Estonia or Eesti has known indipendance since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. Since then tensions with its neighbor have been acute. Regardless Estonia has successfully extracted itself from the past shadows of communism. Russia has dominated Estonia for much of modern history. This new indipendance is twenty years out of forty that Estonia has known indipendance since the thirteenth century. First the Danes, then the Swedes, then the Germans then the Russians have laid claim to Estonia. Today the country is growing its capitalistic roots and gaining political ties with the EU and NATO. This is quite antagonistic to Russia which has made no secret that it wants Estonia to follow its influence. Estonia is rather seeking ties with the west.
For the past week and a half I explored Estonias captial Tallinn, through the biggest blizzard there in twenty years. Everywhere was evidence of Estonias soviet past, their aspirations for the future and the spirit of a nation that has known nothing but turmoil throughout its history. These photos, taken myself, capture this transisition and were taken during my time there.
