Palanga

Palanga lies on the Baltic shore, amid sands and dunes that once formed part of the Curonian land of Mėguva. From the tenth to the thirteenth century it was one of that land's principal settlements, a place of trade and crafts on the old amber route. Its coast lay between the domains of the Teutonic and Livonian orders, whose efforts to seize the Lithuanian shore met prolonged resistance.

The Treaty of Melno assigned Palanga to Lithuania in 1422, and five years later Jogaila came here to see the sea. A wooden Catholic church was built around 1540 at the behest of Anna Jagiellon. To the north, the harbour of Šventoji grew into a trading centre where English merchants established enterprises in 1685. During the Great Northern War Swedish forces ravaged Palanga and destroyed the harbour, blocking its entrance with stones in 1701.