Jurbarkas

Jurbarkas stands where the Mituva and Imsrė meet the Nemunas, a river that carried traffic west towards Prussia. Its name recalls Georgenburg, a castle established by the Teutonic Order in 1259 during its campaigns against Lithuania. The stronghold formed part of a contested chain of fortifications along the Nemunas. Vytautas destroyed Georgenburg in 1403, and the Treaty of Melno confirmed the area as Lithuanian in 1422. Jurbarkas later grew as a river trading town, exporting timber downstream to Prussia. It received municipal rights in 1611. In 1831, during the uprising against Russian rule, insurgents briefly took the town, bringing another conflict to the old frontier on the Nemunas.