Duchy of Samogitia
| Duchy of Samogitia Žemaitėjės seniūnėjė Žemaičių seniūnija Księstwo żmudzkie | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duchy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania | |||||||||
| 1219–1795 | |||||||||
Flag
Coat of arms
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Duchy of Samogitia in red. Its borders did not change after the Union of Lublin. | |||||||||
| Capital | Raseiniai | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• | 23,300 km2 (9,000 sq mi) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 1219 | ||||||||
| 1795 | |||||||||
| Political subdivisions | 28 tracts | ||||||||
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The Duchy of Samogitia (Lithuanian: Žemaičių seniūnija, Samogitian: Žemaitėjės seniūnėjė, Polish: Księstwo żmudzkie) was an administrative unit of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1422 (and from 1569, a member country of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth). Between 1422 and 1441 it was known as the Eldership of Samogitia. Since the 1540s the Grand Duke of Lithuania also held the title of Duke of Samogitia, although the actual ruler of the province, responsible to the Grand Duke, was known as the General Elder (Lithuanian: Seniūnas) of Samogitia who was self-elected by the Samogitian nobility.
The Duchy was located in the western part of the present Republic of Lithuania. Historically, in the west it had access to the Baltic Sea; in the north, it bordered the Duchy of Courland and Ducal Prussia in the south. During the Middle Ages and until the last partition in 1795, Samogitia had clearly defined borders as the Duchy of Samogitia. Afterwards the area encompassed the Samogitian Diocese. Today Samogitia is one of several ethnographic regions and is not defined administratively.