100 stories from the hiking route

1920 – southern border of the Republic of Estonia is established

Information

Topic

Wars and occupations

Coordinates

Long-Lat WGS 84

Latitude: 57.87468611

Longitude: 24.3614389

L-EST 97

x: 6414835.5
y: 521448

Location

Ikla-Aegviidu Hiking route

Establishing the border between Estonia and Latvia began in June 1917. The areas with a mixed population became a problem when attempting to follow the ethnic border. The first obstacle in the work of the Mixed Commission of the Estonian-Latvian Border entailed the question of ownership of the town of Valga. The commission ceased operations without reaching an agreement.
The issue of the border had to be solved in order to receive international recognition. Thus, an agreement was reached, pursuant to which the ownership of Valga would be decided by a jury comprising an equal number of people from both countries and the chairperson of which would be a representative of a neutral country – Colonel Steven George Tallents, a citizen of the United Kingdom. Both agreed with the condition that Tallents’ decision was to be accepted as the final one.
The plans of dividing Valga leaked into media. Latvian newspapers alarmed the public about Tallents planning to give Valga to the Estonians. Estonian newspapers attacked the Englishman personally by alleging that Tallents had received large compensations in the form of real estate in Riga and married a Latvian woman.
The border was established at the end of July 1920. Tallents complied more with the wishes of Estonians for the town of Valga while the Republic of Latvia gained lands in several mixed-population areas.
The Estonian-Latvian border treaty was confirmed in Riga on 19 October 1920. The border became valid at midnight on 1 April 1927.

Sources:
Raid, T. 2000. Eesti-Läti piiri taastamine. Master’s thesis
Raid, T. 2005. Sir S. G. Tallents ja Eesti lõunapiiri teke. Valga ja militaaria