Latvia is one of our trio of Baltic states and in terms of population it’s pretty small; in fact only about 2.25 million people reside in this fascinating little country on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Like many of the countries in the region, archaeologists have found evidence of settlements from around 11,000 years ago.
We’ll pick up the story at around 1100AD when the various tribes which inhabited the area were known to control distinct parts of the country. At this point, Latvia was a useful trading route for goods between Russia and the Middle East and the countries in between. The biggest river, the Daugava, was the main artery for trading goods.
In the middle ages there was a decidedly Germanic influence to Latvia – Riga, the current capital was the founded by Teutonic colonists and was the largest city in the region. This dominance remained until the 17th century when Latvia’s importance as a trading route made it a target for conquest from several nearby nations, including Russia, Poland and Sweden. Sweden briefly took control until 1710 when Russia flexed it’s muscles and for the next 200 years it became part of the Russian empire.
Liberation in Riga circa 1940
Latvia was always a hotbed of independent thinking however and at the end of the First World War finally gained sovereignty with Russia’s consent. Riga was one of the cities which accommodated those fomenting revolution. The Second World war brought all that to an end when Latvia was appropriated by Russia in 1940 and then invaded by Nazi Germany. Following the defeat of the Germans, Latvia was once again absorbed into the Soviet Union and remained this way for the next 45 years until Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev began to liberalise the entire Union.
Full independence ultimately came in August 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia recognised the move in September of the same year and Latvia was quickly welcomed into the United Nations. Membership of the European Union and NATO have subsequently followed.
