|
|image_map = Baltic states.svg |map_caption = |membership = |admin_center_type = Capitals |admin_center = |languages_type = Official languages |languages = |area_rank = 91st |area_magnitude = |area_km2 = 175015 |area_sq_mi = 67523 |percent_water = 2.23% (3,909 km²) |population_estimate = 6,271,000 |population_estimate_year = 2015 |population_2015 = 6,271,000 |population_estimate_year_2015 = 2015 |population_estimate_rank = 100th |population_density_km2 = 35.5 |population_density_sq_mi = 92.2 |population_density_rank = 176th |GDP_PPP = $170 billion |GDP_PPP_rank = 61st |GDP_PPP_year = 2015 |GDP_PPP_per_capita = $27,095 |GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 47th |GDP_nominal = $92 billion |GDP_nominal_rank = 60th |GDP_nominal_year = 2015 |GDP_nominal_per_capita = $14,755 |GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 45th |Gini_year = |Gini_change = |Gini = |Gini_ref = |Gini_rank = |HDI_year = |HDI_change = |HDI = |HDI_ref = |HDI_rank = | currency = Euro (€) | currency_code = EUR |time_zone = |utc_offset = }} The Baltic states, also known as the Baltics, Baltic nations or Baltic countries ((エストニア語:Balti riigid, Baltimaad), (ラトビア語:Baltijas valstis), (リトアニア語:Baltijos valstybės)), are the three countries in northern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltic states cooperate on a regional level in several intergovernmental organizations. While the indigenous populations of Latvia and Lithuania are known as Baltic people, those of Estonia are Finnic people. Another Baltic identity, Baltic German, began to develop during the Middle Ages after the Livonian Crusade. Linguistic and historical considerations intersect in defining the concept of "Baltic states": for example, while Latvian is phylogenetically related to Lithuanian (both belonging to the Baltic group of the Indo-European language family) Estonian belongs to a completely different family – the Uralic languages. At the same time, despite considerable linguistic proximity, politically Latvia and Lithuania have gone different ways for most of their history, Lithuania at one point forming a commonwealth with Poland, giving rise to one of the largest countries in Europe at the time; while Latvia has shared most of its history with Estonia, both being governed by a Baltic German élite for more than 700 years. The Livonians (a nearly extinct ethnic group closely related to Estonians) have also participated in the ethnogenesis of Latvians: according to most accounts, the assimilation of (Uralic) Livonians by ancient (Indo-European) Baltic tribes formed the basis of what are today known as the Latvian language and Latvians.〔As summarized by Marta Rudzīte (as reprinted in Kersti Boiko's compilation ''(Lībieši: rakstu krājums )'', pages 289 and 298) at one extreme there are theories, such as that of German linguist Hermann Hirt, that the Latvian language is a "mixture of Lithuanian and Livonian". The well-known Finnish linguist Lauri Kettunen was of somewhat similar opinion, considering (modern) Latvians "a mixture of Latvians and Livonians, a ''Mischvolk''". The renowned Latvian linguist Jānis Endzelīns is arguably in the opposite camp, for example, on the subject of phonetics offering a theory that Latvians themselves decided to shift to fixed first-syllable stress because they were "inconvenienced by having to consecutively pronounce words with stress falling on different syllables". According to him Livonian only helped promote this initially "all-Latvian" innovation. It should be borne in mind that these theories are from the early 20th century, a time when linguistics was a highly politicized subject.〕 ==Etymology and history== The term "Baltic" stems from the name of the Baltic Sea – a hydronym dating back to the 11th century (Adam of Bremen mentioned (ラテン語:Mare Balticum)) and earlier. It likely originates from the Indo-European root ( *''bhel'' ) meaning ''white, fair''. This meaning is retained in modern Baltic languages, where ''baltas'' (in Lithuanian) and ''balts'' (in Latvian) means "white". However the modern names of the region and the sea, that originate from this root, were not used in either of the two languages prior to the 19th century.〔 Beginning in the Middle Ages and through the present day, the Baltic Sea appears on the maps described in Germanic languages as , (デンマーク語:Østersøen), (オランダ語:Oostzee), (スウェーデン語:Östersjön), etc. In English "''Ost''" is "East", and in fact, the Baltic Sea ''mostly'' lies to the east for Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In 13th century pagan Baltic and Finnic peoples in the region became target of Northern Crusades. In the aftermath of Livonian crusade a crusader state officially named Terra Mariana, but also known as Livonia, was established in territory of modern Latvia and Southern Estonia. It was divided in four autonomous bishoprics and lands of Livonian Brothers of the Sword. After Brothers of the Sword suffered defeat in Battle of Saule its remains became integrated in Teutonic Order as autonomous Livonian Order. Northern Estonia initially became Danish dominion, but was purchased by Teutonic Order in the mid-14th century. The majority of the crusaders and clergy were German and remained influential in Estonia and most of Latvia until first half of 20th century - Baltic Germans formed the backbone of the local gentry, and German served both as a ''lingua franca'' and for record keeping. Lithuanians were also targeted by crusaders, however were able to resist and formed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania some time before 1252. It allied with Kingdom of Poland. After Union of Krewo in 1385 created dynastic union between the two countries they became ever closer integrated and finally merged into Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. After the victory in Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War the Polish–Lithuanian union became a major political power in the region. In the 1st century, AD the people living in the area were first denoted by Tacitus as a form of Aestii. In 1558 Livonia was attacked by Tsardom of Russia and the Livonian war, which lasted until 1583, broke out. The rulers of different regions within Livonia sought to ally with foreign powers, which resulted in Polish–Lithuanian, Swedish and Danish involvement. As a result, by the 1561 Livonian confederation had ceased to exist and its lands in modern Latvia and Southern Estonia became Duchy of Courland and Semigallia and Duchy of Livonia, which were vassals to Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Osel island came under Danish rule and Northern Estonia became Swedish Duchy of Estonia. In aftermath of later conflicts in 17th century much of Duchy of Livonia and Osel also came under Swedish control as Swedish Livonia. These newly acquired Swedish territories as well as Ingria and Kexholm (now the western part of the Leningrad Oblast of Russia) became known as Baltic Dominions ((スウェーデン語:Östersjöprovinserna)). Parts of Duchy of Livonia that remained in the Commonwealth became Inflanty Voivodeship, which contributed to modern Latgale region in Eastern Latvia becoming culturally distinct from rest of Latvia as German nobility lost its influence and the region remained Catholic just like Poland-Lithuania, while rest of Latvia (and also Estonia) became Lutheran. At the beginning of the 18th century the Swedish Empire was attacked by coalition of several European powers in the Great Northern War. Among these powers was Russia seeking to restore its access to the Baltic Sea. During the course of war it conquered all of the Sweden's provinces on Eastern Baltic coast. This acquisition was legalized by the Treaty of Nystad in which Baltic Dominions were ceded to Russia. The treaty also granted the Baltic-German nobility within Estonia and Livonia the rights to self-government, maintaining their financial system, existing customs border, Lutheran religion, and the German language; this special position in the Russian Empire was reconfirmed by all Russian Tsars from Peter the Great to Alexander II. Under Russian rule these territories came to be known as ''Ostsee Governorates'' (). Initially these were two governorates named after the largest cities: Riga and Reval (now Tallinn). After the Partitions of Poland which took place in the last quarter of the 18th century the third Ostsee Governorate was set, the one of Courland (presently a part of Latvia). This toponym stems from Curonians, one of Finnic or Baltic〔Matthews, W. K. "Nationality and Language in the East Baltic Area", American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 6, No. 1/2 (May 1947), pp. 62–78〕 indigenous tribes. Following the annexation of Courland the two other governates were renamed to the Governorate of Livland and the Governorate of Estland. As a result of Partitions of Poland from 1772 to 1795 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ceased to exist and its territories were incorporated in Russian empire, Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Empire Endre Bojtár (1999) argues that it was around the 1840s when the German gentry of the Governorate of Livonia devised the term "Balts" to mean themselves, the German upper classes of Livonia, excluding the Latvian and Estonian lower classes. They spoke an exclusive dialect, ''baltisch-deutsch'', legally spoken by them alone. However the German philologist Georg Nesselmann in the middle of the 19th century substantiated the concept that Latvian, Lithuanian and Prussian belong to same branch of the Indo-European languages, which he suggested to name Baltic languages〔Moritz Cantor, "Nesselmann: Georg Heinrich Ferdinand". In: ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie''. Vol. 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, p. 445.〕 It was at this time when "Baltic" also started to surpass "Ostsee" as the name for the region. Officially its Russian equivalent "Прибалтийский" was first used in 1859. During the 19th century the Russian Empire a policy of Russification was adopted. It was especially harsh in former lands of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. (perhaps due to Baltic German élite being seen as generally loyal to the tsar.) Poland and Lithuania, however, experienced not only a requirement to switch to Cyrillic but even a ban on print publications in the local languages and corporal punishment if students were caught speaking the local languages at school (''see: Lithuanian book smugglers.'') Latgale (former Inflanty Voivodeship) at the time part of Vitebsk Governorate (with parts of modern-day Belarus) shared this experience with the rest of Poland and Lithuania. After the First World War the term "Baltic States" was used to refer to countries by the Baltic sea that had gained independence from Russia in its aftermath. As such it included not only former Baltic governorates, but also Latgale, Lithuania and Finland.〔George Maude. "Aspects of the Governing of the Finns", Peter Lang, 2010, p. 114〕 During Interwar period these countries were sometimes referred to as ''limitrophe states'' between the two World Wars, from the French, indicating their collectively forming a rim along Bolshevik Russia's, later the Soviet Union's, western border. They were also part of what Clemenceau considered a strategic cordon sanitaire, the entire territory from Finland in the north to Romania in the south, standing between Western Europe and potential Bolshevik territorial ambitions. Prior to the Second World war Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania each experienced an authoritarian head of state that had come to power after a bloodless coup: Konstantin Päts in Estonia (1934), Kārlis Ulmanis in Latvia (1934), and Antanas Smetona in Lithuania (1926). Some note that the events in Lithuania differed from its two more northerly neighbors, with Smetona having different motivations as well as securing power 8 years before any such events in Latvia or Estonia took place. Despite considerable political turmoil in Finland no such events took place there. Finland did however get embroiled in a bloody civil war, something that did not happen in the Baltics.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.writework.com/essay/why-did-finland-remain-democracy-between-two-world-wars-wh )〕 Some controversy surrounds the Baltic authoritarian régimes – due to the general stability and rapid economic growth of the period (even if brief) some avoid the label "authoritarian"; others, however, condemn such "apologetic" attitude (''see, for example: Later assessments in Kārlis Ulmanis''.) In accordance with a secret protocol within the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 that divided Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence, the Soviet Army entered eastern Poland in September 1939, and then coerced the Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into mutual assistance treaties which granted them right to form military bases in these. In June 1940, the Red Army occupied all of the territory of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and the Red Army installed new, pro-Soviet governments in all three countries. Following rigged elections, in which only pro-communist candidates were allowed to run, the newly "elected" parliaments of the three countries formally applied to "join" the Soviet Union in August 1940 and were incorporated into it as the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. After the incorporation of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia into the Soviet Union as Soviet republics, they were informally grouped as "Baltic republics" (прибалтийские республики). Repressions, executions and mass deportations followed after that in the Baltics.〔(These Names Accuse—Nominal List of Latvians Deported to Soviet Russia )〕〔 (The White Book - Losses Inflicted On The Estonian Nation By The Occupation Regimes 1940-1991 ) 〕 Deportations were used as a part of the Soviet Union's attempts, along with instituting the Russian Language as the only working language and other such tactics, at sovietization of its occupied territories. More than 200,000 people were deported by the Soviet government from the Baltic in 1940-1953 to remote, inhospitable areas of the Soviet Union. In addition, at least 75,000 were sent to Gulag. 10% of the entire adult Baltic population was deported or sent to labor camps.〔(The Baltic States )〕〔(Communism and Crimes against Humanity in the Baltic states )〕 (See June deportation, Soviet deportations from Estonia, Sovietization of the Baltic states) The Soviet control of the Baltic states was interrupted by Nazi German invasion of this region in 1941. Initially, many Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians considered the Germans as liberators from the Soviet Union. The Baltic countries hoped for the restoration of independence, but instead the Germans established civil administration, known as the Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the occupation the Germans carried out discrimination, mass deportations and mass killings generating Baltic resistance movements. The German occupation lasted until late 1944 (in Courland, until early 1945), when the countries were reoccupied by the Red Army and Soviet rule was re-established, with the passive agreement of the United States and Britain (see Yalta Conference and Potsdam Agreement). The forced collectivisation of agriculture began in 1947, and was completed after the mass deportation in March 1949 (see Operation Priboi). Private farms were confiscated, and farmers were made to join the collective farms. In all three countries, Baltic partisans, known colloquially as the Forest Brothers, Latvian national partisans, and Lithuanian partisans, waged unsuccessful guerrilla warfare against the Soviet occupation for the next eight years in a bid to regain their nations' independence. Although the armed resistance was defeated, the population remained anti-Soviet. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were considered to be under Soviet occupation by the United States, the United Kingdom,〔(Country Profiles: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ) at UK Foreign Office〕 Canada, NATO, and many other countries and international organizations.〔(U.S.-Baltic Relations: Celebrating 85 Years of Friendship ) at state.gov〕 In the late 1980s a massive campaign of civil resistance against Soviet rule, known as the Singing Revolution, began. Baltic Way was one of the most spectacular events when a two-million-strong human chain stretched for 600 km from Tallinn to Vilnius on 23 August 1989. In the wake of this campaign Gorbachev's government had privately concluded that the departure of the Baltic republics had become "inevitable". This process contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union setting a precedent for the other Soviet republics to secede from the USSR. Soviet Union recognized the independence of three Baltic states on 6 September 1991. There was a subsequent withdrawal of troops from the region (starting from Lithuania) in August 1993. The last Russian troops were withdrawn from there in August 1994.〔(Baltic Military District ) globalsecurity.org〕 Skrunda-1, the last Russian military radar in the Baltics, officially suspended operations in August 1998.〔(SKRUNDA SHUTS DOWN. ) The Jamestown Foundation. 1 September 1998. Retrieved 19 June 2013.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Baltic states」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|