Ventspils apkārtnes apdzīvojums 17.–18. gadsimtā

The article deals with questions relating to the settlement in the area of Ventspils. Attention is gi-ven to environmental factors that could have had a greater or lesser influence on the settlement structure. The stream bank erosion along the River Venta had a relatively small impact on populated areas, while the wind erosion (sand deposition) caused the individual farms as well as villages to be abandoned. The Great Plague epidemic of 1710 was particularly devastating in the Ventspils area, during which about 40% of farms disappeared and most of them were not restored until the end of the 18th century. Final abandon-ment of farms, their renovation or addition of the former farmland to the land of the manor caused chan-ges in the population structure.