Sambia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with Zambia.
Sambia (German: Samland (help·info); Latin and Polish: Sambia ; Russian: Semlyandsky poluostrov ; Lithuanian: Semba) is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the south-eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.
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[edit] History
Originally, the area was sparsely populated by a Baltic tribe from whom the names Samland and Sambia were derived. In 1243, as Samland, the area became with Pomesania, Warmia and Chełmno Land one of the four dioceses of Prussia controlled by the Teutonic Knights and remained part of Prussia or East Prussia for the next 650 years. It was the last area in which the Old Prussian language was spoken before becoming extinct at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
[edit] Today
Today the peninsula is known as Sambia and is mainly populated by Russians and Belarusians. It has two famous seaside resorts, Zelenogradsk and Svetlogorsk.
[edit] Geography and geology
Baedeker[1] 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 (formerly Drugehnen) at the ski resort then called the Galtgarben.[2]. There also used to be a Samland railway station. Today, the Pereslavskoe railway station serves the "Blue Arrow" railway line from Kaliningrad to Svetlogorsk.
[edit] Amber
Amber has been found in the area for over a thousand years, especially on the coast near Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg). 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 royal Prussian Hohenzollern family and 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.
