Baltic Sea Orientation

 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

From Peon, to Pawn, to Active citizen?

We can still learn from the Russian revolution:

                    The Russian revolt of 1905 included mass political unrest. That is there was wide consideration of  the nature of Russian governance. It also included terrorism, strikes, military mutinies, and urban demonstrations. Republicanism and democracy were designed to limit the worst of these happening. Republicanism and democracy both demand considerable practice by a wide spectrum of practice by the citizenry. The overwhelming majority of the Russian people had very little of such practice. The revolt did lead the tzarist government to establish, on paper, a limited constitutional monarchy including a duma. A duma is a parliament. Most Russians did not see these changes as being helpful to them. A great many Russians did not see them at all.

Republic, Democracy, and Governance

                        The use of democracy was designed to prevent the worst of the above. Many Europeans, Americans, and others saw republicanism as an important step toward democracy. Many saw democracy, probably correctly, as beyond the ability of most citizens and prospective citizens. It was hoped that more widespread education and the wide participation in managing a republic would lead to the development of a wide swath of populations with the ability to govern themselves. I have believed that the educated practice of democracy was able to maintain a stable, practical, and adaptable form of governance. In the last several decades I have seen populations less and less ready, willing, or able to maintain their republics.

Tsar Nicolas II and Sergei Witte

                    The October manifesto of 1905 was issued by Nicolas II. Sergei Witte was influential in its production. It pledged to grant civil liberties to the people including: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and provide broad participation in the duma. No law could come into force without the consent of the Duma. The Tsar retained veto power. Good for Witte. This aimed for much improvement.

                      However, the Russian people had not participated in this development. The were not ready for this particular change. They not been party to a conversation, to a dialogue. The change was both to early and too late. To early for the people's state of readiness, and too late to stop their revolt. 

                    Nicolas II was, Nicolai Alexandrovich Romanov. He was the last Tsar of the nearly 400 years of the Romanov dynasty rule of russia. Sergei Witte was a Russian statesman who served as the first prime minister of the Russian empire, replacing the Tsar as head of government. Witte had a good understanding of the use of republicanism, but may have lacked enough understanding of all the powers extent in Russia at that time.

Imperialism, capitalism, republicanism, and democracy

                    As time went on imperialism and capitalism did not seem to work for them and they had not learned to work republicanism or democracy. They did call democracy social democracy in an effort to assure that it was meant for all. A nice step. Citizens of the USA have had many good historical reasons for abdicating republican and democratic responsibilities, duties, practices, and rights. People elsewhere such as those of the rest of the Americas and much of Europe have done some abdicating of their own for reasons of their own. May republican and democratic practices continue.

                    The still well organized powers in Russia brutally suppressed constitutional law, congressional power, freedom of religion, assembly, speech and participation in duma/congress and other such leftist movements.  

                    Tsar Nicolas II abdicated in 1917. The Russian people were unprepared to govern, governance was collapsing. Powerful people tried to use war to pull the country together. They failed. The people began, it is said, began to look to the far right and the far left for working governance. The happy medium, the golden mean was lost. The they knew too little of governance.

                    The Bolsheviks, a small well organized group of persons with some thoughts of governance, took over. They were mostly a small faction of the Marxist Russian Democratic Worker Party. They were well organized and founded the Soviet Union.

                    The Russians had a lot to learn about self-governance and still do. We to still do. Our will to practice being a republic a democracy or anything n between. We seem to lack the will to practice any sort of governance or to even speak of it.

                Still the Russians were a Russian enough people to withstand counter revolution, experimental economic policy, rapid expansion, war, Stalin, and more war. It was brutal. Not everything has been always brutal, but so far war has. Ignorance itself  very often seems brutal. 

                    The great mass of the Russian people seemed to move from being peons to being pawns. Oh, when will the ever learn. When will we ever learn to play our own game? When will we ever learn to take care of ourselves. When will we learn to govern ourselves?

                    There is a lot for all of us to learn and remember. We do not have to make ourselves learn and remember. Practice can do us very well. When we practice being a peon we can become a very good peon. When we practice being a pawn we can become a better pawn. When we practice being a republican we can become a good republican; that is if we remember what a republican is and have learned the nature of a republican. 

                    There is a lot for all of us to do. Thank goodness there are plenty of us to do that which needs doing. We still have memories of co-operation. We also have some knowledge of practice. With a bit more practice in citizenship we can be more effective citizens. We could even practice democracy together so as to learn how to better do democracy. 

                    I could use a good editor.  I could use some good help from you. I could also use a million dollars or even a hundred thousand. Maybe a good night's sleep would do me well. Bye for now.

                    Thank you for reading!

                                                                                        rcs

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