Prussia (region)

Prussia (German: Preußen, Lithuanian: Prūsija, Polish: Prusy) is a historical region stretching from Gdańsk Bay to the end of Curonian Spit on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea, and extending inland as far as Masuria. The territory and inhabitants were described by Tacitus in Germania in AD 98, where Suebi, Goths and other Germanic people lived on both sides of the Vistula River, adjacent to Aesti (further east). About 800–900 years later the Aesti were named Old Prussians, who since AD 997 repeatedly successfully defended against take-over attempt by the newly created Duchy of the Polans. The territory of the Prussians and neighboring Couronians and Livonians was in the 1230s under Papal Order established as Teutonic Order State. Prussia was politically divided in the period 1466-1772, with western Prussia under protection of the crown of Poland-Lithuania and eastern Prussia a Polish fief until 1660. The unity of both parts of Prussia remained preserved by retaining its borders, citizenship and authonomy until western and eastern Prussia were also politically re-united under the Kingdom of Prussia. It is famous for many lakes, as well as forests and hills. Since the military conquest by the Soviet Army in 1945 and the expulsion of the inhabitants it divided between northern Poland (most of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship), Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, and southwestern Lithuania (Klaipėda Region). The former German state of Prussia (1701–1947) derived its name from the region.