- The Kursenieki are also known as Curonians.
The
Curonians or
Kurs (
Curonian:
Kursi; ; ; ; ; ; ) were a
Baltic tribe living on the shores of the
Baltic Sea in what are now the western parts of
Latvia and
Lithuania from the 5th to the 16th centuries, when they merged with other Baltic tribes. They gave their name to the region of
Courland (
Kurzeme), and they spoke the
Old Curonian language. Curonian lands were conquered by the
Livonian Order in 1266 and they eventually merged with other Baltic tribes participating in the ethnogenesis of
Lithuanians and
Latvians. Direct descendants of the Curonians include the Kuršininkai of the
Curonian Spit and the so-called
Curonian Kings of Courland.