Järva County in the context of "Harjumaa"

Harju County (Estonian: Harju maakond or Harjumaa) is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is located in northern Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, and it borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the southeast, Rapla County to the south, and Lääne County to the southwest. The capital and largest city of Estonia, Tallinn, is located in Harju County. Harju is the largest county in Estonia in terms of population, as almost half (45%) of Estonia's population lives in Harju County.

The Duchy of Estonia (Swedish: Hertigdömet Estland; Estonian: Eestimaa hertsogkond; German: Herzogtum Estland), also known as Swedish Estonia (Swedish: Svenska Estland), was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1561 until 1721 during the time that most or all of Estonia was under Swedish rule. The territory was eventually ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad, following its capitulation during a plague outbreak in the Great Northern War.

The dominion arose during the Livonian War, when the northern parts of present-day Estonia — Reval (Tallinn) and the counties of Harjumaa, Western Virumaa, Raplamaa and Järvamaa — submitted to the Swedish king in 1561, and Läänemaa in 1581. It is also colloquially known as the "good old Swedish times" (Estonian: vana hea Rootsi aeg) by Estonians, but this expression was not used before the following Russian rule, in the beginning of which the situation of Estonian peasantry declined rapidly; to gain the support of the German Baltic nobility, Russia gave them more power over the peasantry.