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The Old Prussians were a Baltic tribal people who inhabited the region around modern-day Prussia before being conquered and assimilated by the Teutonic Knights in the medieval period. Their culture and language are historically significant as representatives of ancient Baltic civilization, though they were largely displaced and absorbed into German-ruled territories by the late 13th century.
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Encyclopedic overview
Old Prussians, Baltic Prussians or simply Prussians were a Baltic people that inhabited the region of Prussia, on the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula Lagoon to the west and the Curonian Lagoon to the east. As Balts, they spoke an Indo-European language of the Baltic branch now known as Old Prussian and worshipped pre-Christian deities. Their ethnonym was later adopted by predominantly Low German-speaking inhabitants of the region.
The duchy of the Polans under Mieszko I, which was the predecessor of the Kingdom of Poland, first attempted to conquer and baptize the Baltic tribes during the 10th century, but repeatedly encountered strong resistance. Not until the 13th century were the Old Prussians subjugated and their lands conquered by the Teutonic Order. The remaining Old Prussians were assimilated during the following two centuries. The Old Prussian language, documented only in a limited way, was effectively extinct by the 18th century.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Old Prussians” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.