Klaipėda

Klaipėda ( ; ), formerly in German period mostly called Memel, is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the third-largest city in Lithuania, the fifth-largest city in the Baltic states, the capital of Klaipėda County, the only major seaport in the country and the busiest port in the Baltic states.

The city has a complex recorded history, partially due to the combined regional importance of the usually ice-free port at the mouth of the river . It was situated in Lithuania Minor and successively belonged to the State of the Teutonic Order, the Duchy of Prussia (at times under the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire, within which it was the northernmost big city until it was placed under French occupation in 1919. From 1923, the city was part of Lithuania until its annexation by Nazi Germany in 1939, and after World War II it was part of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. Klaipėda has remained within Lithuania since 1944.