Sambia is the peninsula northwest of Kaliningrad
() or
Samland () is a
peninsula in the
Kaliningrad Oblast of
Russia, on the southeastern shore of the
Baltic Sea.
Names
Sambia is named after the
Sambians, an extinct tribe of
Old Prussians.
Samland is the name for peninsula in the
Germanic languages. In
Polish and
Latin 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
German Teutonic Knights during the 13th century and the
Bishopric of Samland became, along with
Bishopric of Pomesania,
Bishopric of Ermland, and
Bishopric of Culm, one of the four
dioceses of
Prussia in 1243. Settlers from the
Holy Roman Empire began colonizing the region, while the Sambian Prussians were gradually assimilated. The peninsula was the last area in which the
Old Prussian language was spoken before becoming extinct at the beginning of the 18th century.
The peninsula became part of the
Duchy of Prussia when the
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights was secularized in 1525. This duchy was inherited by the
Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1618, and the
Hohenzollern monarchs eventually proclaimed the
Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. Sambia became part of the
Province of
East Prussia in 1773. Prussia completed the
unification of Germany with the creation of the
German Empire in 1871.
After
World War I, Sambia and East Prussia became exclaves of
Weimar Germany. In 1945 after
World War II, East Prussia was partitioned between
Poland and the
Soviet Union. Sambia became part of the
Kaliningrad Oblast, named after the nearby city of
Kaliningrad (historic or historic in Slavic languages Kráľovec), and its German inhabitants were
expelled.
Sambia was subsequently repopulated with
Russians and
Belarusians. It has two famous seaside resorts,
Zelenogradsk (
Cranz) and
Svetlogorsk (
Rauschen).
Geography and geology
Baedeker describes Samland as "a fertile and partly-wooded district, with several lakes, lying to the north of Königsberg" (now
Kaliningrad). The highest point, 360 feet, is found twelve miles north of
Pereslavskoe (
Drugehnen) at the ski resort then called the Galtgarben.. 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 near
Kaliningrad. 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 of
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 the
Amber Road led from the
Old Prussian settlements of
Kaup (in Sambia) and
Truso (near
Elbląg) to the
Black Sea and further east.
See also
Footnotes
Category:Peninsulas of Russiaaf:Samlandde:Samlandet:Sambijafa:سامبیا (شبه جزیره)eo:Sambiofr:Sambieit:Sambialt:Sembanl:Samlandno:Samlandnn:Samlandpl:Sambiaru:Самбияsv:Samlandbat-smg:Sembazh:桑比亚半岛
