Tartu County
| Tartu County | |||
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| County of Estonia | |||
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| Country | Estonia | ||
| Capital | Tartu | ||
| Government | |||
| • Governor | Reno Laidre (as of 29 February 2016) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 2,992.75 km2 (1,155.51 sq mi) | ||
| Population (Jan 2013) | |||
| • Total | 150,139 | ||
| • Density | 50/km2 (130/sq mi) | ||
| Ethnicity | |||
| • Estonians | 84.9% | ||
| • Russians | 12.2% | ||
| • other | 2.9% | ||
| ISO 3166 code | EE-78 | ||
| Vehicle registration | T | ||
| Website | www |
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Tartu County (Estonian: Tartu maakond), or Tartumaa (German: Kreis Dorpat), is one of 15 counties of Estonia.
It is located in eastern Estonia bordering Põlva County, Valga County, Viljandi County and Jõgeva County.
The area of Tartu County is 2,992.74 km², which covers 6.9% of the territory of Estonia. In January 2013 Tartu County had a population of 150,139 – constituting 11.6% of the total population in Estonia. The city of Tartu is the centre of the county located at a distance of 186 km from Tallinn. Tartu County is divided into 22 local governments – 3 urban and 19 rural municipalities.
Tartu County lies in South Estonia, between Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipsi. Estonia's only navigable river, River Emajõgi (100 km long), flows through the county, connecting Lake Peipsi and Lake Võrtsjärv. Wavy plains are typical landscapes of Tartu County. One third of the county is covered with forests, a third is cultivated. A quarter is made up of wetlands at the headwaters and lower course of the Emajõgi. In the northern part of the county, there are drumlin fields with lakes between them. Nature preserves take up about 10% of the county's territory, the biggest of them being Emajõe Suursoo and Alam-Pedja.
Archaeological findings suggest that people first inhabited the territory of the current Tartu County about 5000 years ago. City of Tartu was first mentioned in historical records in 1030, when Yaroslav I the Wise oraganized a military campaigne against Chuds, defeated them and established fort Yuryev in what is modern day Tartu. In 1224, after the conquest of the stronghold by the German invaders, Tartu became the capital of a diocese, stretching from Northern Estonia to Latvia. Since the 13th century, Tartu belonged to the Hanseatic League, and the town became a well-known trade centre in the Baltic Sea region. In 1569, together with Duchy of Livonia, Tartu became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1598 Tartu became capital of the Dorpat Voivodeship, which remained part of the PLC until the 1620s, when the city was conquered by the Swedes.
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Wikipedia