Where were Baltic languages historically spoken?

Historically, the Baltic languages were spoken across a vast territory in Northern and Eastern Europe. By the 3rd millennium BCE, Baltic peoples had settled a wide region stretching from the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea in the west to the upper reaches of the Dnepr River in the east, covering large areas of present-day Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Poland, and Russia.123

The distribution of these languages shifted significantly over time due to migration and assimilation:

• Western Balts: This group, which included Old Prussian, Yotvingian, and Curonian, inhabited the coastal regions between the lower Vistula and Neman rivers, as well as parts of southwestern Lithuania and northern Poland.143
• Eastern Balts: This group, including the ancestors of modern Lithuanians and Latvians, as well as the extinct Selonian and Semigallian tribes, occupied the eastern Baltic region.13
• Eastern Expansion: Other Baltic tribes historically inhabited areas deep into modern-day Belarus and western Russia before being assimilated by Slavic populations between the 7th and 14th centuries.153