Baltic region

Baltic Sea and surrounding countries

The terms Baltic Sea Region, Baltic Rim countries (or simply Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe.

Etymology[edit]

The first to name it the Baltic Sea (Latin: Mare Balticum) was 11th century German chronicler Adam of Bremen.

Denotation[edit]

Lennart Meri, the President of Estonia, reconstructs the history of Estonia and the Baltic Sea region in his 1976 book Silver White (Estonian: Hõbevalge).^[1]

Depending on the context the Baltic Sea Region might stand for:

• The countries that have shorelines along the Baltic Sea: Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Sweden.
• The group of countries presently referred to by the shorthand Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.^{[citation needed]}
• Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, exclaved from the remainder of Russia. ^[2]
• Historic East Prussia and the historical lands of Livonia, Courland and Estonia (Swedish Estonia and Russian Estonia).^{[citation needed]}
• The former Baltic governorates of Imperial Russia: Today's Estonia and Latvia (excluding parts of modern Eastern Latvia that were part of Vitebsk Governorate).^{[citation needed]}
• The countries on the historical British trade route through the Baltic Sea, i.e. including the Scandinavian Peninsula (Sweden and Norway).^{[citation needed]}
• The Council of the Baltic Sea States, comprised by the countries with shorelines along the Baltic Sea, in addition to Norway, Iceland and the rest of European Union.^{[citation needed]}
• The islands of the Euroregion B7 Baltic Islands Network, which includes the islands and archipelagos Åland (autonomous), Bornholm (Denmark), Gotland (Sweden), Hiiumaa (Estonia), Öland (Sweden), Rügen (Germany), and Saaremaa (Estonia).^{[citation needed]}
• On historic Scandinavian and German maps, the Balticum sometimes includes only the historically or culturally German-dominated lands, or provinces, of Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Latgale (corresponding to modern Estonia and Latvia), as well as sometimes Pomerania, Kashubia and East Prussia, while the historically less-Germanized Lithuania is occasionally excluded.^{[citation needed]}
• In geology, the Baltic Shield includes Fennoscandia, parts of northwestern Russia and the northern Baltic Sea.^{[citation needed]}

See also[edit]

• Baltia (Roman mythology)
• Baltic states
• Baltoscandia
• Council of the Baltic Sea States
• List of Intangible Cultural Heritage elements in Northern Europe
• Nordic Estonia
• Northern Dimension
• North Sea Region

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Norbert Götz. "Spatial Politics and Fuzzy Regionalism: The Case of the Baltic Sea Area." Baltic Worlds 9 (2016) 3: 54–67.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Baltic region.

• Council of the Baltic Sea States official website
• The Baltic Sea Information Centre
• EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy (EUSBSR) - a strategy aiming to accelerate the integration of the region
• The Baltic University Programme - a University network focused on a sustainable development in the Baltic Sea region.
• Baltic Sea Region Spatial Planning Initiative VASAB
• Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013
• Vifanord – a digital library that provides scientific information on the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as the Baltic region as a whole.