Links between Estonia and English speaking countries (1)

Private School of Audentes
Links between English speaking countries and Estonia
Author: Kristin Liiv
Supervisor: Mari Martma
Tallinn 2006
Table of contents
Introduction 3
First links 4
20th century 4
Recognition 8
Conclusions 9
References 10

Introduction

English is considered to be one of most important languages in the world. It is one of the official languages of the United Nations.
According to research by the British Council, around 375 million people in the world speak English as their native language and English has official or special status in at least seventy -five countries. The British Council has also noted that English is the main language of newspapers , airports and air- traffic control, international business and academic conferences, science , technology, diplomacy and sport . Perhaps even more important contributor to the dominant role of the English language in the world is that over two-thirds of the world's scientists are able to read in English. Three quarters of the world's mail is written in English and eighty per cent of the world's electronic information is stored in English.
The biggest countries where English is spoken as the first language are: Great Britain , Canada , United States of America and Australia .
Estonian on in comparison to English is a language that is spoken only by approximately 1 million people.
On the other hand English in comparison to Estonian is a very young language. According to Wikipeia online dictionary, English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to south- eastern Great Britain in the 5th century AD by Germanic settlers from various parts of northwest Germany ( Saxons , Angles). Estonian in comparison is a language that has been spoken in the area of present day Estonia for more than 4000 years , Meri (1976).

First links

Although written evidence of regular links between Estonia and England date back only into the beginning of the 20th century, it is clear that there have been links also earlier. These contacts might be very old. During Hanseatic times the trade on the Baltic Sea was quite active. The links might be even older. Historians have claimed that already during the second Punic war in 218 BC a northern nation called Esths controlled the north south trade of furs . It is most likely that some furs also reached the area of present day England.
Even more likely contacts between Estonia and England date back to the beginning of the second millennium AD. It has been widely acknowledged, that Estonians and Danes often combined forces when attacking larger targets. This would mean that Estonians have made frequent and regular raids to the shores of England.
Unfortunately there is no written evidence about these contacts. The only possible source of information is the comparison of coins and pottery found at different excavation sites .

20th century

Regular documented contacts between Estonia and English speaking countries begun after Estonia gained its independence in 1918. At that time, England with her colonies was the biggest and the strongest sea power in the world. During the First World War England dominated the high seas and the Baltic Sea. So it is quite obvious that after the Bolsheviks gained power in St. Petersburg, The English navy came to aid the newly formed government of Estonia in their war efforts against the Bolshevik invaders. The Royal Navy detachment blocked Bolshevik attempts to land troops behind Estonian lines. British sailors were among those who gave their lives defending Estonia's freedom during the conflict. Some of these men are laid to rest in Tallinn. The aid came not only in the military presence of the war ships, but also in technical, financial and moral support. The technical expertise of the military advisers from England contributed largely to the outcome of the war between Estonia and Soviet Union. After the war the military cooperation developed into cultural and economic relations . For instance during the time between the wars , approximately 30% of Estonia’s exports went to the UK.
The other big English speaking country , United States recognised the Republic of Estonia on 28 July 1922. The first Estonian diplomatic mission in the United States was opened in the same year.
The Second World War and the occupation of Estonia resulted in loss of contacts. Most English speaking countries never recognized Estonia’s annexation in 1940.
During the years of Soviet occupation the embassy in the United States continued its activities from 1940 to 1991. The US government recognised Estonia's diplomatic mission as the legal representative of the Republic of Estonia. This recognition of the legal continuity of the Republic of Estonia is nowadays seen as one of the cornerstones of Estonian-US relations.
The occupation of Estonia and the migration of refugees from Estonia opened a new form of contacts. Many of the people who migrated from Estonia in fear of Soviets found a new home in one or another of the many English speaking countries. Nowadays there are large groups of Estonians living in Australia, USA and Canada. The area around Toronto in Canada has a strong Estonian minority. In the United States alone , according to the data collected in January 2006, 25,034 persons of Estonian ancestry lived.
The activities of Estonians, living far away from their homeland, to keep their nationality alive resulted in the series of events called International Estonian days ESTO . One that showed the great importance of English language and the English speaking countries was that the other official and most widely used languages on ESTO, besides of course Estonian, was English.
During the 50 years of Soviet occupation, the United States helped the Estonians living on both sides of the “ Iron Curtain” to keep contact with each other by financing several radio stations, of which the most famous is called Voice of America. This radio station was also one of the only means for people in Estonia to get information of the world beyond Soviet block.
After Estonia gained it’s independence once again on 20 August 1991, the English speaking countries were among the first to recognise Estonia as an independent country. For instance the United States reopened its Embassy in Tallinn on 4 September 1991.
Estonia joined the United Nations and started the preparation to join other international organisations as the European Union and NATO . For this purpose much technical assistance from the US has arrived . For instance in recent years, the United States has supported the development of Estonia’s Defense Forces with approximately 8 million dollars annually. This assistance led to the joining of Estonia with NATO on 29 March 2004.
The English speaking countries are the leading force in the war against international terrorism . This is probably due to the fact that most terrorist attacks have targeted them. The most memorable are the attacks on World Trade Center in New York and the bomb attacks in the London subway.
The terrorist attacks on these mentioned and numerous other targets gave Estonia an opportunity to ease the emotional depth that we have in front of both United Kingdom and the United States. Estonia joined the fight against terrorism in 2002 in the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Since 2003, Estonia has participated in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF - International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan), which has since become NATO's most important mission. In June 2003, Estonia deployed a light infantry platoon ESTPLA to operation Iraqi Freedom at the request of the Iraqi interim government. This mission has continued until today . Estonia has lost 2 soldiers in action in Iraq.
Besides military cooperation very important are also trade and cultural links.
According to the Statistical Office, the United States in 2005 was Estonia’s eleventh largest foreign trade partner and among the countries outside the EU the second largest partner after Russia . The total volume of trade between the two countries surpassed 4.8 billion kroons which accounted for 2.16% of the total volume of Estonia’s foreign trade.
The United Kingdom is one of Estonia’s major economic partners . In recent years the UK has constantly been one of Estonia’s most important trade partners positioning among top 10 countries. The United Kingdom is also rated as the 9th largest foreign direct investor into Estonia.
In 2004, Estonian exports to the UK made up 3, 6% of the total export and among Estonia's export partners the UK placed 8th. Estonian imports from the UK totalled 2.2% and it gave the UK the 11th place among Estonia's import partners.
The cultural relations between Estonia and English speaking countries are also active. It is of course said that the direction of the culture is towards Estonia, meaning that the American version of lifestyle tends to suppress the Estonian way of living. It is easy to notice . For instance much more American films are shown in Estonia, than Estonian films in the United States. Although we might think that Estonian culture is not represented in the English speaking world at all this is not true. Probably one of the most famous Estonians, that most people who are interested in music know , is Arvo Pärt. Well known compositors and conductors are also Erkki-Sven Tüür and Paavo Järvi, who conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Mark Kalev Kostabi, a US-born Estonian artist has established an enormous studio in the heart of New York City, where annually about 1,500 works of art come into being.
For people in England probably the most famous Estonian is associated with sports. The goal keeper of the football club, that is at present on the fourth position in the UK premier league Arsenal is Estonian Mart Poom.

Recognition

Probably the best recognition for a country is when heads of internationally important countries pay a visit to a country. This year has been quite special for Estonia. Two very important heads of state have visited Estonia.
On October 19th and 20th 2006 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited Estonia. Her visit marked the climax of the development of friendly relations between the two countries.
In November 27 and 28 the President of the Unites States of America had an official visit to Estonia. When the visit of Queen Elizabeth II was more of the friendly visit to the whole nation, the visit of President Georg Bush was a working visit. This was the first time, when the president of USA has ever visited Estonia. The meetings and discussions were widely depicted in international media. It was noted that Mr. Bush was interested in the tax – system of Estonia and in the e – government system. In fact he was so interested in them that he even mentioned this in his speech during the press conference. One thing that the news network CNN pointed out was that in comparison with the “usual press conference themes about the world peace” President focused much attention on the efforts and developments that Estonia had made after it gained back its independence.

Conclusions

Estonia has had very long relations with English-speaking countries. These relations have been mostly good and mutually beneficial. Hopefully these relations will become even better. There is always room for a improvement in the relations. One possible way of improving the relations is the end of visa regulations between Estonia and the United States of America. This possibility was also mentioned by Mr. Georg W. Bush during his press conference in Tallinn.

References

http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/esc.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language#History
Lennart Meri, 1976 „Hõbevalge”
http://www.estonia.gov.uk/lang_4/rub_500
http://www.estemb.org/estonia
http://english.people.com.cn/200611/29/eng20061129_326142.html
http://www.nato.int/issues/afghanistan/index.ht m
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