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Estonia - Subdivisions (Overview)

Last modified: 2004-07-31 by dov gutterman
Keywords: estonia | subdivisions |
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by Antonio Broto, 31 July 2001



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Estonia Subdivisions

My knowledge of Estonian is close to nil, but I did do some checking with a dictionary and with a colleague teaching political science at the University of Tartu. 'Linn' in Estonian means 'castle' and also 'city', 'town' (as in Tallinn -City of the Danes), 'linnad' is plural. 'Vallad' is plural of 'vald', which as far as I could gather from the dictionary, originally means parish. From what I was told about Estonian administrative structure, the 'vallad' are rural municipalities while the 'linnad' are urban municipalities. 'Maakond' means county or province, 'maakonnad' is plural. IIRC I have seen the term 'district' is used for 'maakon' in vexillological literature, though 'county' was the translation offered from Tartu today. The 1993 local government act changed the relationship between the various layers and subdivisions. The counties, maakonad, are no longer a part of the local government structure, instead they have been transformed into regional departments of the central government.
Jan Oscar Engene, 13 June 1997

According to estonian site some linguistic comments. There are 4 sections for estonian state symbols. 1st one (Eesti vabariigi) is for state symbols . 2nd (Eesti maakonnad) for 1st level administrative divisions (maakond) . 3rd (Eesti vallad ja alevid) for 2nd level rural municipalities (valla & alev) . 4th (Eesti linnad) for cities (linn)
Gvido Petersons, 10 January 1999

Estonia (like in Latvia to