Cities
Pärnu
Northern Europe
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Pärnu is a city in southwest Estonia on Pärnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga, about 128 kilometers south of Tallinn. Founded in 1251 by the bishop of Ösel-Wiek and later developed as a fortress town by the Teutonic Order, it became a Hanseatic League port serving Livonia. Control passed between Polish-Lithuanian, Swedish, and Russian rule before the city joined independent Estonia in 1918, was occupied by Soviet and Nazi forces during World War II, and returned to independent Estonia in 1991. With a population of about 41,520 in 2024, it is Estonia's fourth largest city and a popular summer resort town.
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