Page 37 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

THE HIST OR Y OF EST ONIA , LA T VIA AND LITHU ANIA 35

THE HISTORY OF

ESTONIA, LATVIA

AND LITHUANIA

The history of the Baltic region begins in 3000 BC with the arrival of the early Baltic
tribes, the ancestors of today’s Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians. Despite
a shared experience of conquest, foreign occupation and struggles for
independence, the three countries have preserved their distinct cultural
identities, emerging in 1991 as sovereign states.

Archaeological evidence sug gests that the coast, the Prussians beyond the Nemunas
Baltic region was inhabited as early as river, the Zemgalians in central Latvia and
10,000 BC, at the end of the Ice Age. The the Selonians and Latgalians further east.
earliest occu pied site, at Kernavė in For several centuries, the Balts remained
Lithuania, dates back to 9000 BC. These firmly rural, living off the land. Until the early
Stone Age people used bows, arrows and 1200s, there were simi lar but un related
spears for hunting and fishing. It was not settlements all along the coast, from what is
until 3000 BC, however, that the ancestors now Klaipėda as far as St Petersburg. There
of the current inhabitants began to arrive. are very few records of life at that time as
Sur viving by hunting and fishing, the the local communities used wood rather
Finno-Ugrians – the future Finns and than stone for all their fortifications and
Estonians – were among the first to drift housing. Archaeological research has shown
across Europe from Asia. They were pushed that there were extensive trading networks
back by the Indo-European groups that across the sea from this area to Sweden and
arrived in 2000 BC. The Indo-Europeans, Germany and inland towards Russia. The
who intro duced crop cultivation and little written material from that time talks
animal rearing to the traditional modes about the Balts as good boat-builders and
of subsistence, mingled with the existing dreaded pirates.
groups, eventually forming the races At a time when the rest of Europe had
now known collectively as the Balts. embraced Christianity, the Balts staunchly
During the first centuries AD, distinctive practised paganism. After haphazard
regional tribes began to form. These attempts by small groups of Western
were the Samogitians (Low landers) and European missionaries to convert the area
Aukštaitijans (High landers) in western and to Christianity failed, the first Baltic crusade
eas tern Lithuania, the Curonians along the was sanc tioned by Pope Innocent III in 1198.

Pope Innocent III (1160–1216)
10,000 Earliest 3000 Finno- 98 Roman 1198 The first Baltic
traces of human Ugrians arrive writer Tacitus 700 Vikings use Latvian crusade sanctioned
life in the in the region describes the rivers to trade with by Pope Innocent III
Baltic region “Aestii” people Persia and Turkey
10,000 BC 5000 BC AD 1 AD 600 AD 1190
9000 Hunting- 2000 Indo- 1009 The name
fishing groups European 100 Romans begin trading in Lithuania appears
flourish in Kernavė groups arrive amber along the Baltic coast in written form for
the first time
Early Neolithic bone objects, Narva, Estonia
Detail from Jan Matejko’s Battle of Grünwald (1878) showing Grand Duke Vytautas defeating the Teutonic Knights in 1410