Prussian villagers tended to be assimilated as Lithuanians in the northern half of East Prussia, and as Germans or Poles in the southern half. There were parts of East Prussia where Lithuanians and ethnic Prussians made up the majority of inhabitants. Prussian Lithuanian and German populations were the minority until the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century in the Sambia peninsula. Later, Germans became the ethnic majority in the peninsula, while Lithuanians remained as a minority. The case of Jonas Bretkūnas illustrates the phenomenon of Prussian-Lithuanian bilingualism. The last Prussian speakers disappeared around the end of the 17th century.