This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2023) |
![]() ![]() | |
![]() | |
Total population | |
29,128 (2021) [1] 0.01% of the US population | |
Regions with significant populations | |
California · New York · New Jersey · Washington · Florida · Oregon | |
Languages | |
American English, Estonian | |
Religion | |
Protestant (Lutheran), Deism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Estonian Canadians, Finnish Americans, Latvian Americans, Lithuanian Americans |
Estonian Americans (Estonian : Ameerika eestlased) are Americans who are of Estonian ancestry, mainly descendants of people who left Estonia before and especially during World War II. According to the 2021 American Community Survey, around 29,000 Americans reported full or partial Estonian ancestry, [1] up from 26,762 in 1990.
Estonian-American population as of the 2000 U.S. census [2] | |
---|---|
California | 3,465 |
New York | 2,892 |
New Jersey | 2,331 |
Washington | 1,401 |
Florida | 1,393 |
The first recorded arrival of immigrants from Estonia (then part of Sweden) to what is now the United States occurred already in 1627 in the colony of New Sweden along the Delaware River. Emigration from Estonia started on a larger scale in the late 19th century, when Estonia was part of the former Russian Empire, and continued until the mid-20th century. However, it is difficult to estimate the number of Estonian-Americans before 1920, since they were often referred to as "Russians" in the national censuses. [3]
The beginnings of industrialization and commercial agriculture in the Russian Empire transformed many Estonian farmers into migrants. The pressures of industrialization drove numerous Estonian farmers to emigrate to the United States until Estonia became an independent country in 1918, at the end of World War I.
During World War II, Estonia was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940–1941, and by Nazi Germany in 1941–1944. In 1944, in the face of the country being re-occupied by the Soviet Red Army, 80,000 people fled from Estonia by sea to Germany and Sweden, becoming war refugees and later, expatriates.
Some thousand of them moved on from there and settled in the United States. After the war's end, these displaced persons were allowed to immigrate to the United States and to apply for citizenship. In 1948, the Displaced Persons Act from U.S. Congress stipulated that 40% of the available visas go to “Baltic” people (Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians). This act and its 1950 revision allowed 11,000 Estonians into the United States between 1948 and 1952. [3] Some of these refugees and their descendants started returning to Estonia at the end of the 1980s.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt descended from 17th-century Tallinner colonists in New Amsterdam. [4]
Conductor Neeme Järvi was the music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as well as the international Gothenburg Symphony, and Het Residentie Orkest of The Hague. His three children, conductors Paavo Järvi and Kristjan Järvi, and flutist Maarika Järvi, are prominent American musicians in their own right. Paavo Järvi is the chief conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Chemist Lauri Vaska emigrated to United States in 1949. He is distinguished for his research in organometallic chemistry, winning the prestigious Boris Pregel Award. Hillar Rootare, a materials scientist, is best known for his work in the development of mercury porosimetry, high pressure liquid chromatography, and the formulation of the Rootare-Prenzlow Equation.
In journalism, Edmund S. Valtman, a successful editorial cartoonist, won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning.
Ene Riisna is an Estonian-born American award-winning television producer, known for her work on the American news program 20/20.
Alar Toomre is an astronomer recognized for his research on the dynamics of galaxies. The Toomre sequence and Toomre Instability are named in his honor.
In entertainment, singer and actress Miliza Korjus was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the 1938 film The Great Waltz .
Hollywood actor Johann Urb (born January 24, 1977) is an Estonian living and working in the United States.
Kerli Kõiv (born February 7, 1987), better known mononymously as Kerli, is an Estonian pop singer residing in the United States since 2005.
Psychologist, psychobiologist and neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp (June 5, 1943 — April 18, 2017) coined the term 'affective neuroscience', the name for the field that studies the neural mechanisms of emotion.
Mena Suvari (born February 13, 1979) is an American actress, fashion designer, and model.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, born December 26, 1953, in Sweden but raised in New Jersey, was the President of Estonia.
The recorded history of music in Estonia dates back as far as the 12th century.
Neeme Järvi is an Estonian American conductor.
Paavo Järvi is an Estonian-American conductor. He has been chief conductor of Zurich's Tonhalle since 2020.
Erkki-Sven Tüür is an Estonian composer.
The Frankfurt Radio Symphony is the radio orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcasting network of the German state of Hesse. From 1929 to 1950 it was named Frankfurter Rundfunk-Symphonie-Orchester. From 1950 to 1971 the orchestra was named Sinfonie-Orchester des Hessischen Rundfunks, from then to 2005 Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt. Prior to 2015, the English translation Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra was used for international tours.
The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Tallinn.
Kristjan Järvi is an Estonian American conductor, composer and producer. Born in Tallinn, Estonia, he is the younger son of the conductor Neeme Järvi and brother of conductor Paavo Järvi and flutist Maarika Järvi.
The relations between Estonia and the United States have been constant and strong since Estonia regained its independence in 1991. The United States and Estonia are allies and partners.
Lilli Katriina Paasikivi-Ilves is the artistic director of the Finnish National Opera since 2013 and a mezzo-soprano.
Hillar Muidar Rootare was an Estonian-American physical chemist and materials scientist best known for his work in the development of mercury porosimetry, high pressure liquid chromatography, and formulation of the Rootare-Prenzlow Equation.
Veronika Portsmuth is an Estonian conductor and singer.
The Sun Shines Over Our Motherland, Op.90 is a cantata composed in 1952 by Dimitri Shostakovich, based on a text by Yevgeny Dolmatovsky. Originally titled Cantata About the Party, it was commissioned to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the October Revolution. In it, the sun is a metaphor for the achievement of the Soviet people under the leadership of the Communist Party. It begins with a lyrical section for boys' chorus and woodwind, followed by a more energetic section for the men's voices.
The Execution of Stepan Razin is a cantata composed by Dimitri Shostakovich to a libretto by Yevgeny Yevtushenko in 1964. The subject is the execution of Stepan Razin, a Cossack leader who headed a major uprising (1670–71) against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy in southern Russia.
Arvo Pärt composed his Third Symphony in 1971. It is scored for symphony orchestra and was dedicated to Neeme Järvi.
Leonid Gavrilovich Grin is a Soviet-born American conductor.
Tallinn Chamber Orchestra is a chamber orchestra located in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia.
Symphony No. 2 is the second symphony by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, written in 1966.
Symphony No. 1 "Polyphonic" is the first symphony by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. The symphony was written in 1963. It is dedicated to Estonian composer Heino Eller.