Jõhvi

Jõhvi is a town in northeastern Estonia and the administrative seat of Ida-Viru County and of Jõhvi Parish. It lies about 50 km west of the international border between Estonia and Russia. The place was first mentioned as a village in 1241 in the Liber Census Daniae, when it was ruled by Denmark, and its historical names included Gewi and Jewe. A church was built there in the 13th century and Jõhvi became the centre of the local church parish. On 1 May 1938 the Estonian government raised its status from a borough to an independent town. From 1960 to 1991 it was not a town but a district of the city of Kohtla-Järve, and in 2005 the town was united with the parish of Jõhvi. During the Soviet occupation a large influx of workers from other parts of the Soviet Union, drawn by the growth of Kohtla-Järve, left Estonians a minority in the area.