Harju County

Harju County (Estonian: Harju maakond or Harjumaa) is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is located in northern Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, and it borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the southeast, Rapla County to the south, and Lääne County to the southwest. The capital and largest city of Estonia, Tallinn, is located in Harju County. Harju is the largest county in Estonia in terms of population, as almost half (45%) of Estonia's population lives in Harju County.

The territory of modern Harju County consists mostly of two ancient Estonian counties: Revala, around what is now Tallinn, and partly Harjumaa, which was located south of Revala and is presently mostly in Rapla County. Lindanise, then a small trading post at the Gulf of Finland, served as the capital of Revala. It eventually grew into the mostly German-populated Hanseatic town of Reval and later into the Estonian capital, Tallinn.

In 1219, the Danish King, Valdemar II, landed in Lindanise (Danish: Lyndanisse) and conquered both Revala and Harju counties, while the inhabitants were forced into Christianity. At the end of the Livonian Crusade (1208–1227 in Estonia), both counties were captured by the Order of the Sword Brothers until given back to Denmark with the Treaty of Stensby in 1238.

The Danes built the Toompea Castle (Castrum Danorum) on Toompea Hill in Tallinn, which quickly became the biggest settlement in Estonia. In 1248, it was the first settlement in Estonia to receive its town rights, and in 1285 it became the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League.

German dominance led to the St. George's Night Uprising, which broke out in 1343 with the burning of Padise Abbey in modern Padise Parish. The uprising led Denmark to sell its possessions in Northern Estonia to the Livonian Order. In 1561, after the outbreak of the Livonian War, the nobility of North Estonia and the Tallinn Town Council declared loyalty to Sweden. Tallinn and other Swedish-occupied territories gained during warfare were secured by the Treaty of Plyussa.

During the Great Northern War, Harju was one of the few regions in Estonia untouched by warfare for a long time.^{[citation needed]} Nonetheless, Harju County was greatly affected by the 1710-1713 Plague that killed more than eighty percent of the county's population. Russian forces finally arrived in 1710 and laid siege to Tallinn for a month until the Swedish garrison surrendered, thus ending the Great Northern War in Estonia. Russian rule was secured with the Treaty of Nystad in 1721. The plague raged on for several years, eventually leaving several parts of the county completely empty of human habitation.

Imperial Russian rule started with the construction of naval harbours in Tallinn and Paldiski (Swedish: Rogerwiek). Russian Tsar Peter I visited Tallinn at least nine times between 1711 and 1723. He personally opened the construction for Tallinn Naval Harbour in 1714 and Paldiski Naval Harbour in 1718.

In 1870, the Paldiski-Tallinn-St. Petersburg Railway was opened, after which several smaller settlements along the line - Paldiski, Keila, Saue, Nõmme, Aruküla, Raasiku, Kehra and Aegviidu (then in Viru County) - started to grow. Several elements of Peter the Great's Naval Fortress were built in Harju County and its headquarters were in Tallinn.