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80-611: See Skanör med Falsterbo#Climate for more data. Falsterbo historically enjoyed trading privileges with the Hanseatic League . During the Middle Ages, it was a rich and prestigious town owing to its location in a center of trade and herring fishery. On the beach between Falsterbo and neighboring town Skanör was the Scania Market where merchants from various parts of Europe had fixed market places. Scania Market

160-565: A City Court ( rådhusrätt ) up until 1947. It is now a locality within Vellinge Municipality and has no administration of its own. The railway closed in 1971 and was dismantled the following year. During the first world war a track was laid to the new cement factory located in the Skanör harbour. There are rumours that the cement factory was used as a depot for military equipment in case the war reached Sweden . Others claim that

240-634: A normal winter, except sheltered bays and shallow lagoons such as the Curonian Lagoon . The ice reaches its maximum extent in February or March; typical ice thickness in the northernmost areas in the Bothnian Bay , the northern basin of the Gulf of Bothnia, is about 70 cm (28 in) for landfast sea ice. The thickness decreases farther south. Freezing begins in the northern extremities of

320-700: A part of the Baltic Sea, "For the purposes of this Convention the 'Baltic Sea Area' shall be the Baltic Sea and the Entrance to the Baltic Sea, bounded by the parallel of the Skaw in the Skagerrak at 57°44.43'N." Historically, the Kingdom of Denmark collected Sound Dues from ships at the border between the ocean and the land-locked Baltic Sea, in tandem: in the Øresund at Kronborg castle near Helsingør ; in

400-457: A related hypothesis holds that the name originated from this Indo-European root via a Baltic language such as Lithuanian. Another explanation is that, while derived from the aforementioned root, the name of the sea is related to names for various forms of water and related substances in several European languages, that might have been originally associated with colors found in swamps (compare Proto-Slavic *bolto "swamp"). Yet another explanation

480-533: A single city, Skanör med Falsterbo. Falsterbo is mostly known as a holiday destination where people go to spend their summer vacations. The beaches of Falsterbo are known for their white sand and family-friendly bathing opportunities. Falsterbo is also known for one of the better golf courses in Europe – Falsterbo Golf Club. Another attraction in Falsterbo is the annual International Horse Jumping Grand Prix (part of

560-605: Is a reduction from the 25 incidents representing 1,110 kg (2,450 lb) of material in 2003. Until now, the U.S. Government refuses to disclose the exact coordinates of the wreck sites. Deteriorating bottles leak mustard gas and other substances, thus slowly poisoning a substantial part of the Baltic Sea. After 1945, the German population was expelled from all areas east of the Oder-Neisse line , making room for new Polish and Russian settlement. Poland gained most of

640-494: Is a statistical locality ( Swedish tätort , locality code 3672), situated in Vellinge Municipality , Skåne County , Sweden with 6,937 inhabitants in 2010. It consists of the two old towns of Skanör and Falsterbo which have grown together and were unified in 1754, but are still regarded as different communities by locals. The preposition med means with . Thanks to its southerly and maritime position,

720-417: Is about 20,000 km (4,800 cu mi). The periphery amounts to about 8,000 km (5,000 mi) of coastline. The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish inland seas by area, and occupies a basin (a Zungenbecken ) formed by glacial erosion during the last few ice ages . The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Baltic Sea as follows: The northern part of

800-413: Is adapted to reproducing also with no ice in the sea. The sea ice also harbors several species of algae that live in the bottom and inside unfrozen brine pockets in the ice. Due to the often fluctuating winter temperatures between above and below freezing, the saltwater ice of the Baltic Sea can be treacherous and hazardous to walk on, in particular in comparison to the more stable fresh water-ice sheets in

880-551: Is also the southernmost official station in Sweden. This combination renders it have a January mean for 1961–1990 above freezing, a very unusual occurrence in Sweden. Falsterbo is often cooler than Malmö during the day and milder during the night due to the low diurnal temperature variation . The great maritime effects as well as the ice-free winters of the region contributes to both yearly heat and cold records being subdued by Swedish standards, however specific climate events have shrunk

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960-604: Is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark , Estonia , Finland , Germany , Latvia , Lithuania , Poland , Russia , Sweden , and the North and Central European Plain . The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. It is a shelf sea and marginal sea of the Atlantic with limited water exchange between the two, making it an inland sea . The Baltic Sea drains through

1040-698: Is known for the Falsterbo Bird Observatory , since most migratory birds leave the Scandinavian Peninsula via the 5 km long reef south of Falsterbo . The very same reef, and the fine sand beaches on the peninsula, offers some of the best sea bathing of Sweden . Falsterbo also has an annual horse show (show jumping and dressage), the Falsterbo Horse Show . Skanör used to host the annual market, Skanörs sillamarknad. Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea

1120-577: Is nearby. Falsterbohus was the name of a number of historic castles dating from the mid-13th century. The building now known as Falsterbohus was built in 1908. There have been a number of archaeological excavations where the original castles stood. The first was in the early 20th century by Georg Fredrik Johansson Karlin (1859–1939), founder of Kulturen , the Cultural Museum of Southern Sweden located in Lund . A second and more extensive excavation

1200-571: Is situated north of Køge Bugt and connects Dragør in the south of Copenhagen to Malmö ; it is used by the Øresund Bridge , including the Drogden Tunnel . By this definition, the Danish straits is part of the entrance, but the Bay of Mecklenburg and the Bay of Kiel are parts of the Baltic Sea. Another usual border is the line between Falsterbo , Sweden, and Stevns Klint , Denmark, as this

1280-529: Is that the name originally meant "enclosed sea, bay" as opposed to open sea. In the Middle Ages the sea was known by a variety of names. The name Baltic Sea became dominant after 1600. Usage of Baltic and similar terms to denote the region east of the sea started only in the 19th century. The Baltic Sea was known in ancient Latin language sources as Mare Suebicum or even Mare Germanicum . Older native names in languages that used to be spoken on

1360-519: Is the southern border of Øresund. It is also the border between the shallow southern Øresund (with a typical depth of 5–10 meters only) and notably deeper water. Drogden Sill (depth of 7 m (23 ft)) sets a limit to Øresund and Darss Sill (depth of 18 m (59 ft)), and a limit to the Belt Sea. The shallow sills are obstacles to the flow of heavy salt water from the Kattegat into

1440-556: The All Saints' Flood of 1304 and other floods in the years 1320, 1449, 1625, 1694, 1784 and 1825. Little is known of their extent. From 1872, there exist regular and reliable records of water levels in the Baltic Sea. The highest was the flood of 1872 when the water was an average of 2.43 m (8 ft 0 in) above sea level at Warnemünde and a maximum of 2.83 m (9 ft 3 in) above sea level in Warnemünde. In

1520-780: The Black Sea and southern Russia. This Norse-dominated period is referred to as the Viking Age . Since the Viking Age , the Scandinavians have referred to the Baltic Sea as Austmarr ("Eastern Sea"). "Eastern Sea", appears in the Heimskringla and Eystra salt appears in Sörla þáttr . Saxo Grammaticus recorded in Gesta Danorum an older name, Gandvik , -vik being Old Norse for "bay", which implies that

1600-605: The Danish straits into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund , Great Belt and Little Belt . It includes the Gulf of Bothnia (divided into the Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea ), the Gulf of Finland , the Gulf of Riga and the Bay of Gdańsk . The " Baltic Proper " is bordered on its northern edge, at latitude 60°N, by Åland and the Gulf of Bothnia, on its northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, on its eastern edge by

1680-455: The Danish straits . According to the 18th-century natural historian William Derham , during the severe winters of 1703 and 1708, the ice cover reached as far as the Danish straits. Frequently, parts of the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland are frozen, in addition to coastal fringes in more southerly locations such as the Gulf of Riga. This description meant that the whole of the Baltic Sea

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1760-574: The Falsterbo Horse Show ) every July. Local landmarks include Falsterbo Lighthouse which lies on the site of the oldest known beacon in Scandinavia. Other sites of note include Falsterbo Bird Observatory, Falsterbo Museum and the historic Falsterbo church . Falsterbo is also known for its Bird Observatory, which regularly undertakes bird ringing . The bird observatory has ringed over a million birds. Sweden's oldest nature reserve, Måkläppen , an important breeding area for shorebirds and seals,

1840-726: The Great Belt at Nyborg ; and in the Little Belt at its narrowest part then Fredericia , after that stronghold was built. The narrowest part of Little Belt is the "Middelfart Sund" near Middelfart . Geographers widely agree that the preferred physical border between the Baltic and North Seas is the Langelandsbælt (the southern part of the Great Belt strait near Langeland ) and the Drogden -Sill strait. The Drogden Sill

1920-599: The Netherlands , Denmark , and Scotland . The Polabian Slavs were gradually assimilated by the Germans. Denmark gradually gained control over most of the Baltic coast, until she lost much of her possessions after being defeated in the 1227 Battle of Bornhöved . In the 13th to 16th centuries, the strongest economic force in Northern Europe was the Hanseatic League , a federation of merchant cities around

2000-531: The Netherlands : their fleets needed the Baltic timber, tar, flax, and hemp. During the Crimean War , a joint British and French fleet attacked the Russian fortresses in the Baltic; the case is also known as the Åland War . They bombarded Sveaborg , which guards Helsinki ; and Kronstadt , which guards Saint Petersburg; and they destroyed Bomarsund in Åland . After the unification of Germany in 1871,

2080-590: The Sambia Peninsula in Kaliningrad Oblast . The Bay of Pomerania lies north of the islands of Usedom/Uznam and Wolin , east of Rügen . Between Falster and the German coast lie the Bay of Mecklenburg and Bay of Lübeck . The westernmost part of the Baltic Sea is the Bay of Kiel . The three Danish straits , the Great Belt , the Little Belt and The Sound ( Öresund / Øresund ), connect

2160-657: The Stockholm area, southwestern Finland, and Estonia. The Western and Eastern Gotland basins form the major parts of the Central Baltic Sea or Baltic proper. The Bornholm Basin is the area east of Bornholm, and the shallower Arkona Basin extends from Bornholm to the Danish isles of Falster and Zealand . In the south, the Bay of Gdańsk lies east of the Hel Peninsula on the Polish coast and west of

2240-404: The 12th century. The bordering countries have also traditionally exported lumber, wood tar , flax , hemp and furs by ship across the Baltic. Sweden had from early medieval times exported iron and silver mined there, while Poland had and still has extensive salt mines. Thus, the Baltic Sea has long been crossed by much merchant shipping. The lands on the Baltic's eastern shore were among

2320-409: The 16th century the Scania Market was dismantled and subsequently the two cities lost their former importance, but retained the town privileges, with joint administration. The two medieval towns Skanör and Falsterbo were united economically under the same mayor in 1754. Even so, they have geographically never been considered the same town, and they did not grow into a contiguous settlement until

2400-491: The 1801 hours of Lund in the 2002–2016 period, this due to less convection build-up during spring and summer. Even being part of the Nordic mainland, Falsterbo also has a similar annual temperature to Carlisle in hypermaritime coastal England in spite of being slightly further north. The origin of Skanör can be traced back to the end of the 12th century and Falsterbo is believed to have arisen shortly before. In around 1220

2480-462: The Baltic Sea and the North Sea . In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Poland , Denmark , and Sweden fought wars for Dominium maris baltici ("Lordship over the Baltic Sea"). Eventually, it was Sweden that virtually encompassed the Baltic Sea . In Sweden, the sea was then referred to as Mare Nostrum Balticum ("Our Baltic Sea"). The goal of Swedish warfare during the 17th century

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2560-677: The Baltic Sea is known as the Gulf of Bothnia , of which the northernmost part is the Bay of Bothnia or Bothnian Bay . The more rounded southern basin of the gulf is called Bothnian Sea and immediately to the south of it lies the Sea of Åland . The Gulf of Finland connects the Baltic Sea with Saint Petersburg . The Gulf of Riga lies between the Latvian capital city of Riga and the Estonian island of Saaremaa . The Northern Baltic Sea lies between

2640-645: The Baltic Sea was known as the Mare Suebicum or Mare Sarmaticum . Tacitus in his AD 98 Agricola and Germania described the Mare Suebicum, named for the Suebi tribe, during the spring months, as a brackish sea where the ice broke apart and chunks floated about. The Suebi eventually migrated southwest to temporarily reside in the Rhineland area of modern Germany, where their name survives in

2720-488: The Baltic Sea with the Kattegat and Skagerrak strait in the North Sea . The water temperature of the Baltic Sea varies significantly depending on exact location, season and depth. At the Bornholm Basin, which is located directly east of the island of the same name, the surface temperature typically falls to 0–5 °C (32–41 °F) during the peak of the winter and rises to 15–20 °C (59–68 °F) during

2800-567: The Baltic states and Poland. The remaining non-NATO and non-EU shore areas are Russian: the Saint Petersburg area and the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave . Winter storms begin arriving in the region during October. These have caused numerous shipwrecks , and contributed to the extreme difficulties of rescuing passengers of the ferry M/S Estonia en route from Tallinn , Estonia, to Stockholm , Sweden, in September 1994, which claimed

2880-469: The Baltic states. In 1945, the Baltic Sea became a mass grave for retreating soldiers and refugees on torpedoed troop transports . The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff remains the worst maritime disaster in history, killing (very roughly) 9,000 people. In 2005, a Russian group of scientists found over five thousand airplane wrecks, sunken warships, and other material, mainly from World War II, on

2960-575: The Bothnian Bay and the Bothnian Sea were frozen with solid ice near the Baltic coast and dense floating ice far from it. In 2008, almost no ice formed except for a short period in March. During winter, fast ice , which is attached to the shoreline, develops first, rendering ports unusable without the services of icebreakers . Level ice , ice sludge , pancake ice , and rafter ice form in

3040-500: The Danish king built the Skanör fortress. S:ta Gertrud church in Falsterbo dates back to the 13th century, possibly the 12th. During the Late Middle Ages both towns grew in importance and wealth as during late summer and autumn the peninsula was an important centre of trade and herring fishing in the annual Scania Market ( Skånemarknaden ). The market was held on the beach stretch between Skanör and Falsterbo and

3120-595: The Gulf of Bothnia normally thaw in late April, with some ice ridges persisting until May in the eastern extremities of the Gulf of Finland. In the northernmost reaches of the Bothnian Bay, ice usually stays until late May; by early June it is practically always gone. However, in the famine year of 1867 remnants of ice were observed as late as 17 July near Uddskär . Even as far south as Øresund , remnants of ice have been observed in May on several occasions; near Taarbaek on 15 May 1942 and near Copenhagen on 11 May 1771. Drift ice

3200-494: The Gulf of Bothnia typically in the middle of November, reaching the open waters of the Bothnian Bay in early January. The Bothnian Sea , the basin south of Kvarken , freezes on average in late February. The Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga freeze typically in late January. In 2011, the Gulf of Finland was completely frozen on 15 February. The ice extent depends on whether the winter is mild, moderate, or severe. In severe winters ice can form around southern Sweden and even in

3280-918: The Gulf of Riga, and in the west by the Swedish part of the southern Scandinavian Peninsula. The Baltic Sea is connected by artificial waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea–Baltic Canal and to the German Bight of the North Sea via the Kiel Canal . The Helsinki Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area includes the Baltic Sea and the Kattegat , without calling Kattegat

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3360-694: The Ocean by Pytheas. Baltia also might be derived from "belt", and therein mean "near belt of sea, strait". Others have suggested that the name of the island originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰel meaning "white, fair", which may echo the naming of seas after colours relating to the cardinal points (as per Black Sea and Red Sea ). This '*bʰel' root and basic meaning were retained in Lithuanian (as baltas ), Latvian (as balts ) and Slavic (as bely ). On this basis,

3440-634: The Suebic Sea, Latin: Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people of the Suebi , and Ptolemy Sarmatian Ocean after the Sarmatians , but the first to name it the Baltic Sea ( Medieval Latin : Mare Balticum ) was the eleventh-century German chronicler Adam of Bremen . The origin of the latter name is speculative and it was adopted into Slavic and Finnic languages spoken around

3520-541: The Vikings correctly regarded it as an inlet of the sea. Another form of the name, "Grandvik", attested in at least one English translation of Gesta Danorum , is likely to be a misspelling. In addition to fish the sea also provides amber , especially from its southern shores within today's borders of Poland , Russia and Lithuania . First mentions of amber deposits on the South Coast of the Baltic Sea date back to

3600-429: The basins around Bornholm and Gotland . The Kattegat and the southwestern Baltic Sea are well oxygenated and have a rich biology. The remainder of the Sea is brackish, poor in oxygen, and in species. Thus, statistically, the more of the entrance that is included in its definition, the healthier the Baltic appears; conversely, the more narrowly it is defined, the more endangered its biology appears. Tacitus called it

3680-423: The bottom of the Gotland Basin, at depths greater than 225 m (738 ft), the temperature typically is 4–7 °C (39–45 °F). Generally, offshore locations, lower latitudes and islands maintain maritime climates , but adjacent to the water continental climates are common, especially on the Gulf of Finland . In the northern tributaries the climates transition from moderate continental to subarctic on

3760-524: The bottom of the sea. Since the end of World War II , various nations, including the Soviet Union , the United Kingdom and the United States have disposed of chemical weapons in the Baltic Sea, raising concerns of environmental contamination. Today, fishermen occasionally find some of these materials: the most recent available report from the Helsinki Commission notes that four small scale catches of chemical munitions representing approximately 105 kg (231 lb) of material were reported in 2005. This

3840-401: The collapse of the Communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. Finland and Sweden joined NATO in 2023 and 2024, respectively, making the Baltic Sea almost entirely surrounded by the alliance's members, leading some commentators to label the sea a ″NATO lake″. Such an arrangement has also existed for the European Union (EU) since May 2004 following the accession of

3920-408: The eastern coast. Russia became and remained a dominating power in the Baltic. Russia's Peter the Great saw the strategic importance of the Baltic and decided to found his new capital, Saint Petersburg , at the mouth of the Neva river at the east end of the Gulf of Finland . There was much trading not just within the Baltic region but also with the North Sea region, especially eastern England and

4000-422: The factory was built under German influence only to serve as a disguise for a giant artillery foundation and that the bricks in the walls were placed upright to save costs. The cannon together with its counterpart in Køge in Denmark had as a purpose to guard the Øresund. In any case the cement factory was dismantled a few years thereafter. Of the cement factory only the foundation still exists today. Falsterbo

4080-413: The historic region known as Swabia . Jordanes called it the Germanic Sea in his work, the Getica . In the early Middle Ages , Norse (Scandinavian) merchants built a trade empire all around the Baltic. Later, the Norse fought for control of the Baltic against Wendish tribes dwelling on the southern shore. The Norse also used the rivers of Russia for trade routes, finding their way eventually to

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4160-431: The ice further into the north, and much of the waters north of Gotland were again free of ice, which had then packed against the shores of southern Finland. The effects of the afore-mentioned high-pressure area did not reach the southern parts of the Baltic Sea, and thus the entire sea did not freeze over. However, floating ice was additionally observed near Świnoujście harbor in January 2010. In recent years before 2011,

4240-443: The interior lakes. The Baltic Sea flows out through the Danish straits ; however, the flow is complex. A surface layer of brackish water discharges 940 km (230 cu mi) per year into the North Sea . Due to the difference in salinity , by salinity permeation principle, a sub-surface layer of more saline water moving in the opposite direction brings in 475 km (114 cu mi) per year. It mixes very slowly with

4320-446: The land as a belt ( Balticus, eo quod in modum baltei longo tractu per Scithicas regiones tendatur usque in Greciam ). He might also have been influenced by the name of a legendary island mentioned in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder . Pliny mentions an island named Baltia (or Balcia ) with reference to accounts of Pytheas and Xenophon . It is possible that Pliny refers to an island named Basilia ("the royal") in On

4400-433: The last in Europe to be converted to Christianity . This finally happened during the Northern Crusades : Finland in the twelfth century by Swedes, and what are now Estonia and Latvia in the early thirteenth century by Danes and Germans ( Livonian Brothers of the Sword ). The Teutonic Order gained control over parts of the southern and eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, where they set up their monastic state . Lithuania

4480-423: The last very heavy floods the average water levels reached 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) above sea level in 1904, 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) in 1913, 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) in January 1954, 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) on 2–4 November 1995 and 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) on 21 February 2002. An arm of the North Atlantic Ocean , the Baltic Sea is enclosed by Sweden and Denmark to

4560-417: The late 1960s. Falsterbo and Skanör remained small fishing towns until the rail line from Malmö to Falsterbo via Vellinge was built in 1904. Between 1904 and 1971 Skanör and Falsterbo each had their own railway stations. New residential areas grew up along the railway. Due to its small size Skanör med Falsterbo was the last city in Sweden to get a City Council (1934), but it had its own jurisdiction and

4640-412: The lives of 852 people. Older, wood-based shipwrecks such as the Vasa tend to remain well-preserved, as the Baltic's cold and brackish water does not suit the shipworm . Storm surge floods are generally taken to occur when the water level is more than one metre above normal. In Warnemünde about 110 floods occurred from 1950 to 2000, an average of just over two per year. Historic flood events were

4720-461: The locality is the mildest in Sweden, with winter lows barely averaging frosts. It is a conurbation consisting of the two medieval towns of Skanör and Falsterbo . Both towns are located on the elongated reef-like western part of the Falsterbo Peninsula, ( Falsterbonäset ), Falsterbo to the south and Skanör to the north. The towns are separated by a several kilometers long bank built of earth and seaweed, and have never geographically been considered

4800-411: The more open regions. The gleaming expanse of ice is similar to the Arctic , with wind-driven pack ice and ridges up to 15 m (49 ft). Offshore of the landfast ice, the ice remains very dynamic all year, and it is relatively easily moved around by winds and therefore forms pack ice , made up of large piles and ridges pushed against the landfast ice and shores. In spring, the Gulf of Finland and

4880-410: The motorway. During the 20th century the towns have become affluent suburbs for people working in the Malmö - Lund region, as well as a popular site among older people who have retired from higher positions abroad or in the capital. The peninsula is divided by the Falsterbo Canal , a waterway at the base of the Falsterbo Peninsula that shortens the route between the Øresund and the Baltic Sea, which

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4960-429: The northernmost coastlines. On the long-term average, the Baltic Sea is ice-covered at the annual maximum for about 45% of its surface area. The ice-covered area during such a typical winter includes the Gulf of Bothnia , the Gulf of Finland , the Gulf of Riga , the archipelago west of Estonia, the Stockholm archipelago , and the Archipelago Sea southwest of Finland. The remainder of the Baltic does not freeze during

5040-408: The peak of the summer, with an annual average of around 9–10 °C (48–50 °F). A similar pattern can be seen in the Gotland Basin , which is located between the island of Gotland and Latvia. In the deep of these basins the temperature variations are smaller. At the bottom of the Bornholm Basin, deeper than 80 m (260 ft), the temperature typically is 1–10 °C (34–50 °F), and at

5120-414: The same town. The peninsula forms the southwesternmost tip of the Scandinavian Peninsula . It marks the border between the Baltic Sea and the Øresund , the sound that separates the Danish island Zealand from the southern Swedish province of Scania . The locality is situated south of the city of Malmö , 28 km from Skanör and 30 km from Falsterbo , based on the local distance signs along

5200-406: The sea, very likely due to the role of Medieval Latin in cartography . It might be connected to the Germanic word belt , a name used for two of the Danish straits, the Belts , while others claim it to be directly derived from the source of the Germanic word, Latin balteus "belt". Adam of Bremen himself compared the sea with a belt, stating that it is so named because it stretches through

5280-413: The shores of the sea or near it usually indicate the geographical location of the sea (in Germanic languages), or its size in relation to smaller gulfs (in Old Latvian), or tribes associated with it (in Old Russian the sea was known as the Varanghian Sea). In modern languages, it is known by the equivalents of "East Sea", "West Sea", or "Baltic Sea" in different languages: At the time of the Roman Empire ,

5360-500: The southern shore . The Soviet Union gained another access to the Baltic with the Kaliningrad Oblast , that had been part of German-settled East Prussia . The Baltic states on the eastern shore were annexed by the Soviet Union. The Baltic then separated opposing military blocs: NATO and the Warsaw Pact . Neutral Sweden developed incident weapons to defend its territorial waters after the Swedish submarine incidents . This border status restricted trade and travel. It ended only after

5440-595: The temperature to −24 °C (−11 °F) and raised it to 30 °C (86 °F). In 2006, Falsterbo had an absolute December minimum of 3 °C (37 °F), exceptionally mild by Swedish standards. The precipitation normal value from 1961–1990 is 490.6 millimetres (19.31 in), making it a very dry climate considering it being oceanic. Due to the very marine nature, Falsterbo is the mildest weather station in Sweden, in spite of summer highs being far below surrounding areas. It also makes it sunnier than inland Lund, with 1902 hours of bright sunshine annually compared to

5520-401: The trade towns of Rostock , Wismar and Greifswald ) in the war between these and the Danish king Erik Menved . After the war the king raised a new and larger castle in 1318 called Falsterbohus. The old castle in Skanör thus lost its importance thereafter. Olav IV of Norway , son of queen Margaret I of Denmark , died in 1387 in Falsterbohus. After the herring population declined during

5600-402: The west, Finland to the northeast, and the Baltic countries to the southeast. It is about 1,600 km (990 mi) long, an average of 193 km (120 mi) wide, and an average of 55 metres (180 ft) deep. The maximum depth is 459 m (1,506 ft) which is on the Swedish side of the center. The surface area is about 349,644 km (134,998 sq mi) and the volume

5680-426: The whole southern coast became German. World War I was partly fought in the Baltic Sea. After 1920 Poland was granted access to the Baltic Sea at the expense of Germany by the Polish Corridor and enlarged the port of Gdynia in rivalry with the port of the Free City of Danzig . After the Nazis' rise to power, Germany reclaimed the Memelland and after the outbreak of the Eastern Front (World War II) occupied

5760-568: Was the last European state to convert to Christianity . In the period between the 8th and 14th centuries, there was much piracy in the Baltic from the coasts of Pomerania and Prussia , and the Victual Brothers held Gotland . Starting in the 11th century, the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic were settled by migrants mainly from Germany , a movement called the Ostsiedlung ("east settling"). Other settlers were from

5840-592: Was a major fish market which took place annually starting about 1200. The market became an important trade center on the Baltic Sea and remained so for 250 years; it was a major source of the Hanseatic League's wealth. The rich herring fishing around the Falsterbo Peninsula accounted for the market's popularity, but the market declined in importance during the 15th century when herring populations decreased. The cities were politically merged into

5920-414: Was also observed on 11 May 1799. The ice cover is the main habitat for two large mammals, the grey seal ( Halichoerus grypus ) and the Baltic ringed seal ( Pusa hispida botnica ), both of which feed underneath the ice and breed on its surface. Of these two seals, only the Baltic ringed seal suffers when there is not adequate ice in the Baltic Sea, as it feeds its young only while on ice. The grey seal

6000-450: Was built to avoid mines laid in Øresund during WWII . The canal goes between the bays Höllviken (north) and Kämpingebukten (south). The Swedish meteorological institute SMHI operates a weather station in Falsterbo. Like the rest of Scania, it has an oceanic climate ( Cfb ), but with greater maritime effects than in Malmö for example, due to its unsheltered position on the peninsula. It

6080-479: Was conducted between 1934 and 1935 by Ragnar Blomqvist. Most of the artifacts from the earlier excavations are located in the Cultural Museum in Lund and Falsterbo Cultural Museum. Most of the archaeological finds from the second excavations are in Stockholm 55°23′N 12°50′E  /  55.383°N 12.833°E  / 55.383; 12.833 Skan%C3%B6r med Falsterbo#Climate Skanör med Falsterbo

6160-407: Was covered with ice. Since 1720, the Baltic Sea has frozen over entirely 20 times, most recently in early 1987, which was the most severe winter in Scandinavia since 1720. The ice then covered 400,000 km (150,000 sq mi). During the winter of 2010–11, which was quite severe compared to those of the last decades, the maximum ice cover was 315,000 km (122,000 sq mi), which

6240-490: Was dominated by the north German Hanseatic cities, primarily Lübeck. The Danish king delegated specific areas along the beach to these cities, so called "fit" or "fed", where they had the right to carry out trade during the Scania Market . A large fishing village was located along the beaches of Øresund. Soon thereafter a castle was raised in Falsterbo . In 1311 the castle was destroyed by the Hanseatic League (specifically

6320-470: Was reached on 25 February 2011. The ice then extended from the north down to the northern tip of Gotland , with small ice-free areas on either side, and the east coast of the Baltic Sea was covered by an ice sheet about 25 to 100 km (16 to 62 mi) wide all the way to Gdańsk . This was brought about by a stagnant high-pressure area that lingered over central and northern Scandinavia from around 10 to 24 February. After this, strong southern winds pushed

6400-630: Was to make the Baltic Sea an all-Swedish sea ( Ett Svenskt innanhav ), something that was accomplished except the part between Riga in Latvia and Stettin in Pomerania. However, the Dutch dominated the Baltic trade in the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century, Russia and Prussia became the leading powers over the sea. Sweden's defeat in the Great Northern War brought Russia to

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