The Muhu archipelago, lying in the Baltic Sea, is separated from the mainland to the east by Muhu Strait.

The archipelago's three main islands are Saaremaa, the largest, in the south; Hiiumaa in the north; and Muhu, the smallest, in the east nearest the mainland.

The islands, owned by the Brothers of the Sword in the early thirteenth century and the Teutonic Knights from 1237, had been settled by Germans and Swedes.

The archipelago had come under the rule of Denmark in 1560 and Sweden in 1582; Russia takes possession in 1721.