Science is an institutional part of modern society. It is customarily divided into pure and applied branches. Pure science is scientific investigation that is devoted exclusively to the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. Applied science is the application of known scientific principles to a practical problem. The researcher uses existing theories and methods as a paradigm or model, to guide future research.
The history of scientific geography and the methodologies employed in Estonia and Finland has been summarized by Johannes Gabriel Granö. This paper considers the background and general character of geography's institutional development in Estonia. In order for this kind of development to proceed, both external influences and changes within science need to take place. Both are considered here.


The beginning of higher education and science in the Baltics

The formation of educational and scientific institutions in Estonia and the other Baltic countries was largely shaped by external forces, particularly political conditions along the Baltic Sea. Estonia became a part of the European Christian cultural community in the 13th century at a time when the first Western and Central European universities had already been established. Typical for its time, the University of Paris already had some features of modern academia, including the standard that only those holding academic degrees be allowed to teach. From the middle of the 14th century to the beginning of the 15th century, a network of universities was founded in Central Europe. The first university in the Baltic region was established in Rostock (1419), followed by Greifswald (1456), Uppsala (1477) and Copenhagen (1479). The establishment of new universities in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries was motivated by the rivalry between Protestantism and Catholicism. This was also true of the Baltics. In Lithuania, Protestants established their school in Vilna/Vilnius in 1536, but the school was closed when [Protestant] students were expelled in 1542. A Protestant University was subsequently founded, not in Lithuania but in  Königsberg (1544) where the first Lithuanian book was also published (1547). A Jesuit grammar school was established in Vilnius in 1570, and was reorganized as a university in 1579.
Before the Swedish occupation in 1561, present-day Estonia and Latvia were known as Livonia. In the 16th century, the question of establishing a high school for training priests was raised. The nearest university where Livonians could study was Rostock, a small number of students going to Uppsala. Two towns, Pernau/Pärnu and Dorpat/Tartu, were considered as locations for a new Livonian university. In the meantime, Latvia and Southern Estonia came under Polish rule and a Jesuit grammar school was established in Tartu in 1583. In addition, a translators' seminary was organized in Tartu. The activities of both the grammar school and the seminary were interrupted by the Polish-Swedish war (1601). Elsewhere, the since-destroyed Uppsala University was reopened in 1593 but did not hold regular sessions. Many Swedish young people preferred to study in German universities. By 1620, Uppsala University was again full of life and Sweden began organizing a number of new universities, located roughly along a semi-circle surrounding the centre at Uppsala. Universities were accordingly established or re-established in Tartu (1632), Greifswald (1638), Cbo/Turku (1640), and Lund (1668). Due to war, the Academia Gustaviana, founded in Tartu, could not operate on a continuous basis and some of its work had to take place in other towns (Reval/Tallinn and Pärnu), but the school's structure and bylaws were the same as other European universities. The teaching of geography was tied to mathematics and astronomy, and applied sciences (geodesy, engineering, etc.). Cartography developed rapidly, historical and state (political) geography were traditionally also strong. In connection with the founding of a grammar school, the university began book-printing. The university was temporarily relocated to Pärnu during the Northern war where it remained until the end of the Swedish rule in 1710.


University and scientific societies in pre-independent Estonia

In 1710 Estonia and northern part of Latvia were occupied by Russia while the rest of the Baltics remained part of the Polish-Lithuanian state. There, the Academy of Vilnius continued to operate, but with minimal communication with Russia. New authorities did not hurry in reopen the university in Tartu, and consequently research and education came to an halt in Estonia. Instead, a new Europeanized Russian capital was founded in Ingria at the mouth of Neva River. During Swedish rule, it had been the site of a commercial town called Nyen/Nevanlinna. In the new Russian capital, the Academy of Sciences of St Petersburg was established in 1724, and invited prominent scientists from Germany and France. The Academy also offered positions for scientists of German origin from Estonia and Latvia. Its Department of Cartography (1735-1798) was the first centralized cartographic institution in the world. In Courland, along the Polish border, Duke Biron established an academic grammar school in Mitau/Jelgava, Academia Petrina. After the incorporation of Courland into Russia, Academia Petrina petitioned for university status. In 1792, the Livländische Gemeinhützige und _Ökonomische Sozietät was founded in Riga and moved to Tartu in 1813. The society had branch institutions, experimental stations and laboratories; it also published scientific papers.
A university was re-established in Tartu through the decree of Russian tsar in 1802. While science was still primarily a by-product of teaching, it gained its own importance and became the criterion by which teaching at the university was to be judged. At the time, Tartu University had close connections with scientific centres in Germany. As earlier, the University had four faculties: medicine, philosophy, law, and theology. There were professorships in general history, statistics and geography, in history, statistics and geography of Russia, especially of Estonia, Livonia, Courland, and Finland. While politics was emphasized in geography, attention was also given to areal studies, boundaries, natural conditions and resources, population, economy, political system, institutions, emblems, and locations of different states. Previously, at Academia Gustaviana, geography, geodesy, and cartography were taught in connection with mathematics and astronomy. Physical geography was weakly developed and taught only in connection with physics. The development of natural sciences at Tartu was influenced by Humboldt's expedition to Russia as well as by his visit to Tartu in 1829. Humboldt's trip gave scientists at Tartu the urge to organize similar expeditions to the lesser-known areas of the Russian Empire. Many scholars from Tartu accepted positions at the Academy of St Petersburg. The most famous of these were the academicians Karl Ernst von Baer (1792-1876) and Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (1815-1894). Organizers of the Russian Geographical Society in St Petersburg (1845) were also scholars from Tartu University. In 1838, teachers at Tartu University organized the Gelehrte Estnische Gesellschaft (GEG), to study Estonian history, language, and culture. Yet another society - Naturforscher-Gesellschaft bei der Universität Dorpat (NFG) - was organized at Tartu in 1853  to study natural conditions of the Baltics. In both societies, the study of geography played an important role. In the GEG, it was tied primarily to history; in NFG to geology and other natural sciences.
As generally is known, the institutionalization of geography began in the 19th century in Central Europe, in Germany. In Estonia, a separate geographical society was founded by teachers at Tartu University in 1881, a full seven years before this kind of society was to appear in Finland; but it died out in 1889 when its German-speaking members left Estonia because of Russification of the University. During Russification, new teachers were brought in from Russia, contacts with Central Europe were weakned, subsequently the development of a number of sciences were slowed, among them geography. Tartu fell behind other centres of science in Baltoscandia. In Helsingfors/Helsinki, for example, a special professorship was established in 1901 and full professorship was granted in 1912. In Lund a full professorship was established in 1909.


Institutions of geography in the Republic of Estonia (1918-1940)

Up until the independence of Estonia, science had for several centuries developed independently from the society around it since Estonia constituted only a minor part of a larger society created by its neighbouring countries. Those engaged in scientific activity were representatives of the ruling minority, not of the population as a whole.
At Tartu University, the language of study used was either derived from scientific language widely used elsewhere (during the Swedish period, Latin; in 1802-1889, German), or was the official state language (from 1890-1917 Russian; German in 1918). After Estonia's liberation, institutions were re-organized to encourage the use of the Estonian language.
In the reopened Tartu University, Estonian was declared the official language of study in 1919. According to original plans, a professorship in geography was to be given to Tartu University scholar, later professor of meteorology and geophysics Elmar Rosenthal (b.1873), but he died in 1919. The school then turned to scholars from Finland and Sweden. All told, seven scholars arrived from Finland, and five from Sweden. The first professor of geography at Tartu University was the well-known Finnish explorer of Asia, Johannes Gabriel Granö (1882-1956), who laid the foundation for modern geography at the school during his tenure from 1919-1923. Granö spoke Finnish and Swedish as native languages and had good command of Russian, German, and French. In addition, he managed in Tatar, Kazakh, and Estonian. In Granö's notebook, there are some notes written (in Estonian) about the relationship between language and scholarship (emphasis in original): 'Am I here for the Estonian people, or are the Estonian people for me? Must I learn Estonian, or must Estonian young people learn my language? The answer is clear: I must surrenger myself for the possibly greater use of my work here. Matters are similar elsewhere: In England the professors do not teach in German, and in Sweden they do not teach in Estonian. One must be influenced by the fact the people want to exist, not by their numbers. By the beginning of the 1920 school year, Granö lectured in Estonian. Granö founded the Cabinet of Geography, later called the Institute of Geography. He lectured on cartography, landscape science, general geography, anthropogeograpy, and the regional geography of Fennoscandia.
At seminars, students read papers on summer field work in Estonia, various problems of geography, as well as the history and methodology of geography. In 1920, he published a booklet 'Geograafia kui teadus ja ülikooli aine' (Geography as a science and university subject) in which he explained his views on geography. In 1922, 'Eesti maastikulised üksused` (Estonian landscape units), a pioneering investigation in Estonian geography, was published, and in 1924 'Maastikuteaduse ülesanded ja maastiku vormide süsteem (Tasks of the landscape science and the system of landscape forms), was added. Since Granö always studied landscape in connection with human settlement, he laid basis for research into human spatial complexes - counties, parishes, towns and boroughs - at Tartu University. In 1921, he had compiled the 'Linna või alevi uurimise kava' (Plan for studying towns or boroughs). Granö also took part in many Estonian national institutions, such as the Commision for Estonian Terminology, and the Estonian Literary Society, the latter publishing a series on Estonian counties. He was one of organizers of the Committee for Research on Estonia's Native Places, and the Committee on the Study of the Town of Tartu. Thanks to his work as its first editor, the 'Transactions of Tartu University' were also published. During Granö's time, geography became the major field of study at Tartu University. Granö's aims to study Estonia and its culture were continued by his disciples. When Granö left permanently for Finland in 1923, he left instructions for the 1923/24 academic year. After Granö's resignation, the geography  professorship was held by a Hungarian, Michael (Mihäly) Haltenberger (1888-1972) during the years 1924-1926. He published studies on Estonian geography (Landeskunde), the economic-geographic characteristics of towns, and laid the basis for the publication of a series at Tartu University, 'Publicationes Instituti Universitatis Dorpatensis (Tartuensis) Geographici'. Since Haltenberger did nor know Estonian (he lectured in German), he was unable to establish close contacts with the country and the people he studied, and thus was not able to develop his own school of followers. It was Granö, then, who established the so-called Estonian-Finnish school of geography. This school was further developed by his students, Jaan Rumma (1887-1926), August Tammekann (1894-1959), and Edgar Kant (1902-1978). The publication of comprehensive treatments, on the county level, were begun under the series 'Eesti' (Estonia). Graduates of Tartu worked as professional geographers and secondary school teachers. Papers were published both in Estonian and foreign languages. In 1928, Kant established the Seminary of Economic Geography and started yet another series of publications, 'Tartu Ülikooli Majandusgeograafia Seminari Üllitised (Publicationes Seminarii (Instituti) Universitatis Tartuensis Oeconomico-Geographici). In both institutes of geography, both pure (published mainly in German and French, later also in English) and applied (mainly in Estonian) branches of geography were developed. In applied geography, for example, a plan for the territorial reorganization of rural communes (municipalities) was presented by economic geographer Endel Krepp (1908-1983), a student of Edgar Kant's. Pure geography was presented by the work of Kant himself, who headed the divisions of Natural Sciences and Humanities at the Estonian Academy of Sciences, founded in 1938. The years of independence, especially the 1930s, saw the rapid development of national cartography. Besides topographic maps and sea charts (some 100 different charts), transportation, tourist, administrative, and school wall maps were also published. The production of an 'Eesti Atlas' (National Atlas of Estonia) was initiated by August Tammekann and the editor-in-chief Edgar Kant. Prior to the Soviet annexation, however, only one sheet of the atlas, 'Kõrgussuhted (Bathy-Orographical Map) in a scale  1:750,000, was printed. Among other notable achievements of the period were a school map of Estonia (1934, 1:200,000), compiled by Tammekann; a precise topographical map with the title 'Do you know this land?' (1939, 1:200,000); and an atlas entitled 'The map of Estonian roads' (1939, 1:300,000). Photocopies of the latter two maps circulated to the end of the 1980s. Scores of various school atlases in many editions were also published.


Geography in Estonia during the Soviet annexation period (1940-1991)

World War II broke up the national school of geography in Estonia, established by Granö and advanced by Kant. At war's end, there were no professional geographers left at Tartu. In order to train school teachers, a Chair of Geography was established within the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science in autumn 1944, headed provisionally by D.Sc. (Geology) Karl Orviku (1903-1981) and from 1945 by Jakob Kents (1883-1947), a well-known teacher and author of schoolbooks. After his death, the chair was given to Endel Varep (1915-1988, since 1975 professor), who defended his Ph.D. thesis in landscape geography in 1948. Varep headed the Chair of Geography from 1947 to 1968; after that he was head of Chair for Physical Geography 1968-1975. At that time, geography was an educational institution rather than an institution for research. Programs for teaching were dictated from Moscow. Typical of the subjects taught until the mid-1950's, for example, was the 'Stalinist plan for the reshaping of nature'. One-third of all subjects were either propagandist (e.g.the history of Communist Party, scientific communism, etc.) or militarist (military training for male students once a week as well as summer camps).
Subjects taught in pre-war Estonia and the West were considered harmful and reactionary. The most 'correct' science was Soviet science. Terminology used in geography before the war was replaced with Soviet vocabulary translated from Russian. An academic degree could only be attained in Moscow and Leningrad (St Peterburg after 1991). Economist Salme Nõmmik (1910-1988), for instance, defended her Ph.D. in economic geography in Leningrad (1956) and her D.Sc. in geography in Moscow (1970).
She became a professor of economic geography in 1971. Defense of Ph.D. theses was temporarily allowed in Tartu during the 1960's and early 1970's, but attainment of the academic degree D.Sc. (Geography) was neither allowed in Tartu nor in Tallinn. In 1960, 'Geograafia-alaseid töid' (Publications on Geography) in the series 'Acta et Commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis' was published, first in Estonian, then in Russian. Every fourth year, on the occasion of the International Geographical Congress, one volume of the 'Publications' was published in English. But for every volume published, permission had to be given from Moscow. From the late 1960's on, authors were allowed to use and refer to foreign publications. Some had already been translated into Russian. Estonian geographers could read Terra and Fennia published in Finland but had no access, for example, to Geografiska Annaler.
In the mid-1960's, Ph.D. Ants Raik (1931-1994) began organizing applied investigations in regional planning. In 1966, I joined in these investigations and began working on problems in administrative divisions in Estonia. My Ph.D. thesis on the economic-geographical grounds of the administrative divisions in the Estonian SSR was defended in Tartu in 1971. The dissertation was supervised by Salme Nõmmik.
In 1968 the geography chair was divided into two: physical geography and economic geography. Lecturers in economic geography often also worked at the Technical University in Tallinn and at the Estonian Agricultural Academy in Tartu, but neither school had any permanent positions in the field. In 1946, the (Sovietized) Estonian Academy of Sciences was renamed the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR. The Academy did not include geography, but an Estonian Geographical Society (Eesti Geograafia Selts, EGS) was formed in Tallinn in 1955 and began to publish yearbooks and irregular series of publications (in Estonian and Russian, in English every fourth year). The Southern Estonian branch of the EGS was organized in Tartu. To this day, the EGS remains the only geographical institution outside of Tartu University. In the Soviet period maps were destroyed or declared secret; use of maps was limited. Some administrative, general geographic, and tourist maps of Estonia were published under the Soviets, usually at a scale of 1:600,000. Plans of Tallinn and other large cities were published as well.
Maps published during the 1950's featured correct shoreline and river network, but later maps were distorted intentionally. The first Soviet era school atlas of Estonia was finally published in 1978. The atlas was in Russian (Atlas Estonskoj SSR), a second edition following in 1980. An Estonian edition was printed in 1979 (Eesti NSV Atlas). From 1979 to 1982, a series consisting of 11 school board maps (scale 1: 400,000) was published. It included physical, geological and economic maps, as well as maps showing administrative divisions, quarternal sediments, climate, soil, vegetation, nature conservation, landscape districts and road and highway networks. The distruction of maps and the limited use of those that remained, also limited knowledge about Estonia, making the work of professional geographers and others more difficult while decreasing its quality.


Geographical and cartographical institutions in present Estonia

In the post-war period, the Department of Geography consisted of the physical and economic geography branches, and belonged to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science. From 1961 it belonged to the Faculty of Biology and Geography. After the restoration of Estonia's independence in 1991, a new Institute of Geography was organized at Tartu University with fields of specialization in physical geography and landscape ecology, geoinformatics and cartography, and human geography. There are further sub fields of specialization available in all three categories. Human geography, for example, offers sub fields in demogeography, cultural geography, and regional planning. The teaching is divided into general, cum laude approbatur and laudatur degrees. In each field, both required and elective courses are taught. Lectures in human geography also teach regional and economic geography at the Faculty of Economics, political geography at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and the geography of Finland at the Faculty of Philosophy at Tartu University. After the elections in autumn 1997 at the Tartu University, all the professorships of the Institute of Geography are fulfilled: Ü. Mander in physical geography and landscape ecology, O. Kurs in human geography, and T. Oja in cartography and geoinformatics.
The period of transition between 1989 and 1992 (marking the end of Soviet rule and the beginning of regained independence) can be characterized by the breakup of huge institutes that dealt exclusively with surveying and mapping. A number of small enterprises filled the gap.
Since 1991, about 125 licenses for doing geodetic and cartographic work have been issued in Estonia. About ten enterprises publish maps. The most active map publishers have been REGIO Ltd., E.O. Map Ltd., and Kobras Ldt.
The latter two firms have primarily issued city plans; Regio (in cooperation with the Tartu Institute of Geography) issues about 40 items every year, including tourist, school, facsimile, thematic maps, and navigation charts.


Conclusions

Science and the organization of scientific work through university institutions in Estland is strongly rooted in the European tradition, but its development internally was strongly influenced by various external factors as well. The initial external influence came from Central Europe, but, as the long-time ruler of Estonia, it is Russia that has more strongly influenced development in the recent past. It is from Russia that the most powerful foreign ideologies came to Estonia.
Institutions of geography began to form in Estonia at about the same time as those in neighbouring, the 1880's, but the beginning of Russification, forced many European scholars to leave the country, thus the development of these institutions was hindered. Conditions improved after Estonia became an independent state in 1918. As J. G. Granö could attest, the development of geography in Estonia in the 1920's and 1930's was more rapid than it was in neighbouring Finland. Any further development was interrupted by World War II and the long period of Soviet annexation. During that period, the formal organization of geography proceeded according to Soviet plans and objectives. Universities and colleges remained educational institutions, but research was concentrated at the academies of sciences. Unlike the other Soviet republics, there was no section for geography in the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR.
After the restoration Estonia's independence, a renewed effort was begun at Tartu University to develop geographic institutions and quality research with the help of close international contacts and by sheer determination to regain what surely had been lost.