Klaipeda

Klaipeda , formerly Memel , city (1993 pop. 206,400), W Lithuania, on the Baltic Sea, at the entrance to the Courland Lagoon. An ice-free seaport and an industrial center, it has shipyards and industries producing textiles, fertilizers, and wood products. It is the home of a large fishing fleet. One of the oldest cities of Lithuania, Klaipeda was the site of a settlement as early as the 7th cent. It was conquered and burned in 1252 by the Teutonic Knights, who built a fortress and named it Memelburg. The city was ceded (1629) by Prussia to Sweden but reverted to Prussia in 1635. In the Napoleonic Wars the city was (1807) the refuge and residence of Frederick William III of Prussia, who signed there the edict emancipating the serfs in his kingdom. From 1919 it shared the history of the Memel Territory . The name has also appeared as Klaypeda.

Klaipėda, Lithuania Memelburg, Memel Destroying the original settlement, the Teutonic Knights built a new fortress in 1252 which they called Memelburg ‘Fortress on the (River) Memel’ (in Lithuanian, the Nemunas, and known in English as the Neman); the ‐burg was later dropped. The city was part of East Prussia until becoming international territory as a result of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and placed under French administration by the League of Nations. The Lithuanians drove the French out in 1923 and annexed the area, the city becoming Lithuanian for the first time. It was renamed Klaipeda that year, retaining this name until it was severed from Lithuania by Adolf Hitler^† in 1939 when it became Memel again. It was ceded to the Soviet Union and renamed Klaipeda in 1945. It became part of Lithuania in 1991 when independence was achieved. The meaning of the present name is unknown, but the second half, pėda, means ‘foot’ or ‘footprint’ in Lithuanian, and thus possibly ‘district’ or ‘territory’ here, with the first syllable conceivably associated with a personal name.