Hiiumaa

Hiiumaa
	Hiiumaa island map
Waters	Baltic Sea
Archipelago	Moonsund Islands
Geographical location	58 ° 53 ' N , 22 ° 41' E Coordinates: 58 ° 53 ' N , 22 ° 41' E
surface	965 km²
Highest elevation	Tornimägi ; 68 m
Residents	11,087 ; 11 inhabitants / km²
main place	Kärdla

Hiiumaa (German and Swedish Dagö , "day island ") is an island in the northern Baltic Sea , west of Tallinn . It belongs to the Moonsund Islands and is the second largest island in Estonia with around 965 km² .

Hiiumaa is the main island of the district of Hiiu (Estonian also Hiiumaa or Hiiu maakond ), which also includes the offshore island of Kassari (19 km²) and numerous smaller islands and skerries .

geography

Hiiumaa is the most forested region in Estonia. Around 60% of the island is forested. In addition to pine and spruce forests, there are also some juniper groves. In the interior of the island there are swamps (7%).

The topography of the island is quite flat, the highest point at 68 meters is the Tornimägi on the western Kõpu peninsula . There are also some lakes in the west, of which the Tihu Suurjärv is the largest with around 85 hectares.

history

In the Gotensaga , the historian Jordanes , taking up a report by Cassiodorus , reports that every third Gotlander was forced to leave the island during an emergency. They refused but were expelled, first to Östergarnsholm and then to the island of Hiiumaa. Archaeological finds indicate that the island was settled in the 4th century BC.

It was first mentioned in a document in 1228 as Dageida . In 1254 it was divided between the Sword Brothers Order and the Diocese of Ösel-Wiek . From 1563 to 1710 the island was under Swedish rule. In 1710 it was conquered by Russia in the Great Northern War . According to the provisions of the Peace of Nystad , Sweden had to cede the island to the Russian Empire in 1721 . From then on, Hiiumaa belonged to the Estonia Governorate , one of the three Baltic Sea Governments . Many of the resident Estonian Swedes emigrated or adopted the Estonian language under the tsarist rule.

The island was both during the First ( Operation Albion ) and during the Second World War ( company Siegfried occupied) by German forces.

traffic

Public transport on the island is carried out exclusively by buses . There are also bus connections to Tallinn .

The island is connected to the Estonian mainland by a ferry from the Heltermaa pier . The crossing takes about 90 minutes. In the south there is a ferry connection to the largest Estonian island Saaremaa .

There are flight connections to Tallinn from Kärdla Airport .

In long periods of frost it is also possible to reach the island by car on a lane across the frozen Baltic Sea.

Administrative division

The whole of Hiiumaa has belonged to the rural community of the same name since 2017 , which is also congruent with the district of Hiiu. Before that there were last four rural communities: Emmaste , Hiiu , Käina and Pühalepa .