The Vistula Spit (Polish: Mierzeja Wiślana; Russian: Балтийская коса, romanized: Baltiyskaya kosa; German: Danziger Nehrung, Frische Nehrung; Low German: Dantzker Nearing) is an aeolian sand spit,[1] or peninsular stretch of land, separating Vistula Lagoon from Gdańsk Bay, in the Baltic Sea, with its tip separated from the mainland by the Strait of Baltiysk.

The border between Poland (Pomeranian Voivodeship) and Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave of Russia, bisects it, politically dividing the spit into two pieces between the two countries.

Since 1991, Krynica Morska includes in its municipal borders formerly separate villages of Przebrno and Nowa Karczma, the latter being the easternmost inhabited locality on the Polish side of the Spit.

[6] Until the 13th century, the spit had navigable straits in the middle, which allowed the city of Elbing (Elbląg), part of the monastic State of the Teutonic Knights, direct access to the Baltic Sea.

[8] During World War II, Przebrno was the location of a subcamp of the Stutthof concentration camp, in which the Germans imprisoned 200 people as forced labour at a time.

In 1649 the Kuršininkai zone of settlement still spanned all the way from Memel (Klaipėda) to Gdańsk encompassing a narrow littoral strip of territory best suitable for their lifestyle, cultural preferences and dominant economic activity (fishing).

The Kuršininkai were considered Latvians until after World War I when Latvia gained independence from the Russian Empire, a consideration based on linguistic arguments.