Text from wikipedia regarding the history of Courland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CourlandEarly historyAnciently Courland was inhabited by the Curonians, a Baltic tribe, who were subdued and converted to Christianity by the Brethren of the Sword, a German military order, in the first quarter of the 13th century. In 1237, it passed under the rule of the Teutonic Knights owing to the amalgamation of this order with that of the Brethren of the Sword. At that time Courland comprised the two duchies of Courland and of Semigalia (Semgallen).
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Duchy of Courland, 1561–1795Outline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with its major subdivisions as of 1619 superimposed on present-day national borders
During the Livonian Wars (1558–1582), under the increasing pressure of Russia, the Livonia Confederation was dissolved. The south-western part of Estonia and the north-eastern part of Latvia were ceded to Poland and formed into the Duchy of Livonia (Pārdaugavas hercogiste). The part of Latvia between the west bank of the Daugava River and the Baltic Sea formed another new region, the Duchy of Courland and Semigalia (Kurzemes un Zemgales hercogiste). It was dependent on the Grand Duke of Lithuania, later on the king of Poland and Lithuania. Gotthard Kettler, the last Master of the Order of Livonia, became the first duke of Courland.
Several parts of the Kurland area did not belong to the Duchy. The Grobiņa district (on the coast of Baltic Sea) had already been loaned to the Duke of Prussia by the Order of Livonia. Another district, the Bishopric of Piltene, also called the "Bishopric of Courland" (on the Venta River in western Courland), belonged to Magnus, the king of Denmark. He promised to transfer it to the Duchy of Courland after his death, but this plan failed and only later did Wilhelm Kettler regain this district.
When Gotthard Kettler died, his sons, Friedrich and Wilhelm, became the dukes of Courland. They divided the Duchy into two parts in 1596. Friedrich owned the eastern part, Semigalia (Zemgale), with his residence in Jelgava (Mittau). Wilhelm owned the western part, Courland (Kurzeme), with his residence in Kuldīga (Goldingen). Wilhelm regained the Grobiņa district when he married the daughter of the Duke of Prussia. He also paid out and regained control over Piltene district, but eventually it fell to Poland. Here he developed metalworking, shipyards, and the new ships delivered goods of Kurland to another countries.
However, the relations between the duke and the landowners were quite hostile. Also, Poland, the overlord of the Duchy of Courland, supported the landowners. Wilhelm expressed his disappointment with the landowners, but this ended with his removal from the duke's seat in 1616. Finally Wilhelm left Courland and spent the rest of his life abroad. Thus Friedrich became the only duke of Courland after 1616.
From 1600 to 1629, Poland and Sweden conducted a war with its main battlefields around Riga. As the result, Sweden gained control of central and northern Latvia, which became Swedish Livonia. Poland retained the eastern part of the Duchy of Livonia, thereafter called Inflanty in Polish. Courland was also involved into this war, but had no severe damage.
Under the next duke, Jacob Kettler, the Duchy reached the peak of its prosperity. During his travels to Western Europe, Jacob became the eager proponent of mercantile ideas. Metalworking and ship building became much more developed. Also powder mills, producing gunpowder, were established. Trading relations were established not only with nearby countries, but also with Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal etc. Jacob established the merchant fleet of the Duchy of Courland, with its main harbours in Ventspils and Liepāja. In 1651 the Duchy even gained its first colony in Africa, St. Andrew's Island at the Gambia River and established Jacob Fort there. The main export goods were ivory, gold, furs, spices. Soon afterwards, in 1652, another colony was established in Tobago in the West Indies. There the main export goods were sugar, tobacco, coffee and spices. (For the Tobago colony, see Courland colonization of the Americas)
However, all this time the Duchy of Courland was a focus of interest for both Sweden and Poland. In 1655 the Swedish army entered the territory of the Duchy and the Swedish–Polish war (1655–1660) begun. Duke Jacob was captured by the Swedish army in 1658–1660. During this period both colonies were taken by Dutch colonists, and the merchant fleet and factories were destroyed. This war ended with the Peace Treaty of Oliwa (near Danzig) (now Gdańsk, Poland); Tobago was regained on the basis of that treaty and was held by Courland until 1689. He began to restore the fleet and factories, but Duchy never again reached its prosperous level as it was until 1655.
When Jacob died in 1682, his son, Friedrich Casimir, was the next duke. During his reign production continued to decrease. The duke himself was more interested in glamorous celebrations and for these reasons spent more money than was possible. Thus he also had to sell Tobago to British colonists. He died at 1698. During this period Poland increased its influence in the political and economic life of the Duchy. Also Russia expressed its interests in this area. The next Duke was only six years old in 1698, and was under the regency of his uncle Ferdinand — a Polish general. During this time the Northern Wars (1700–1721) began between Sweden and Russia with its allies — Poland, Saxony and Denmark. In fact, the central part of Latvia was controlled by Russia since 1710. It had a strong influence also on the Duchy of Courland. Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great, received a promise from Friedrich Wilhelm that he would marry one of the daughters of Peter's brother. By having this promise, Peter the Great wished to increase the influence of Russia in Courland. So, in 1710, Friedrich Wilhelm married Anna Ivanovna (later Empress of Russia), but on his way back from St Petersburg, he got sick and died. Anne ruled as duchess of Courland from 1711 to 1730.
After his death the next candidate for the seat of duke was Ferdinand Kettler, but his residence was in Danzig. The Council of the Duke did not recognize him, because the rules required the duke to reside in the territory of the Duchy. So there was not any duke in Courland. Because Ferdinand was the last representative of Kettler's family, a remarkable number of candidates tried to gain the seat of duke during this period. One favorite was Moritz, the count of Saxony, son of Frederick Augustus I the Strong, king of Poland. He was elected duke in 1726, but only managed to maintain himself by force of arms till the next year. Russia disliked him and sent an army to western Courland to destroy Moritz's base. As the result Moritz had to leave Courland and Russia increased its influence even more. The last Kettler, William, titular duke of Courland, died in 1737. When Anna Ivanovna, the wife of Ferdinand, became the Empress of Russia, her candidate, Ernst Biron became the duke of Courland in 1737.
He received remarkable financial support from Russia and invested it into the construction. An example here is the castle of Rundāle projected by the distinguished Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Anna Ivanovna died in 1740 and then occurred the change of persons, having their influence in political life in Russia. Duke Ernst Biron was exiled. Also from there, through the Council of the Duke, he continued to control the Duchy, having accept from the king of Poland. However, the landowners of Courland disliked that and even refused to follow the regulations of the Council of the Duke. The king of Poland gave up against the landowners of Courland and announced his son, Carl, the count of Saxony, as the next duke. Thus, the Duchy of Courland had two dukes simultaneously since then. The situation was extremely tense — one part of the landowners accepted Ernst Biron, the other, Carl of Saxony. The Empress of Russia, Catherine II solved this situation by recalling Ernst Biron from exile in 1763. By doing this, she avoided the possible increase of Poland's influence in Courland. However, Ernst Biron was exhausted all these political fights and turned the seat of duke to his son, Peter Biron, in 1769.