Tallinn
It occupies an
area of 159.2 km2 (61.5 sq mi) with a population of 411,196.
During different periods, the city has been known under several different names. In
1154 a town called Qlwn or Qalaven (possible derivations of Kalevan or Kolyvan)
was put on the world map of the Almoravid by cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi who
described it as a small town like a large castle among the towns of Astlanda. It has
been suggested that the Quwri in Astlanda may have denoted the predecessor town
of today's Tallinn. The earliest name Kolyvan may be derived from the mythical
Estonian hero Kalev.
Up to the 13th century the Scandinavians and Henry of Livonia in his chronicle called
the town Lindanisa: Lyndanisse in Danish, Lindanäs in Swedish, also mentioned as
Ledenets in Old East Slavic. According to some theories the name derived from
mythical Linda, the wife of Kalev and the mother of Kalevipoeg. who in an Estonian
annaabi.ee 
