Send Gift Baskets to Taurage, Lithuania

Tauragė is located between the two Baltic tribes and at the edge of two historical regions. In 13th-century donations written by Mindaugas, the king of Lithuania mentions that there are lands called Karšuva (Carsovia) and Skalva (Scalovia). The town of Skalva was situated southwest of the current town in 1426. Its inhabitants were the Baltic tribe, Scalovians (Skalvians). To the northeast, there was Žemaitija (Samogitia) and its inhabitants Žemaičiai (Samogitians). Karsava had different people from the ones in modern-day Lithuania because it was where the Kuršiai and Lamatiečiai tribes lived. “The Carsovians became neighbors of the Scalovians on the northern border” by inhabiting Skalva. This insight can be seen when looking at how the ethnonym Karšuvs is connected to Kuršiai, which wrote as Corres, Kauren in old history books. When the war with the Teutonic Order broke out, the ethnic and political borders of Poland and Lithuania rapidly changed. It’s possible that during the 13th century when Skalva was heavily damaged, Samogitians (an ethnic group in Lithuania) supported by Grand Duchy of Lithuania rulers, tried to push to the southwest. They were forced to retreat during the Hundred Years’ War because of constant attacks by The Teutonic Order. It is not clear when the Samogitians first returned. Some people speculate that it was around the 15-16th centuries when the wars ended and their lands were free again. In 1404, the Scalovians (Skalvians) were defeated by the Teutonic Order. Much of northern Skalva was left to Lithuania and was inhabited by Samogitians.

Tauragė, first mentioned in 1507, has been a hub for Lutheranism in Lithuania. Although it was ruled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, there was an interesting period when the land of Tauragė belonged to East Prussian rulers. Tauragė belonged to Brandenburg-Prussia for a long time, after the marriage of Princess Ludwika Karolina Radziwiłł with Margrave of Brandenburg Ludwig. After the end of the 18th century, all of Lithuania was occupied by Russia, and in 1795 the town became Russian territory.