Courland

Kurland, Courland, Couronia, Curonia, or Kurzeme is a former Baltic province of the Teutonic Order state in Livonia (ca. 1200?1560), Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth (1560?1795) and Imperial Russia (1795?1918), lying between 55° 45? and 57° 45? North and 21° and 27° East, now part of Latvia.

Geography

Courland was bounded on the northeast by the river Daugava (Duna), separating it from the districts of Latgale (part of Vitebsk province in the times of Imperial Russia) and Livonia; on the north by the Gulf of Riga, on the west by the Baltic Sea, and on the south by the Prussian province of East Prussia and the Russian district of Kovno. The area comprised 10,535 square miles (27,286 km²), of which 101 square miles (262 km²) comprised lakes. The surface is generally low and undulating, and the coastlands flat and marshy. The interior was characterised by wooded dunes, covered with pine, fir, birch and oak, with swamps and lakes, and fertile patches between. The surface nowhere rises more than 700 feet (213 m) above sea level.

Related Topics:
Daugava - Latgale - Vitebsk - Livonia - Gulf of Riga - Baltic Sea - Prussian - East Prussia - Kovno - 27,286 km² - Pine - Fir - Birch - Oak

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The Mitau plain divided Courland into two parts, of which the western was fertile and thickly inhabited, except in the north, while the eastern was less fertile and thinly inhabited.

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Courland is drained by nearly one hundred rivers, of which only three, the Daugava, the Lielupe (Aa) and the Venta (Windau), are navigable. They all flow north-westwards and discharge into the Baltic Sea. Owing to the numerous lakes and marshes, the climate is damp and often foggy, as well as changeable, and the winter is severe. Agriculture was the chief occupation, the principal crops being rye, barley, oats, wheat, flax and potatoes.

Related Topics:
Lielupe - Venta - Baltic Sea - Agriculture - Rye - Barley - Oat - Wheat - Flax - Potato

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