KALININGRAD

oblast (province), extreme western Russia. Most of the oblast is in the basin of the Pregolya River and its tributaries. Centred on Kaliningrad city, it was formed in 1945 from the northern half of German East Prussia, which was ceded to the U.S.S.R. by the Potsdam agreement of that year. Administratively, the oblast was made part of the Russian S.F.S.R., even though it was separated from the parent republic by about 225 miles (360 km) of territory belonging to the Lithuanian, Belorussian, and Latvian republics of the U.S.S.R. When those republics achieved their independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991, the Kaliningrad oblast became a true exclave completely separated by them from the rest of Russia. Along the coasts are the large freshwater Frisches Lagoon (Russian: Vislinsky Zaliv) and Kurisches Lagoon (Kursky Zaliv), separated from the Baltic Sea by long sandspits. The oblast comprises low, gently rolling hills and swampy lowlands; about 20 percent is in mixed forest of oak, pine, spruce, beech, and hornbeam. After World War II the region's German inhabitants either fled or were deported, to be replaced by Russian settlers. The main branches of industry are engineering, metalworking, and paper-pulp making. Amber, once the monopoly of the Teutonic Knights, is now produced by a large combine at Yantarny. Fishing is important along the coast. Grains, potatoes, vegetables, and dairy cattle dominate agriculture. Over three-fourths of the population is urban. Area 5,830 square miles (15,100 square km). Pop. (1991 est.) 886,900. city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, on the northeastern outskirts of Moscow. It developed after 1928 as an industrial satellite and dormitory town of the capital, achieving city status in 1938. Its principal industries are the production of textiles, notably silk, and equipment for foodprocessing industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 161,500. formerly German (12551946) Knigsberg, Polish Krlewiec city, seaport, and administrative centre of Kaliningrad oblast (province), western Russia. It lies on the Pregolya River just upstream from Frisches Lagoon. Formerly the capital of the dukes of Prussia and later the capital of East Prussia, the city was ceded to the Soviet Union in 1945 under the Potsdam agreement. The old town of Knigsberg (King's Mountain) grew up around the fortress built in 1255 by the Teutonic Knights on the advice of Premysl Otakar II, king of Bohemia, after whom the place was named. Its first site was near the fishing town of Steindamm, but, after its destruction by the Prussians in 1263, it was rebuilt near where the city now stands. Knigsberg received civic privileges in 1286 and entered the Hanseatic League in 1340. From 1457 it was the residence of the grand master of the Teutonic Knights, and from 1525 until 1618 the residence of the dukes of Prussia. The trade of Knigsberg was much hindered by the constant shifting and silting up of the channels leading to its harbour, and the First Northern War and the Second Northern War did the city immense damage, but before the end of the 17th century it had almost recovered. In 1701, in the chapel of the castle, Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg crowned himself the first king of Prussiaas Frederick I. In 1724 Frederick William I of Prussia united nearby Lbenicht and Kneiphof with Knigsberg to form a single city. Knigsberg suffered severely during the Napoleonic wars and was the scene of the deliberations that led to the successful uprising of Prussia against Napoleon. During the 19th century the opening of a railway system in East Prussia and Russia gave a new impetus to the city's commerce, making it the principal outlet for such Russian staples as grain, seeds, flax, and hemp. Under Prussia and then Germany the town was, after Kiel, the main naval base on the Baltic Sea and a key to the defense of the eastern frontier. Its modern fortifications were begun in 1843 and completed in 1905. A university (Collegium Albertinum) was founded in the city in 1544 by Albert I, duke of Prussia, as a purely Lutheran place of learning. Among its famous professors were Immanuel Kant (who was born in the city in 1724), J.G. von Herder, F.W. Bessel, and J.F. Herbart. The university disappeared with the Soviet takeover, but a new University of Kaliningrad was founded in 1967. The city was besieged by the Russians unsuccessfully during World War I. In World War II, however, it was virtually destroyed by the Red Army after a two-month siege ending in April 1945. Left in ruins were the 14th-century cathedral, the grand castle begun by the Teutonic Knights, and the old university. Along with the extreme northern sector of East Prussia, Knigsberg then passed to the sovereignty of the U.S.S.R. The new cityrenamed Kaliningrad in 1946was rebuilt and centred in what had been Knigsberg's northwestern suburbs and became a major industrial and commercial centre, connected by a 20-mile (32-kilometre) dredged channel to an outport and naval base along the Baltic called Baltiysk. The city has fishing, engineering, lumber, machinery, and papermaking industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 408,100.