Lithuania Minor

Common card · No. 367105

Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical region divided between Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, and one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. It is a subregion of Prussia, where Prussian Lithuanians (or Lietuvininkai) lived, and got its name from the territory's substantial Lithuanian-speaking population. Prior to the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, the main part of the territory later known as Lithuania Minor was inhabited by the tribes of Skalvians and Nadruvians. The land depopulated during the incessant war between Lithuania and the Teutonic Order. The war ended with the Treaty of Melno and the land was repopulated by Lithuanian newcomers, returning refugees, and the remaining indigenous Baltic peoples; the term Lithuania Minor appeared for the first time between 1517 and 1526. With the exception of the Klaipėda Region, which became a mandated territory of the League of Nations in 1920 by the Treaty of Versailles and was unified...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Mantas Volungevicius, CC BY 2.0