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129-462: Schönherr, the son of a non-commissioned officer at Memel in Prussia , was educated at the university of Königsberg , where at that time the theological faculty, under the influence of Kantian idealism , was strongly rationalist in tendency. The lad, who was miserably poor, was dissatisfied with a philosophy which stopped short of an explanation of the " thing in itself ", and, having been reared in

258-533: A cathedral and at least two parochial churches, but the development of the castle became the dominant priority. According to different sources, Memel received Lübeck city rights in 1254 or 1258. Following it Klaipėda's status was quite extraordinary as only three cities in the State of the Teutonic Order had Lübeck city rights. In the spring and summer of 1323, a Lithuanian army led by Grand Duke Gediminas came up

387-683: A few of them later departed to other countries. In 1736–1818 Klaipėda was part of Lithuanian Department which had over 340,000 residents. The recovering population was ravaged by the Imperial Russian Army during the Seven Years' War in 1756–1763. In 1782 Klaipėda had 5500 residents, in 1790 – 6300. In the General State Laws for the Prussian States (completed in 1794) the serfdom and privileged position of landlords and colonists

516-467: A fort in 1252 called Memele castrum (or Memelburg , " Memel Castle "). The fort's construction was completed in 1253, and Memel was garrisoned with troops of the Teutonic Order , administered by Deutschmeister Eberhard von Seyne . Documents for its founding were signed by Eberhard and Bishop Heinrich von Lützelburg of Courland on 29 July 1252 and 1 August 1252. Master Conrad von Thierberg used

645-589: A fortified defence system around the entire town, initiated in 1627, noticeably changed its status and prospects. In November 1678 a small Swedish army invaded the Prussian territory, but was unable to capture the fortress of Memel. By the beginning of the 18th century, Memel was one of the strongest fortresses ( Memelfestung ) in Prussia, and the town became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. Despite its fortifications, it

774-519: A further direct line connected with Königsberg, that crossed the 4-kilometre-wide ( 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -mile) Memel Valley over three bridges before its arrival in Memel. During the second half of the 19th century, Memel was a center for the publication of books printed in the Lithuanian language using a Latin-script alphabet – these publications were prohibited in the nearby Russian Empire of which Lithuania

903-641: A name used for two of the Danish straits, the Belts , while others claim it to be directly derived from the source of the Germanic word, Latin balteus "belt". Adam of Bremen himself compared the sea with a belt, stating that it is so named because it stretches through the land as a belt ( Balticus, eo quod in modum baltei longo tractu per Scithicas regiones tendatur usque in Greciam ). He might also have been influenced by

1032-614: A naval landing near the city's harbor. After the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, Memel became Germany's northernmost city. The development of the town in the 19th century was influenced by the Industrial Revolution in Prussia, as well as urbanisation. Even though the population of Memel increased fourfold during the 19th century, and had risen to 21,470 by 1910, its pace of development lagged in comparison. The reasons for this were mostly political. Memel

1161-453: A new ship canal between Pillau and Königsberg, which enabled vessels of up to 6.5 m draughts to moor alongside the city, at a cost of 13 million marks. Owing to the absence of heavy industry in the 1870s and 1880s, the population of Memel stagnated, although wood manufacturing persisted as the main industry. It remained the central point of the Baltic timber-trade. A British Consul was located in

1290-612: A normal winter, except sheltered bays and shallow lagoons such as the Curonian Lagoon . The ice reaches its maximum extent in February or March; typical ice thickness in the northernmost areas in the Bothnian Bay , the northern basin of the Gulf of Bothnia, is about 70 cm (28 in) for landfast sea ice. The thickness decreases farther south. Freezing begins in the northern extremities of

1419-468: A population greater than 100,000, however, Klaipėda has the highest percentage of people whose native language is Russian. Until the 1970s, Klaipėda was only important to the USSR for its economy, while cultural and religious activity was minimal and restricted. The developers of a Roman Catholic church (Maria, Queen of Peace, constructed 1957–1962) were arrested. The city began to develop cultural activities in

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1548-633: A rich biology. The remainder of the Sea is brackish, poor in oxygen, and in species. Thus, statistically, the more of the entrance that is included in its definition, the healthier the Baltic appears; conversely, the more narrowly it is defined, the more endangered its biology appears. Tacitus called it the Suebic Sea, Latin: Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people of the Suebi , and Ptolemy Sarmatian Ocean after

1677-593: A third of its industry. Weimar Germany , under Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann , maintained normal relations with Lithuania. However, Nazi Germany desired to reacquire the region and tensions rose. Pro-German parties won clear supermajorities in all elections to the Klaipėda Parliament , which often clashed with the Lithuanian-appointed Klaipėda Directorate . Lithuanian efforts to "re-Lithuanize" Prussian Lithuanians by promoting

1806-529: A typical depth of 5–10 meters only) and notably deeper water. Drogden Sill (depth of 7 m (23 ft)) sets a limit to Øresund and Darss Sill (depth of 18 m (59 ft)), and a limit to the Belt Sea. The shallow sills are obstacles to the flow of heavy salt water from the Kattegat into the basins around Bornholm and Gotland . The Kattegat and the southwestern Baltic Sea are well oxygenated and have

1935-578: Is the third largest city in Lithuania , the fifth largest city in the Baltic States and the capital of Klaipėda County , as well as the only major seaport in the country. The city has a complex recorded history, partially due to the combined regional importance of the usually ice-free Port of Klaipėda at the mouth of the river Akmena-Danė  [ lt ] . Located in Lithuania Minor , and

2064-648: Is a reduction from the 25 incidents representing 1,110 kg (2,450 lb) of material in 2003. Until now, the U.S. Government refuses to disclose the exact coordinates of the wreck sites. Deteriorating bottles leak mustard gas and other substances, thus slowly poisoning a substantial part of the Baltic Sea. After 1945, the German population was expelled from all areas east of the Oder-Neisse line , making room for new Polish and Russian settlement. Poland gained most of

2193-417: Is about 20,000 km (4,800 cu mi). The periphery amounts to about 8,000 km (5,000 mi) of coastline. The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish inland seas by area, and occupies a basin (a Zungenbecken ) formed by glacial erosion during the last few ice ages . The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Baltic Sea as follows: The northern part of

2322-413: Is adapted to reproducing also with no ice in the sea. The sea ice also harbors several species of algae that live in the bottom and inside unfrozen brine pockets in the ice. Due to the often fluctuating winter temperatures between above and below freezing, the saltwater ice of the Baltic Sea can be treacherous and hazardous to walk on, in particular in comparison to the more stable fresh water-ice sheets in

2451-464: Is also used as the coat of arms of the Klaipėda city municipality . The modern version was created by the designer Kęstutis Mickevičius . The modern coat of arms was created by restoring old seals of the Memel city (analogous with those used in the years 1446, 1605 and 1618). It was affirmed on 1 July 1992. A settlement of Baltic tribes in the territory of the present-day city is said to have existed in

2580-909: Is connected by artificial waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea–Baltic Canal and to the German Bight of the North Sea via the Kiel Canal . The Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area includes the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat , without calling Kattegat a part of the Baltic Sea, "For the purposes of this Convention the 'Baltic Sea Area' shall be

2709-643: Is known to have stated: We find that the Memel Castle is built in the land of Samogitians. Neither Master , nor the Order was able to prove anything opposing. Nevertheless, no agreement was concluded and fighting continued until the Treaty of Melno in 1422 stabilized the border between the Teutonic Order and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for the next 501 years. However, two miles of Lithuanian territories, including Klaipėda,

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2838-523: Is that the name originally meant "enclosed sea, bay" as opposed to open sea. In the Middle Ages the sea was known by a variety of names. The name Baltic Sea became dominant after 1600. Usage of Baltic and similar terms to denote the region east of the sea started only in the 19th century. The Baltic Sea was known in ancient Latin language sources as Mare Suebicum or even Mare Germanicum . Older native names in languages that used to be spoken on

2967-558: Is used by the Øresund Bridge , including the Drogden Tunnel . By this definition, the Danish straits is part of the entrance, but the Bay of Mecklenburg and the Bay of Kiel are parts of the Baltic Sea. Another usual border is the line between Falsterbo , Sweden, and Stevns Klint , Denmark, as this is the southern border of Øresund. It is also the border between the shallow southern Øresund (with

3096-467: The 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania , however soon World War II started and residents of Klaipėda were evacuated to Germany. In the aftermath of World War II almost all the new residents moved to Klaipėda from Lithuania, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine , replacing the former German-speaking population (after the war only six old residents remained in the city). Over the years the Lithuanian population in

3225-544: The All Saints' Flood of 1304 and other floods in the years 1320, 1449, 1625, 1694, 1784 and 1825. Little is known of their extent. From 1872, there exist regular and reliable records of water levels in the Baltic Sea. The highest was the flood of 1872 when the water was an average of 2.43 m (8 ft 0 in) above sea level at Warnemünde and a maximum of 2.83 m (9 ft 3 in) above sea level in Warnemünde. In

3354-745: The Black Sea and southern Russia. This Norse-dominated period is referred to as the Viking Age . Since the Viking Age , the Scandinavians have referred to the Baltic Sea as Austmarr ("Eastern Sea"). "Eastern Sea", appears in the Heimskringla and Eystra salt appears in Sörla þáttr . Saxo Grammaticus recorded in Gesta Danorum an older name, Gandvik , -vik being Old Norse for "bay", which implies that

3483-555: The Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea ), the Gulf of Finland , the Gulf of Riga and the Bay of Gdańsk . The " Baltic Proper " is bordered on its northern edge, at latitude 60°N, by Åland and the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga, and in the west by the Swedish part of the southern Scandinavian Peninsula. The Baltic Sea

3612-402: The Danish straits . According to the 18th-century natural historian William Derham , during the severe winters of 1703 and 1708, the ice cover reached as far as the Danish straits. Frequently, parts of the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland are frozen, in addition to coastal fringes in more southerly locations such as the Gulf of Riga. This description meant that the whole of the Baltic Sea

3741-643: The Kingdom of Prussia was created and Prussian officials and intellectuals propagated a political direction which claimed that a new nation formed from Prussian Lithuanians ( Lietuvininkai ), Old Prussians, and German colonists. In the beginning of the 18th century 300,000 residents lived in the core of Lithuania Minor and up to 100% of peasant farms in the Klaipėda Region were Lithuanian, however cities in Lithuania Minor become centres of Germanisation , cultural assimilation , and colonization. In 1700–1721

3870-672: The Latvian Curonian language, it means mute, silent ( memelis, mimelis, mēms ), as a reference to peaceful flow of the Neman. This name was adopted by German speakers, and also was chosen for the new city founded further away at the lagoon. The name of the city in the Samogitian language is spelled slightly differently: Klaipieda . The most notable non-Lithuanian names include: Latvian : Klaipēda ; Polish : Kłajpeda ; Russian: Клайпеда ; German: Memel . The coat of arms of Klaipėda

3999-547: The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic . Klaipėda has remained within Lithuania since 1944. The city continues to experience sustained demographic decline due to flight towards the suburbs and other cities. The number of inhabitants of Klaipėda city shrank from 202,929 in 1989 to 162,360 in 2011, but the urban zone of Klaipėda expanded well into the suburbs, which sprang up around the city and surrounded it from three sides. These are partly integrated with

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4128-578: The Neman and sieged the castle of Memel, while later he marched to other Prussian, Latvian, Estonian territories controlled by the Order, eventually forcing the Order to sue for a truce in October 1323. While planning a campaign against Samogitia , Memel's garrison of the Teutonic Order's Livonian branch was replaced with knights from the Prussian branch in 1328. Threats and attacks by Lithuanians greatly slowed down

4257-639: The Netherlands , Denmark , and Scotland . The Polabian Slavs were gradually assimilated by the Germans. Denmark gradually gained control over most of the Baltic coast, until she lost much of her possessions after being defeated in the 1227 Battle of Bornhöved . In the 13th to 16th centuries, the strongest economic force in Northern Europe was the Hanseatic League , a federation of merchant cities around

4386-520: The Netherlands : their fleets needed the Baltic timber, tar, flax, and hemp. During the Crimean War , a joint British and French fleet attacked the Russian fortresses in the Baltic; the case is also known as the Åland War . They bombarded Sveaborg , which guards Helsinki ; and Kronstadt , which guards Saint Petersburg; and they destroyed Bomarsund in Åland . After the unification of Germany in 1871,

4515-523: The North and Central European Plain . The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. It is a shelf sea and marginal sea of the Atlantic with limited water exchange between the two, making it an inland sea . The Baltic Sea drains through the Danish straits into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund , Great Belt and Little Belt . It includes the Gulf of Bothnia (divided into

4644-708: The Polish kings (1466–1660), and they mostly moved to cities and towns. During the Second Northern War in 1656–1657, Lithuania Minor was damaged by Tatars detached from the Army of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Following the Treaty of Oliva in 1660, Klaipėda become part of the Brandenburg-Prussia constituent state , which led to strengthened oppression of the locals of Lithuania Minor. In 1701

4773-740: The Prussian Law, all native citizens were initially called as Prussians, while only in the 16th century classification of the population by nationality began. In 1525–1818, Klaipėda was part of the Lithuanian Province (the term was used in state legal documents and Prussian monarchs decrees), which comprised the most Lithuanian territories of Lithuania Minor (the Klaipėda, Tilsit , Ragainė , Įsrūtis counties). There were few German colonists in Royal Prussia when Prussian monarchs were vassals of

4902-675: The Sambia Peninsula in Kaliningrad Oblast . The Bay of Pomerania lies north of the islands of Usedom/Uznam and Wolin , east of Rügen . Between Falster and the German coast lie the Bay of Mecklenburg and Bay of Lübeck . The westernmost part of the Baltic Sea is the Bay of Kiel . The three Danish straits , the Great Belt , the Little Belt and The Sound ( Öresund / Øresund ), connect

5031-402: The Sarmatians , but the first to name it the Baltic Sea ( Medieval Latin : Mare Balticum ) was the eleventh-century German chronicler Adam of Bremen . The origin of the latter name is speculative and it was adopted into Slavic and Finnic languages spoken around the sea, very likely due to the role of Medieval Latin in cartography . It might be connected to the Germanic word belt ,

5160-400: The State of the Teutonic Order and Duchy of Prussia under the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , then the Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire , within which it was the northernmost big city until it was placed under French occupation in 1919. From 1923, the city was part of Lithuania until its annexation by Nazi Germany in 1939, and after World War II it was part of

5289-401: The State of the Teutonic Order , Old Prussians and Western Lithuanians were not allowed to engage in trade, crafts, and settle in cities. Thus, in the Duchy of Prussia , most of the cities' residents were Germans. Nevertheless, villages in Lithuania Minor were extensively inhabited by Lithuanians, and Klaipėda developed as one of the most important centres of Lithuania Minor. According to

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5418-417: The Stockholm area, southwestern Finland, and Estonia. The Western and Eastern Gotland basins form the major parts of the Central Baltic Sea or Baltic proper. The Bornholm Basin is the area east of Bornholm, and the shallower Arkona Basin extends from Bornholm to the Danish isles of Falster and Zealand . In the south, the Bay of Gdańsk lies east of the Hel Peninsula on the Polish coast and west of

5547-427: The Teutonic Order on Samogitia started. Vytautas the Great wanted the border to be the Neman River , while the Teutonic Order wanted to have Veliuona and Klaipėda in the right side of the river. Both sides agreed to accept the prospective solution of Emperor Sigismund 's representative Benedict Makrai on 1413. He decided that the right side of Nemunas ( Veliuona , Klaipėda) were to be owned by Lithuania. Makrai

5676-423: The Uprising of 1863–1864 part of the Lithuanian insurgents retreated to Lithuania Minor. In 1855 Vitė  [ lt ] was added to the city of Klaipėda, thus the number of population increased to over 17,000 and in 1875 reached ~20,000. Before World War I , the majority of Lithuanians in Königsberg Region (which included Klaipėda) integrated into the German nation. In March 1915 the population of Klaipėda

5805-404: The 12th century. The bordering countries have also traditionally exported lumber, wood tar , flax , hemp and furs by ship across the Baltic. Sweden had from early medieval times exported iron and silver mined there, while Poland had and still has extensive salt mines. Thus, the Baltic Sea has long been crossed by much merchant shipping. The lands on the Baltic's eastern shore were among

5934-406: The 13th century onwards, while Klaipėda is found in Lithuanian sources since the 15th century. The city was initially mentioned as Caloypede in the letter of Vytautas in 1413, and in negotiation documents from 1420, the city was named Klawppeda. In the Treaty of Melno of 1422, the city's name was listed as Cleupeda . According to Samogitian folk etymology , the name Klaipėda refers to

6063-406: The 13th–15th centuries, Klaipėda was burned or ruined around 20 times. In the second half of the 15th century, the residents began to settle in a territory of the Klaipėda Old Town, which was on a peninsula of the right bank of the old Danė  [ lt ] . Soon, the reconstruction of the Klaipėda Castle began, and all residents moved to the peninsula. The development of Klaipėda

6192-459: The 16th century. Memel prospered during the second half of the 18th century by exporting timber to Great Britain for use by the Royal Navy . In 1792, 756 British ships visited the town to transport lumber from forests near Memel. In 1800, its imports consisted chiefly of salt, iron and herrings; the exports, which greatly exceeded the imports, were corn, hemp, flax, and, particularly, timber. The 1815 Encyclopædia Britannica stated that Memel

6321-513: The 1970s and 1980s, such as the introduction of the Sea Festival cultural tradition, where thousands of people come to celebrate from all over the country. Based on the Pedagogical University of Šiauliai and the National Conservatory of Lithuania in Klaipėda, the University of Klaipėda was established in 1991. Klaipėda is now the home of a bilingual German-Lithuanian institution, the Hermann-Sudermann -Schule , as well as an English-language University, LCC International University. In 2014 Klaipėda

6450-406: The Baltic Sea and the North Sea . In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Poland , Denmark , and Sweden fought wars for Dominium maris baltici ("Lordship over the Baltic Sea"). Eventually, it was Sweden that virtually encompassed the Baltic Sea . In Sweden, the sea was then referred to as Mare Nostrum Balticum ("Our Baltic Sea"). The goal of Swedish warfare during the 17th century

6579-447: The Baltic Sea and the Entrance to the Baltic Sea, bounded by the parallel of the Skaw in the Skagerrak at 57°44.43'N." Historically, the Kingdom of Denmark collected Sound Dues from ships at the border between the ocean and the land-locked Baltic Sea, in tandem: in the Øresund at Kronborg castle near Helsingør ; in the Great Belt at Nyborg ; and in the Little Belt at its narrowest part then Fredericia , after that stronghold

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6708-471: The Baltic Sea is known as the Gulf of Bothnia , of which the northernmost part is the Bay of Bothnia or Bothnian Bay . The more rounded southern basin of the gulf is called Bothnian Sea and immediately to the south of it lies the Sea of Åland . The Gulf of Finland connects the Baltic Sea with Saint Petersburg . The Gulf of Riga lies between the Latvian capital city of Riga and the Estonian island of Saaremaa . The Northern Baltic Sea lies between

6837-414: The Baltic Sea was known as the Mare Suebicum or Mare Sarmaticum . Tacitus in his AD 98 Agricola and Germania described the Mare Suebicum, named for the Suebi tribe, during the spring months, as a brackish sea where the ice broke apart and chunks floated about. The Suebi eventually migrated southwest to temporarily reside in the Rhineland area of modern Germany, where their name survives in

6966-424: The Baltic Sea with the Kattegat and Skagerrak strait in the North Sea . The water temperature of the Baltic Sea varies significantly depending on exact location, season and depth. At the Bornholm Basin, which is located directly east of the island of the same name, the surface temperature typically falls to 0–5 °C (32–41 °F) during the peak of the winter and rises to 15–20 °C (59–68 °F) during

7095-443: The Baltic states and Poland. The remaining non-NATO and non-EU shore areas are Russian: the Saint Petersburg area and the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave . Winter storms begin arriving in the region during October. These have caused numerous shipwrecks , and contributed to the extreme difficulties of rescuing passengers of the ferry M/S Estonia en route from Tallinn , Estonia, to Stockholm , Sweden, in September 1994, which claimed

7224-404: The Baltic states. In 1945, the Baltic Sea became a mass grave for retreating soldiers and refugees on torpedoed troop transports . The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff remains the worst maritime disaster in history, killing (very roughly) 9,000 people. In 2005, a Russian group of scientists found over five thousand airplane wrecks, sunken warships, and other material, mainly from World War II, on

7353-401: The Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea were frozen with solid ice near the Baltic coast and dense floating ice far from it. In 2008, almost no ice formed except for a short period in March. During winter, fast ice , which is attached to the shoreline, develops first, rendering ports unusable without the services of icebreakers . Level ice , ice sludge , pancake ice , and rafter ice form in

7482-521: The European USSR. Shipyards , dockyards , and a fishing port were constructed. Subsequently, by the end of 1959, the population of the city had doubled its pre-war population, and by 1989 there were 202,900 inhabitants. Initially the Russian-speakers dominated local government in the city, but after the death of Joseph Stalin , more people came to the city from the rest of Lithuania than from other Soviet republics and oblasts; Lithuanians then became its major ethnic group. Among Lithuanian cities with

7611-546: The Gulf of Bothnia normally thaw in late April, with some ice ridges persisting until May in the eastern extremities of the Gulf of Finland. In the northernmost reaches of the Bothnian Bay, ice usually stays until late May; by early June it is practically always gone. However, in the famine year of 1867 remnants of ice were observed as late as 17 July near Uddskär . Even as far south as Øresund , remnants of ice have been observed in May on several occasions; near Taarbaek on 15 May 1942 and near Copenhagen on 11 May 1771. Drift ice

7740-494: The Gulf of Bothnia typically in the middle of November, reaching the open waters of the Bothnian Bay in early January. The Bothnian Sea , the basin south of Kvarken , freezes on average in late February. The Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga freeze typically in late January. In 2011, the Gulf of Finland was completely frozen on 15 February. The ice extent depends on whether the winter is mild, moderate, or severe. In severe winters ice can form around southern Sweden and even in

7869-400: The Königsberger Religionsprozess (1835–1841), ending in sentences of deprivation on both Ebel and Diestel. The charges of actual immorality were dismissed; but there is no doubt that some of their followers established practices akin to those of the Agapemone and the Perfectionists . Some of them migrated to Brazil , where in 1874 at Porto Alegre a company of them came into collision with

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7998-421: The Lithuanian Foreign Minister on 20 March 1939, demanding the surrender of Klaipėda. Lithuania, unable to secure international support for its cause, submitted to the ultimatum and, in exchange for the right to use the new harbour facilities as a Free Port, ceded the disputed region to Germany in the late evening of 22 March 1939. Adolf Hitler visited the harbour and delivered a speech to the city residents. This

8127-469: The Lithuanian language, culture, education were often met with resistance from the locals. In 1932, a conflict between the Parliament and the Directorate had to be resolved by the Permanent Court of International Justice . In 1934–1935, the Lithuanians attempted to combat increasing Nazi influence in the region by arresting and prosecuting over 120 Nazi activists for the alleged plot to organize an anti-Lithuanian rebellion. Despite these rather harsh sentences,

8256-561: The Lithuanians decided to stage the Klaipėda Revolt , take the region by force, and present the Entente with a fait accompli . The revolt was carried out in January 1923 while western Europe was distracted by the occupation of the Ruhr . The Germans tacitly supported the action, while the French offered only limited resistance. The revolt was supported by the Chief Rescue Committee of Lithuania Minor, chaired by Prussian Lithuanian Martynas Jankus , which operated since 22 December 1922 with its centre in Klaipėda. The League of Nations protested

8385-401: The Muckers Brazilian rebellion. The better known of the two films was made by Fábio Barreto in 2002 and is called A Paixão de Jacobina ( Jacobina's Passion ). Klaip%C4%97da Klaipėda ( / ˈ k l eɪ p ɛ d ə / CLAY -ped-ə ; Lithuanian: [ˈklˠɐɪ̯ˑpʲeːdˠɐ] ), historically also Memel , is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It

8514-479: The Prussian Lithuanians population was dramatically decreased in Klaipėda and other Lithuanian counties by the Great Northern War plague outbreak which killed 160,000 (53%) of residents in Lithuania Minor (more than 90% of the deceased were Prussian Lithuanians). Following it, the Prussian authorities organized a large-scale German colonization of Lithuania Minor. The colonists received various privileges, however they constituted for only 13.4% of residents and quite

8643-426: The Vikings correctly regarded it as an inlet of the sea. Another form of the name, "Grandvik", attested in at least one English translation of Gesta Danorum , is likely to be a misspelling. In addition to fish the sea also provides amber , especially from its southern shores within today's borders of Poland , Russia and Lithuania . First mentions of amber deposits on the South Coast of the Baltic Sea date back to

8772-417: The background, and eventually died in 1826. But Ebel continued his teaching, and was joined in 1827 by Heinrich Diestel , also a Lutheran pastor of Königsberg. They became father confessors to a wide circle of fashionable people in the Prussian capital. In view of their peculiar teaching as to "the purification of the flesh," which involved the minute regulation of the intercourse of married people, scandal

8901-474: The boggy terrain of the town ( klaidyti =obstruct and pėda =foot). Most likely, the name is of Curonian origin and means "even ground"; it likely originates from a combination of "klais/klait" (flat, open, free) and "peda" (sole of the foot, ground), as a reference to relatively flat terrain of the original settlement's surroundings. The lower reaches of the river Neman were named either * Mēmele or * Mēmela by Scalovians and local Curonian inhabitants. In

9030-423: The bottom of the Gotland Basin, at depths greater than 225 m (738 ft), the temperature typically is 4–7 °C (39–45 °F). Generally, offshore locations, lower latitudes and islands maintain maritime climates , but adjacent to the water continental climates are common, especially on the Gulf of Finland . In the northern tributaries the climates transition from moderate continental to subarctic on

9159-524: The bottom of the sea. Since the end of World War II , various nations, including the Soviet Union , the United Kingdom and the United States have disposed of chemical weapons in the Baltic Sea, raising concerns of environmental contamination. Today, fishermen occasionally find some of these materials: the most recent available report from the Helsinki Commission notes that four small scale catches of chemical munitions representing approximately 105 kg (231 lb) of material were reported in 2005. This

9288-484: The cathedral also did not have much effect on the town's religious life in long-term as bishop Edmund von Werth  [ de ] waived his rights to the cathedral in 1298. Eventually, the cathedral was moved to Windau . Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark , Estonia , Finland , Germany , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , Russia , Sweden , and

9417-518: The city (city bus lines, city water supply, etc.), and the majority of inhabitants of these suburbs work in Klaipėda. According to data from the Department of Statistics, there are 212,302 permanent inhabitants (as of 2020) in the Klaipėda city and Klaipėda district municipalities combined. Popular seaside resorts found close to Klaipėda are Neringa to the south on the Curonian Spit and Palanga to

9546-435: The city continued to grow and constituted: 55.2% in 1959, 60.9% in 1970, 61.5% in 1979, 63.0% in 1989, 71.3% in 2001, 73.9% in 2011. As of 2020 , the population of Klaipėda was 154,332. The latest data shows that there are more women in the city: females make up 54.89% (84,717), males make up 45.11% (69,615). In 2022, Lithuanians constituted 80% of the population in Klaipėda. The first church (possibly chapel) dedicated to

9675-558: The collapse of the Communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. Finland and Sweden joined NATO in 2023 and 2024, respectively, making the Baltic Sea almost entirely surrounded by the alliance's members, leading some commentators to label the sea a ″NATO lake″. Such an arrangement has also existed for the European Union (EU) since May 2004 following the accession of

9804-574: The defendants in the Neumann–Sass case were soon released under pressure from Nazi Germany. The extensive autonomy guaranteed by the Klaipėda Convention prevented Lithuania from blocking the growing pro-German attitudes in the region. As tensions in pre-war Europe continued to grow, it was expected that Germany would make a move against Lithuania to reacquire the region. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop delivered an ultimatum to

9933-566: The development of Memel. From 1629 to 1635, the town was occupied by Sweden over several periods during the Polish-Swedish War of 1626–1629 . After the Treaty of Königsberg in 1656 during the Northern Wars , Elector Frederick William opened Memel's harbor to Sweden, with whom the harbor's revenue was divided. Sovereignty of the margraves of Brandenburg over the region was affirmed in the Treaty of Oliva in 1660. The construction of

10062-554: The eastern coast. Russia became and remained a dominating power in the Baltic. Russia's Peter the Great saw the strategic importance of the Baltic and decided to found his new capital, Saint Petersburg , at the mouth of the Neva river at the east end of the Gulf of Finland . There was much trading not just within the Baltic region but also with the North Sea region, especially eastern England and

10191-502: The fortress as a base for further campaigns along the river Neman and against Samogitia . Memel was unsuccessfully besieged by Sambians in 1255, and the Sambians surrendered on 1259. Memel was also colonized by settlers from Holstein , Lübeck and Dortmund . Hence, Memel also being known at the time as Neu-Dortmund , or "New Dortmund". It became the main town of the Diocese of Curonia, with

10320-562: The historic region known as Swabia . Jordanes called it the Germanic Sea in his work, the Getica . In the early Middle Ages , Norse (Scandinavian) merchants built a trade empire all around the Baltic. Later, the Norse fought for control of the Baltic against Wendish tribes dwelling on the southern shore. The Norse also used the rivers of Russia for trade routes, finding their way eventually to

10449-481: The ice further into the north, and much of the waters north of Gotland were again free of ice, which had then packed against the shores of southern Finland. The effects of the afore-mentioned high-pressure area did not reach the southern parts of the Baltic Sea, and thus the entire sea did not freeze over. However, floating ice was additionally observed near Świnoujście harbor in January 2010. In recent years before 2011,

10578-443: The interior lakes. The Baltic Sea flows out through the Danish straits ; however, the flow is complex. A surface layer of brackish water discharges 940 km (230 cu mi) per year into the North Sea . Due to the difference in salinity , by salinity permeation principle, a sub-surface layer of more saline water moving in the opposite direction brings in 475 km (114 cu mi) per year. It mixes very slowly with

10707-589: The last in Europe to be converted to Christianity . This finally happened during the Northern Crusades : Finland in the twelfth century by Swedes, and what are now Estonia and Latvia in the early thirteenth century by Danes and Germans ( Livonian Brothers of the Sword ). The Teutonic Order gained control over parts of the southern and eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, where they set up their monastic state . Lithuania

10836-485: The last very heavy floods the average water levels reached 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) above sea level in 1904, 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) in 1913, 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) in January 1954, 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) on 2–4 November 1995 and 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) on 21 February 2002. An arm of the North Atlantic Ocean , the Baltic Sea is enclosed by Sweden and Denmark to

10965-562: The least amount of precipitation occurs in April, with an average of 41 mm. Parks: Forests: Klaipėda was established as an outpost dedicated for German crusaders . Initially, Klaipėda developed slowly. In the 13th century, it was often attacked by the Sambians and Samogitians , and in the middle of the 15th century, it was attacked by the Gdańskians (for trading reasons). Consequently, in

11094-457: The lives of 852 people. Older, wood-based shipwrecks such as the Vasa tend to remain well-preserved, as the Baltic's cold and brackish water does not suit the shipworm . Storm surge floods are generally taken to occur when the water level is more than one metre above normal. In Warnemünde about 110 floods occurred from 1950 to 2000, an average of just over two per year. Historic flood events were

11223-553: The military (see Revolt of the Muckers ). In Brazil the Muckers are remembered in popular culture. For example in 1993, when there were number of murders near São Leopoldo ; the local newspaper Zero Hora ran a headline "Violence is Resurrected in the Land of the Muckers". In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, two films were made in Brazil about Jacobina Mentz Maurer , one of the leaders of

11352-567: The military garrison was built along with the Klaipėda Castle in 1252 and was consecrated after Mary, mother of Jesus , although it did not have as much effect for the townspeople, as well as the residents of surrounding villages. Initially, it was planned that Klaipėda would become centre of the Bishopric of Courland . Thus, before 1290, a St. Mary's Cathedral was built in the town and a six-members chapter settled down in 1290. Nevertheless,

11481-459: The more open regions. The gleaming expanse of ice is similar to the Arctic , with wind-driven pack ice and ridges up to 15 m (49 ft). Offshore of the landfast ice, the ice remains very dynamic all year, and it is relatively easily moved around by winds and therefore forms pack ice , made up of large piles and ridges pushed against the landfast ice and shores. In spring, the Gulf of Finland and

11610-620: The name of a legendary island mentioned in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder . Pliny mentions an island named Baltia (or Balcia ) with reference to accounts of Pytheas and Xenophon . It is possible that Pliny refers to an island named Basilia ("the royal") in On the Ocean by Pytheas. Baltia also might be derived from "belt", and therein mean "near belt of sea, strait". Others have suggested that

11739-465: The name of the island originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰel meaning "white, fair", which may echo the naming of seas after colours relating to the cardinal points (as per Black Sea and Red Sea ). This '*bʰel' root and basic meaning were retained in Lithuanian (as baltas ), Latvian (as balts ) and Slavic (as bely ). On this basis, a related hypothesis holds that

11868-425: The name originated from this Indo-European root via a Baltic language such as Lithuanian. Another explanation is that, while derived from the aforementioned root, the name of the sea is related to names for various forms of water and related substances in several European languages, that might have been originally associated with colors found in swamps (compare Proto-Slavic *bolto "swamp"). Yet another explanation

11997-497: The north. The Teutonic Knights built a castle in the *Pilsāts Land of the Curonians and named it Memelburg , which would later be shortened to Memel . From 1252 to 1923 and from 1939 to 1945, the town and city were officially named Memel . Between 1923 and 1939, both names were in official use . Since 1945, the Lithuanian name of Klaipėda has been used. The names Memelburg and Memel are found in most written sources from

12126-537: The northernmost coastlines. On the long-term average, the Baltic Sea is ice-covered at the annual maximum for about 45% of its surface area. The ice-covered area during such a typical winter includes the Gulf of Bothnia , the Gulf of Finland , the Gulf of Riga , the archipelago west of Estonia, the Stockholm archipelago , and the Archipelago Sea southwest of Finland. The remainder of the Baltic does not freeze during

12255-553: The onset of a long period of prosperity for the city and port. Klaipėda served as a port for neighbouring Lithuania, benefiting from its location near the mouth of the Neman, with wheat as a profitable export. The Duchy of Prussia was inherited by a relative, John Sigismund , the Hohenzollern prince-electors of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1618. Brandenburg-Prussia began active participation in regional policy, which affected

12384-520: The peak of the summer, with an annual average of around 9–10 °C (48–50 °F). A similar pattern can be seen in the Gotland Basin , which is located between the island of Gotland and Latvia. In the deep of these basins the temperature variations are smaller. At the bottom of the Bornholm Basin, deeper than 80 m (260 ft), the temperature typically is 1–10 °C (34–50 °F), and at

12513-568: The reforms of Karl Freiherr vom und zum Stein and Karl August von Hardenberg . The land around Memel suffered major economic setbacks under Napoleon Bonaparte 's Continental System . During Napoleon's retreat from Moscow after the failed invasion of Russia in 1812, General Yorck refused Marshal MacDonald 's orders to fortify Memel at Prussia's expense. During the January Uprising , in June 1863, Polish insurgents made an unsuccessful attempt at

12642-529: The region as early as the 7th century. The Balts initially established Klaipėda as a trading centre for the storage of goods and annual fairs with the Germans. In the 1240s, Pope Gregory IX offered King Håkon IV of Norway the opportunity to conquer the peninsula of Sambia . However, after Grand Duke Mindaugas of Lithuania , the Teutonic Knights and a group of crusaders from Lübeck moved into Sambia and accepted Christianity. These groups founded

12771-557: The revolt, but accepted the transfer in February 1923. The formal Klaipėda Convention was signed in Paris on 8 May 1924, securing extensive autonomy for the region. The annexation of the city had significant consequences for the Lithuanian economy and foreign relations. The region subsequently accounted for up to 30% of Lithuania's entire economic production. Between 70% and 80% of foreign trade passed through Klaipėda. The region, which represented only about 5% of Lithuania's territory, contained

12900-477: The second half of the 18th century, Memel's lax customs and Riga 's high duties enticed English traders, who established the first industrial sawmills in the town. In 1784, 996 ships arrived in Memel, 500 of which were English. The specialisation in wood manufacturing guaranteed Memel's merchants income and stability for more than a hundred years. During this era, it also normalised its trade relations with Königsberg ; regional instability had degraded relations since

13029-632: The shores of the sea or near it usually indicate the geographical location of the sea (in Germanic languages), or its size in relation to smaller gulfs (in Old Latvian), or tribes associated with it (in Old Russian the sea was known as the Varanghian Sea). In modern languages, it is known by the equivalents of "East Sea", "West Sea", or "Baltic Sea" in different languages: At the time of the Roman Empire ,

13158-657: The southern shore . The Soviet Union gained another access to the Baltic with the Kaliningrad Oblast , that had been part of German-settled East Prussia . The Baltic states on the eastern shore were annexed by the Soviet Union. The Baltic then separated opposing military blocs: NATO and the Warsaw Pact . Neutral Sweden developed incident weapons to defend its territorial waters after the Swedish submarine incidents . This border status restricted trade and travel. It ended only after

13287-470: The strictest Lutheran orthodoxy , set to work to develop, with the aid of the Bible , a philosophy of his own. In the end he believed himself to have reached ultimate knowledge, and became the prophet of a dualistic theosophy so closely analogous to Gnosticism that it might have been taken for a deliberate revival, had not Schönherr's lack of study in such theology precluded any such idea. Among his converts

13416-557: The surrounding Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) were detached from Germany and made a protectorate of the Entente States . The French became provisional administrators of the region until a more permanent solution could be worked out. Both Lithuania and Poland campaigned for their rights in the region. However, it seemed that the region would become a free city, similar to the Free City of Danzig . Not waiting for an unfavorable decision,

13545-583: The town in 1800; in 1900 a British Vice-Consul was recorded there, as well as a Lloyd's Agent. By 1900 steamer services had been established between Memel and Cranz (on the southern end of the Curonian Spit), and also between Memel and Tilsit . A main-line railway was built from Insterburg , the main East Prussian railway junction, to St. Petersburg via Eydtkuhnen , the Prussian frontier station. The Memel line also ran from Insterburg via Tilsit , where

13674-506: The town's development; the castle was sacked by Lithuanian tribes in 1360, and in 1379 the reconstructed castle and town were both sacked once again. In 1409, the castle was rebuilt and in 1422–1441 the strengthening of the castle's fortifications continued when eventually its ramparts reached 7 meters height. After the Battle of Grunwald , the dispute between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and

13803-450: The west, Finland to the northeast, and the Baltic countries to the southeast. It is about 1,600 km (990 mi) long, an average of 193 km (120 mi) wide, and an average of 55 metres (180 ft) deep. The maximum depth is 459 m (1,506 ft) which is on the Swedish side of the center. The surface area is about 349,644 km (134,998 sq mi) and the volume

13932-637: The whole southern coast became German. World War I was partly fought in the Baltic Sea. After 1920 Poland was granted access to the Baltic Sea at the expense of Germany by the Polish Corridor and enlarged the port of Gdynia in rivalry with the port of the Free City of Danzig . After the Nazis' rise to power, Germany reclaimed the Memelland and after the outbreak of the Eastern Front (World War II) occupied

14061-665: The wishes of its governor and commander, Eric of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , Memel adopted Lutheranism after the conversion of Grand Master Albert of Prussia and the creation of the Duchy of Prussia as a fief of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland in 1525, soon part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Since then, Klaipėda has become the county centre within the Duchy of Prussia. It was

14190-554: Was the last European state to convert to Christianity . In the period between the 8th and 14th centuries, there was much piracy in the Baltic from the coasts of Pomerania and Prussia , and the Victual Brothers held Gotland . Starting in the 11th century, the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic were settled by migrants mainly from Germany , a movement called the Ostsiedlung ("east settling"). Other settlers were from

14319-539: Was "provided with the finest harbour in the Baltic". During the Napoleonic Wars , Memel became the temporary capital of the Kingdom of Prussia. Between 1807 and 1808, the town was the residence of King Frederick William III , his consort Louise , his court, and the government. On 9 October 1807 the king signed a document in Memel, later called the October Edict , which abolished serfdom in Prussia. It originated

14448-460: Was 36.6 °C (97.9 °F) in August 2014. In January and February, the coldest season, high temperatures average 0 °C (32 °F) with low temperatures averaging −5 °C (23 °F). The coldest temperature ever recorded in Klaipėda is −33.4 °C (−28.1 °F) in February 1956. The greatest amount of precipitation occurs in August, with an average precipitation of 85 mm. Meanwhile,

14577-541: Was Ebel, who from 1810 onwards gained a great reputation in Königsberg as an earnest preacher of the orthodox doctrines of " sin , grace and redemption, and in 1816 was appointed " archdeacon ," i.e. principal pastor, at the Altstadt Church in Königsberg. In the pulpit he was orthodox; but he gathered about him a select circle of the initiated, to whom in private he taught Schönherr's doctrines. Schönherr himself sank into

14706-489: Was Hitler's last territorial acquisition before World War II. During the war, the Germans operated a forced labour subcamp of the Stalag I-A prisoner-of-war camp for Allied prisoners of war in the city, and expelled Poles from German-occupied Poland were also enslaved as forced labour in the city's vicinity. During World War II, from the end of 1944 into 1945, the battle of Memel took place. The nearly empty city

14835-512: Was a province. The books were then smuggled over the Lithuanian border. The German 1910 census lists the Memel Territory population as 149,766, of whom 67,345 declared Lithuanian to be their first language. The Germans greatly predominated in the town and port of Memel as well as in other nearby villages; the Lithuanian population was predominant in the area's rural districts. Under the Treaty of Versailles after World War I , Klaipėda and

14964-414: Was also observed on 11 May 1799. The ice cover is the main habitat for two large mammals, the grey seal ( Halichoerus grypus ) and the Baltic ringed seal ( Pusa hispida botnica ), both of which feed underneath the ice and breed on its surface. Of these two seals, only the Baltic ringed seal suffers when there is not adequate ice in the Baltic Sea, as it feeds its young only while on ice. The grey seal

15093-525: Was built. The narrowest part of Little Belt is the "Middelfart Sund" near Middelfart . Geographers widely agree that the preferred physical border between the Baltic and North Seas is the Langelandsbælt (the southern part of the Great Belt strait near Langeland ) and the Drogden -Sill strait. The Drogden Sill is situated north of Køge Bugt and connects Dragør in the south of Copenhagen to Malmö ; it

15222-459: Was captured by Russian troops during the Seven Years' War in 1757. Consequently, from 1757 to 1762 the town, along with the rest of eastern Prussia, was dependent on the Russian Empire . After this war ended, the maintenance of the fortress was neglected, but the town's growth continued. Memel became part of the newly formed province of East Prussia within the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773. In

15351-638: Was captured by the Soviet Red Army on 28 January 1945 with only about 50 remaining people. After the war the Klaipėda Region was incorporated into the Lithuanian SSR , as the post-1937 German occupation of various regions of Europe, including Klaipėda, was considered illegal. The Soviets turned Klaipėda, the foremost ice-free port in the Eastern Baltic, into the largest piscatorial-marine base in

15480-501: Was consolidated. During the Napoleonic Wars Napoleon I occupied most of the Kingdom of Prussia, thus in 1807–1808 Klaipėda was a residence of Prussian monarchs and in 1807 Frederick William III abolished serfdom. Following the abolishment of serfdom Prussian Lithuanians migrated to Klaipėda, especially its outskirts, and in 1837 they constituted 10.1% of the residents. In 1825 Klaipėda had 8,500 residents. Moreover, after

15609-461: Was covered with ice. Since 1720, the Baltic Sea has frozen over entirely 20 times, most recently in early 1987, which was the most severe winter in Scandinavia since 1720. The ice then covered 400,000 km (150,000 sq mi). During the winter of 2010–11, which was quite severe compared to those of the last decades, the maximum ice cover was 315,000 km (122,000 sq mi), which

15738-524: Was fueled by the increasing trade of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the Western countries . Around 1503, there were 25 families of full-fledged townspeople, while in 1540, there were 107 families. Eventually, in 1589, there were 143 families in Klaipėda. The Lithuanians and Curonians lived alongside the German colonists , but the magistrate did not allow non-Germans to join artisan corporations and did not grant them rights available to townspeople. In

15867-440: Was inevitable. Matters came to a head in 1835, when Count Finckenstein , himself formerly an initiate, denounced the two pastors and accused them of immorality. Diestel wrote two tirades against the count, who brought a successful action for slander . The group itself was dissolved in 1839. The evidence taken in the case was then laid before the old-Prussian Königsberg consistory , and proceedings followed which became famous as

15996-550: Was left for the Order. In 1454, King Casimir IV Jagiellon incorporated the region to the Kingdom of Poland upon the request of the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation . After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) the city became a part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Knights, and thus located within the Polish–Lithuanian union . The rebuilt town received Kulm law city rights in 1475. Against

16125-470: Was reached on 25 February 2011. The ice then extended from the north down to the northern tip of Gotland , with small ice-free areas on either side, and the east coast of the Baltic Sea was covered by an ice sheet about 25 to 100 km (16 to 62 mi) wide all the way to Gdańsk . This was brought about by a stagnant high-pressure area that lingered over central and northern Scandinavia from around 10 to 24 February. After this, strong southern winds pushed

16254-469: Was the northernmost and easternmost city in Germany, and although the government was engaged in a very costly tree-planting exercise to stabilise the sand-dunes on the Curonian Spit , most of the financial infusions in the province of East Prussia were concentrated in Königsberg, the capital of the province. Some notable instances of the German infrastructure investments in the area included sandbar blasting and

16383-609: Was to make the Baltic Sea an all-Swedish sea ( Ett Svenskt innanhav ), something that was accomplished except the part between Riga in Latvia and Stettin in Pomerania. However, the Dutch dominated the Baltic trade in the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century, Russia and Prussia became the leading powers over the sea. Sweden's defeat in the Great Northern War brought Russia to

16512-543: Was visited 64 times by cruise ships , surpassing the Latvian capital, Riga , for the first time. Klaipėda's climate is considered to be oceanic (Köppen Cfb ) using the −3 °C (26.6 °F) isotherm and warm humid continental (Köppen Dfb) using the 0 °C (32.0 °F) isotherm. In July and August, the warmest season, high temperatures average 20 °C (68 °F), and low temperatures average 14 °C (57 °F). The highest official temperature ever recorded

16641-550: Was yet again ravaged by the Imperial Russian Army. Following the Klaipėda Revolt in 1923, Klaipėda Region was incorporated into Lithuania and Lithuanian population in Klaipėda increased due to migration (Lithuanians constituted 30.3% and Germans 57.3% of Klaipėda's 35,845 population in 1925). German politicians promoted a Memellander ideology and argued that Germans and local Lithuanians were "two ethnicities ( Volkstümer ), yet one cultural community ( Kulturgemeinschaft )". Lithuania ceded Klaipėda Region to Nazi Germany due to

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