The city has a complex recorded history, partially due to the combined regional importance of the usually ice-free Port of Klaipėda at the mouth of the river Akmena-Danė [lt].

[citation needed] The lower reaches of the river Neman were named either *Mēmele or *Mēmela by Scalovians and local Curonian inhabitants.

In the Latvian Curonian language, it means mute, silent (memelis, mimelis, mēms), as a reference to peaceful flow of the Neman.

The most notable non-Lithuanian names include: Latvian: Klaipēda; Polish: Kłajpeda; Russian: Клайпеда; German: Memel.

[citation needed] However, after Grand Duke Mindaugas of Lithuania, the Teutonic Knights and a group of crusaders from Lübeck moved into Sambia and accepted Christianity.

The fort's construction was completed in 1253, and Memel was garrisoned with troops of the Teutonic Order, administered by Deutschmeister Eberhard von Seyne.

[21] After the subsequent Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466) the city became a part of Poland as a fief held by the Teutonic Knights,[22] and thus located within the Polish–Lithuanian union.

In the second half of the 18th century, Memel's lax customs and Riga's high duties enticed English traders, who established the first industrial sawmills in the town.

During Napoleon's retreat from Moscow after the failed invasion of Russia in 1812, General Yorck refused Marshal MacDonald's orders to fortify Memel at Prussia's expense.

[citation needed] During the January Uprising, in June 1863, Polish insurgents made an unsuccessful attempt at a naval landing near the city's harbor.

Some notable instances of the German infrastructure investments in the area included sandbar blasting and a new ship canal between Pillau and Königsberg, which enabled vessels of up to 6.5 m draughts to moor alongside the city, at a cost of 13 million marks.

Not waiting for an unfavorable decision, the Lithuanians decided to stage the Klaipėda Revolt, take the region by force, and present the Entente with a fait accompli.

[30] The revolt was supported by the Chief Rescue Committee of Lithuania Minor, chaired by Prussian Lithuanian Martynas Jankus, which operated since 22 December 1922 with its centre in Klaipėda.

Lithuania, unable to secure international support for its cause, submitted to the ultimatum and, in exchange for the right to use the new harbour facilities as a Free Port, ceded the disputed region to Germany in the late evening of 22 March 1939.

[23] The Soviets turned Klaipėda, the foremost ice-free port in the Eastern Baltic, into the largest piscatorial-marine base in the European USSR.

[24] In the second half of the 15th century, the residents began to settle in a territory of the Klaipėda Old Town, which was on a peninsula of the right bank of the old Danė [lt].

[24][17] The Lithuanians and Curonians lived alongside the German colonists, but the magistrate did not allow non-Germans to join artisan corporations and did not grant them rights available to townspeople.

[48] Following the Treaty of Oliva in 1660, Klaipėda become part of the Brandenburg-Prussia constituent state, which led to strengthened oppression of the locals of Lithuania Minor.

[57] The first church (possibly chapel) dedicated to the military garrison was built along with the Klaipėda Castle in 1252 and was consecrated after Mary, mother of Jesus, although it did not have as much effect for the townspeople, as well as the residents of surrounding villages.

[59] The church services were held in Latin and sermons were given in German, but there also were translators into the language of the local people who had a dedicated place near the pulpit.

[59][60] Following the creation of the Duchy of Prussia in 1525 and due to the Reformation movement, the Evangelical faith was spread in the languages of the local people, including Lithuanian.

[59][60] Consequently, the parishioners collected funds and the reconstruction project was prepared by architect Friedrich August Stüler which was completed in the winter of 1856.

[59][61] Following the Klaipėda Revolt in 1923 the priests of the Church of St. Jacob stayed loyal to Lithuania and did not demonstrate vast support for Adolf Hitler in 1939.

[62] Following the death of Joseph Stalin, a construction of the Church of Mary, Queen of Peace, in Rumpiškės Street was started in 1961, but the Soviet administration did not allow to open it.

[69] Nineteen stevedoring companies, as well as ship-repair and shipbuilding yards, operate within the port, where marine business and cargo handling services are rendered.

[79] The main parts of the city Old Town on the left bank of the Danė River, as well as the new residential areas built after 1945 (Pempininkai, Naujakiemis, Alksnynė, Gedminai, and others).

[79] In the Old Town of Klaipėda, a rectangular network of streets was formed in the 13th–15th centuries, including Naujamiestis on the right bank of the Danė River.

[79] In the Naujamiestis district, which began to form in the second half of the 19th century, notable historical buildings include the State Bank (1858), Courthouse (1862), the railway station (1875), the Louise Gymnasium (1891), the neo-Gothic Post Office (1890, architect H. Schoede), the barracks complex (1907, now Klaipėda University Central Palace[81]), Teachers' Seminary (1908), City Hospital (1902), and the Craftsmen's Shelter (1910).

[97] Most of pupils in Klaipėda later studies in the universities or colleges as Lithuania is one of the world's leading countries in OECD's statistics of population with tertiary education (58.15% of 25–34-year-olds in 2022).

Klaipėda's bus public transportation is arranged in a north–south axis, based on three parallel principal streets, running along the coast of Curonian Lagoon and thus making the grid logical and comfortable for commuting.