Países bálticos

"Estados o países bálticos se llaman normalmente aquellos que rodean al mar Báltico. Sin embargo, el significado de la expresión depende del contexto en que se use."

"The Baltic states, also known as the Baltics, Baltic nations or Baltic countries (Estonian: Balti riigid, Baltimaad, Latvian: Baltijas valstis, Lithuanian: Baltijos valstybs), are the three countries in northern Europe on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Baltic states cooperate on a regional level in several intergovernmental organizations. While the native populations of Latvia and Lithuania are known as Baltic people, those of Estonia are Finnic people together with the Finns. Another Baltic identity, Baltic German, began to develop during the Middle Ages after the Livonian Crusade. Linguistic and historical considerations intersect in defining the concept of "Baltic states": for example, while Latvian is phylogenetically related to Lithuanian (both belonging to the Baltic group of the Indo-European language family), Estonian belongs to a completely different family the Finnic group of the Uralic languages, also spoken in Finland. The Livonians (a nearly extinct ethnic group closely related to Estonians) have also participated in the ethnogenesis of the Latvians: according to most accounts, the assimilation of (Uralic) Livonians by ancient (Indo-European) Baltic tribes was a notable influence on the development of modern Latvian language. At the same time, despite considerable linguistic proximity, politically Latvia and Lithuania have gone different ways for most of their history, Lithuania at one point forming a commonwealth with Poland, giving rise to one of the largest countries in Europe at the time; while Latvia and also Estonia were ruled by the Baltic German elite for over 700 years. After the collapse of Livonia, parts of Latvia and Estonia came under influence of the Commonwealth and Sweden. This lasted until the 18th century, when the lands of all three modern countries were gradually absorbed into the Russian Empire. The Baltic states gained independence after the First World War, but were occupied by the Soviet Union during the Second World War, regaining independence in the early 1990s. All three countries are members of the European Union, NATO and the Eurozone. Estonia and Latvia are members of the OECD."