Grobiņa

Grobiņa lies near the Baltic coast of Courland, on a site with a remarkably old history of overseas contacts. From the seventh to the ninth century Scandinavian settlers lived here alongside Curonians, leaving extensive burial grounds and traces of an old fortified settlement. In the thirteenth century the Livonian Order built a castle, establishing a new centre of authority amid the older landscape.

The order pledged the district to the Duke of Prussia in 1560, shortly before the dissolution of Livonia's old political order. Duke Wilhelm of Courland recovered it in 1609. Grobiņa subsequently formed part of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, and received town rights in 1695. Its castle remained a centre for the administration of the surrounding Courland district for the dukes.