Latvia: where is it?
Latvia is in Northern Europe and borders Estonia, Russia, Belarus, and Lithuania. It is situated on a trading crossroads and has long since served as a bridge between Western Europe and Russia. The famous ‘route of the Vikings to the Greeks’ mentioned in ancient chronicles stretched from Scandinavia through Latvian territory along the Daugava River to the ancient Russian and Byzantine Empire.
Latvians?
The population of Latvia today is around 2.0 million. The ethnic composition is around 62% Latvian, 28% Russian, 3.4% Belarusian, 2.3% Ukrainian, 2.2% Polish and 1.5% Lithuanian. The diverse ethnic mix of the population of Latvia is largely the result of massive post-war immigration, which resulted in a decline in the share of ethnic Latvians from 77% in 1935 to around 62% today. There are more than 1.65 million ethnic Latvians in the world, and approximately 450,000 live outside Latvia. Latvians can be found in the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, as well as Brazil, Lithuania, Sweden, Estonia, Ireland and Russia. In fact, there is hardly a country in the world where Latvians have not made their presence felt. Even if you have not yet visited Latvia, you stand a good chance of meeting a Latvian somewhere else. Almost 95,000 people of Latvian descent live in the U.S. today, the largest concentration being in the North-East and Mid-West States.
The Latvian language
As one of 200 major languages in the world (spoken by more than 1 million people), the Latvian language is also one of the oldest. Latvian belongs to the Indo-European language family, and together with Lithuanian, forms the Baltic language group, related to, but separate from the Slavic and Germanic language groups. The total number of Latvian speakers in the world exceeds 2 million, and for 1.5 million of them it is their native language.
Latvia’s flag: one of the oldest in existence
The Latvian flag is one of the oldest in the world. Written records of the red-white-red Latvian flag have existed since the second half of the 13th century. The distinctive dark red color of the Latvian flag is sometimes referred to, by the rest of the world, as ‘Latvian red’.
Latvia: from 2000 BC to 2019 AD
The forefathers of the Latvian people first arrived in the Baltic region in 2000 BC. In the 9th century AD the ancient Balts began to establish specific tribal realms. The territory of modern Latvia was inhabited by four major Baltic tribal cultures – the Couronians, Latgallians, Selonians and Semigallians, and a Finno-Ugric tribe, the Livs. In the 13th century Latvia was invaded by armed Germanic crusaders, who founded Riga and established control over the indigenous people and territory. Over the ensuing centuries, traders and invaders from Germany, Poland, Sweden and Russia established a presence in Latvia, alongside the local Latvian and Liv inhabitants.
In the late 19th century Latvia was politically ruled by Russia and economically controlled by Baltic Germans, yet the majority of Latvia’s inhabitants were ethnic Latvians and descendants of the original Baltic and Liv tribes. In November 1918, the Latvian people finally established the Latvian state.
During WW II Latvia suffered three invasions and occupations. As many as 120,000 Latvians were deported to Soviet concentration camps in Siberia, 140,000 fled to the West, and thousands more perished or disappeared in the conflict. During the Soviet occupation between 1940 and 1991, hundreds of thousands of Soviets of various nationalities were brought into Latvia, reducing the indigenous ethnic Latvian population to nearly 50%.
In 1990, the people of Latvia elected a majority of pro-independence deputies to what was then the ruling Soviet parliamentary body, the Supreme Council of Latvia. The new Supreme Council voted to begin the political process of removing Soviet rule and restoring full independence to Latvia. On 21 August 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Latvian Supreme Council adopted a resolution for the full restoration of Latvian independence. The Supreme Council was abolished in late 1992, paving way for the first post-independence Latvian parliament, elected on 5-6 June 1993.
The new 5th Saeima, continuing the link with the pre-war parliaments of Latvia, elected Guntis Ulmanis the new President of the Republic of Latvia in 1993. Re-elected in 1996, President Ulmanis was followed by Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga. Dr. Vike-Freiberga was elected as President in 1999 and re-elected for a second term in 2003. Dr. Valdia Zalters was President from July 2007 to July 2011 followed by Mr. Andris Berzins, who served from July 2011 to July 2015. Mr. Raimonds Vejonis is the current President of Latvia and assumed office on July 8, 2015 as Latvia’s 5th President since regaining independence in 1990 and the 9th President since Latvia proclaimed its independence in November 1918. His current term runs till July 2019. On May 29, the Latvian parliament, Saeima, elected Egils Levits to serve as the country’s next President who took office on July 8, 2019.