Ebook: Kuršiai: Genties kultūra laidosenos duomenimis. Baltų archeologijos paroda. Katalogas = The Curonians: The Tribe Culture According to the Burial Data. Baltic Archaeological Exhibition. Catalogue

Text in Lithuanian and English.

The Curonians are a Baltic tribe formed approximately in the 5th - early 6th cent. at the south-western Baltic seaside, in the area of archaeological culture of graves with stone circles. At that time the lands inhabited by the Curonians were washed by the Baltic Sea in the west and limited by the rivers Minija and Venta in the east. The territory of the tribe gradually expanded northwards. In the 7th cent., the Scandinavians began to settle in the Curonian lands. The middle of the 9th cent. saw the beginning of intensive campaigns of the Swedish and Danish Vikings to the Curonian lands, as well as sea raids on the neighbouring countries by the Curonians themselves. In the 9th cent., the name of Curonians was first mentioned in primary sources. As the tribe grew stronger in the 9th-llth cent., the Curonians moved northwards to the lands inhabited by the Livs and occupied almost the entire Curonian peninsula. The 10th-12th cent. were the period of flourishing of the Curonian tribe. In the 13th cent., the Curonian power began to dwindle, when the Livonian Germans seized part of the Curonian lands by deceit, In 1422, the southern Curonian lands were ceded to Lithuania, and the northern part remained in the territory of then-Livonia according to the Treaty of Melnosee. Part of Curonians merged with Samogitians, and another part became assimilated by Latvians. As a separate ethnical group, the Curonians are mentioned till the end of the 16th cent. The boundary between Livonia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, has remained almost unchanged till our days and currently separates the territories of the Republics of Lithuania and Latvia.