Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad
/keuh lee"nin grad', -grahd', kah-/; Russ. /keuh lyi nyin grddaht"/, n.
a seaport in the W Russian Federation in Europe, on the Bay of Danzig. 380,000. German, Königsberg.

* * *

formerly Königsberg

City (pop., 1999 est.: 427,200), western Russia, situated on the Pregolya River.

Founded in 1255 as Königsberg, it was the capital of the dukes of Prussia and later the capital of East Prussia. In 1724 it absorbed the nearby cities of Löbenicht and Kneiphof. Virtually destroyed by Soviet forces during World War II, it came under the sovereignty of the U.S.S.R. and was rebuilt in 1946 as Kaliningrad. It is the seat of the University of Kaliningrad and the birthplace of Immanuel Kant.

* * *

▪ Kaliningrad oblast, Russia
formerly German (1255–1946)  Königsberg , Polish  Królewiec 
 city, seaport, and administrative centre of Kaliningrad oblast (region), Russia. Detached from the rest of the country, the city is an exclave of the Russian federation. Kaliningrad lies on the Pregolya River just upstream from Frisches Lagoon. Formerly the capital of the dukes of Prussia and later the capital of East Prussia, the city was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1945 under the Potsdam agreement.

      The old town of Königsberg (“King's Mountain”) grew up around the fortress built in 1255 by the Teutonic Knights (Teutonic Order) on the advice of Přemysl Otakar II, king of Bohemia, after whom the place was named. Its first site was near the fishing town of Steindamm, but, after its destruction by the Prussians in 1263, it was rebuilt near where the city now stands. Königsberg received civic privileges in 1286 and entered the Hanseatic League in 1340. From 1457 it was the residence of the grand master of the Teutonic Knights, and from 1525 until 1618 the residence of the dukes of Prussia. The trade of Königsberg was much hindered by the constant shifting and silting up of the channels leading to its harbour, and the First Northern War and the Second Northern War did the city immense damage, but before the end of the 17th century it had almost recovered. In 1701, in the chapel of the castle, Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg crowned himself the first king of Prussia—as Frederick I. In 1724 Frederick William I of Prussia united nearby Löbenicht and Kneiphof with Königsberg to form a single city.

      Königsberg suffered severely during the Napoleonic wars and was the scene of the deliberations that led to the successful uprising of Prussia against Napoleon. During the 19th century the opening of a railway system in East Prussia and Russia gave a new impetus to the city's commerce, making it the principal outlet for such Russian staples as grain, seeds, flax, and hemp. Under Prussia and then Germany the town was, after Kiel, the main naval base on the Baltic Sea and a key to the defense of the eastern frontier. Its modern fortifications were begun in 1843 and completed in 1905.

      A university (Collegium Albertinum) was founded in the city in 1544 by Albert I, duke of Prussia, as a “purely Lutheran” place of learning. Among its famous professors were Immanuel Kant (who was born in the city in 1724), J.G. von Herder, F.W. Bessel, and J.F. Herbart. The university disappeared with the Soviet takeover, but a new University of Kaliningrad was founded in 1967.

      The city was besieged by the Russians unsuccessfully during World War I. In World War II, however, it was virtually destroyed by the Red Army after a two-month siege ending in April 1945. Left in ruins were the 14th-century cathedral, the grand castle begun by the Teutonic Knights, and the old university. Along with the extreme northern sector of East Prussia, Königsberg then passed to the sovereignty of the U.S.S.R. The new city—renamed Kaliningrad in 1946—was rebuilt and centred in what had been Königsberg's northwestern suburbs and became a major industrial and commercial centre, connected by a 20-mile (32-kilometre) dredged channel to an outport and naval base along the Baltic called Baltiysk. The entire German population was evicted in 1947 and settled in West and East Germany. Hundreds of thousands of new settlers, primarily from Russia and Belarus, were recruited to live in the city, helping transform the urban landscape into a mosaic of old German buildings and landmarks—including the grave site of philosopher Immanuel Kant, a monument to dramatist and poet Friedrich von Schiller, and several Gothic cathedrals—and Soviet developments, such as multistory apartment buildings constructed in the decades after World War II. The city was closed to foreigners until 1991.

      A significant share of the local population is involved in shuttle trade of clothing and footwear purchased in Poland. The city has fishing, engineering, lumber, machinery, and papermaking industries. To stimulate investment in Kaliningrad, a special economic zone that exempts from customs duties most imported and exported goods was established there. Transit traffic between the Kaliningrad exclave and the rest of Russia is conducted via Lithuania and Belarus. Pop. (2006 est.) 423,651.

      oblast (region), extreme western Russia. Most of the oblast is in the basin of the Pregolya River and its tributaries. Centred on Kaliningrad city, it was formed in 1945 from the northern half of German East Prussia, which was ceded to the U.S.S.R. by the Potsdam agreement of that year. Administratively, the oblast was made part of the Russian S.F.S.R., even though it was separated from the parent republic by about 225 miles (360 km) of territory belonging to the Lithuanian, Belorussian, and Latvian republics of the U.S.S.R. When those republics achieved their independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991, the Kaliningrad oblast became a true exclave completely separated by them from the rest of Russia.

      Along the coasts are the large freshwater Frisches Lagoon (Russian: Vislinsky Zaliv) and Kurisches Lagoon (Kursky Zaliv), separated from the Baltic Sea by long sandspits. The oblast comprises low, gently rolling hills and swampy lowlands; about 20 percent is in mixed forest of oak, pine, spruce, beech, and hornbeam. After World War II the region's German inhabitants either fled or were deported, to be replaced by Russian settlers. The main branches of industry are engineering, metalworking, and paper-pulp making. Amber, once the monopoly of the Teutonic Knights, is now produced by a large combine at Yantarny. Fishing is important along the coast. Grains, potatoes, vegetables, and dairy cattle dominate agriculture. Over three-fourths of the population is urban. Area 5,830 square miles (15,100 square km). Pop. (2006 est.) 939,887.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • KALININGRAD — KALININGRAD, anc. KÖNIGSBERG Située sur les rives de la Pregolia, Kaliningrad (Königsberg jusqu’en 1946) est à la fois un port sur le golfe de la Vistule et le centre administratif du district de la Fédération de Russie qui porte son nom. La… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Kaliningrad k-5 — Pour les articles homonymes, voir K 5. un K 5M Le Kaliningrad K 5 est l un des premiers missiles air air produ …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Kaliningrad — (Finnish, Romanian, Maltese, Swedish, Turkish), Kaliningrad Калининград (Russian), Kaliningrad / Królewiec (Polish), Kaļiņingrada (Latvian), Kalininhrad Калінінград (Belarusian, Ukrainian), Kaliningrado (Spanish, Portuguese), Kalinjingrad… …   Names of cities in different languages

  • Kaliningrad — (tidligere tysk navn Königsberg, polsk Królewiec, litauisk Karaliaucius) er en by i Rusland mellem Polen og Litauen. Kalinigrad har en havn ud til Østersøen. Kaliningrad blev grundlagt med navnet Königsberg ( kongens bjerg ) i 1255 af riddere… …   Danske encyklopædi

  • Kaliningrad — [kä lē′ningrät΄] city in W European Russia, on the Baltic Sea: part of an exclave surrounded by Poland & Lithuania: pop. 415,000 …   English World dictionary

  • Kaliningrad — Stadt Kaliningrad Калининград Flagge Wappen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Kaliningrad — This article is about the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. For other uses, see Kaliningrad (disambiguation). Kaliningrad (English) Калининград …   Wikipedia

  • Kaliningrad — Pour la ville de l oblast de Moscou anciennement appelée Kaliningrad, voir Korolev (ville). Pour les articles homonymes, voir Koenigsberg (homonymie). Kaliningrad …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Kaliningrad — Original name in latin Kaliningrad Name in other language Caliningrado, Calininopolis, Gorad Kaliningrad, KGD, Kalinin nkrant, Kaliningrad, Kaliningrada, Kaliningrado, Kaliningradum, Kaliningrau, Kaliningru, Kalininqrad, Kalinjingrad,… …   Cities with a population over 1000 database

  • Kaliningrad K-8 — AA 3 Anab Die Kaliningrad K 8 ist eine sowjetische Luft Luft Rakete mit der NATO Bezeichnung AA 3 „Anab . Die Entwicklung der für mittlere Reichweiten konzipierten Rakete begann 1955. Es existierten sowohl Versionen mit Infrarot Lenkung als auch… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”