Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the two largest lakes in Estonia, Lake Võrtsjärv and Lake Peipus. From the 13th century until the end of the 19th century, Tartu was known in most of the world by variants of its historical name Dorpat. Tartu, the largest urban centre of southern Estonia, is often considered the "intellectual capital city" of the country, especially as it is home to the nation's oldest and most renowned university, the University of Tartu (founded in 1632). Tartu also houses the Supreme Court of Estonia, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Estonian National Museum, and the oldest Estonian-language theatre, Vanemuine. It is also the birthplace of the Estonian Song Festivals. Tartu will be the European Capital of Culture in 2024. Names and etymology Since Estonia became an independent country in 1918, the Estonian-language Tartu (), alternative South Estonian spelling: Tarto) has been the only name in official use but throughout its history there have also been various names for it in other languages. Most of them derive ultimately from the earliest attested form, the Estonian Tarbatu. In German, Swedish and Polish the town has been known, and up until the 20th century was sometimes referred to, as , a variant of Tarbatu. In Russian the city has been known as (Yur′yev, after Yuri, the baptismal name of grand prince Yaroslav I the Wise) and as (Derpt, from the Low German variant of Dorpat). Similarly the city has been known as Tērbata in Latvian, and Finnish speakers use the toponym Tartto. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river whose name ema jõgi translates to modern Estonian as ‘mother river’. History Beginnings Archaeological evidence of the first permanent settlement on the site of modern Tartu dates to as early as the 5th century AD. By the 7th century, local inhabitants had built a wooden fortification on the east side of Toome Hill (Toomemägi). Over the next centuries the settlement grew, and around 9th–10th centuries became an inland trading center. The first documented records of the area were made by later mediaeval chroniclers who described the events of the early 11th century Kievan Rus. Yaroslav I the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev, invaded the