Courland and Livonia 1850

The three Baltic States everyone is aware of are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The formation of these three nations started loosely by the 13th century, and over the course multiple border changes shaped the history of Baltic States, but there are two of these entities whose names are now wiped out from people's general conscience. Courland and Livonia. 

But these aren't the only ones whose identity are lost, especially when it comes to European countries. Names such as Prussia, Yugoslavia, Bessarabia, the giant Soviet Union or USSR are the bigger names, but entities such as Courland and Livonia are harder to remember as their history didn't reach that stretch of drama as compared to others. Interestingly, the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia once even had overseas colonies in the Gambia River, at the settlements of St. Andrew's Island (Kunta Kinteh Island, Gambia) between 1651 to 1661 and another one at the Tobago Island between 1654 to 1659. What is even more interesting, is that the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was itself a vassal state to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that was later made part of the greater Polish Kingdom, later to be united as Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or Rzeczpospolita in the local Polish language. Courland and Semigallia remained a vassal state till finally merging in the Commonwealth in 1725. And after another seven decades, it was immersed into the Russian Empire. In 1918, formally the Republics of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania started to exist which finally got independence in 1991. 

Livonia, on the other hand, was a historical region that swung between Russian and Swedish influences. The Kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden had scooped into the Baltic during the period of 17th century at the time when western European players were gearing up for trans-continental trade ventures. Denmark had its control over islands in the Baltic, that are now part of Estonia, while Swedish Kingdom had spread through Lapland and northern Estonia. By 1640s, Livonia was formally part of the Swedish Kingdom and the term was mostly associated to a military order - a religious society that existed across Europe and the Levant. In fact, both Livonia and Courland were part of the Teutonic Order existing between 1260 to 1410, across the whole of Baltic coast covering territories of Pomerelia, Prussia, Gotland, Samogitia, Courland, Livonia, Zemgale and Estonia that will be today's northern Poland, part of Sweden and the Baltic nations. In fact, an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order was formed as the Livonian Order between 1237 to 1561. After the fall of the Teutonic Order, there was also several attempts in retaining the independence of the Livonian Confederation, spread across today's Estonia and Latvia for nearly a century before it fell to the Swedish Kingdom in 1561. 

But the fascinating part is the emergence of such smaller territories as colonisers and how did it even start from this part of Europe? The credit goes to Jacob Kettler, a Courland born German Baltic Duke under whom Courland and Semigallia remained virtually independent of the Polish clutches, between 1642 to 1682. One of the many striking features of colonisation was to form unions of two bigger kingdoms to form even a bigger empire. Denmark did that with Norway, Spain with Portugal, Austria with Hungary, Poland with Lithuania etc. These unions are basically empires but having dual ownership - over security, defence, trade, economy, marriages and perhaps everything that needs a kingdom to run. But these unions did create trouble especially for those who never wished to see one. Jacob Kettler made sure to get Courland a little edge over the others, hence took an expedition to remote regions which, surprisingly, made it one of the fastest growing European colonisers. But as bigger players entered the competition, Kettler suffered immense defeat and a crushing end to his colonial dreams. After all, it was impossible for a semi-independent Duchy to compete against the gigantic French and the Dutch and the Spanish and the English and their various Companies they were running. 

In 1812, just for less than a year, Courland saw a French occupation just for five months because of which Russian administration is shifted from its capital Kuldīga to Riga. This occupation was commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, who had annexed under French territories the extent of the entire central and western Europe and sled into the Polish-Lithuanian Union giving expedition's charge to X Corps. This led to the Siege of Riga, which was the capital of the Livonian Governate, and the joint alliance of the French and Prussian forces pushed back Russians for roughly five months, after which the Russians took over and drove off the French from the Baltic, restricting them beyond River Niemen. But for these five months, a temporary French government was established combining Courland, Semigallia and the District of Pilten (all part of today's Latvia). 

By the end of the First World War, the Baltic was virtually independent of Russia and the German occupation was gaining momentum. Independent councils for Estland or Esthonia or Estonia, Riga, Courland and Livonia were being shaped to work in tandem with the Prussian monarch, making the Russian influence obsolete in the Baltic. And so in November 1918, the three independent republics were born - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

But the independency remained for a short number of decades, when in 1940 Soviet occupancy covered the entire Baltic. The three nations were given SSR - Soviet Socialist Republics - status and thus, the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian SSRs continued for just one year when Nazi Germany expanded its wings all across Europe. Estonia (Estland), Latvia (Lettland), Lithuania (Litauen) and central Belarus (Weißruthenein) together forming Ostland administrative block that existed till 1945 till the dissolution of the Second World War leading to reoccupation by the Soviet Union. It's interesting that all these nations got independence twice from occupancy at the end of both the World Wars. 

With the formation of these full-sovereigns, the identity of names Courland, Livonia and others got wiped out and except for the natives and history enthusiasts, possibly very few people even understand their significance. But interestingly, the former colony on Tobago island carries the legacy by naming a waterbody near the island - the Courland Bay, part of the larger Caribbean Sea. Below here is a recreated map of the times when Courland, Livonia were part of the greater Russian Empire.