Baltic Sea – BelovedPlanet

The Baltic Sea is the only outlet to the sea for most of the countries in the Baltic region. It is not surprising that greedy eyes are always cast towards this sea due to its military strategic position and economic importance. This sea plays an important role in trade, transportation and fisheries in the region. It is also a popular destination for leisure and tourism. There are many historical cities and cultural sites around the sea, which are not only important economically but also culturally.

history

Until the 11th century, the Vikings were the only major power in the Baltic Sea region, so the ancient Slavs called this sea the Varangian Sea. In the 12th century, the German merchant guild alliance (the predecessor of the future Hanseatic League) began extensive trade in the Baltic Sea. Its largest center was the city of Visby on the island of Gotland. Poland, Sweden and Denmark also fought for control of the sea. In the 13th-14th centuries, the Teutonic Knights dealt a serious blow to the status of the Slavic states, occupying the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea as well as the island of Gotland and establishing a large military colonial state. Poland, Lithuania and Russia lost access to the Baltic Sea, and the Teutons occupied all key positions. Many cities of the Knights’ Order became members of the Hanseatic League, which was founded in the middle of the 14th century and reached its heyday in the 15th century. This powerful union included up to a hundred cities, including Danzig (Gdańsk), Revel (Tallinn), Riga, Deput (Tartu). The Baltic carried cloth from Germany and England, furs and grain from Eastern Europe, metals and fish from Scandinavia, and goods from Central Europe and even the Mediterranean. The Baltic was particularly important for East-West relations in the 16th and 17th centuries, but by then the Hanseatic League had ceded its position to Dutch, French, and English merchants.

After several Danish-Swedish wars, Polish-Swedish wars, and the Thirty Years’ War, Sweden established hegemony in the Baltic Sea. For Russia, the passage to the Baltic Sea was paved by Peter the Great, who built St. Petersburg in 1703 and defeated the Swedes in the Northern War. After 1721, Russia controlled the entire Eastern Baltic Sea. St. Petersburg became the country’s main foreign trade port, and Kronstadt became the main base of the Russian Baltic Fleet. In the 19th century, Germany strengthened its position, but the results of the two world wars prevented the Germans from deploying in the Baltic Sea.

Ecology

Today, the main problem of the Baltic Sea is ecological. Bombs and chemical weapons were buried here after World War II. The seabed is a graveyard for ships carrying dangerous goods. In addition, due to limited water exchange with the world’s oceans, the Baltic Sea is polluted by industrial effluents from coastal countries. In 1974, the Baltic States signed the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment, which was reaffirmed in 1990 by the Baltic Sea Declaration, to ensure its ecological revival.
Despite the poor ecological situation, there are many resorts on the east and south coasts where people can relax and receive medical treatment: Jurmala in Latvia, Palanga in Lithuania, Pärnu in Estonia, Svetlogorsk and Zelenogradsk in the Kaliningrad Region, Binz on the German island of Rügen, Sopot in Poland. Holidaymakers are attracted by pine forests, sandy beaches, a mild maritime climate and the absence of exhausting summer heat.

geography

The shape of the Baltic Sea is very peculiar. It cuts deeply into the land and only in the southwest, through the Ellersund Strait (Zund), the Great Belippi Strait and the Lesser Belippi Strait, and then through the Kattegat and Skagerrak Straits, it connects with the North Sea. The western and southern ends of the Baltic Sea are located near Flensburg and Wismar in Germany, respectively, the eastern end is near St. Petersburg, and the northern end is near the town of Haparanda (Sweden).

The Baltic Sea took its present form only 4,000 years ago. Before that, the rise and fall of the Earth’s crust caused it to change from a lake to an ocean and back again. This process is not yet complete. Who knows, maybe in the future its connection with the ocean will be interrupted again…

About 13,000 years ago, the Baltic Sea was replaced by a freshwater, cold glacial lake. As the glaciers melted further, a channel formed, connecting the lake to the Atlanticas a result, the Eordia Sea appeared about 10,000 years ago.

It existed for no more than a thousand years – due to the uplift of the crust of the southern Scandinavian Peninsula, its connection with the sea was cut off, and the sea turned into a lake again – the Anzilov Sea. Subsequent natural disasters led to the lake being reconnected to the sea through the modern Denmark Strait.

The resulting coastal sea level has gradually dropped, and the current sea level of the Baltic Sea is about six meters lower than it was four thousand years ago.

The coasts around the Baltic Sea vary in shape. In the south there are lagoons, dunes and forests. The northern coastline is undulating with many rocky islands and reefs. The seabed has a complex and uneven topography. The Baltic Sea is shallow; most of it lies within the continental shelf. The general depth is 40-100 m. There are several troughs. The maximum depth is in the Landsholt Basin (459 m) between Stockholm and Gotland.

The sea level fluctuates greatly due to the wind. Westerly winds cause an inflow of water from the North Sea, while easterly winds cause water to flow into the North Sea through the Ellersund Strait, the Great Belt Strait and the Lesser Belt Strait. As a result, the salinity of the seawater is constantly changing. The Baltic Sea has very low salinity due to its limited connection with the world ocean and the large river runoff. The ocean currents form a counterclockwise circulation, which is sometimes disturbed by the wind. The waves are usually not large.

nature

Due to the low salinity of the sea, marine fauna is not particularly rich, many marine species are not found here, but those that are present are abundant – herring (the Baltic subspecies of the Atlantic herring), herring, cod, flounder, eel, perch. Among the mammals is the Baltic seal.

In cold seasons, all bays are covered with permanent ice; in severe winters, floating ice appears in the middle of the sea.

General information

• Baltic States: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland.
• The largest bays: Gulf of Bosnia, Gulf of Riga, Gulf of Finland.
• Main ports: Stockholm, Turku, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Riga, Kaliningrad, Gdansk, Rostock, Copenhagen, Kiel, Szczecin, Klaipeda, Ventspils.
• Largest islands: Åland, Bornholm, Gotland, Rügen, Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Eland.
• The largest rivers flowing into the sea: Neva, Daugava, Neman, Venta, Vistula River, or.
• Area: 412,560 square kilometers including the Kattegat Strait, approximately 390,000 square kilometers excluding the Kattegat Strait.
• Average depth: 52 meters.
• Maximum depth: 459 m (Landsort Basin).
• Salinity: varies from 20% in the open ocean to 0.2% in the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia.

economy

• Fishing: herring, shad, cod, flounder, salmon, eels, molluscs, crustaceans.
• Shipping, passenger and cargo transportation.
• Mineral resources: oil, amber, iron, manganese, shale.
• travel

Climate and Weather

• Temperate maritime climate.
• In summer, the temperature of the surface water layer fluctuates between +13ºC and +18ºC.
• In winter, parts of the Baltic Sea freeze over.

Interesting Facts

• The Baltic Sea and the North Sea are connected not only by a natural waterway, but also by an artificial waterway. This is Germany’s Kiel Canal, built in 1895, connecting the Kiel Bay and the entrance to the North Sea. Elbe River.
• Baltic Sea Day is celebrated on March 22 every year in accordance with the decision of the Helsinki Convention adopted in 1986.
• The origin of the name of this sea is uncertain. Pliny the Elder mentioned the island of Baltia in his Natural History. The Western European name Balticum has been known since the 11th century. It probably derives from the Lithuanian word baltas or the Latvian word bats (meaning “white”), named after the color of the sand.
• In September 1994, a tragedy occurred in the Baltic Sea when the ferry “Estonia” from Tallinn to Stockholm sank there. Only 140 of the 1,049 passengers on board survived.
• The Scandinavian countries finance many facilities in St. Petersburg that are vital to the ecology of the Baltic Sea.