It has been claimed that Europe is the most understudied region of the world concerning indigenous knowledge. It is true that our time is characterized by a far-reaching devastation of traditional ecological knowledge. However, thanks to a long tradition of collecting information about traditional folk knowledge and lore in the Nordic countries, a rich source of material exists in our archives. With existing source material about the Swedish-speaking coast and island population of Estonia before 1940 as point of departure, this project aims to develop methods and to formulate models to study with ethnobiological theories, traditional ecological knowledge as well as the utilization of biological resources in low technology societies. The project will also describe the collected knowledge the Swedish-speaking island and coast dwellers had about folk botany, i.e. trees, herbs, grass, ferns, mosses, lichens and algae and how they were used for construction, fodder, food, dyes, hygienic purposes, spices, medicine and tanning, including plant names, as well as what role the plants played in customs, beliefs and rituals. The study also wants to elucidate how the Swedish-speaking Estonians were managing and exploiting the plant resources in their environment. Besides analysing, evaluating and developing ethnobiological methods for interpretation of historical source material, the project also wants to contribute to an increased understanding of the environmental history and biocultural heritage of the situation in the Baltic region in bygone times. It will also imply opportunities for comparative analysis about utilization of biological resources in fragile island and coastal societies. This project will also be a crucial step for developing ethnobiology as a separate discipline, especially in a European context.