Duchy of Estonia (1561–1721)


The Duchy of Estonia, also known as Swedish Estonia, was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1561 until 1721 during the time that most or all of Estonia was under Swedish rule. The land was eventually ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad, following its capitulation, during the plague, in the Great Northern War.
The dominion arose during the Livonian War, when the northern parts of present-day Estonia — Reval and the counties of Harju County, Lääne-Viru County, Rapla County and Järva County — submitted to the Swedish king in 1561, and Lääne County in 1581. It is also colloquially known as the "good old Swedish times" by Estonians, but this expression was not used before the following Russian rule, in the beginning of which the situation of Estonian peasantry declined rapidly; to gain the support of the German Baltic nobility, Russia gave them more power over the peasantry.

Head of Dominion

; Governors
;Governors-General