The Baltic Sea reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Baltic Sea

A newer version of this article is available: see Baltic Sea at Schools Wikipedia
The Baltic Sea is in northeastern Europe, bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of east and central Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat and the North Sea by way of the Öresund, the Great Belt and the Small Belt.

It is known as the East Sea in many of the languages of Continental Europe, including Danish (Østersøen), German (Ostsee), Finnish (Itämeri), Dutch (Oostzee), Norwegian (Østersjøen), and Swedish (Östersjön). In Estonian it is called the West Sea (Läänemeri). Its English name of Baltic Sea is mirrored in Latin (Mare Balticum), French (Mer Baltique), Italian (Mare Baltico), Polish (Morze Bałtyckie or Bałtyk), Kashubian (Bôłt), Russian (Bawtiyskoye Morye ( Балтийское море)), Latvian (Baltijas jūra) and Lithuanian (Baltijos jūra).

The Baltic SeaEnlarge

The Baltic Sea

Table of contents
1 History
2 Subdivisions
3 Economy
4 Countries
5 Islands
6 Cities
7 See also
8 External links

History

The Baltic Sea somewhat resembles a riverbed, with two tributaries (the Gulf of Finland and Gulf of Bothnia). From geological surveys it has become apparent that there indeed was a river in the area in the Pleistocene: the Eridanos.

At the time of the Romans, the Baltic Sea was known as the Mare Suebicum or Mare Sarmaticum. Tacitus in his AD 98 Agricola and Germania described the Mare Suebicum, named for the Suebi tribe, during the spring months, as a brackish sea when the ice on the Baltic Sea breaks apart and chunks float about.

In the early middle ages, Vikings of Scandinavia fought for power over the sea with Slavic Pomeranians. Later on, the strongest economic force in Northern Europe became the Hanseatic league, which used the Baltic Sea to establish trade routes between its member cities. In the 16th and early 17th centuries, Poland, Denmark and Sweden fought wars for Dominium Maris Baltici (Ruling over the Baltic sea). Eventually, it was the Swedish empire that virtually encompassed the Baltic Sea. In Sweden the sea was then referred to as Mare Nostrum Balticum. In XVIII century Russia and Prussia became the leading powers over the sea. After unification of Germany in 1871, whole southern coast became German. First world war was fought on the Baltic sea. After 1920 Poland returned to the Baltic Sea, and Polish ports Gdynia and Gdansk became leading ones. During the WWII Germany almost made a Baltic sea its internall lake. After 1945 the sea was a border between conflicted military blocks: in case of military conflict in Germany, parallel to Soviet offensive towards Atlantic ocean, communists Polish fleet was prepared to invade Danish isles. Fortunately it never happenned. In 1999 the huge bridge over the Sound limited the Baltic sea to the middle size vessels. In mean time, Baltic sea is the main trade route for export of Russian oil.

The Baltic Sea starts to get very rough with the October storms. These winter storms have been the cause of many shipwrecks. In 1945 the Baltic Sea became a mass grave to drowned people on torpedoed refugee ships. But thanks to the cold brackish water, the sea is a time capsule for centuries old shipwrecks.

Subdivisions

The northern part of the Baltic Sea is known as the Gulf of Bothnia out of which the northernmost part is referred to as the Bay of Bothnia. Immediately to the south of it lies the Sea of Åland. The Gulf of Finland connects the Baltic Sea with St. Petersburg. The Northern Baltic Sea lies between the Stockholm area, southwestern Finland, and Estonia. The Western and Eastern Gotland Basins form the major parts of the Central Baltic Sea. The Gulf of Riga lies between Riga and Saaremaa. Bay of Gdansk lies east of the Hel peninsula on the Polish coast and west of Sambia in Kaliningrad Oblast. Bay of Pomerania lies north of the islands of Usedom and Wolin, east of Rügen. Bornholm Basin is the area east of Bornholm and Arkona Basin extends from Bornholm to the Danish isles of Falster and Zealand. Between Falster and the German coast lie Bay of Mecklenburg and Bay of Lubeck. The westernmost part of the Baltic Sea is Bay of Kiel. The Sound, the Belts, and the Kattegat connect the Baltic Sea with Skagerrak and the North Sea. The confluence of these two seas at Skagen on the northern tip of Denmark is a visual spectacle visited by many tourists each year.

Economy

In 1999 the huge Öresund Bridge limited the Baltic sea to the middle size vessels. In mean time, Baltic sea is the main trade route for export of Russian oil.

Countries

Main article: Baltic Sea countries

Islands

Main article: List of islands in the Baltic Sea

Cities

The biggest coastal cities:

Important ports (though not being big cities):

See also

External links