Serfdom was abolished
Estonia was under the rule of Russia (where serfdom was not abolished until 1861), and while serfdom was abolished the land was not redistributed among the peasants and corvée labour was preserved for another 15 years. The first Estonian language newspaper was published in 1857. Estonia did not achieve independence from Russia (now the USSR) until 1920 (which annexed it again in 1940 and did not acknowledge Estonia's independence again until 1991).
