Latvia

Lore & Background

After centuries of Teutonic, Swedish, Polish-Lithuanian, and Russian rule, the independent Republic of Latvia was established on 18 November 1918 after breaking away from the Russian Empire in the aftermath of World War I. The country became increasingly autocratic after the coup in 1934 established the dictatorship of Kārlis Ulmanis. Latvia's de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II, beginning with forcible incorporation into the Soviet Union, followed by the invasion and occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941 and the re-occupation by the Soviets in 1944, which formed the Latvian SSR for the next 45 years. As a result of extensive immigration during the Soviet occupation, ethnic Russians became the most prominent minority in the country. The peaceful Singing Revolution started in 1987 among the Baltic Soviet republics and ended with the restoration of both de facto and official independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia has since been a democratic unitary parliamentary republic.

In Their Own Story

Morning mist draped the Daugava like a sheer veil as dawn ignited the red-tiled roofs of Riga's Old Town. An elderly woman traced her fingers over the swirling stone faces of an Art Nouveau facade, each carved line whispering of a century past. She paused at the foot of the Freedom Monument, where the distant hum of trams mingled with the rustle of ancient linden leaves. In this quiet convergence, the weight of empires lifted; Riga was no longer a pawn on a geopolitical board, but a living sanctuary where Dainas still echoed against glass skyscrapers.

Reader's Guide

Latvia is a developed country with a high-income, advanced economy ranking 39th in the Human Development Index. It is a member of the European Union, Eurozone, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the International Monetary Fund, the Nordic-Baltic Eight, the Nordic Investment Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the World Trade Organization.

Did You Know?

• The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes (along with Curonians, Selonians and Semigallians), which formed the ethnic core of modern Latvians together wi
• Around 3000 BC, the Proto-Baltic ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea.
• In the 12th century in the territory of Latvia, there were lands with their rulers: Vanema, Ventava, Bandava, Piemare, Duvzare, Selen, Koknese, Jersika, Tālava and Atzele.
• Riga became an important point of east–west trading and formed close cultural links with western Europe after joining the Hanseatic League in 1282.
• During the Great Northern War (1700–1721), up to 40 percent of Latvians died from famine and plague.