Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis

The paper deals with the issue of land-ownership formation in the early 16th – late 17th centuries by the newly-arrived noblemen elite in Samogitia, given the local communication network and the directions of the commercial market areas. The principal Samogitian land and water routes are overviewed that could have made an impact on the potential of the formed holdings. The land holding formation of four families of Evangelical noblemen and church funders, i.e. those of Skaševskis, Radziminskis, Stabrovskis, and Gruževskis, is analysed. As proved by the research findings, the newly arrived nobility formed their holdings not only on the previously recorded Samogitian axis of the southwest-the centre-the northwest. The families worked consistently and intentionally, arranging their holdings in accordance with the communications with commercial markets and the formed land and water routes.