Vironia
Founded	(O.S.) November 26, 1900 (1900-11-26) Riga Polytechnical Institute, Riga, Livonia, Russian Empire
Type	Fraternal student corps
Scope	Estonian
Motto	Ühisus, kindlus, ausus ("Unity, fortitude, honesty")
Colors	Violet   Black   White
Publication	Õllevikk
Chapters	Estonia (Tallinn, Tartu and Alumni Assembly)
Colonies	Canada: (Toronto - Main Chapter) (Montreal - closed)  United States: (West Coast) (East Coast - closed)  Australia (inactive)  Sweden (inactive)  England (closed)  Germany (closed)
Members	ca. 600 lifetime
Headquarters	Falgi tee 3, Tallinn, Estonia Lai 30, Tartu, Estonia 310 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Website	Korporatsioon Vironia

Korporatsioon Vironia (abbreviated korp! Vironia or C!V!) is an Estonian fraternal student society and the oldest student corps in Estonia. The organization is named after the Latin name for the ancient Estonian county of Virumaa. A full member of the organization is called a "vironus" (abbr. "vir!"), while every member can also be called a "Vironian" (viroonlane).

History

Vironia was officially founded at the Riga Polytechnical Institute on 9 December [O.S. 26 November] 1900 as the very first ethnic Estonian student corps. It remained the only Estonian student corps in Riga and became also the only Estonian member of the two Baltic German corps federations (Chargierten-Convent) in the Baltic governorates. Vironia was also the initiator and the co-founder of the League of Estonian Corporations in 1915.

After a brief evacuation to Moscow during World War I in 1915 and short return to Riga in 1918, Vironia entered the Estonian War of Independence in corpore. 6 of its members died in the war and one died of war injuries after the war. It was reactivated in Tartu, Estonia in 1920 and opened a second chapter in Tallinn in 1936. After being banned following the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states in 1940, it opened 8 colonies abroad in 6 Western countries and there was also unofficial activity in Venezuela. Underground activity in occupied Estonia was restored in the 1960s and the chapters in Tallinn and Tartu were legally restored in 1989. Today, Vironia has more than 550 members worldwide, being among the biggest Estonian student organizations. Active chapters in Estonia exist in Tallinn and Tartu and active colonies exist in Toronto and the US West Coast and inactive colonies in Sweden and Australia.

Foreign relations

Vironia retains good relations with all non-Baltic German members of the former Riga Chargierten-Convent:

• Arkonia (1879, Polish, currently in Warsaw)
• Fraternitas Arctica (1880, Baltic Russian, separate colony in Tartu)
• Selonija (1880, Latvian)
• Welecja (1883, Polish, currently in Warsaw)
• Talavija (1900, Latvian)

Of these, Vironia also has cartel agreements with Welecja (signed 1936) and Fraternitas Arctica (signed 2010). Vironia has also signed cartel agreements with the Karjalainen Osakunta in Helsinki (1930) and is currently an active member of the League of Estonian Corporations, having also signed a cartel agreement with Fraternitas Estica (2009). Unofficial relations since the exile period are retained with the Västmanlands-Dala Nation in Uppsala, Sweden, and since the 2010s with Neo-Lithuania in Kaunas, Lithuania.

Notable members

External links

• Official website

58°23′1.12″N 26°43′9.76″E / 58.3836444°N 26.7193778°E / 58.3836444; 26.7193778