LivoniaLivonia or in earlier records Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extended to most of present-day Estonia and Latvia, which had been conquered during the Livonian Crusade (1193–1290) by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. Medieval Livonia, or Terra Mariana, reached its greatest extent after Saint George's Night Uprising that in 1346 forced Denmark to sell the Duchy of Estonia (northern Estonia conquered by Denmark in the 13th century) to the State of the Teutonic Order.
SamogitiaSamogitia or Žemaitija (Samogitian: Žemaitėjė; see below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five cultural regions of Lithuania and formerly one of the two core administrative divisions of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania alongside Lithuania proper. Žemaitija is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai. Žemaitija has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian language.
Curonian LagoonThe Curonian Lagoon (or Bay, Gulf; Prussian: Kursjanmari, Kuršių marios, Kuršu joma, Куршский залив, Zalew Kuroński, Kurisches Haff) is a freshwater lagoon separated from the Baltic Sea by the Curonian Spit. Its surface area is . The Neman River (Nemunas) supplies about 90% of its inflows; its watershed consists of about 100,450 square kilometres in Lithuania and Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast. In the 13th century, the area around the lagoon was part of the ancestral lands of the Curonians and Old Prussians.
Curonian SpitThe Curonian (Courish) Spit (Kuršių nerija; Ку́ршская коса́; Kurische Nehrung; Kuršu kāpas) is a long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. Its southern portion lies within Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, and its northern within southwestern Klaipėda County, Lithuania. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by Lithuania and Russia. The Curonian Spit stretches from the Sambia Peninsula on the south to its northern tip next to a narrow strait, across which is the port city of Klaipėda on the mainland of Lithuania.
GdyniaGdynia (ˈɡdɨɲa; Gdingen, 1939-45 Gotenhafen; Gdiniô) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk. Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdańsk, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity (Trójmiasto) with around 750,000 inhabitants.
VilniusVilnius (ˈvɪlniəs , ˈvjɪljnjʊs; previously known in English as Vilna, see other names) is the capital and the largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 593,436 . The population of Vilnius's functional urban area, which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 718,507 (as of 2020), while according to the Vilnius territorial health insurance fund, there were 753,875 permanent inhabitants as of November 2022 in Vilnius city and Vilnius district municipalities combined.
LübeckLübeck (ˈlyːbɛk; Low German: Lübęk or Lübeek [ˈlyːbeːk]; Latin: Lubeca; Danish: Lybæk), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 216,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast as well as in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, after its capital of Kiel, and is the 36th-largest city in Germany. The city lies in the Holsatian part of Schleswig-Holstein, on the mouth of the Trave, which flows into the Bay of Lübeck in the borough of Travemünde, and on the Trave's tributary Wakenitz.
Sambia PeninsulaSambia (Самбийский полуостров) or Samland (Земландский полуостров) or Kaliningrad Peninsula (official name, Калининградский полуостров, Kaliningradsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The peninsula is bounded by the Curonian Lagoon to the north-east, the Vistula Lagoon in the southwest, the Pregolya River in the south, and the Deyma River in the east. As Sambia is surrounded on all sides by water, it is technically an island.
Samogitian languageSamogitian (Samogitian: žemaitiu ruoda, žemaitiu kalba, žemaitiu rokunda, žemaičių tarmė) is a dialect of the Lithuanian language, although it is sometimes considered a separate language. Samogitian is spoken mostly in Samogitia (in the western part of Lithuania). The Samogitian language, heavily influenced by Curonian, originated from the East Baltic proto-Samogitian dialect which was close to Aukštaitian dialects. During the 5th century, Proto-Samogitians migrated from the lowlands of central Lithuania, near Kaunas, into the Dubysa and Jūra basins, as well as into the Samogitian highlands.
Władysław II JagiełłoJogaila (jɔˈɡâːɪɫɐ; 1352/1362 - 1 June 1434), later Władysław II Jagiełło (vwaˈdɨswaf jaˈɡjɛwwɔ), was Grand Duke of Lithuania (1377–1434) and then King of Poland (1386–1434), first alongside his wife Jadwiga until 1399, and then sole ruler of Poland. Born a pagan, he converted to Catholicism in 1386 and was baptized as Ladislaus (Władysław) in Kraków, married the young Queen Jadwiga, and was crowned King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło. In 1387, he converted Lithuania to Catholicism.
