The Vistula Spit is an aeolian sand spit, or peninsular stretch of land, separating Vistula Lagoon from Gdańsk Bay, in the Baltic Sea, with its tip separated from the mainland by the Strait of Baltiysk. The border between Poland (Pomeranian Voivodeship) and Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave of Russia, bisects it, politically dividing the spit into two pieces between the two countries. The westernmost geographical point of Russia is located on the Vistula Spit. The Polish part contains a number of tourist resorts, incorporated administratively as the town of Krynica Morska.
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👉 Vistula Spit in the context of Vistula Lagoon
The Vistula Lagoon is a brackish water lagoon on the Baltic Sea roughly 56 miles (90 km) long, 6 to 15 miles (10 to 19 km) wide, and up to 17 feet (5 m) deep, separated from the Gdańsk Bay by the Vistula Spit. It is split between Poland and Russia (Kaliningrad exclave).
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In this Dossier
Vistula Spit in the context of Gdańsk Pomerania
Gdańsk Pomerania (Polish: Pomorze Gdańskie; Kashubian: Gduńsczé Pòmòrzé; German: Danziger Pommern) is the main geographical region within Pomerelia (also known as Vistula Pomerania, Eastern Pomerania, and previously Polish Pomerania) in northern Poland, covering the bulk of Pomeranian Voivodeship. In contrast to Pomerelia and its synonyms, the term does not cover the historical areas of Chełmno Land and Michałów Land, sometimes with the addition of Lubawa Land.
The area has traditionally been divided into the Kashubia, Kociewie and Tuchola Forest regions. The Lębork and Bytów Land is considered by the Polish historiography a part of Kashubia (and thus Gdańsk Pomerania), while German historiography tends to treat it as a part of Farther Pomerania. Gdańsk Pomerania has been inhabited by ethnic Kashubians, Kociewians and Borowians, respectively. A small portion of Gdańsk Pomerania in the eastern part of the Vistula Spit around the abandoned village of Polski is now part of the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia.
Vistula Spit in the context of Pomeranian Voivodeship
Pomeranian Voivodeship (Polish: województwo pomorskie [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ pɔˈmɔrskʲɛ] ; Kashubian: Pòmòrsczé wòjewództwò [pvɛˈmvɛrst͡ʃi vɛjɛˈvut͡stfɔ]) is a voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk.
The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk, Elbląg and Słupsk, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1997. It is bordered by the West Pomeranian Voivodeship to the west, Greater Poland and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship to the south, the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the east, and the Baltic Sea to the north. It also shares a short land border with Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast), on the Vistula Spit. The bulk of the voivodeship is located in the historic region of Pomerania, with the territories on the eastern bank of the Vistula being part of Powiśle. The Pomeranian part of the region comprises most of Pomerelia (the easternmost part of Pomerania) with its subregions of Kashubia and Kociewie, whereas the western part, around Słupsk, is part of Farther Pomerania.
Vistula Spit in the context of Truso
Truso was a Viking Age port of trade (emporium) set up by the Scandinavians at the banks of the Nogat delta branch of the Vistula River, close to a bay (the modern Drużno lake), where it emptied into the shallow and brackish Vistula Lagoon. This sizeable lagoon is separated from the Gdańsk Bay by the Vistula Spit at the southern Baltic Sea coast. In the 9th century, the merchant Wulfstan of Hedeby travelled to Truso in the service of the English King Alfred the Great and wrote his account of the place at a prominent location of the Amber Road, which attracted merchants from central and southern Europe, who supplied the markets in the Mediterranean and the Middle East with the highly valued commodity.
The account of the voyage to the town of Truso in the land of the Pruzzens around the year 890 by Wulfstan of Hedeby has been included in Alfred the Great's translation of Orosius' Histories. Moreover, Wulfstan named Truso as being near Estmere (which is his rendition of the Old Prussian Aīstinmari and Lithuanian Aistmarės for Vistula Lagoon). In the words of Marija Gimbutas, "the name of the town is the earliest known historically in the Baltic Sea area".
Vistula Spit in the context of Baltiysk
Baltiysk (/bɔːlˈtiːsk/ bawl-TEESK) is a seaport town and the administrative center of Baltiysky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separating the Vistula Lagoon from Gdańsk Bay. It had a population of 33,946 (2021 census); 32,697 (2010 census); 33,252 (2002 census); 27,070 (1989 Soviet census).
Baltiysk, the westernmost town in Russia, is a major base of the Russian Navy's Baltic Fleet and is connected to St. Petersburg by ferry.
Vistula Spit in the context of Narmeln
Narmeln (Russian: Нармельн, Polish: Polski), alternatively known as Polski, is an abandoned village in Baltiysky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Vistula Spit, on the border with Poland, the westernmost point of Russia.
Narmeln is distinct as it is one of the few places in Kaliningrad Oblast whose German name was not officially changed when the territory was annexed to the Soviet Union following World War II, and is also the only part of historic Gdańsk Pomerania to be annexed by the Soviet Union by the Potsdam Agreement. Narmeln was depopulated after the war, and the Soviet side of the Vistula Spit was made into an exclusion zone, which remains in effect today.