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1. SOME FACTS ABOUT THE
BALTIC SEA
SOME FACTS ABOUT
THE BALTIC SEA

2. THE BALTIC SEA IS THE YOUNGEST SEA IN THE WORLD AND ITS ECOSYSTEM
IS ONE OF THE MOST UNIQUE MARINE ECOSYSTEMS ON EARTH. THE BALTIC
STATES ARE BOUNDED ON THE WEST AND NORTH BY THE BALTIC SEA, WHICH
GIVES THE REGION ITS NAME. THE BALTIC REGION IS DOTTED WITH MORE THAN
7,000 LAKES, RIVERS, COUNTLESS PEAT BOGS, SWAMPS, AND MARSHES.
THE LATVIAN AND LITHUANIAN PEOPLE SPEAK LANGUAGES BELONGING TO
THE BALTIC BRUNCH OF THE INDO-EUROPEAN LINGUISTIC FAMILY AND ARE
COMMONLY KNOWN AS BALTS.

3. ALTHOUGH THE BALTIC SEA IS NOT VERY DEEP OR STORMY,
THERE ARE NO DANGEROUS REEFS, BUT THERE ARE
THOUSANDS OF SUNKEN SHIPS LYING ON ITS BOTTOM. THE
ABUNDANCE OF SIMILAR FINDINGS ON THE BALTIC'S SHALLOW
SEABED SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISING: THE GEOPOLITICAL
INTERESTS OF MANY COUNTRIES, VARIOUS FIGHTS,
SHIPWRECKS HAPPENED IN THIS INLAND EUROPEAN SEA.

4. IT IS KNOWN FROM SCANDINAVIAN SOURCES THAT THE VIKINGS CAME TO OUR
LANDS QUITE OFTEN, AND THAT DURING THE 11TH AND 13TH CENTURIES, THE
CURONIAN PIRATES REACHED THE DANISH COAST. HOWEVER, NO VIKING SHIPS
HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED YET.
THE BALTIC TRIBE OF AISTIANS THAT SETTLED DOWN IN THE BALTIC SEA SHORE
BUILT SHIPS AND USED THEM FOR TRADE AS WELL AS FOR MILITARY PURPOSES.
FURTHERMORE, ACCORDING TO ANNALS, IN THE 13TH CENTURY OTHER BALTIC
TRIBES, THE CORONIANS AND SAMOGITIANS, TRIED TO DESTROY THE CASTLE OF
RIGA COMING BY SHIPS. IT IS ALSO KNOWN ABOUT THE LITHUANIANS’ VICTORY IN
THE SHIP BATTLE IN NEMUNAS RIVER AT THE TIME WHEN DUKE VYTENIS RULED
THE DUTCHY OF LITHUANIA.

5. • DURING THE BRONZE AGE, ROUGHLY 1250 BC, THE
WESTERN PART OF THIS BALTIC REGION BECAME
KNOWN IN THE CIVILIZED AREAS OF THE
MEDITERRANEAN BASIN AS THE “LAND OF AMBER”
• AMBER, FOSSILIZED RESINS THAT ORIGINATE FROM
VARIOUS TREE AND OTHER PLANT SOURCES, HAS BEEN
USED FOR PERSONAL ADORNMENT AND OTHER
PURPOSES FOR SEVERAL THOUSAND YEARS. IT HAS
BEEN FOUND IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD, BUT
THE MAIN HISTORICAL SOURCE IS THE LAND THAT
SURROUNDS THE BALTIC SEA
• CURRENTLY, MORE THAN 250 SPECIES OF AMBER ARE
KNOWN IN THE WORLD AND NEW ONES ARE
DISCOVERED EVERY YEAR. THE ONLY BALTIC AMBER
CONTAINS NO HEAVY METAL IMPURITIES, MAKING IT
EXTREMELY SUITABLE FOR MEDICAL AND COSMETIC
USE. IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION, IN PARTICULAR, 80% OF
THE WORLD'S AMBER IS FOUND

6. • THE AMBER ROAD WAS AN ANCIENT TRADE
ROUTE FOR THE TRANSFER OF AMBER FROM COASTAL
AREAS OF THE NORTH SEAAND THE BALTIC SEA TO
THE MEDITARRANIAN SEA. PREHISTORIC TRADE
ROUTES BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN
EUROPE WERE DEFINED BY THE AMBER TRADE. AS AN
IMPORTANT COMMODITY, SOMETIMES DUBBED "THE
GOLD OF THE NORTH", AMBER WAS TRANSPORTED
FROM THE NORTH SEAAND BALTIC SEA COASTS
OVERLAND BY WAY OF
THE VISTULAAND DNIEPER RIVERS TO ITALY, GREECE,
THE BLACK SEA, SYRIAAND EGYPT OVER A PERIOD OF
THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
IN ROMAN TIMES, A MAIN ROUTE RAN SOUTH FROM
THE BALTIC COAST (MODERN LITHUANIA), THE
ENTIRE NORTH-SOUTH LENGTH OF MODERN DAY
POLAND, THROUGH THE LAND OF THE
MODERN CZECK REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA) TO THE
HEAD OF THE ADRIATIC SEA.

7. A CHARACTERISTIC ELEMENT OF THE BALTIC LANDSCAPE IS THE
CURONIAN SPIT. ITS ADORNMENT IS THE DUNES OF THE BLOWN
SAND; SOME OF THEM ARE TALLER THAN 60 METERS. THE SAND
ON THE SPIT COVERS 12% OF THE TERRITORY AND 70% IS
COVERED WITH FORESTS (IT IS THE MOST WOODED PLACE IN
LITHUANIA).

8. FROM ANCIENT TIMES, FISHERS IN THE CURONIAN LAGOON FISHED
FROM WOODEN BOATS CALLED KURENKAHNS BECAUSE OF THEIR
FISHING METHOD AND USED NETS. THESE SHIPS WERE USED MAINLY
FOR FISHING. KURENKAHNS ARE FLAT BOTTOM BOATS WHICH WERE
USED EVEN BY VIKINGS FOR TRAVELLING AROUND SHALLOW BAY OR
RIVERS. THESE BOATS HAVE NO KEELS BUT LATTERAL CENTREBOARDS
RAISING WHICH THE BOAT CAN TRAVEL BY COMPLETELY SHALLOW
WATER.

9. MOST OF KURENKAHN IS OFTEN DECORATED BY "CROWN", I.E.
CURONIAN PENNANT MADE OF WOODEN TABLE AND COLOURED. THESE
UNIQUE DECORATIONS, CURONIAN PENNANTS, WERE KNOWN LONG
TIME AGO, EVEN AT TIMES OF VIKINGS, BUT THEY SPREAD WIDELY
ACROSS ALL SEACROSS AFTER NEW LAW ISSUED IN 1844 WHICH
CONTROLLED FISHERING IN THE CURONIAN LAGOON. EVERY VILLAGE
HAD TO CATCH FISH ONLY IN OWN FISHING AREAS.

10. • IN THE 13TH TO 16TH CENTURIES, THE STRONGEST
ECONOMIC FORCE IN NORTHERN EUROPE WAS THE
HANSAETIC LEAGUE, A FEDERATION OF MERCHANT
CITIES AROUND THE BALTIC SEA AND THE NORTH SEA.
• IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, RUSSIA AND
PRUSSIA BECAME THE LEADING POWERS OVER THE
SEA.
• WORLD WAR I WAS PARTLY FOUGHT IN THE BALTIC
SEA. AFTER 1920 POLAND WAS CONNECTED TO THE
BALTIC SEA BY THE POLISH CORRIDOR AND
ENLARGED THE PORT OF GDYNIA IN RIVALRY WITH
THE PORT OF THE FREE CITY OF DANSIG.
• BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF WORLD WAR II ON 22
MARCH 1939 THE REGION OF KLAIPĖDA WAS
OCCUPIED BY GERMANY. ONCE THE WAR STARTED
LITHUANIAN NAVAL SHIPS WERE FORCED TO LEAVE
KLAIPĖDA FOR LIEPAJA HARBOR IN LATVIA.
• DURING WORLD WAR II, GERMANY RECLAIMED ALL OF
THE SOUTHERN AND MUCH OF THE EASTERN SHORE
BY OCCUPYING POLAND AND THE BALTIC STATES.

11. AFTER THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENCE ON 11 MARCH 1990, LITHUANIA
HAD TO RE-ESTABLISH ITS SOVEREIGNTY AS WELL AS ORGANIZE THE
STATE'S DEFENSE SYSTEM, WHICH FORMED THE LITHUANIAN ARMED
FORCES. ON 4 JULY 1992 THE LITHUANIAN NAVY WAS RE-ESTABLISHED.

12. • MAIN TASKS OF THE LITHUANIAN
NAVAL FORCE ARE:
• CONTROL, PROTECT AND DEFEND
TERRITORIAL SEA AND EXCLUSIVE
ECONOMIC ZONE OF THE REPUBLIC OF
LITHUANIA.
• UNDERWATER, SURFACE
SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL OF
TERRITORIAL WATERS.
• MINE-CLEARING OPERATIONS.
• ANTI-TERRORISM ACTIVITIES AT SEA.
• PROTECTION AND CONTROL OF
SHIPPING AND SEA LINE OF
COMMUNICATIONS.

13. IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE BALTIC SEA, THERE ARE
ABUNDANT FISH, SUCH AS LAMPRAYS. THEY ARE ALSO
CAUGHT IN LITHUANIA. FROM ANCIENT TIMES THERE
WERE SPECIAL WAYS OF MAKING LAMPREYS IN
POMERANIAN REGION AND KLAIPEDA. THE READY-MADE
LAMPREYS FROM KLAIPEDA WERE TRANSPORTED TO
GERMANY.

14. UNFORTUNATELY, THE BALTIC SEA IS ONE OF THE MOST
AFFLICTED SEAS IN THE WORLD. THE MAIN PROBLEMS THAT
THE BALTIC SEA HAS BEEN SUFFERING IN RECENT DECADES
INCLUDE FISH HARVESTING, OIL SPILLS AND POLLUTION FROM
SURROUNDING AREAS

15. IN 1913, A BOTTLE WITH A MESSAGE INSIDE WAS THROWN INTO THE BALTIC SEA IN
GERMANY. THE BOTTLE WAS THROWN INTO THE SEA BY 20-YEAR-OLD BAKER SON
RICHARD PLATZ. ONE FISHERMAN PULLED A BOTTLE OF BEER FROM THE BALTIC
SEA NEAR KIEL IN 2014. A GENEALOGY EXPERT LIVING IN BERLIN HAS FOUND MR
ERDMANN, THE GRANDDAUGHTER OF A SENDER. ERDMANN TOLD NEWSPAPERS
THAT THIS UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY INSPIRED HER TO REVIEW FAMILYALBUMS
AND LEARN MORE ABOUT HER GRANDFATHER.

16. • HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=KFEJSQ
FJGAY
VIEW OF THE BALTIC
SEA