The term Estonia (= Estland in German, Danish and Swedish) refers actually to two different geographical units in the Baltic area:
- present-day Estonian Republic
- historical province of "Estonia"
The present Republic of Estonia covers approximately the area inhabited by all Estonian-speaking people in the region. This was not true of the historical province of "Estonia", which consisted of merely the northern half of the Estonian-speaking area.
In the beginning of the 13th century, the Estonians were overrun by Christian hordes from two directions. The northern part of the country was attacked by the Danes, and the southern part by German knights of the Teutonic order. When the Danes had managed to conquer the northern part of the country after some years of fighting, they named their new province "Estland" (= Estonia).
The Teutonic knights had started their conquest from bases close to Riga in present-day Latvia. This region was at that time inhabited, among others, by a now extinct people, the Livs or "Livlanders" and the area was called "Livland" (= Livonia). When the German conquest of southern Estonia was completed, the knights saw the new Estonian area as an extension of their original province of "Livonia" (Livland). The entire area was consequently called "Livonia" (Livland), in spite of the fact that a dominant part was inhabited by Estonians. The historical provinces of "Estonia" and "Livonia" came thus to be inhabited by:
- "Estonia" - northern half of the Estonians
- "Livonia" - southern half of the Estonians + the Livs + northern part of the Latvians
This subdivision of the northern region of the Baltics (and the corresponding terminology) lasted for 700 years, ending only with the collapse of tsarist Russia. The independent republics of Estonia and Latvia, however, were given new borders that reflected the true population structure.
In the peace treaties that followed the numerous wars during this 700-year period, the historical provinces called "Estonia" and "Livonia" changed hands many times between Danes, Germans, Swedes, Russians and Poles. The historical region of "Estonia" was at times held by a different power than the power that held "Livonia", thus effectively cutting the Estonian population in half. After the Livonian war in 1561, "Estonia" became for instance a Swedish province, while "Livonia" came under Polish rule during the following 80 years. Such periods of isolation between the two halves of the Estonian population have sometimes had noticeable consequences. The development of the Estonian language was for example affected during some periods.
Reference: The borders of the historical provinces of "Estonia" and "Livonia", as compared to the borders of the present-day Republic of Estonia, can be studied in any historical atlas, e.g. The Pengiun Historical Atlas.