Pärnu

Pärnu Pärnu
Pärnu beach promenade
Flag Coat of arms
Pärnu Location of Pärnu
Coordinates: 58°23′N 24°30′E / 58.383°N 24.500°E / 58.383; 24.500Coordinates: 58°23′N 24°30′E / 58.383°N 24.500°E / 58.383; 24.500
Country	Estonia
County	Pärnu County
Founded	1251
Government
Area
• Total	32.22 km2 (12.44 sq mi)
Elevation	10 m (30 ft)
Population (2016)
• Total	39,828
• Density	1,200/km2 (3,200/sq mi)
Ethnicity
• Estonians	83%
• Russians	12%
• other	5%
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Area code(s)	(+372) 44
Vehicle registration	F
Website	www.parnu.ee

Pärnu (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈpærˑnu]; Russian: Пернов, Pernov, German: Pernau, Latvian: Pērnava) is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Located in southwestern Estonia on the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Livonia in the Baltic Sea. It is a popular summer holiday resort with many hotels, restaurants, and large beaches. The Pärnu River flows through the city and drains into the Gulf of Riga. The city is served by Pärnu Airport.

Perona (German: Alt-Pernau, Estonian: Vana-Pärnu) was founded by the bishop of Ösel–Wiek ca. 1251, suffered heavily under pressure of the concurrent town, and was finally destroyed ca. 1600. Another town, Embeke (later German: Neu-Pernau, Estonian: Uus-Pärnu) was founded by the Livonian Order, who began building an Ordensburg nearby in 1265. The latter town, then known by the German name of Pernau, was a member of the Hanseatic League and an important ice-free harbor for Livonia. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took control of town between 1560–1617; the Poles and Lithuanians fought the Swedes nearby in 1609. Sweden took control of the town during the 16th-century Livonian War, but it was subsequently taken by the Russian Empire in the 1710 Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia and the 1721 Treaty of Nystad, following the Great Northern War. It belonged to Imperial Russian Governorate of Livonia then. The city is occasionally referred to as Pyarnu, an incorrect reverse-transliteration from Russian Пярну.