Spithami () is a village in Lääne-Nigula Parish, Lääne County, in northwestern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. It was inhabited by Estonian Swedes until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During Soviet rule it was a military area in which civilian entry was banned. Earlier forms of the village's name include ''Spithaven'', ''Spithave'', ''Spithaff'' (all mentioned in 1514), ''Spythave'' (1564), ''Spiuthampn'', ''Spithaven'' (both 1565) and ''Spiuthambre'' (1798). In Estonian, the village has been also called ''Põõsaspea'' (mentioned as ''Põesapi'' in 1922) before moving to the current form, which is an Estonian spelling of the original Swedish toponym. Nowadays the name Põõsaspea only indicates a nearby cape situated inside the village's borders.

Pictures

File:Põõsapää küla (Spithamnsbyn), Spithami juures (Spithamn) SLS 443 20 - 1934.jpg, alt=, Põõsapää küla (Spithamnsbyn) in 1934

References

Villages in Lääne County Kreis Wiek {{Lääne-geo-stub