Let's Jump Right In!
The Baltic Sea opens on the Atlantic Ocean and is in the northwestern part of Europe. I has a complex geological history. It seems best to begin with a bit of its geographic present. It may be best to put on a wetsuit first. The water is rarely warm.
It has been called a brackish inland sea with a geological history which has proven difficult to clarify. We know that it is is a sea marginal to the Atlantic and that it drains into that ocean through the Danish Straits by way of the little Kattagat Sea. Some of its major features include the Gulf Bothnia, the Bay of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga, and the Bay of Gdansk.
It is brackish because the following major rivers flow into it include the Oder, Vistula, Neman, Daugava, and the Neva. Brackishness is aided by rainfall and snow, and he flow of other smaller rivers and streams; and also the salty waters of the Atlantic.
In the Baltic Sea, not far from its entrance to the Atlantic Ocean, one may encounter Kattagat, an area of a rather shallow sea bounded by the Jutland Peninsula in the west, the Danish Straits, the rest of the Baltic Sea, and the shores of sweden to the east.
The Gulf of Bothnia:
The word bothnia to refer to lowland shores or to low lands in general. The Gulf of Bothnia is bordered by lowland shores. The Gulf is not shallow, but the land beneath it continues to rise since its release from its Ice Age Burden of ice. The Gulf still freezes over in winter, but that may change in our lifetime.
I will probably feel the need to do more research on the history of Sweden and Finland find much about the history of this Gulf. When you have knowledge of this Gulf feel free to inform us about it or of anything else related to the content of this essay, at our "comments" app. I will add now that Ottar, a Viking adventurer, is said to have referred to this Gulf of Bothnia, in the 9th century, as the Kven Sea. In the 15th century, a Danish navigator referred to it as the Mare Gotticus. Bothnia Bay may be called a northern extension of the Gulf of Bothnia.
The Gulf of Finland:
The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost branch of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland on the north and Estonia on the south, and to Saint Petersburg, Russia, where the the river Neva flows into it. Other major cities on this gulf are Helsinki and Tallinn.
In the early post Ice Age the Gulf of Finland was preceded by the Littoriana Sea. The Littoriana stood as high as 30 feet above the the level of the sea in about the year 2,000. By some 4,000 years ago that sea had reeded to near present levels.
Archaeology:
Archaeologists have found that the lands along the Gulf of Finland began to be settled by 9,000 BC by people physically very much like you and I. To me, archaeology is a kind of continuation of history and writing of its discoveries is much like writing history. So, we do seem well oriented toward the doings and happenings of those who precede us. Of course with new discovery and research our orientation is likely to change. We continue to learn. As recently as 1905 AD, eleven neolithic settlements had been found along the Gulf of Finland coast. The early cultures found there have been named the Finnic, Eesti/Chud, Votes, and Korela.
Later, roughly between 700 AD and 900 AD along the Neva river and the Gulf of Finland settled East slaves, Ilman Slavs, and Krivichs. They practiced agriculture and animal husbandry. Between about 7oo AD 1,200 AD the river Neva and the gulf were part of the waterway from Scandinavia to the Byzantine empire. I will consider the sentence above to be fact until I find strong evidence to the contrary.
Historic information for this area becomes more abundant from about 850 AD on. From that time on this geographic are may be said to have been held in Russian hands until 1219. At that time the Danes took control. During this time the city of Reva was established in what has been called the area of Tallinn. There is a lot to be learned about this area. From 700 and 800 documentation became increasingly abundant.
The Gulf of Riga:
The Gulf of Riga lies between modern Latvia and Estonia on the Baltic sea. We can learn more of this gulf through some study of the histories of Latvia and Estonia. A look at the history of the cities of Riga, Parnu, Jumala, and Kuressaare can increase our understanding.
The Bay of Gdansk:
The Bay of Gdansk has a lot of history which may include my Prussia, Polish, and German ancestors. The Vistula river flows into this bay. Some consider that this Bay of Gdansk as extending to Russian Kaliningrad and to the coast pf Lithuania.
There be Kursenieki:
There are Kursennieki on the bay of Gdansk. They have been therelong. They call their language Curonian. Some linguists have seen it as related to Latvian. Kursenieki have also called Prussian Latvians. Who are these people? They live on a well visited seacoast and near the outlet of a navigable river. So, they are likely to have been long subject to much social and cultural exchange.
Kattagat:
Let's travel back to where the Baltic Sea meets the Atlantic ocean. Near there is the little Kattagat sea. The name Kattagat may be of Swedish origin. I seem to have heard of a queen Kattagat who may have been a Swede. This little sea is certainly Scandinavian area.
Jutlandic Peninsula:
The Jutlandic Peninsula juts into the Kattagal Sea an is part of Jutland. The peninsula was once called the Cimbric or the Cimbrian Peninsula. I is now a part of Denmark.Yutes and Cimbri have lived there.
Jute was the name for some of the powerful Germanic invaders of England. Remember the Romans once calle everyone in the area not only Germanic, but just plain German. I am not certain what to call the people of then Peninsula. might have called them Norsemen, Vikings, or Scandinavians. It seems that a few others feel a similar confusion. But, there is a reason the Peninsula is called Jute. It was a area of a lot of activity before, during, and after the Roman empire. Anyway, there the peninsula is at the Kattagat Sea.
The Cimbri:
Let's not pass the Cimbri too quickly. The name is not very familiar to me, but it does appear that they were on the Jute peninsula before the Jutes and the name is familiar. Some authorities have thought that were what we have called Gaulish or Celtic, that makes them Indo-Europeans. I am not the only to have called it the Cimbrian Peninsula. There may well be something of interest to learn. I may have heard Cimbri mentioned in relation to Irish prehistory. Perhaps we can learn more of things Cimbri. So, far I see no documentary evidence.
I do find that there is evidence for an amazingly long time of seasonal migration from a Baltic sea area, and perhaps England and Ireland to the Iberian peninsula and perhaps even to the Balearic Islands. So, there seems to have been ancient and regular travel from this peninsula to that one; Cimbric to Iberian and back. It sounds right, but I am surprised, even pleasantly amazed.
There was even a Cimbrian military expedition by the Cimbria against 1st century Rome! Seems I remember some Irish got into something with Rome along with a number of Phoenicians. Who are these Cimbri? Who were they? Ah, history.
Now I am just finding that there Were Belgians of Cimbrian origen. The Romans may have called the German, but they called everyone in the area German. I am less than sure of who the Celts or Gauls were other than that they were almost certainly what we have called Indo-European. And I do remember reading that a people who could have been Cimbrians, but who some called Celts, joined Carthaginians to resist Rome.
OK, I had best stop here. Until I get some more information, or I hear from you. Remember blog sites are meant to be interactive.
Please help me to correct my errors and mistakes or to add some info. Use a "comments" app or my email.
Thank you for reading.
rcs
No comments:
Post a Comment