History Lithuania
First humans in the Curonian Spit could be dated by early Paleolith approximately 8000 B.C.
They were small groups of roaming hunters, which were following reindeers and elks. However, no signs of their presence have been found in the northern part of the Curonian Spit. Regular settlements in the Curonian Spit appeared just in the beginning of Mesolithic Age about 4000 B.C. Warmer climate attracted people of Narva Culture to the spit. Deciduous woods, marshy lakes, shallow sea lagoons and channels were most suitable for fishing, hunting and gathering forest goods. People used pots and dishes, which they made of clay and mollusc shells. They raised such domestic animals as dogs and pigs, wove mats and started to process amber, which they collected.
The Pamarys or Marine Culture expanded across the Curonian Spit at the end of the middle stone age, i.e. 3000 B.C. It absorbed elements of Rope Ceramics from Central European and local Narva cultures. The Marine Culture gave birth to such western Baltic tribes as Prussians, Jatvingians and Curonians (Kurshes). Some changes in occupations, day-to-day activities, family structure and world outlook appeared. Inhabitants of the Curonian Spit started to raise goats and use horses. For the very first time in the Curonian Spit, people cultivated land and started to grow barley and wheat. Salt extraction by evaporating seawater became a brand new occupation.
The Bronze Age (between 2000 and 500 B.C.) hasn’t been much investigated in the Curonian Spit. The available information allows us to consider that landscape changes in the peninsula and the fall of temperature had a main impact on living conditions. About 1700 B.C. the sea flooded part of the Stone Age settlements. Humans moved to higher places. It is suggested that many of them deserted the Curonian Spit. Their occupations stayed the same. Solitary bronze articles like axes, speartips and pins weren’t very commonly used, but rather showed the position in the social hierarchy. Archaeologists also noticed that the quality of ceramics worsened in the Bronze Age.
Single archaeology findings from the Iron Age (between 500 B.C. and 1300) said very little about this period in the northern part of the spit. It seems that humans deserted the peninsula completely. It could be the consequence of the Movement of Nations. People settled in the areas, which had more fertile soils and were more suitable for agriculture. The northern part of the Curonian Spit didn’t satisfy their needs. However, only a detailed archaeological survey can give clearer picture of this blank page in the peninsula’s history.
The middle of the 13th century was a break line in the history of the Northern Curonian Spit. It is widely described in chronicles, old documents, contemporary notes and maps. The detailed archaeological survey of this period hasn’t been started yet.
DATES
• In 1253 the Order of Swordbearers or Livonia Order built the castle of Memel (Klaipeda); the northern part of the Curonian Spit came under its subordination. Since then Klaipeda and North of the spit had one history.
• In 1328 the Livonia Order passed the Klaipeda diocese to the Teutonic Order. The diocese border between Klaipeda and Sambia divided the Curonian Spit into the northern and southern parts. This border has changed very little since then.
• From 1525 until 1701 the spit belonged to the Dukedom of Prussia, which latter became a kingdom (from 1701 until 1871).
• Many times different countries occupied the Curonian Spit. In 1629 – 1635 it was owned by Swedes, from 1757 until 1762 – by Russians, from 1871 until 1918 it belonged to German Empire. From 1918 till 1923, the Klaipeda district and the northern part of the Curonian Spit served as France protectorate.
• In 1923 these lands were joined to Lithuania and belonged to it until 1939, when Germany occupied the Memel lands again. In 1945, after World War II, the Klaipeda district and Northern Curonian Spit went back to Lithuania, which was occupied by Soviet Russia then. Lithuania got its independence in 1990; the northern part of the Curonian Spit remains as a part of it.
HUMANS
It is suggested, that Sambians and Curonians lived in the vicinity of Nida in the middle of the 13th century. Curonians and Germans are documented from the 14th to 16th centuries. In addition to them, Lithuanians appeared between the 16th and 20th centuries. Residents of the spit suffered from epidemics and natural disasters. Most of settlements in the peninsula were deserted between 1629 and 1635 due to devastation by Swedish mercenaries. New dwellers from the continent occupied empty farmsteads. Emigrants from the Curland between the 17th and 18th centuries influenced the dialect of local Curonians. Slowly it became the New Curonian dialect of Latvian. The multilingual social structure formed in the Curonian Spit in the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. German language was used in state institutions. But among themselves, especially when fishing, Curonians used Curonian. And in church everybody spoke Lithuanian. At the end of the 19th century, Germans started to dominate over the Lithuanians. This process went faster after World War I. Many local citizens evacuated before the front line came in 1945. Just a few of them returned home after the war. Some of them were repressed later and some of them repatriated back to Germany. Residents from other
places of Lithuania settled in the northern part of the Curonian Spit.