Latvia

Latvia is one of the three Baltic states in northern Europe, between Estonia and Lithuania, with Russia and Belarus to the east. Riga is the capital and largest city, and Latvian, a Baltic language, is the only official language, though Russian is the mother tongue of many residents. The name comes from the Latgalians, one of the ancient Baltic tribes.

Missionaries sailed up the Daugava River in the late 12th century, and in the 13th century German crusaders conquered the land and formed Livonia together with southern Estonia. Riga joined the Hanseatic League in 1282. After the Livonian War ended in 1583, the north fell to Poland-Lithuania while Gotthard Kettler, the last master of the Livonian Order, founded the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia. Sweden later took Riga and the north, and after the Great Northern War Russia absorbed the country. Serfs were freed in Courland in 1817 and in Vidzeme in 1819.

The Republic of Latvia was proclaimed on 18 November 1918, fought a war of independence, and adopted its constitution, the Satversme, in 1922. The Soviet Union took the country in June 1940 and, after German rule from 1941, again in 1944. The Singing Revolution from 1987 led to full independence on 21 August 1991. It is a parliamentary republic in which the 100-member Saeima elects the president, who appoints the prime minister.

Latvia covers 64,573 km² (24,932 sq mi), mostly low plains less than 100 m (330 ft) above sea level, and forests cover 56% of the land. It joined NATO and the European Union in 2004 and replaced the lats with the euro on 1 January 2014; in 2012 voters rejected Russian as a second official language. Ports at Riga, Ventspils and Liepāja handle transit cargo, much of it oil, and airBaltic is based in Riga. Gauja National Park dates from 1973, and the Latvian Song and Dance Festival, held since 1873, gathers some 30,000 performers.