- Sambia
Sambia ( _ru. Земландский полуостров, "Zemlandsky poluostrov") or Samland (Audio|De-Neumark.ogg|listen) is a
peninsula in theKaliningrad Oblast ofRussia , on the southeastern shore of theBaltic Sea .Names
Sambia is named after the
Sambians , an extinct tribe ofOld Prussians . "Samland" is the German as well as otherGermanic language s name for the peninsula. In Polish andLatin name it is called "Sambia", while the Lithuanian name is "Semba".History
Sambia was originally sparsely populated by the
Sambians . The region was conquered by the GermanTeutonic Knights during the 13th century and theBishopric of Samland became, along withBishopric of Pomesania ,Bishopric of Ermland , andBishopric of Culm , one of the fourdiocese s of Prussia in 1243. Settlers from theHoly Roman Empire began colonizing the region, while the Sambian Prussians were gradually assimilated. The peninsula was the last area in which theOld Prussian language was spoken before becoming extinct at the beginning of the 18th century.The peninsula became part of the
Duchy of Prussia when theMonastic State of the Teutonic Knights was secularized in 1525. This duchy was inherited by theMargraviate of Brandenburg in 1618, and the Hohenzollern monarchs eventually proclaimed theKingdom of Prussia in 1701. Sambia became part of the Province ofEast Prussia in 1773. Prussia completed theunification of Germany with the creation of theGerman Empire in 1871.After
World War I , Sambia and East Prussia became exclaves of Weimar Germany. In 1945 afterWorld War II , East Prussia was partitioned betweenPoland and theSoviet Union . Sambia became part of theKaliningrad Oblast , named after the nearby city ofKaliningrad (historic _de.Königsberg or historic in Slavic languages Kráľovec), and its German inhabitants were expelled.Sambia was subsequently repopulated with
Russians andBelarusians . It has two famous seaside resorts,Zelenogradsk ("Cranz") and Svetlogorsk ("Rauschen").Geography and geology
Baedeker [Karl Baedeker , "Northern Germany", Leipzig, London and New York: 1904 (fourteenth revised edition (English language)), pp.177-8.] describes Samland as "a fertile and partly-wooded district, with several lakes, lying to the north of Königsberg" (nowKaliningrad ). The highest point, 360 feet, is found twelve miles north ofPereslavskoe ("Drugehnen") at the ski resort then called the Galtgarben. [Some place names given here are in German.] . There also used to be a Samland railway station. Today, the Pereslavskoe railway station serves the "Blue Arrow" railway line from Kaliningrad to Svetlogorsk.Amber
Amber has been found in the area for over a thousand years, especially on the coast nearKaliningrad . In 1900, amber was chiefly exported to the East for crafting into pipe mouthpieces and ornaments. Until 1918, the right to collect amber was restricted to the Hohenzollern dynasty Dubious|date=April 2008of Prussia; visitors to Samland's beaches were forbidden to pick up any fragments they found. It is said that an ancient trade route known as theAmber Road led from the Old Prussian settlements of Kaup (in Sambia) andTruso (nearElbląg ) to theBlack Sea and further east.See also
*
Curonian Lagoon
*Curonian Spit
*Vistula Lagoon Footnotes
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