Võru County in the context of Võru

Rõuge (Võro: Rõugõ; German: Rauge) is a small borough (alevik) in Võru County in southeastern Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Rõuge Parish.

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  St. Mary's church
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  Rõuge school
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  Monument to the Estonian War of Independence
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  Rõuge Museum
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  Kaussjärv (also known as Rõuge Mõisajärv)
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  Boat rally

Võros (Võro: võrokõsõq, pronounced [vɤrokɤsəʔ], Estonian: võrukesed, Finnish: võrolaiset) are the indigenous inhabitants of historical Võromaa (Vana Võromaa), a region in Southeastern Estonia (Võru and Põlva Counties with parts extending into Valga and Tartu Counties). The term is particularly used by proponents of a regional identity.

About 70,000 people live in historical Võromaa and many more identify as Võros although they live outside the territory, mostly in Tartu and Tallinn.

Saint Petersburg Governorate was a province (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Saint Petersburg. The governorate was composed of 44,613 square kilometres (17,225 sq mi) of area and 2,112,033 inhabitants. It was bordered by Estonian and Livonian Governorates to the west, Pskov Governorate to the south, Novgorod Governorate to the east, Olonets Governorate to the northeast, and Vyborg Governorate of the Grand Duchy of Finland to the north. The governorate covered most of the areas of modern Leningrad Oblast and Ida-Viru, Jõgeva, Tartu, Põlva, and Võru counties of Estonia.
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Võro (/ˈvɒroʊ/ VORR-oh; Võro: võro kiilʼ [ˈvɤro kʲiːlʲ], Estonian: võru keel) is a South Estonian language. It has its own literary standard and efforts have been undertaken to seek official recognition as an indigenous regional language of Estonia. Võro has roughly 75,000 speakers (Võros), mostly in southeastern Estonia, in the eight parishes of the historical Võru County: Karula, Harglõ, Urvastõ, Rõugõ, Kanepi, Põlva, Räpinä and Vahtsõliina. These parishes are currently centred (due to redistricting) in Võru and Põlva counties, with parts extending into Valga and Tartu counties. Speakers can also be found in the cities of Tallinn, Tartu, and the rest of Estonia.

Rõuge Parish (Estonian: Rõuge vald; Võro: Rõugõ vald) is a rural municipality of Estonia, in Võru County. In 2019, it had a population of 5,427 and an area of 933 km.

In 2017, it merged with Haanja Parish, Mõniste Parish, Misso Parish, and Varstu Parish to create a new entity. It retained the Rõuge Parish name.

The Bishopric of Dorpat was a medieval prince-bishopric, i.e. both a diocese of the Catholic Church and a temporal principality ruled by the bishop of the diocese. It existed from 1211 until 1558, generally encompassing the area that now comprises Tartu County, Põlva County, Võru County, and Jõgeva County in Estonia. The prince-bishopric was a sovereign member of the Holy Roman Empire (formally from 6 Nov 1225) and part of the Livonian Confederation until its dissolution in 1561.

The state was originally established as the Bishopric of Leal in 1211, based in Leal, modern Lihula. When the Sword Brothers in 1224 captured Yuryev (modern Tartu), they renamed it Dorpat. Prince-bishop Hermann Buxhövden of Leal took up residence there and ordered the construction of the Dorpat Cathedral. Around 1235, the bishopric was finally renamed from Leal to Dorpat.