Editing Liepāja (section)

=== Duchy of Courland and Semigallia ===
[[File:Liepāja in 1701, looking from the Baltic Sea.jpg|thumb|left|Panorama of Liepāja in 1701, looking from the [[Baltic Sea]]]]
In 1560, [[Gotthard Kettler]], first Duke of [[Courland and Semigallia]], loaned all the Grobiņa district, including Libau, to [[Albert, Duke of Prussia]] for 50,000 [[Rhenish guilder|gulden]]s. Only in 1609 after the marriage of [[Sofie Hohenzollern]], Princess of Prussia, to [[Wilhelm Kettler]] did the territory return to the Duchy. During the [[Livonian War]], Libau was attacked and burnt by the Swedes. Along with Courland it was under [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish–Lithuanian]] suzerainty.

In 1625, Duke [[Friedrich Kettler]] of Courland granted the town city rights,<ref name=sgk/> which were affirmed by King [[Sigismund III Vasa|Sigismund III]] of [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]] in 1626. Under Duke [[Jacob Kettler]] (1642–1681), Libau became one of the main ports of Courland as it reached the height of its prosperity. In 1637 [[Couronian colonization]] was started from the ports of Libau and [[Ventspils]] (Windau). Kettler was an eager proponent of mercantilist ideas. Metalworking and ship building became much more developed, and trading relations developed not only with nearby countries but also with [[Kingdom of England|Britain]], [[Kingdom of France|France]], the [[Dutch Republic|Netherlands]] and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]]. For the town's faithful stance in the [[Polish-Swedish War (1655-1660)|Polish-Swedish war]], the Polish King [[John II Casimir Vasa|John Casimir]] granted Lipava the right to collect customs duties on goods in the port in 1659, while King [[Augustus II the Strong|Augustus II]] approved the magistrate's decision to expand the port in 1698.

In 1697–1703, a canal was cut to the sea and a more modern port was built.<ref name="BSE"/> In 1701, during the [[Great Northern War]], Libau was captured by [[Charles XII of Sweden]], but by the end of the war, the city had returned to titular Polish possession.<ref name="britannica"/> In 1710 an epidemic of [[Plague (disease)|plague]] killed about a third of the population. In 1780 the first [[Freemasonry]] lodge, "Libanons", was established by Provincial Grand Master [[Ivan Yelagin]] on behalf of the Provincial Lodge of Russia; it was registered as number 524 in the [[Grand Lodge of England]].<ref name="masonicum"/> In 1794, the city was captured by the Polish insurgents during the [[Kościuszko Uprising]].<ref name=sgk>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom V|year=1884|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=202}}</ref>