The capital and largest city of Estonia, in the northwest part of the country on the Gulf of Finland opposite Helsinki, Finland. A major port, Tallinn was a possession of the Livonian Knights (1346-1561) and Sweden (1561-1710) before being formally ceded to Russia (1721). It became the capital of independent Estonia in 1919 and was the capital of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (1940-1991). Population: 397,000.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
