Tõstamaa Parish

Tõstamaa is an Estonian municipality located in Pärnu County. It has a population of 1600 and an area of 261 km² (101 mi²). Concerning landscape, Tõstamaa Parish covers part of the flat seashore of western Pärnu County, a low, swampy coastal area bordered by an elevated chain of sand-dunes. Behind the dunes spreads a slightly wavy drumlin, where higher places have been reclaimed, but lower ones have remained under swamps and meadows and are covered with scattered foliage. And although Tõstamaa should mean "high land," which would be suitable for land-labour, people have been living here not "off the land, but off the sea." On the date of the cadastral register, Tõstamaa parish was 267,4 km2, so one of the smallest in Pärnu County, second in its small size only to Häädemeste Parish. Also, a number of islands and islets in the Livonian Bay, like Sorgu, Manilaid, etc... belong to Tõstamaa parish. The largest of its sea possessions is Kihnu island, which forms a separate community.
Tõstamaa Parish is also home to the historic Tõstamaa Keskkool