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Lithuania Minor ((リトアニア語:Mažoji Lietuva); (ドイツ語:Kleinlitauen); (ポーランド語:Litwa Mniejsza); (ロシア語:Máлая Литвá)) or Prussian Lithuania ((リトアニア語:Prūsų Lietuva); (ドイツ語:Preußisch-Litauen), (ポーランド語:Litwa Pruska)) is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, later East Prussia in Germany, where Prussian Lithuanians or Lietuvininkai lived. Lithuania Minor enclosed the northern part of this province and got its name due to the territory's substantial Lithuanian-speaking population. Prior to the invasion of the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century, the main part of the territory later known as Lithuania Minor was inhabited by the tribes of Skalvians and Nadruvians. The land became depopulated to some extent during the warfare between Lithuania and the Order. The war ended with the Treaty of Melno and the land was resettled by Lithuanian newcomers, returning refugees, and the remaining indigenous Baltic peoples; the term Lithuania Minor appeared for the first time between 1517 and 1526. With the exception of the Klaipėda Region, which became a mandated territory of the League of Nations in 1920 by the Treaty of Versailles and was annexed to Lithuania from 1923 to 1939, the area was part of Prussia until 1945. Today a small portion of Lithuania Minor is within the borders of modern Lithuania and Poland while most of the territory is part of the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia. Although hardly anything remains of the original culture due to the expulsion of Germans after World War II, Lithuania Minor has made an important contribution to Lithuanian culture as a whole. The written standard form of Prussian-Lithuanian provided the "skeleton" of modern Lithuanian,〔 ()〕 evolved from people close to Stanislovas Rapalionis and graduating from Lithuanian language school established in Vilnius, who were expelled from Grand Duchy during counter-reformation years. Those include notable names like Abraomas Kulvietis and Martynas Mažvydas. During the years of the Lithuanian press ban, most of the Lithuanian books printed using the Latin alphabet were published in Lithuania Minor. Lithuania Minor was the home of Kristijonas Donelaitis, a pastor, poet and the author of ''The Seasons'', considered a milestone of Lithuanian literature, and Vydūnas, a prominent Lithuanian writer and philosopher. ==Terminology== The term "Lithuania Minor" (''Kleinlitauen'' or little Lithuania in German) applied to the northeastern part of the former province of East Prussia (about 31 500 km²). It was first mentioned as ''Kleinlittaw'' in the Prussian Chronicle of Simon Grunau at the beginning of the 16th century (between 1517 and 1526) and was later repeated by another Prussian chronicler, Lucas David. The term Lithuania Minor was first applied during the 19th century and used more widely during the 20th century, mostly among historians and ethnographers. The northeastern limit of the area of Prussia inhabited by Lithuanians was the state border between Lithuania and Prussia, and the northern border was along the Nemunas River, but the southwestern limit was not clear. Thus, the territory of Lithuania Minor has been understood differently by different parties; it could be: *either the area limited in the south by M. Toeppen-A. Bezzenberger's line (about 11 400 km²) what is roughly the area of the former administrative Lithuanian Province (about 10 thousand km².), where the population was almost entirely Lithuanian until 1709-11, *or the area of the former region with actual Lithuanian majority or of considerable percentage (about 17-18 thousand km².). The administrative terms "Lithuanian province" ''(Provinz Litthauen)'', "Lithuanian districts" ''(Littauischen Ämtern)'', "Lithuanian county" ''(Littauische Kreis)'' or simply "Prussian Lithuania" ''(Preuszisch Litauen)'', "Lithuania" ''(Litauen)'' were used to refer to the Lithuanian inhabited administrative units (Nadruvia and Scalovia) in the legal documentation of Prussian state since 1618. The Lithuanian Province was named ''Klein Litau'', ''Klein Litauen'', ''Preussisch Litthauen'', ''Little Lithuania'', ''Litvania'' in the maps of Prussia since 1738. The official use of the concepts Prussian Lithuania etc. decreased considerably from the administrative reform of 1815-18.〔A. Matulevičius ''Mažoji Lietuva XVIII amžiuje (Lietuvių tautinė padėtis) (Minor in the 18th century (the national situation of Lithuanians) )''; Vilnius 1989; p.〕 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「Lithuania Minor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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