The Small towns of Žemaitija in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

ENThe spate of disasters which struck the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from without in the midseventeenth century gained new momentum in the eighteenth, as the state itself began to implode in the wake of huge economic and demographic crises. As a result ofwar and epidemic disease, the ethnic composition of the Grand Duchy, especially that of Žemaitija, which thitherto had been reasonably uniform, began to change. The region enjoyed favourable geographic conditions: to the west, sea, to both south and north realms blessed with large ports (Königsberg, Memel, Libau and Riga) which lay reasonably close to the Lithuanian border. However, such factors did not have a great impact on local ethnic uniformity, since Žemaitija entered the Grand Duchy ofLithuania as a separate, chartered administrative unit finally in the early fifteenth century, following lengthy conflicts with the Teutonic Order. Throughout its history the region developed its own particular norms and traditions in all fields oflife and this influenced the slower and later introduction of serfdom there, in comparison with other parts of the Grand Duchy1. The proximity of major trading ports enabled local peasants to transport their own goods to export points. Direct export of agricultural raw materials was one of the main factors which hampered the growth oftowns in Žemaitija, and thisin turn deterred the immigration of other ethnic groups. [p. 25].