Estonians belong to the Finno-Ugric peoples, as do the Finns and the Hungarians. Archaeological research confirms the existence of human activity in the region as early as 8000 BC; by 3500 BC the principal ancestors of the Estonians had arrived from the east.
Estonia has a long, indented and diverse coastline of 3,794 km. In western Estonia, rising land slowly and steadily creates new coastal wetlands, which appear as shallow bays and inlets, coastal lagoons and marshes, or coastal meadows and mud flats.