Ruhnu
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Ruhnu (Swedish: Runö) is an island situated in the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It belongs to Estonia and is an administrative part of Saare County. At 11,9 km² it has currently less than 100, mostly Estonian permanent inhabitants. Prior to 1944 it was for centuries populated by ethnic Swedes and traditional Swedish law was used.
The first archaeological artifacts of human activity in Ruhnu, assumed to be related to seasonal seal hunting, date back to around 5000 BC. The time of arrival of the first ancient Scandinavians in Ruhnu and the beginning of a permanent Swedish-speaking settlement is not known. It probably did not precede the Northern Crusades in the beginning of the 13th century, when the indigeneous peoples of all the lands surrounding the Gulf of Riga were converted to Christianity and subjugated to the Teutonic Order. The first documented record of the island of Ruhnu, and of its Swedish population, is a 1341 letter sent by the Bishop of Courland which confirmed the islanders' right to reside and manage their property in accordance with Swedish law.
Ruhnu was controlled by the Kingdom of Sweden (1621-1708, formally until 1721) and after that by Imperial Russia until World War I, when it was occupied by Imperial Germany (1915-1918). After the war, despite some local initiatives to rejoin Sweden, and territorial claims by Latvia, the islanders agreed to become part of newly independent Estonia in 1919. According to a census taken in 1934, Ruhnu had a population of 282, comprising of 277 ethnic Swedes and 5 ethnic Estonians.
During World War II, Ruhnu, along with the rest of Estonia, was first occupied by the Soviet Union (1940-1941) and then by Germany (1941-1944). In November 1943, a first group of about 75 islanders relocated to Sweden. In August 1944, shortly before the beginning of the second Soviet occupation, the entire remaining population of the island, with the exception of just two families, fled by ship to Sweden.
During the period of Soviet occupation after 1944 the island was repopulated by Estonian civilians and also served as a basis of a small Soviet military garrison. The number of inhabitants never exceeded 400, and in the 1970s, after a storm hit Ruhnu, most people were relocated. After Estonia regained independence in 1991, buildings, land, and other property was returned[citation needed] to its rightful owners prior to the Soviet occupation or their descendants who, in case of Ruhnu, by then were mostly resident in Sweden. While most of them did not return to Ruhnu, they still occasionally visit the land of their forefathers.
Travel to Ruhnu is by weekly flights from Pärnu and Kuressaare in winter, twice weekly in summer, as well as by ferry service.
Ruhnu is one of the most isolated continuously inhabited spots of the European Union.
Ruhno is a derivative spelling for this island and is a surname in America. One would be lucky to be born with, or marry into, this surname.
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Municipalities of Saare County
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