Võrumaa (; ) was a historical county in
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
. The historical Võrumaa includes the areas of the present counties of
Võru
Võru (; ; ) is a town and a municipality in south-eastern Estonia. It is the capital of Võru County and the centre of Võru Parish.
History
Võru was founded on 21 August 1784, at the request of the Empress Catherine II of Russia, by the o ...
,
Põlva
Põlva (; ) is a town in southeastern Estonia, the county seat of Põlva County, and the centre of Põlva Parish.
Põlva is home for the Intsikurmu Music Festival Grounds, which regularly hosts concerts and summer activities, situated in a sm ...
,
Valga and
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...
.
Ancient period
The center of the settlement of Võrumaa is the banks of the
Võhandu river
The Võhandu () is the longest river entirely in Estonia. It is long and drains . The river begins near the village of Saverna in Põlva County and empties into Lake Lämmi, a part of Lake Peipus.
In 1964, a protected area
Protected ar ...
. The first settlements in Võrumaa were
Kääpa and Villal on the shores of
Lake Tamula, the oldest of which is Kääpa, where people lived as early as the first half of the third millennium BCE.
In the Middle and Early Iron Age, in southeastern Estonia
Ugandi County
Ugandi (Latin: ''Ungannia'' or ''Ugaunia''; ; Low German: ''Uggn'') was an independent county between the east coast of Lake Võrtsjärv and west coast of Lake Pskov, bordered by Vaiga, Mõhu, Nurmekund, Sakala, Tālava, and The Princi ...
was formed.
Middle ages
In the 13th century, the
Livonian Brothers of the Sword
The Livonian Brothers of the Sword (; ) was a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (monastic society), military order established in 1202 during the Livonian Crusade by Albert of Riga, Albert, the third bishop of Riga (or possibly by Theode ...
invaded the territories of Latvia and Estonia; The army defeated Ugandi in 1224. After the conquest, the
Diocese of Dorpat
The Bishopric of Dorpat was a medieval prince-bishopric, i.e. both a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and a temporal principality ruled by the bishop of the diocese. It existed from 1211 until 1558, generally encompassing the area that now co ...
was formed in Ugandi. During the diocese, the and
Vastseliina fortress were built in the Võrumaa area for border protection against the Russians.
During the
Livonian War
The Livonian War (1558–1583) concerned control of Terra Mariana, Old Livonia (in the territory of present-day Estonia and Latvia). The Tsardom of Russia faced a varying coalition of the Denmark–Norway, Dano-Norwegian Realm, the Kingdom ...
, from 1558 to 1583, the area of Võrumaa was under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, but in 1582, Estonian Jam Zapolski remained under Polish rule.
Russian empire
During the
Great Northern War
In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...
(1700–1721), Võrumaa came under the rule of the
Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721.
...
in 1704.
References
Historical regions in Estonia
{{Estonia-stub