The area is in the East European Plain, bounded west and north by sea, including a deep bite into Latvia: the Gulf of Riga(5). Glaciation has left numerous lakes: the largest is Chudskoye(6) (or Peipsi) on the Estonian/ Pskov border. The chief river that flows north into the Gulf of Finland is the Valikaya(7)-Narva system, which includes Lake Chudskoye in the middle. The Gulf of Riga receives the Daugava (Or Western(8) Dvina) from the southeast. And the small barrier-shielded bay by northwest Kaliningrad receives the Neman (or Nemunas).
North and west of the Gulf of Riga are several islands; the two biggest are Saaremaa and Hiumaa.
There is no majority of first language speakers. More than 17 in 20 speak an Indo-European language, a Baltic or Slavic one. Another two in 20 speak Estonian. Of the Indo-European languages, Russian leads with about one in three regional speakers. Right behind it is Lithuanian. A distant third--with less than 3 in 20 speakers--is Latvian. Three other Slavic languages account together for one in 20.
Relgious statistics vary wildly, depending on one's assessment of persistent non-observance, a relic of communism. As to cultural backgrounds, almost everyone is Christian, Roman Catholic being almost half, Russian Orthodox less than a quarter, and Evangelical Lutheran Protestant more than 3 in 20.
Riga, Latvia's capital, is the largest city--over one million in the metropolitan area. It entered history in the 11th century, and it landmark castle is only two centuries younger. It is situated on the Daugava River, not far from its mouth.
Perhaps as early as 1500 B.C.E., Baltic peoples had arrived from the south to today's Latvia, Lithuania and Kaliningrad. Proto-East Baltic (a hypothetical language) is thought to have split into Latvia, Lithuanian and Old Prussian about 600 C.E.
Sometime before 1000 B.C.E., proto-Finnic people arrived in the Baltic from the east; the ancestral form of Estonian evolved over the next millenium.
Slavs moved north into this area in the last Classical period. A group of East Slavs were in this area by 1050 C.E.
The early religion of the Estonians was probably like those of other Uralic peoples: a cosmogonic myth involving a dive by a bird-like being; shamanism; and the importance of animal spirits and the Masters of Animals.
In the last Milleninum these pagans were converted, first by Roman Catholic warriors, massacring anyone who did not change to worshipping Jesus, and later--more effectively--by Lutheran missionaries. The Slavs were converted gradually, the elite first, following the leadership in Kiev, the country-folk over the centuries.
Jews migrated into Lithuania during a period of tolerance. They were murdered by German invaders in the 20th century.
north of Estonia
east of northern Estonia, north of Pskov Oblast, and east of northern Pskov Oblast
east and southeast of southern Pskov Oblast
south of Pskov Oblast, and southeast of Latvia and Lithuania
southwest of southern Lithuania, and south of Kaliningrad Oblast
west
Northwest Federal District
Europe
(1) Eesti in Estonian.
(2) Or Latvija or Latviya.
(3) Lietuva in Lithuanian.
(4) Rossija or Rossiya in strict transliteration from Russian.
(5) Or Riia or Rigas.
(6) Or Cudskoje in an alternate transliteration from Russian.
(7) Or Valikaja in an alternate transliteration from Russian.
(8) Zapodnaya or Zapadnaja in transliterated Russian.