?s national carrier, owned by the Estonian state, SAS Group and investment bank AS Cresco. The airline is based in Tallinn, Estonia....
, and there are also seasonal flights to Pärnu and Stockholm. The Latvian airline AirBaltic

AirBaltic

A/S Air Baltic Corporation, operating as airBaltic, is the Latvian national airline, based in the capital of Latvia, Riga. Its main base is Riga International Airport , it is also the largest airline at its secondary hub in Vilnius International Airport, although it was announced on 30 September 2008 that the airline would leave the Lit...
(part of SAS Group

SAS Group

SAS Group, formerly Scandinavian Airlines System, is a company based in Stockholm, Sweden. The company is owned by SAS Danmark A/S, SAS Norge AS and SAS Sverige AB, who in turn are fully owned by holding company SAS Aktiebolag, or SAS AB for short....
), as well as Finnair

Finnair

Finnair Plc is Finland's largest airline and the flag carrier, with its headquarters in Vantaa, Finland, and its main hub at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport....
subsidiary Aero Airlines

Aero Airlines

Aero Airlines was a regional airline based in Tallinn, Estonia. It operated services between three Finland destinations as well as international flights to Tallinn....
, operate seasonal flights to Riga

Riga

Riga the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava River. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states....
and Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
respectively during the summer season. There was an air base at Aste during the Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between a number of world powers, including the United States, the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, France, United Kingdom and those countries' respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s....
.

Plans to connect Saaremaa to the mainland either by the Saaremaa Bridge or Saaremaa Tunnel are being studied. The project will cost at least 175 million euros and will be ready no sooner than 2014.

Sport

FC Kuressaare

FC Kuressaare is an Estonian football club based in Kuressaare. The club was founded in 1990, and plays at the Kuressaare linnastaadion. Due to their numerous promotions and relegations, they are considered as a yo-yo club....
compete in the second tier of Estonian football, the Esiliiga

Esiliiga

Esiliiga is the second-top league arranged by the Estonian Football Association. The league format was changed along with the Meistriliiga's, and therefore from the year 2005 consists of ten teams....
.

Saaremaa competes in the biannual Island Games

International Island Games Association

The International Island Games Association is an organisation the sole purpose of which is to organise the Island Games, a friendly biennial athletic competition between teams from several islands and other small territories....
.

Famous inhabitants

One of the most influential architects of the mid-20th century, Louis Isadore Kahn (1901-1974)is born on the island of Osel (now Saaremaa)off the coat of Estonia to Leopold and Bertha Kahn.

Gallery

External links

provide local bus services across the island
fly between Tallinn and Kuressaare

Saaremaa

Etymology

History

Geography

Nature

Kaali Meteorite

Resources

Characteristics

Transportation

Sport

Famous inhabitants

Gallery

See also

Further reading

External links