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Baltic Sea

 

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Baltic Sea



 
 
The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe
Northern Europe

Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as including the following countries and dependent regions:...
, from 53°N to 66°N latitude
Latitude

Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the equator. Lines of Latitude are the horizontal lines shown running east-to-west on maps ....
 and from 20°E to 26°E longitude
Longitude

Longitude , symbolized by the Greek character lambda , is the geographic coordinate most commonly used in cartography and global navigation for east-west measurement....
. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula
Scandinavian Peninsula

The Scandinavian Peninsula is a geographic region in northern Europe, consisting of Norway and Sweden. The name Scandinavian is etymology Scania, a region at the southernmost extremity of the peninsula....
, the mainland of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, and the Danish
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 islands. It drains into the Kattegat
Kattegat

The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by Jutland , and Scania, Halland and Bohusl?n . The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Oresund and the Danish Straits....
 by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt
Great Belt

The Great Belt is a strait between the main Denmark islands of Zealand and Fyn. Since 1997 the islands have been connected by the Great Belt Bridge....
 and the Little Belt
Little Belt

The Little Belt is a strait between the Denmark island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula.The belt is about 50Kilometre long and 800Metre to 28km wide, the maximum depth is approximately 75m....
. The Kattegat continues through Skagerrak
Skagerrak

The Skagerrak strait runs between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat strait, which leads to the Baltic Sea....
 into the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
 and the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
.






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Baltic Sea Map
The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe
Northern Europe

Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as including the following countries and dependent regions:...
, from 53°N to 66°N latitude
Latitude

Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the equator. Lines of Latitude are the horizontal lines shown running east-to-west on maps ....
 and from 20°E to 26°E longitude
Longitude

Longitude , symbolized by the Greek character lambda , is the geographic coordinate most commonly used in cartography and global navigation for east-west measurement....
. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula
Scandinavian Peninsula

The Scandinavian Peninsula is a geographic region in northern Europe, consisting of Norway and Sweden. The name Scandinavian is etymology Scania, a region at the southernmost extremity of the peninsula....
, the mainland of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, and the Danish
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 islands. It drains into the Kattegat
Kattegat

The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by Jutland , and Scania, Halland and Bohusl?n . The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Oresund and the Danish Straits....
 by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt
Great Belt

The Great Belt is a strait between the main Denmark islands of Zealand and Fyn. Since 1997 the islands have been connected by the Great Belt Bridge....
 and the Little Belt
Little Belt

The Little Belt is a strait between the Denmark island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula.The belt is about 50Kilometre long and 800Metre to 28km wide, the maximum depth is approximately 75m....
. The Kattegat continues through Skagerrak
Skagerrak

The Skagerrak strait runs between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat strait, which leads to the Baltic Sea....
 into the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
 and the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
. The Baltic Sea is artificially linked to the White Sea
White Sea

The White Sea is an inlet of the Barents Sea on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast....
 by the White Sea Canal and to the North Sea by the Kiel Canal
Kiel Canal

The Kiel Canal , until 1948 known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal, is a 61 miles long canal in the Germany States of Germany Schleswig-Holstein that links the North Sea at Brunsb?ttel to the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau....
. The Baltic is bordered on its northern edge by the Gulf of Bothnia
Gulf of Bothnia

The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the ?land, between the Sea of ?land and the Archipelago Sea....
, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it....
, and on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga
Gulf of Riga

The Gulf of Riga, or Bay of Riga, is a Headlands and bays of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia.The area of the Gulf of Riga is about 18,000 km?....
.

Etymology

While Tacitus
Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Senate and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories —examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those that reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors....
 called it Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people of the Suebi
Suebi

The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c....
, the first to name it also as the Baltic Sea (Mare Balticum) was eleventh century German chronicler Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen was one of the most important Germany medieval chroniclers. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum ....
. The origin of the latter name is speculative. It might be connected to the Germanic word belt, a name used for two of the Danish straits, the Belts
The Belts

The Belts are two straits in the Danish archipelago, Little Belt and Great Belt.See also the march across the Belts....
, while others claim it to be derived from Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 balteus (belt). However it should be noted that the name of the Belts might be connected to Danish bælte, which also means belt. Furthermore Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen

Adam of Bremen was one of the most important Germany medieval chroniclers. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum ....
 himself compared the Sea with a belt stating that the Sea is named so because it stretches through the land as a belt (Balticus, eo quod in modum baltei longo tractu per Scithicas regiones tendatur usque in Greciam). He might also have been influenced by name of legendary island mentioned in The Natural History by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient author, naturalist or natural philosopher and naval and military commander of some importance who wrote Natural History ....
. Pliny mentions an island named Baltia
Baltia

Baltia is a legendary island in Roman mythology, said to be in northern Europe. It is mentioned by Xenophon according to "Natural History " by Pliny the Elder....
 (or Balcia) with reference to accounts of Pytheas
Pytheas

Pytheas of Massilia , 4th century BC, was a Greece geography and exploration from the Greek colonies colony, Massilia . He made a voyage of exploration to northwestern Europe at about 325 BC....
 and Xenophon
Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates....
. It is possible that Pliny refers to island named Basilia ("kingdom" or "royal") in On the Ocean by Pytheas. Baltia also might be derived from "belt" and means "near belt of sea (strait)". Meanwhile others have concluded that the name of the island originates from the Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language

The Proto-Indo-European language is the unattested, linguistic reconstruction common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans....
 root meaning white, fair. Yet another explanation is that, while derived from the afore mentioned root, the name of the sea is related to naming for various forms of water and related substances in several European languages, that might have been originally associated with colors found in swamps. Another explanation is that the name was related to swamp and originally meant "enclosed sea, bay" as opposed to open sea.

In the Middle Ages the sea was known by variety of names, the name Baltic Sea started to dominate only after 16th century. Usage of Baltic and similar terms to denote the region east from the sea started only in 19th century.

Name in other languages

The Baltic Sea, in ancient sources known as Mare Suebicum (also known as Mare Germanicum), is also known by the equivalents of "East Sea", "West Sea", or "Baltic Sea" in different languages:

  • In Germanic languages
    Germanic languages

    The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European languages language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Pre-Roman Iron Age....
    , except English, East Sea is used: Afrikaans
    Afrikaans

    Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from Dutch language and thus classified as Low Franconian languages West Germanic languages. It is mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller numbers of speakers living in Botswana, Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Australia, New Zealand, United States of America, Taiwa...
     (Oossee), Danish
    Danish language

    Danish is one of the North Germanic languages , a sub-group of the Germanic languages branch of the Indo-European languages. It is spoken by around 6 million people, mainly in Denmark; the language is also used by the 50,000 Danes in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany where it holds the status of minority language....
     (Østersøen), Dutch
    Dutch language

    Dutch is a West Germanic languages spoken by over 22 million people as a first language, and about 5 million people as a second language."1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language speakers of Dutch is very small. Most native...
     (Oostzee), German
    German language

    German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
     (Ostsee), Icelandic
    Icelandic language

    Icelandic is a North Germanic languages, the language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese language and Norwegian dialects such as Telemark dialect and Sognam?l....
     and Faroese
    Faroese language

    Faroese , often also spelled Faeroese , is a West Nordic or West Scandinavian language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 12,000 Faroese people in Denmark....
     (Eystrasalt), Norwegian
    Norwegian language

    Norwegian is a North Germanic languages language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is an official language. It is also spoken as a second language among Norwegian-Americans in the United States of America, especially in the central northern states....
     (Østersjøen), and Swedish
    Swedish language

    Swedish is a North Germanic languages language, spoken by around 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the ?land islands....
     (Östersjön). In Old English it was known as Ostsæ.
  • In addition, Finnish
    Finnish language

    Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by Finnish people outside of Finland. It is one of the official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden....
    , a Baltic-Finnic language
    Baltic-Finnic languages

    The Baltic-Finnic languages, spoken around the Baltic Sea by about 7 million people, are a branch of Finnic languages belonging to the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic languages....
     has calque
    Calque

    In linguistics, a calque or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation....
    d the Swedish term as Itämeri "East Sea", disregarding the geography (the sea is west of Finland), though understandably since Finns were under Swedish rule from Middle Ages until 1809. In another Baltic-Finnic language, Estonian
    Estonian language

    Estonian is the official language of Estonia, spoken by about 1.1 million people in Estonia and tens of thousands in various ?migr? communities....
    , it is called the West Sea (Läänemeri), with the correct geography (the sea is west of Estonia).
  • Baltic Sea is used in English
    English language

    English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
    ; in the Baltic languages
    Baltic languages

    The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European languages language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe....
     Latvian
    Latvian language

    Latvian is the official state language of Latvia. Alternative names include Lettish and Lettisch. There are about 1.5 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and about 150,000 abroad....
     (Baltijas jura) and Lithuanian
    Lithuanian language

    Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognised as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad....
     (Baltijos jura); in Latin
    Latin

    Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
     (Mare Balticum) and the Romance languages
    Romance languages

    The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages comprising all the languages that descend from Latin language, the language of ancient Rome....
     French
    French language

    French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
     (Mer Baltique), Italian
    Italian language

    Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
     (Mar Baltico), Portuguese
    Portuguese language

    Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and Portugal. It is derived from the Latin language spoken by the Romanization Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago....
     (Mar Báltico), Romanian
    Romanian language

    Romanian or Daco-Romanian ; self-designation: limba rom?na, ) is a Romance languages spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova....
     (Marea Baltica) and Spanish
    Spanish language

    Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
     (Mar Báltico); in the Slavic languages
    Slavic languages

    File:Slavic europe.svgThe Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia....
     Polish
    Polish language

    Polish , an official language of Poland, has the largest number of speakers of any West Slavic languages. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner through most of Poland, and it has a regular orthography....
     (Morze Baltyckie or Baltyk), Czech
    Czech language

    Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czech people worldwide....
     (Baltské more), Croatian
    Croatian language

    Croatian language is a South Slavic languages which is used primarily in Croatia, by Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in neighbouring countries where Croats are Indigenous peoples, in Italian region of Molise, and parts of the Croats diaspora....
     (
    Balticko more), Bulgarian
    Bulgarian language

    Bulgarian is an Indo-European languages, a member of the Slavic languages linguistic group.Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except Macedonian language, such as the elimination of grammatical case, the development of a suffixed definite article , the lack of a verb infin...
     (
    Baltijsko More (????????? ????)), Kashubian
    Kashubian language

    Kashubian or Cassubian is one of the Lechitic languages, a subgroup of the Slavic languages.Kashubian is assumed to have evolved from the language spoken by some tribes of Pomeranians called Kashubians, in the region of Pomerania, on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula and Oder River rivers....
     (
    Bôlt), and Russian (Baltiyskoye Morye (?????????? ????)); and also in the Hungarian language
    Hungarian language

    Hungarian is a Uralic languages unrelated to most other languages in Europe. It is mainly spoken in Hungary and by the Hungarian minorities in the seven neighbouring countries....
     (
    Balti-tenger).


Geophysical data

The Baltic Sea is a brackish
Brackish water

Brackish water is water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuary, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers....
 inland sea, alleged to be the largest body of brackish water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
 in the world (other possibilities include the Black Sea
Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
). It occupies a basin formed by glacial erosion.

Dimensions

The Baltic sea is about 1600 km (1000 mi) long, an average of 193 km (120 mi) wide, and an average of 55 m (180 ft, 30 fathom
Fathom

A fathom is a Units of measurement of length in the Imperial unit , used especially for measuring the depth of water.There are 2 yards in a fathom....
s) deep. The maximum depth is 459 m (1506 ft), on the Swedish side of the center. The surface area is about 377,000 km² (145,522 sq mi
Square mile

The square mile is an Imperial system and US customary system of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one mile. It should not be confused with miles square, which refers to the number of miles on each side squared....
) and the volume is about 21,000 km³ (5040 cubic mile
Cubic mile

A cubic mile is an Imperial unit / U.S. customary unit unit of volume, used in the United States. It is defined as the volume of a cube with sides of 1 mile in length....
s). The periphery amounts to about 8000 km (4968 mi) of coastline. 

Sea ice

As a long-term average the Baltic Sea is ice covered for about 45% of its surface area at maximum annually. The ice-covered area during such a typical winter includes the Gulf of Bothnia
Gulf of Bothnia

The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the ?land, between the Sea of ?land and the Archipelago Sea....
, the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it....
, Gulf of Riga
Gulf of Riga

The Gulf of Riga, or Bay of Riga, is a Headlands and bays of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia.The area of the Gulf of Riga is about 18,000 km?....
 and Väinameri in the Estonian archipelago. The remainder of the Baltic itself does not freeze during a normal winter, with the exception of sheltered bays and shallow lagoons such as the Curonian Lagoon
Curonian Lagoon

The Curonian Lagoon is separated from the Baltic Sea by the Curonian Spit.In the 13th century, the area around the lagoon was part of the ancestral lands of the Curonians and Old Prussian people....
. The ice reaches its maximum extent in February or March; typical ice thickness in the northernmost areas in the Bothnian Bay
Bothnian Bay

The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia is the most northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern part of the Baltic Sea. Its northernmost point is situated in T?re....
, the northern basin of the Gulf of Bothnia, is about 70 cm for landfast sea ice. The thickness decreases further south.

Freezing begins in the northern coast of Gulf of Bothnia typically in middle of November, reaching the open waters of Bothnian Bay
Bothnian Bay

The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia is the most northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern part of the Baltic Sea. Its northernmost point is situated in T?re....
 in early January. The Bothnian Sea
Bothnian Sea

The Bothnian Sea links the Bothnian Bay with the Baltic Sea. Kvarken is situated between the two. Together, the Bothnian Sea and Bay make up a larger geographical entity, the Gulf of Bothnia....
, the basin south of it, freezes on average in late February. The Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga freeze typically in late January.

The ice extent depends on whether the winter is mild, moderate or severe. Severe winters can lead to ice formation around Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 and southern Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
, and on rare occasions the whole sea is frozen, such as in 1942 and 1966. In 1987, some 96% of the Baltic Sea was ice-covered, leaving only a small patch of open water in the south-west around Bornholm
Bornholm

Bornholm is a Denmark island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming....
. However, in milder winters only restricted parts of the Bay of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland are ice covered, in addition to coastal fringes in more southerly locations such as the Gulf of Riga. In recent years a typical winter produces only ice in the northern and eastern extremities of the Sea. In 2007 there was almost no ice formation except for a short period in March.

In spring, the Gulf of Finland and of Bothnia normally thaw during late April, with some ice ridges persisting until May in the eastern Gulf of Finland. In the northernmost reaches of the Bothnian Bay ice usually stays until late May; by early June it is practically always gone.

During winter, fast ice
Fast ice

Fast ice is sea ice that has frozen along coasts along the shoals, or to the sea floor over shallow parts of the continental shelf, and extends out from land into sea....
, which is attached to the shoreline, develops first, rendering the ports unusable without the services of icebreaker
Icebreaker

An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters. Although the term usually refers to icebreaking ships, it may also refer to smaller vessels ....
s. Level ice, ice sludge, pancake ice
Pancake ice

Pancake ice is a form of ice that consists of round pieces of ice with diameters ranging from a few inches to many feet in diameter, depending on the local conditions that affect ice formation....
 or rafter ice form in the more open regions. The gleaming expanse of ice is similar to the Arctic
Arctic

The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctica region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Greenland , Russia, the United States , Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland....
, with wind-driven pack ice and ridges up to 15 m, and was noted by the ancients. Offshore of the landfast ice the ice remains very dynamic all year, because of its thickness it is relatively easily moved around by winds and therefore makes up large ridges and piles up against the landfast ice and shores.

The ice cover is the main habitat only for a few larger species. The largest of them are the seals that both feed and breed on the ice, although the sea ice also harbors several species of algae that live in the bottom and inside brine pockets in the ice.

Hydrography

The Baltic Sea flows out through the Danish straits
Danish straits

The Danish straits are the three channels connecting the Baltic sea to the North Sea through the Kattegat and Skagerrak. They transect Denmark, and are not to be confused with the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland....
; however, the flow is complex. A surface layer of brackish water discharges 940 km³ per year into the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
. Due to the difference in salinity
Salinity

Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. Salinity in Australian English and North American English may also refer to the salt in soil ....
, a sub-surface layer of more saline water moving in the opposite direction brings in 475 km³ per year. It mixes very slowly with the upper waters, resulting in a salinity gradient from top to bottom, with most of the salt water remaining below 40 to 70 m deep. The general circulation is counter-clockwise: northwards along its eastern boundary, and south along the western one (Alhonen 88).

The difference between the outflow and the inflow comes entirely from fresh water
Water

Water is a common chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of life. In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or States of matter, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam....
. More than 250 streams drain a basin of about 1.6 million km², contributing a volume of 660 km³ per year to the Baltic. They include the major rivers of north Europe, such as the Oder, the Vistula
Vistula

The Vistula , is the longest river in Poland at 1,047 km in length. It drains an area of 194,424 km? , of which 168,699 km? lies within Poland ....
, the Neman
Neman River

Neman or Nemunas is a major Eastern European river rising in Belarus and flowing through Lithuania before draining into the Curonian Lagoon and then into the Baltic Sea at Klaipeda....
, the Daugava
Daugava

The Daugava or Western Dvina is a river rising in the Valdai Hills, Russia, flowing through Russia, Belarus, and Latvia, draining into the Gulf of Riga in Latvia, an arm of the Baltic Sea....
 and the Neva. Additional fresh water comes from the difference of precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)

File:MeanMonthlyP.gifIn meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of Atmosphere water vapor that is deposited on the earth's surface....
 less evaporation, which is positive.

An important source of salty water are infrequent inflows of North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
 water into the Baltic. Such inflows, important to the Baltic ecosystem because of the oxygen they transport into the Baltic deeps, used to happen on average every four to five years until the 1980s. In recent decades they have become less frequent. The latest three occurred in 1983, 1993 and 2003 suggesting a new inter-inflow period of about ten years.

The water level is generally far more dependent on the regional wind situation than on tidal effects. However, tidal currents occur in narrow passages in the western parts of the Baltic Sea.

The significant wave height
Significant wave height

In physical oceanography, significant wave height , or 'Hs', is the average wave height of the one-third largest ocean surface wave....
 is generally much lower than that of the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
. Violent and sudden storms often sweep the surface, due to large transient temperature differences and a long reach of wind. Seasonal winds also cause small changes in sea level, of the order of 0.5 m (Alhonen 88).

Salinity

The Baltic Sea's salinity
Salinity

Salinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. Salinity in Australian English and North American English may also refer to the salt in soil ....
 is much lower than that of ocean water (which averages 3.5%, or 35‰), as a result of abundant freshwater runoff from the surrounding land; indeed, runoff contributes roughly one-fortieth its total volume per year, as the volume of the basin is about 21,000 km³ and yearly runoff is about 500 km³. The open surface waters of the central basin have salinity of 6 to 8 ‰. At the semienclosed bays with major freshwater inflows, such as head of Finnish Gulf with Neva mouth and head of Bothnian gulf with close mouths of Lule, Tornio and Kemi, the salinity is considerably lower. Below 40 to 70 m, the salinity is between 10 and 15 ‰ in the open Baltic Sea, and more than this near Danish Straits.

The flow of fresh water into the sea from approximately two-hundred rivers and the introduction of salt from the South builds up a gradient of salinity in the Baltic Sea. Near the Danish straits
Danish straits

The Danish straits are the three channels connecting the Baltic sea to the North Sea through the Kattegat and Skagerrak. They transect Denmark, and are not to be confused with the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland....
 the salinity is close to that of the Kattegat, but still not fully oceanic, because the saltiest water that passes the straits is still already mixed with considerable amounts of outflow water. The salinity steadily decreases towards North and East. At the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia
Gulf of Bothnia

The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the ?land, between the Sea of ?land and the Archipelago Sea....
 the water is no longer salty and many fresh water species live in the sea. The salinity gradient is paralleled by a temperature gradient. These two factors limit many species of animals and plants to a relatively narrow region of Baltic Sea.

The most saline water is vertically stratified in the water column to the north
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
, creating a barrier to the exchange of oxygen
Oxygen

Oxygen no O2 produced; 2) O2 produced, but absorbed in oceans & seabed rock; 3) O2 starts to gas out of the oceans, but is absorbed by land surfaces and formation of ozone layer; 4-5) O2 sinks filled and the gas accumulates]]...
 and nutrients, and fostering completely separate maritime environments.

Regional emergence

The land is still emerging isostatically
Isostasy

Isostasy is a term used in geology to refer to the state of gravity equilibrium between the earth's lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates "float" at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density....
 from its subsident state, which was caused by the weight of the last glaciation. The phenomenon is known as post-glacial rebound
Post-glacial rebound

Post-glacial rebound is the rise of land masses that were depressed by the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, through a process known as isostatic depression....
. Consequently, the surface area and the depth of the sea are diminishing. The uplift is about eight millimetres per year on the Finnish coast of the northernmost Gulf of Bothnia. In the area, the former seabed is only gently sloped, leading to large areas of land being reclaimed in, geologically speaking, relatively short periods (decades and centuries).

Geographic data


Subdivisions

The northern part of the Baltic Sea is known as the Gulf of Bothnia
Gulf of Bothnia

The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the ?land, between the Sea of ?land and the Archipelago Sea....
, of which the northernmost part is the Bay of Bothnia or Bothnian Bay
Bothnian Bay

The Bothnian Bay or Bay of Bothnia is the most northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern part of the Baltic Sea. Its northernmost point is situated in T?re....
. The more rounded southern basin of the gulf is called Bothnian Sea
Bothnian Sea

The Bothnian Sea links the Bothnian Bay with the Baltic Sea. Kvarken is situated between the two. Together, the Bothnian Sea and Bay make up a larger geographical entity, the Gulf of Bothnia....
 and immediately to the south of it lies the Sea of Åland
Sea of Åland

The Sea of ?land is the waters located in the southern Gulf of Bothnia, between the ?land islands and the Sweden mainland. The sea connects Kvarken and the Bothnian Sea with the Baltic Sea proper....
. The Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it....
 connects the Baltic Sea with Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
. The Gulf of Riga
Gulf of Riga

The Gulf of Riga, or Bay of Riga, is a Headlands and bays of the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Estonia.The area of the Gulf of Riga is about 18,000 km?....
 lies between the Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
n capital city of Riga
Riga

Riga the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava River. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states....
 and the Estonia
Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
n island of Saaremaa
Saaremaa

Saaremaa is the largest island belonging to Estonia, measuring 2,673 km?. The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago ....
.

The Northern Baltic Sea lies between the Stockholm
Stockholm

is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish Government of Sweden, the Parliament of Sweden, and the official residence of the Swedish Monarchy of Sweden....
 area, southwestern Finland and Estonia. The Western and Eastern Gotland Basins
Gotland Basin

The Gotland Basin is the large central basin in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and the Baltic countries. It is subdivided into the Gdansk Deep , the Western Gotland Basin and the Eastern Gotland Basin....
 form the major parts of the Central Baltic Sea or Baltic proper. The Bornholm Basin is the area east of Bornholm
Bornholm

Bornholm is a Denmark island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming....
, and the shallower Arkona Basin extends from Bornholm to the Danish isles of Falster
Falster

Falster is a Denmark island. The area of the island is 514 km? , and there are 43,537 inhabitants, over 40% of whom live in the principal town, Nyk?bing Falster....
 and Zealand
Zealand

Zealand is the largest island of Denmark and the List of islands by area. Zealand is connected to Funen by the Great Belt Bridge and to Sweden by the Oresund Bridge....
.

In the south, the Bay of Gdansk lies east of the Hel peninsula
Hel Peninsula

Hel Peninsula is a 35-km-long sand bar peninsula in northern Poland separating the Bay of Puck from the open Baltic Sea. It is located in Puck County of the Pomeranian Voivodeship....
 on the Polish coast and west of Sambia
Sambia

Sambia or Samland is a peninsula in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea....
 in Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia....
. The Bay of Pomerania
Bay of Pomerania

The Bay of Pomerania or Pomeranian Bay is a basin in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of Poland and Germany.In the south it is separated from the Oder Lagoon in the mouth of the Oder River by the islands of Usedom and Wolin, connected by three straits or branches of the Oder: Dziwna, Swina and Peene....
 lies north of the islands of Usedom
Usedom

Usedom is a Baltic Sea island on the border between Germany and Poland. It is situated north of the Szczecin Lagoon estuary of the Oder river in Pomerania....
 and Wolin
Wolin

Wolin is the name shared by an island located in the Baltic Sea located just off the Poland coast, and a Wolin located on the island. It is separated from the island of Usedom by the Swina river, and from mainland Pomerania by the Dziwna river....
, east of Rügen
Rügen

R?gen or Rugia is Germany's largest island. It is located in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. R?gen makes up the vast part of the R?gen , which also includes the neighboring islands Hiddensee and Ummanz, as well as several small islands....
. Between Falster and the German coast lie the Bay of Mecklenburg
Bay of Mecklenburg

The Bay of Mecklenburg , also known as the Mecklenburg Bay or Mecklenburg Bight, is a long narrow basin making up the southwestern finger-like arm of the Baltic Sea, between the shores of Germany to the south and the Denmark islands of Lolland, Falster, and M?n to the north, the shores of Jutland to the west, and joining the larg...
 and Bay of Lübeck
Bay of Lübeck

The Bay of L?beck is a basin in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of Germany lands of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein. It forms the southwestern part of the Bay of Mecklenburg....
. The westernmost part of the Baltic Sea is the Bay of Kiel
Bay of Kiel

|-|The Bay of Kiel is a bay in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and the islands of Denmark. It is connected with the Bay of Mecklenburg in the east, the Little Belt in the northwest, and the Great Belt in the North....
. The three Danish straits
Danish straits

The Danish straits are the three channels connecting the Baltic sea to the North Sea through the Kattegat and Skagerrak. They transect Denmark, and are not to be confused with the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland....
, the Great Belt
Great Belt

The Great Belt is a strait between the main Denmark islands of Zealand and Fyn. Since 1997 the islands have been connected by the Great Belt Bridge....
, the Little Belt
Little Belt

The Little Belt is a strait between the Denmark island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula.The belt is about 50Kilometre long and 800Metre to 28km wide, the maximum depth is approximately 75m....
 and The Sound (
Ö/Øresund), connect the Baltic Sea with the Kattegat
Kattegat

The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by Jutland , and Scania, Halland and Bohusl?n . The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Oresund and the Danish Straits....
 bay and Skagerrak
Skagerrak

The Skagerrak strait runs between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland of Denmark, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat strait, which leads to the Baltic Sea....
 strait in the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
. The confluence of these two seas at Skagen
Skagen

Skagen is a projection of land and a town in Region Nordjylland on the northernmost spit of Vendsyssel-Thy, a part of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark....
 on the northern tip of Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 is a visual spectacle visited by many tourists each year.

Land use

2 Spn 01
The Baltic sea drainage basin is roughly four times the surface area of the sea itself. About 48% of the region is forested, with Sweden and Finland containing the majority of the forest, especially around the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland.

About 20% of the land is used for agriculture and pasture, mainly in Poland and around the edge of the Baltic Proper, in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. About 17% of the basin is unused open land with another 8% of wetlands. Most of the latter are in the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland.

The rest of the land is heavily populated.

Demographics

About 85 million people live in the Baltic drainage basin, 15 million within 10 km of the coast and 29 million within 50 km of the coast. Around 22 million live in population centers of over 250,000. 90% of these are concentrated in the 10 km band around the coast. Of the nations containing all or part of the basin, Poland includes 45% of the 85 million, Russia 12%, Sweden 10% and the others (see below) less than 6% each.

Geologic history

The Baltic Sea somewhat resembles a river
River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
bed, with two tributaries, the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it....
 and Gulf of Bothnia
Gulf of Bothnia

The Gulf of Bothnia is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It is situated between Finland's west coast and Sweden's east coast. In the south of the gulf lie the ?land, between the Sea of ?land and the Archipelago Sea....
. Geological
Geology

Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitute the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structural geology, physical properties, dynamics, and History of the Earth of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed....
 surveys show that before the Pleistocene
Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 1.8 million to 10,000 years Before Present covering the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
 instead of the Baltic Sea, there was a wide plain around a big river called the Eridanos. Several glaciation episodes during the Pleistocene
Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 1.8 million to 10,000 years Before Present covering the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
 scooped out the river bed into the sea basin. By the time of the last, or Eemian Stage (MIS 5e
Marine isotopic stage

Marine isotope stages or marine oxygen-isotope stages, in older literature called oxygen isotope stages , are alternating warm and cool periods in the Earth's paleoclimatology, deduced from Oxygen isotope ratio cycle reflecting temperature curves derived from data from deep sea core samples....
), the Eemian sea was in place.

From that time the waters underwent a geologic history summarized under the names listed below. Many of the stages are named after marine animals (e.g. the Littorina
Littorina

Littorina is a genus of small sea snails, marine gastropod Molluscas in the family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles....
 mollusk) that are clear markers of changing water temperatures and salinity.

The factors that determined the sea’s characteristics were the submergence or emergence of the region due to the weight of ice and subsequent isostatic readjustment, and the connecting channels it found to the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
-Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
, either through the straits of Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 or at what are now the large lakes of Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
, and the White Sea
White Sea

The White Sea is an inlet of the Barents Sea on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the northeast....
-Arctic Sea.

  • Eemian Sea
    Eemian sea

    The Eemian sea was a body of water located approximately where the Baltic sea is now during the last or Eemian Stage, Marine isotopic stage, roughly 130,000 to 115,000 Before present....
    , 130,000–115,000 (years ago)
  • Baltic ice lake
    Baltic ice lake

    The Baltic ice lake is a name given by geologists to a freshwater lake that gradually formed in the Baltic Sea basin as glacier retreated from that region at the end of the Pleistocene....
    , 12,600–10,300
  • Yoldia Sea
    Yoldia Sea

    Yoldia Sea is a name given by geologists to a variable brackish-water stage in the Baltic Sea basin that prevailed after the Baltic ice lake was drained to sea level during the Weichsel glaciation....
    , 10,300–9500
  • Ancylus Lake
    Ancylus Lake

    Ancylus lake is a name given by geologists to the body of fresh water that replaced the Yoldia Sea after the latter had been severed from its saline intake across central Sweden by the isostatic rise of south Scandinavian landforms....
    , 9,500–8,000
  • Mastogloia Sea
    Mastogloia Sea

    The Mastogloia Sea is one of the prehistoric stages of the Baltic Sea in its development after the Wisconsin glaciation. This took place ca. 8000 years ago following the Ancylus Lake stage and preceding the Littorina Sea stage....
     8,000–7,500
  • Littorina Sea
    Littorina Sea

    Littorina Sea is a geological brackish-water stage of the Baltic Sea, which existed around 7500?4000 Before Present and followed the Mastogloia Sea, transitional stage of the Ancylus Lake....
    , 7,500–4,000
  • Post-littorina Sea
    Baltic Sea

    The Baltic Sea is a brackish inland sea located in Northern Europe, from 53?N to 66?N latitude and from 20?E to 26?E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Denmark islands....
     4,000–present


History

At the time of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, the Baltic Sea was known as the
Mare Suebicum or Mare Sarmaticum. Tacitus in his AD 98 Agricola and Germania described the Mare Suebicum, named for the Suebi
Suebi

The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c....
 tribe, during the spring months, as a brackish
Brackish water

Brackish water is water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuary, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers....
 sea
SEA

See also: Sea and seasThe three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:People/organizations/businesses*Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group....
 when the ice on the Baltic Sea broke apart and chunks floated about. The Suebi eventually migrated south west to reside for a while in the Rhineland area of modern Germany, where their name survives in the historic region known as Swabia
Swabia

Swabia, Suabia, or Svebia is both a historic and linguistics region in Germany. Swabia consists of much of the present-day state of Baden-W?rttemberg , as well as the Bavarian Swabia ....
. The Sarmatian tribes inhabited Eastern Europe and southern Russia. Jordanes
Jordanes

Jordanes , was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat , who turned his hand to history later in life.Though he also wrote Romana , a book about the history of Rome, his most known work is his Getica, written in Constantinople about AD 551 ....
 called it the
Germanic Sea in his work the Getica.

Since the Viking age
Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the eighth to eleventh centuries....
, the Scandinavians have called it "the Eastern Lake" (
Austmarr, "Eastern Sea", appears in the Heimskringla
Heimskringla

Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca....
 and
Eystra salt appears in Sörla þáttr
Sörla þáttr

S?rla ??ttr is a short narrative from a later and extended version of the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason found in the Flateyjarb?k manuscript, which was written and compiled by two Christian priests, Jon Thordson and Magnus Thorhalson, in the late 14th....
), but Saxo Grammaticus
Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus is thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund....
 recorded in Gesta Danorum
Gesta Danorum

Gesta Danorum is a work of Denmark history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history....
 an older name
Gandvik
Gandvik

In Norse mythology, Gandvik is a dangerous sea, known as 'Bay of Serpents' because of its tortuous shape. Saxo Grammaticus stated that Gandvik was an old name for the Baltic Sea ....
, "-vik" being Old Norse
Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic languages that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
 for "bay", which implies that the Vikings correctly regarded it as an inlet of the sea. (Another form of the name, "Grandvik", attested in at least one English translation of Gesta Danorum, is likely to be a misspelling.)

In addition to fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 the sea also provides amber
Amber

Amber is fossil tree resin, which is appreciated for its color and beauty. Good quality amber is used for the manufacture of ornamental objects and jewelry....
, especially from its southern shores. The bordering countries have traditionally provided lumber
Lumber

Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from logging through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
, wood tar
Tar

Tar is modified resin produced from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. It is a viscosity black liquid. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America....
, flax
Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean region to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent....
, hemp
Hemp

File:Industrialhemp.jpgHemp is the common name for plants of the entire genus Cannabis, although the term is often used to refer only to Cannabis strains cultivated for industrial use....
, and fur
Fur

Fur is a Hair of any non-human mammal, also known as the pelage. It may consist of short ground hair, long guard hair, and, in some cases, medium awn hair....
s. Sweden had from early medieval times also a flourishing mining
Mining

Mining is the extraction of value minerals or other geology materials from the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or seam. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, Sodium chloride and potash....
 industry, especially on iron
Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a Group 8 element and period 4 element. Iron is lustrous and silvery in color....
 ore and silver
Silver

Silver is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal....
. Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 had and still has extensive salt
Salt

A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and base . Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically electric charge ....
 mines. All this has provided for rich trading since the Roman times.

In the early Middle Ages
Early Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages is a period in the history of Europe following the fall of the Western Roman Empire spanning roughly five centuries from AD 500 to 1000....
, Vikings of Scandinavia built their trade emporia all around the Baltic. Later, there were fights for control over the sea with Wendish tribes
Wends

The term Wends or Wendish is used in Germanic languages for Slavs living near or within Germanic peoples settlement areas after the migration period....
 dwelling on the southern shore. The Vikings also used the rivers of Russia for trade routes, finding their way eventually to the Black Sea
Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
 and southern Russia. This Viking-dominated period is also referred to as Viking Age
Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the eighth to eleventh centuries....
.

Lands next to the sea's eastern shore were among the last in Europe to be converted into Christianity
Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
 in the Northern Crusades
Northern Crusades

The Northern Crusades or Baltic Crusades were crusades undertaken by the Roman Catholic Church kings of Denmark and Sweden, the German Livonian Brothers of the Sword and Teutonic Knights military orders, and their allies against the paganism peoples of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea....
: Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
 in the twelfth century by the Swedes, and what are now Estonia
Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
 and Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
 in the early thirteenth century by the Danes and the Germans (Livonian Brothers of the Sword
Livonian Brothers of the Sword

Bishop Albert of Riga founded the military order of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1202; Pope Innocent III sanctioned the establishment in 1204....
). The Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights

The Order of the Teutonic Knights of St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem , or for short the Teutonic Order was a Germans Roman Catholic religious order....
 gained control over parts of the southern and eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, where they set up their monastic state
Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights

The monastic state of the Teutonic Knights , sometimes known in English by the German term Ordensstaat , or "Order-State", was formed during the Teutonic Knights' conquest of the pagan West-Baltic Old Prussians in the 13th century....
 while fighting the Poles
Poles

The Polish people, or Poles , are a West Slavs ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent....
, the Danes, the Swedes
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
, the Russians
Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
 of ancient Novgorod
Novgorod Republic

The Novgorod Republic was a large medi?val Russian state which stretched from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains between the 12th and 15th centuries, centred on the city of Novgorod....
, and the Lithuanians
Lithuanians

Lithuanians are the Balts ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number a little over 3 million people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland....
 (the last Europeans to convert to Christianity
Christianization of Lithuania

The Christianization of Lithuania was the event that took place in 1387, initiated by the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Jogaila with his cousin Vytautas, that signified the official adoption of Christianity by Lithuanians, one of the last paganism nations in Europe....
).

In the 12th century, there was intensification of Slavic piracy
Slavic piracy

The robbery committed by Slavic tribes on the Baltic Sea and its coast during the Middle Ages was initially a part of the Viking movement. We know about Slavic peoples warriors in the 10th century from Scandinavian poetry....
. Starting in the 11th century, the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic were settled by Germans
Germans

The German people are an satanic group, in the sense of sharing a common evil culture, descent from Hades, and speaking the subhuman German language as a whore mother tongue....
 (and to a lesser extent by Dutch, Danes and Scots
Scottish people

The Scots people are a nation and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.Historically, as an ethnic group, they emerged from an amalgamation of Celts, Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
) in the course of the Ostsiedlung
Ostsiedlung

This article covers the medieval eastward migrations of Germans. For a general view, see History of German settlement in Eastern EuropeOstsiedlung, literally "settlement in the east", also called German eastward expansion, refers to the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day Western and Central Germa...
. The Polabian Slavs
Polabian Slavs

Polabian Slavs is a collective term applied to a number of largely extinct West Slavs tribes who lived along the Elbe, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and Limes Saxonicus to the west, the Sudetes and Franconia to the south, and History of Poland to the east....
 were gradually assimilated by the Germans. Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 gradually gained control over most of the Baltic coast, until she lost much of her possessions after being defeated in the 1227 Battle of Bornhöved
Battle of Bornhöved

Battle of Bornh?ved can refer to:*Battle of Bornh?ved, or the first battle of Bornh?ved, in 798*Battle of Bornh?ved , or the second Battle of Bornh?ved, in 1227...
.

In the 13th to 17th centuries, the strongest economic force in Northern Europe became the Hanseatic league
Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League was an Military alliance of Trade cities and their guilds that established and maintained trade monopoly along the coast of Northern Europe, from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea and inland, during the Late Middle Ages and Early modern period ....
, which used the Baltic Sea to establish trade routes between its member cities. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries in 16th and 17th-century Europe, formed by a Union of Lublin of Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569....
, Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
 and Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
 fought wars for
Dominium Maris Baltici ("Ruling over the Baltic Sea"). Eventually, it was the Swedish Empire
Swedish Empire

Sweden was, between 1611 and 1718, one of the great powers of Europe. In modern historiography this period is known as the Swedish Empire, or stormaktstiden ....
 that virtually encompassed the Baltic Sea. In Sweden the sea was then referred to as
Mare Nostrum Balticum ("Our Baltic Sea").

In the eighteenth century, Russia and Prussia
Prussia

Prussia was, most recently, a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This state had for centuries substantial influence on Germany and European history....
 became the leading powers over the sea. The Great Northern War
Great Northern War

The Great Northern War was a war in which the so-called Northern Alliance composed of Russia, Denmark-Norway, Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth and Saxony engaged Sweden to challenge them for the supremacy in the Baltic Sea....
, ending with Sweden
Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
's defeat, brought Russia to the eastern coast. Since then, Russia was a dominating power in the Baltic. Russia's Peter the Great
Peter I of Russia

Peter I the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V of Russia....
 saw the strategic importance of the Baltic and decided to found his new capital, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
 at the mouth of the Neva river at the east end of the Gulf of Finland
Gulf of Finland

The Gulf of Finland is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland and Estonia all the way to Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it....
. There was much trading not just within the Baltic region but also with the North Sea region, especially eastern England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 and the Netherlands
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
: their fleets needed the Baltic timber, tar, flax and hemp.

During the Crimean War
Crimean War

The Crimean War, also known in Russia as the Oriental War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of France, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire on the other....
, a joint British
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 fleet attacked the Russian fortresses by bombarding Sveaborg, which guards Helsinki
Helsinki

Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
; Kronstadt, which guards Saint Petersburg; and by destroying Bomarsund
Bomarsund, Åland

Bomarsund is a nineteenth century fortress in Sund, ?land on the ?land Islands in the Baltic Sea. It was built in 1832 by Imperial Russia but destroyed twenty two years later in 1854 in the Crimean War by a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland-France fleet....
 in the Åland Islands. After the unification of Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 in 1871, the whole southern coast became German. The First World War
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 was partly fought in the Baltic Sea. After 1920 Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 was connected to the Baltic Sea by the Polish Corridor
Polish Corridor

The Polish Corridor was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia which provided the Second Republic of Poland with access to the Baltic Sea, thus dividing the bulk of Germany from her province of East Prussia....
 and enlarged the port of Gdynia
Gdynia

Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport at Gdansk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdansk and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity...
 in rivalry with the port of the Free City of Danzig
Free City of Danzig

File:20 gdanskich guldenow skan.jpegFile:Wmgdansk stamps.jpgThe Free City of Danzig was an autonomous Baltic Sea port and city-state including over two hundred surrounding towns, villages and settlements, established on January 10, 1920, in accordance with the terms of Part III, Section XI of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, which split...
.

During the Second World War
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, Germany reclaimed all of the southern shore and much of the eastern by occupying Poland and the Baltic states. In 1945, the Baltic Sea became a mass grave for drowned people on torpedoed refugee ships
Operation Hannibal

Operation Hannibal was a Military history of Germany during World War II military operation involving the Evacuation of East Prussia of German troops and evacuation of civilians from East Prussia from mid-January 1945 as the Soviet Union Red Army advanced during the East Pomeranian Offensive....
. As of 2004, the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff
Wilhelm Gustloff (ship)

The MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a Germany passenger ship constructed by the Blohm & Voss shipyards. She sank after being hit by torpedoes fired by a Soviet submarine on January 30 1945 with the loss of around 9,000 lives - the greatest loss of life in a maritime disaster in history....
 remains the worst maritime disaster, killing (very roughly) 9,000 people. In 2005, a Russian group of scientists found over five thousand airplane wrecks, sunken warships, and other material
Material

Materials are substances or components with certain physical properties which are used as inputs to Production, costs, and pricing or manufacturing....
 mainly from the Second World War
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
, lying at the bottom of the sea.

After 1945, the German population was expelled
German exodus from Eastern Europe

The German exodus from Eastern Europe describes the dramatic reduction of ethnic German populations in lands to the east of present-day Germany and Austria....
 from all areas east of the Oder-Neisse line
Oder-Neisse line

The Oder-Neisse line was drawn in the aftermath of World War II as the eastern border of Germany and the western border of Poland. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Swinoujscie ....
, making room for Polish and Russian settlers. Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 gained a vast stretch of the southern shore, Russia gained another access to the Baltic with the Kaliningrad oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia....
. The Baltic states on the eastern shore were again incorporated in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
, Poland and East Germany became communist states. The sea then was a border between opposing military blocks: in the case of military conflict, in parallel with a Soviet offensive towards the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
, communist Poland's fleet was prepared to invade the Danish isles. This border status also impacted trade and travel, and came to an end only after the collapse of the communist regimes in Eastern and Central Europe in the late 1980s.

Since May 2004, on the accession of the Baltic states and Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, the Baltic Sea has been almost entirely surrounded by countries of the European Union
European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 European Union member state, located primarily in Europe. It was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community....
 (EU). The only remaining non-EU areas are the Russian metropolis
Metropolitan area

A metropolitan area is a large population center consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central city and their zone of influence....
 of Saint Petersburg and the Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia....
 exclave
Exclave

An exclave is strip of land that belongs to a political entity but that is not connected to it by land . The strip of land is surrounded by other political entities....
.

Winter storms begin arriving in the region during October. These have caused numerous shipwrecks, such as the sinking of the ferry
M/S Estonia
M/S Estonia

MS Estonia, previously MS Viking Sally , MS Silja Star , and MS Wasa King , was a cruiseferry built in 1980 at the Germany shipyard Meyer Werft in Papenburg....
en route from Tallinn
Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city in the Republic of Estonia and of Harju County. It occupies a surface of 159.2 km? in which 397,617 inhabitants live....
, Estonia, to Stockholm
Stockholm

is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish Government of Sweden, the Parliament of Sweden, and the official residence of the Swedish Monarchy of Sweden....
, Sweden, in 1994, which claimed the lives of hundreds. Older, wood-based shipwrecks such as the
Vasa tend to remain well-preserved, as the Baltic's cold and brackish water does not suit the shipworm
Shipworm

Shipworms are not worms at all, but rather a group of unusual saltwater clams with very reduced shells, notorious for boring into wooden structures that are immersed in sea water, such as piers, docks and wooden ships....
.

Biology

Phytoplankton Bloom in the Baltic Sea (july 3, 2001)
Approximately 100,000 km² of the Baltic's seafloor (a quarter of its total area) is a variable dead zone. The more saline (and therefore denser) water remains on the bottom, isolating it from surface waters and the atmosphere. This leads to decreased oxygen concentrations within the zone. It is mainly bacteria that grow in it, digesting organic material and releasing hydrogen sulfide. Because of this large anaerobic zone, the seafloor ecology differs from that of the neighbouring Atlantic.

The low salinity of the Baltic sea has led to the evolution of many slightly divergent species, such as the Baltic Sea herring
Herring

Herring are small, oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, including the Baltic Sea....
, which is a smaller variant of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
 herring. The benthic fauna
Benthos

Benthos are the organisms which live on, in, or near the seabed, also known as the benthic zone. They live in or near marine sedimentary environments, from tidal pools along the Intertidal zone, out to the continental shelf, and then down to the Abyssal zone....
 consists mainly of
Monoporeia affinis
Monoporeia affinis

Monoporeia affinis, formerly referred to as Pontoporeia affinis , is a small, yellowish benthos amphipod living in the Baltic Sea, the Arctic Sea and the lakes of the Nordic Countries, measuring ca....
, which is originally a freshwater species. The lack of tides has affected the marine species as compared with the Atlantic.

The most common fish species you can find in the Baltic Sea are codfish, herring, hake
Hake

The term hake refers to fish in either of:* family Gadidae * family Merlucciidae .An old European source mentions a hake that was transplanted from the coast of Ireland to Cape Cod....
, plaice
Plaice

Plaice is the common name of four species of flatfishes:* Alaska plaice, Pleuronectes quadrituberculatus* American plaice, Hippoglossoides platessoides...
, flounder
Flounder

Flounder are flatfish that live in ocean waters ie., Northern Atlantic and waters along the east coast of the United States and Canada, and the Pacific Ocean, as well....
, sea trout, eel and turbot
Turbot

Turbot are flatfish native to marine or brackish waters of the North Atlantic....
.

Economy


Construction of the Great Belt Bridge (1997) and Oresund Bridge
Oresund Bridge

The ?resund or ?resund Bridge is a combined two-track rail transport and four-lane road bridge-tunnel across the ?resund strait. It is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and connects the two metropolitan areas of the ?resund Region: the Denmark capital of Copenhagen and the Sweden city of Malm?....
 (1999) over the international waterway of the Danish Straits
Danish straits

The Danish straits are the three channels connecting the Baltic sea to the North Sea through the Kattegat and Skagerrak. They transect Denmark, and are not to be confused with the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland....
 has limited the Baltic Sea to medium-sized vessels . The Baltic Sea is the main trade route for export of Russian oil. Many of the neighboring countries are concerned about this, since a major oil leak would be disastrous in the Baltic given the slow exchange of water and the many unique species. The tourism industries, especially in economies dependent on tourism like northeastern Germany, are naturally very concerned.

Shipbuilding is practiced in many shipyards around the Baltic. The largest are Gdansk
Gdansk

Gdansk is the city at the centre of the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Poland. It is Poland's principal seaport as well as the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship....
 and Szczecin
Szczecin

Szczecin is the Capital of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest port in Poland on the Baltic Sea....
 (Poland), HDW in Kiel
Kiel

Kiel is the Capital and most populous city of the northern Germany state Schleswig-Holstein.Kiel is approximately 90 km to the north of Hamburg....
 (Germany), Karlskrona
Karlskrona

Karlskrona is a urban areas in Sweden in the provinces of Sweden of Blekinge in south-eastern Sweden. It is the seat of Karlskrona Municipality and the captital of Blekinge County....
 (Sweden), Kockums
Kockums

Kockums Aktiebolag is a shipyard in Malm?, Sweden owned by the German shipyard HDW in Kiel. HDW itself is a subsidiary of the German ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems....
 in Malmö
Malmö

is the third most populous urban areas in Sweden in Sweden, situated in its southernmost province of Scania.Malm? is the seat of Malm? Municipality and the capital of Sk?ne County....
 (Sweden), Rauma
Rauma, Finland

Rauma is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland of ca. inhabitants on the west coast of Finland, north of Turku, and south of Pori....
, Turku
Turku

Turku is a List of towns in Finland situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of Aura river. It is located in the region of Finland Proper in the Province of Western Finland....
, and Helsinki
Helsinki

Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
 (Finland), Riga
Riga

Riga the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava River. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states....
, Ventspils
Ventspils

Ventspils is a city in northwestern Latvia in the Kurzeme region of Latvia, the sixth largest city in the country. As of 2006, Ventspils had a population of 43,806....
 and Liepaja
Liepaja

Liepaja is a city in western Latvia on the Baltic sea and the administrative center of Liepaja district. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port....
 (Latvia), and Klaipeda
Klaipeda

Klaipeda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Curonian Lagoon where it flows into the Baltic Sea. As Lithuania's only seaport, it has ferry terminal connections to Sweden and Germany....
 (Lithuania).

There are several cargo and passenger ferry
Ferry

A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, used to carry passengers and their vehicles across a body of water. Ferries are also used to transport freight and even railroad cars....
 operators on the Baltic Sea, such as Scandlines
Scandlines

Scandlines is a major Germany-Denmark ferry operator.It consists of a parent company, Scandlines AG, and under this parent company a German subsidiary named Scandlines Deutschland GmbH and a Danish subsidiary named Scandlines Danmark A/S....
, Silja Line
Silja Line

Silja Line is a cruiseferry brand operated by the Estonian ferry company Tallink, for car and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy - today Tallink Silja osakeyhti? - is a subsidiary of Tallink Grupp, handling marketing and sales for Tallink and Silja Line brands in Finland as well as managing Silja's shi...
, Polferries
Polferries

Polferries is the largest Polish ferry operator.The Polish Baltic Shipping Company was established on 31 January 1976 as a state-owned shipping company....
, Viking Line
Viking Line

Viking Line is a Finland shipping company that operates a fleet of ferry and cruiseferry between Finland, the ?land, Sweden and Estonia. Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Exchange....
, Tallink
Tallink

Tallink is an Estonian shipping company currently operating cruiseferry and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden, Latvia to Sweden and Finland to Germany....
 and Superfast Ferries
Superfast Ferries

Superfast Ferries is a Greece-based ferry company founded in 1993 by Pericles Panagopulos and Alexander Panagopulos. Together with Blue Star Ferries, it is a subsidiary company of Attica Group, which is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange....
.

The Helsinki Convention


1974 Convention

For the first time ever, all the sources of pollution around an entire sea were made subject to a single convention, signed in 1974 by the then seven Baltic coastal states. The 1974 Convention entered into force on 3 May 1980.

1992 Convention

In the light of political changes and developments in international environmental and maritime law, a new convention was signed in 1992 by all the states bordering on the Baltic Sea, and the European Community. After ratification the Convention entered into force on 17 January 2000. The Convention covers the whole of the Baltic Sea area, including inland waters and the water of the sea itself, as well as the seabed. Measures are also taken in the whole catchment area of the Baltic Sea to reduce land-based pollution. The Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, 1992, entered into force on 17 January 2000.

The governing body of the Convention is the Helsinki Commission, also known as HELCOM, or Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission. The present contracting parties are Denmark, Estonia, the European Community, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

The ratification instruments were deposited by the European Community, Germany, Latvia and Sweden in 1994, by Estonia and Finland in 1995, by Denmark in 1996, by Lithuania in 1997 and by Poland and Russia in November 1999.

Countries

Countries that border on the sea:
  • Denmark
    Denmark

    Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
  • Estonia
    Estonia

    Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
  • Finland
    Finland

    Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
  • Germany
    Germany

    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
  • Latvia
    Latvia

    Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
  • Lithuania
    Lithuania

    Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
  • Poland
    Poland

    Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
  • Russia
    Russia

    Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
  • Sweden
    Sweden

    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....


Countries that are in the drainage basin
Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean....
 but do not border on the sea:
  • Belarus
    Belarus

    Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
  • Czech Republic
    Czech Republic

    The Czech Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east....
  • Norway
    Norway

    Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
  • Slovakia
    Slovakia

    Slovakia . It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements....
  • Ukraine
    Ukraine

    Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....


Islands and archipelagoes

  • Åland Islands (Ahvenanmaa) (Finland
    Finland

    Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
    , autonomous)
  • Archipelago Sea
    Archipelago Sea

    Archipelago Sea is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of ?land, within Finland territorial waters....
     (Finland
    Finland

    Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
    )
    • Pargas
      Pargas

      Pargas in Swedish language and Parainen , is a city in south-western Finland. It is known as the "capital" of the archipelago of Turku and has been a city since 1977....
    • Nagu
      Nagu

      Nagu , or Nauvo in Finnish language, is a municipalities of Finland of Finland.The municipality is located in the provinces of Finland of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper regions of Finland....
    • Korpo
      Korpo

      Korpo , or Korppoo in Finnish language, is a municipalities of Finland of Finland.It is located in the provinces of Finland of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper regions of Finland....
    • Houtskär
      Houtskär

      Houtsk?r in Swedish, or Houtskari in Finnish language, is a municipalities of Finland of Finland.It is located in the provinces of Finland of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper regions of Finland....
    • Kustavi
      Kustavi

      Kustavi , or Gustavs in Finland-Swedish, is a municipalities of Finland of Finland.It is located in the provinces of Finland of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper regions of Finland....
  • Bornholm
    Bornholm

    Bornholm is a Denmark island in the Baltic Sea located to the east of the rest of Denmark, the south of Sweden, and the north of Poland. The main industries on the island include fishing, arts and crafts like glass making and pottery using locally worked clay, and dairy farming....
     (Denmark
    Denmark

    Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
    )
  • Gotland
    Gotland

    is a Counties of Sweden, Provinces of Sweden and Municipalities of Sweden of Sweden and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, it makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area....
     (Sweden
    Sweden

    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
    )
  • Hailuoto
    Hailuoto

    Hailuoto is an island and a municipalities of Finland in the Provinces of Finland of Oulu , Finland. The population of Hailuoto is and the municipality covers an area of of which is inland water ....
     (Finland
    Finland

    Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
    )
  • Hiiumaa
    Hiiumaa

    Hiiumaa is the second largest island belonging to Estonia. It is located in the Baltic Sea, north of the island of Saaremaa, a part of the west Estonian archipelago ....
     (Estonia
    Estonia

    Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
    )
  • Kotlin (Russia
    Russia

    Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
    )
  • Muhu
    Muhu

    Muhu , is an island in the Baltic Sea. With an area of 198 km? it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa....
     (Estonia
    Estonia

    Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
    )
  • Öland
    Öland

    is the second largest Islands of Sweden and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. ?land has an area of 1,342 km? and is located in Baltic Sea just off the coast of Sm?land....
     (Sweden
    Sweden

    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
    )
  • Rügen
    Rügen

    R?gen or Rugia is Germany's largest island. It is located in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. R?gen makes up the vast part of the R?gen , which also includes the neighboring islands Hiddensee and Ummanz, as well as several small islands....
     (Germany
    Germany

    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
    )
  • Saaremaa
    Saaremaa

    Saaremaa is the largest island belonging to Estonia, measuring 2,673 km?. The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago ....
     (Estonia
    Estonia

    Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
    )
  • Stockholm archipelago
    Stockholm archipelago

    The Stockholm Archipelago is the biggest archipelago of Sweden, and one of the biggest archipelagos of the Baltic sea....
     (Sweden
    Sweden

    Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
    )
    • Värmdön
      Värmdön

      V?rmd? is an island in the innermost region of the Stockholm archipelago and covers an area of 180 km?, making it the largest island in the archipelago....
       (Sweden
      Sweden

      Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....
      )
  • Usedom
    Usedom

    Usedom is a Baltic Sea island on the border between Germany and Poland. It is situated north of the Szczecin Lagoon estuary of the Oder river in Pomerania....
     or Uznam (split between Germany
    Germany

    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
     and Poland
    Poland

    Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
    )
  • Kvarken
    Kvarken

    Kvarken is the narrow region in the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from Swedish mainland to Finnish mainland is around 80 km while the distance between the outmost islands is only 25 km....
     archipelago, including Valassaaret/Valsörarna (Finland
    Finland

    Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
    )
  • Wolin
    Wolin

    Wolin is the name shared by an island located in the Baltic Sea located just off the Poland coast, and a Wolin located on the island. It is separated from the island of Usedom by the Swina river, and from mainland Pomerania by the Dziwna river....
     (Poland
    Poland

    Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
    )


Cities

The biggest coastal cities (by population):
  • Saint Petersburg
    Saint Petersburg

    Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
     (Russia) 4,700,000 (metropolitan area 6,000,000)
  • Stockholm
    Stockholm

    is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish Government of Sweden, the Parliament of Sweden, and the official residence of the Swedish Monarchy of Sweden....
     (Sweden) 798,898 (metropolitan area 1,927,128)
  • Copenhagen
    Copenhagen

    Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban area with a population of 1,153,615 . Copenhagen is situated on the Islands of Zealand and Amager....
     (Denmark) 502,204 (metropolitan area 1,823,109) (facing the Sound
    Oresund

    Properly spelled with diacritics, ?resund or ?resund , sometimes also known as The Sound, is the strait that separates the Denmark island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania ....
    )
  • Helsinki
    Helsinki

    Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
     (Finland) 559,716 (metropolitan area 1,200,000)
  • Gdansk
    Gdansk

    Gdansk is the city at the centre of the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Poland. It is Poland's principal seaport as well as the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship....
     (Poland) 462,700 (metropolitan area
    Tricity

    Tricity is an urban area consisting of three Polish city: Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. They are situated adjacent to one other, in a row, on the coast of the Gdansk Bay, Baltic Sea, in Eastern Pomerania Pomerania , northern Poland....
     1,041,000)
  • Riga
    Riga

    Riga the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava River. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states....
     (Latvia) 760,000 (metropolitan area 885,000)
  • Szczecin
    Szczecin

    Szczecin is the Capital of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and the largest port in Poland on the Baltic Sea....
     (Poland) 413,600 (metropolitan area 674,000)
  • Tallinn
    Tallinn

    Tallinn is the capital and largest city in the Republic of Estonia and of Harju County. It occupies a surface of 159.2 km? in which 397,617 inhabitants live....
     (Estonia) 401,774
  • Kaliningrad
    Kaliningrad

    Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea....
     (Russia) 400,000
  • Malmö
    Malmö

    is the third most populous urban areas in Sweden in Sweden, situated in its southernmost province of Scania.Malm? is the seat of Malm? Municipality and the capital of Sk?ne County....
     (Sweden) 259,579 (facing the Sound
    Oresund

    Properly spelled with diacritics, ?resund or ?resund , sometimes also known as The Sound, is the strait that separates the Denmark island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania ....
    )
  • Gdynia
    Gdynia

    Gdynia is a city in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland and an important seaport at Gdansk Bay on the south coast of the Baltic Sea.Located in Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania, Gdynia is part of a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdansk and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the Tricity...
     (Poland) 255,600
  • Kiel
    Kiel

    Kiel is the Capital and most populous city of the northern Germany state Schleswig-Holstein.Kiel is approximately 90 km to the north of Hamburg....
     (Germany) 250,000
  • Espoo
    Espoo

    Espoo is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland of Finland. With a population of approximately it is the second most populated city in Finland....
     (Finland) 234,400 (part of Helsinki metropolitan area)
  • Lübeck
    Lübeck

    L?beck is the second largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites....
     (Germany) 216,100
  • Rostock
    Rostock

    Rostock is the largest city in the north Germany States of Germany Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Rostock is located on the Warnow river; the quarter of Warnem?nde 12 km north of the city centre lies directly on the coast of the Baltic Sea....
     (Germany) 212,700
  • Klaipeda
    Klaipeda

    Klaipeda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Curonian Lagoon where it flows into the Baltic Sea. As Lithuania's only seaport, it has ferry terminal connections to Sweden and Germany....
     (Lithuania) 194,400
  • Turku
    Turku

    Turku is a List of towns in Finland situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of Aura river. It is located in the region of Finland Proper in the Province of Western Finland....
     (Finland) 175,000
  • Oulu
    Oulu

    Oulu is a List of cities and towns in Finland and Municipalities of Finland of inhabitants in the Provinces of Finland of Oulu and the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland....
     (Finland) 130,000
Important ports (though not big cities):
  • Liepaja
    Liepaja

    Liepaja is a city in western Latvia on the Baltic sea and the administrative center of Liepaja district. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port....
     (Latvia) 85,000
  • Pori
    Pori

    Pori is a List of cities and towns in Finland and municipalities of Finland on the west coast of Finland. The centre of the city it located some from the coast of Gulf of Bothnia, at the estuary of Kokem?enjoki river....
     (Finland) 76,000
  • Kotka
    Kotka

    Kotka is a cities of Finland and municipalities of Finland of Finland.It is located in the provinces of Finland of Southern Finland and is part of the Kymenlaakso regions of Finland....
     (Finland) 55,000
  • Swinoujscie
    Swinoujscie

    Swinoujscie is a city and port on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. It is situated mainly on the islands of Usedom and Wolin, but also occupies smaller islands, of which the largest is Karsib?r island, once part of Usedom, now separated by a Piast canal dug in the late 19th century to fac...
     (Poland) 50,000
  • Pärnu
    Pärnu

    P?rnu is a city in southwestern Estonia on the coast of P?rnu Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea. It is a popular summer vacation resort with many hotels, restaurants, and large beaches....
     (Estonia) 44,568
  • Ventspils
    Ventspils

    Ventspils is a city in northwestern Latvia in the Kurzeme region of Latvia, the sixth largest city in the country. As of 2006, Ventspils had a population of 43,806....
     (Latvia) 44,000
  • Police, Poland
    Police, Poland

    Police [] is a town in Pomerania, northwestern Poland, situated on the Oder River and an estuary of the Oder River - Roztoka Odrzanska, south of the Lagoon of Szczecin and the Bay of Pomerania....
     (The Seaport on The Oder River) (34,319)
  • Baltiysk
    Baltiysk

    Baltiysk , prior to 1945 known by its German language name Pillau , is a Russian seaport town in Kaliningrad Oblast. It is situated on the northern part of the Vistula Spit, 29 miles from Kaliningrad, on the shore of the Strait of Baltiysk separating the Vistula Bay from the Gdansk Bay....
     (Russia) 20,000
  • Maardu
    Maardu

    Maardu is a Populated places in Estonia and a Municipalities of Estonia in Harju County, Estonia. It is part of Tallinn metropolitan area. The town covers an area of 22.6 km?....
     (Estonia) 16,570
  • Wladyslawowo
    Wladyslawowo

    Wladyslawowo [] is a town on the south coast of the Baltic Sea in the Kashubia in Eastern Pomerania Pomerania region, northern Poland, with 14,892 inhabitants....
     (Poland) 15,000
  • Mariehamn
    Mariehamn

    Mariehamn is the Capital of ?land, an autonomous territory under Finland sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government of ?land and Parliament of ?land, and 40% of the population of ?land live in the city....
     (Finland) 11,000
  • Hanko (Finland) 10,000
  • Sassnitz
    Sassnitz

    Sassnitz is a town on the Jasmund peninsula, R?gen Island, in the States of Germany of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The population in 12/31/2006 was 10,747....
     (Germany) (ferry terminal)


See also

  • Baltic
  • Baltic region
    Baltic region

    The Baltic region is an ambiguous term that refers to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea....
  • Baltic states
  • Council of the Baltic Sea States
    Council of the Baltic Sea States

    The Council of the Baltic Sea States is an overall political forum for regional intergovernmental cooperation. It was founded in 1992 to handle a multitude of issues concerning the Baltic Sea region such as economy, civil society development, human rights issues and nuclear and radiation safety....
  • List of rivers of the Baltic Sea
    List of rivers of the Baltic Sea

    This is a list of rivers that drain into the Baltic Sea :...
  • Nord Stream
  • Northern Europe
    Northern Europe

    Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as including the following countries and dependent regions:...
  • Ports of the Baltic Sea
    Ports of the Baltic Sea

    This table lists statistics for the major ports of the Baltic Sea. Container traffic is given in terms of Twenty-foot equivalent units of cargo....
  • Scandinavia
    Scandinavia

    Scandinavia is a historical and geographical subregion in northern Europe that includes the Scandinavian Peninsula. It consists of the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark; some authorities also include Finland and some might even include Iceland....


External links

  • - a site maintained by the (FIMR) (in English, Finnish, Swedish and Estonian)
  • in the Baltic
  • - Prehistory of the Baltic from the
  • - more prehistory of the Baltic from the of the University of Helsinki
    University of Helsinki

    The University of Helsinki is a university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku 1640 as The Royal Academy of Turku....
  • HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area"
  • - information related to winter navigation in the Baltic Sea.
  • - Marine weather forecasts