Vistula Spit
Vistula Spit | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 54°24′N 19°30′E / 54.400°N 19.500°E | |
Location | Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia |
Offshore water bodies | Gdańsk Bay Vistula Lagoon |
Dimensions | |
• Length | 70 km (43 mi) |
Largest town | Krynica Morska |
The Vistula Spit (
Geography
Situated in the Gdańsk Bay this narrow headland (spit) is on average only few hundred meters wide (widest point is 1.8 km (1.1 mi)) and with the total length of 70 km (43 mi) twice as long as the better known and more populous Hel Peninsula in the western part of the Gdańsk Bay. The Vistula Spit stretches in a north-easterly direction and separates the Vistula Lagoon from the southern Baltic Sea. It is separated from the Sambia Peninsula by the Strait of Baltiysk. The spit consists of 10 to 12 meter high marine sand, accumulated during three dune generations.[2] The highest peaks of the Vistula Spit are Wielbłądzi Grzbiet (49.5 m, 162 ft) on the Polish side of the peninsula and the smaller 25 m (82 ft) high shifting sand dune of Narmeln on the Russian side of the border.[3]
The border between Poland (Pomeranian Voivodeship) and Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) runs across the spit, with its south-western part in Poland and the north-eastern part in Russia. The Polish part includes, from west to east, the villages of Kąty Rybackie, Skowronki, and the town of Krynica Morska, the largest locality on the Polish side, and a popular tourist destination. Since 1991, Krynica Morska includes in its municipal borders formerly separate villages of Przebrno and Nowa Karczma, the latter being the easternmost inhabited locality on the Polish side of the Spit.[4][5]
The Russian part of the Vistula Spit is only inhabited in its northernmost part, which belongs to the port town of Baltiysk and lies on the southern side of the Strait of Baltiysk. The Russian airbase Noytif (originally built as a German Luftwaffe airbase Neu Tief) was located there.[6]
History
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2010) |
Until the 13th century, the spit had navigable straits in the middle, which allowed the city of Elbing (
During
Kursenieki
Historically Vistula Spit was populated by Kursenieki people (also known as Kuršininkai), an Old Prussian tribe, related to modern day Latvians. This nearly extinct Baltic ethnic group once made Vistula Spit, coastal zone of the Sambia Peninsula, and the Curonian Spit their home. In 1649 the Kuršininkai zone of settlement still spanned all the way from Memel (Klaipėda) to Gdańsk encompassing a narrow littoral strip of territory best suitable for their lifestyle, cultural preferences and dominant economic activity (fishing). The majority of Kuršininkai were eventually assimilated by the Germans. Only on the Curonian Spit a few scattered rural settlements survive to the present day. The Kuršininkai were considered Latvians until after World War I when Latvia gained independence from the Russian Empire, a consideration based on linguistic arguments. This was also the rationale for Latvian claims over the Curonian Spit, Memel, and other territories of Prussia in the aftermath of the WWI. Those claims would later be dropped.
Transport
The Polish side of the peninsula is accessible using Voivodeship road 501 . There is at present (2016) no border crossing between Poland and Russia on the peninsula.
Vistula Spit canal
In 2019, the Polish government started the building of a ship canal across the peninsula, permitting ships to enter the Vistula Lagoon and the port of Elbląg, bypassing the transit route through the Russian Strait of Baltiysk.[10] The canal was opened in September 2022.
See also
- Vistula Spit canal
- Language: Nehrungisch
References
- ^ Kramarska, R Uścinowicz, S Zachowicz J and Kawińska M, Origin and evolution of the Puck Lagoon in Journal of Coastal Research Issue 22, 2005, P187
- ISBN 978-1-4020-8638-0.
- ^ "Wegen Kaliningrad: Polen baggert eigenen Ostseekanal". MDR. September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
- ^ Wolfgang Albrecht Stromer von Reichenbach (1676). Speculum Germaniae oder ein kurtzer geographischer Bericht von dem gesammaten Teutschland. pp. 4–.
- ^ "Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 22 grudnia 1990 r. w sprawie utworzenia, zniesienia, zmiany granic, nazw i ustalenia siedzib niektórych gmin w województwach: bielskim, bydgoskim, elbląskim, gdańskim, katowickim, kieleckim, krośnieńskim, nowosądeckim i siedleckim oraz nadania statutu miasta". isap.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 2021-06-04.
- ISBN 978-3-540-42937-1.
- ^ Górski, Karol (1949). Związek Pruski i poddanie się Prus Polsce: zbiór tekstów źródłowych (in Polish). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni. pp. 51, 56.
- ^ Górski, pp. 88-90, 206-207
- ISSN 0137-5377.
- ^ RDLP: wycinka na Mierzei Wiślanej jest zakończona
External links
- Vistula Spit (in Polish and German)
- Russia's Strategic Strip Of Sand and Sea Faces Tourist Assault on YouTube, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, published on Mar 28, 2019