Impressions of Latvia

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The Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republika) is a country in Northern Europe. Latvia has land borders with its two fellow Baltic states Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south and Russia and Belarus to the east. The capital of Latvia, Riga (Latvian: Riga), is the largest city in the Baltic States.

Large parts of Latvia are covered by forests, and the country has over 12,000 small rivers and over 3,000 lakes. Most of the country consists of fertile, low-lying plains with some hills in the east, the highest point being the Gaizinkalns at 312 m.

An inlet of the Baltic Sea, the shallow Gulf of Riga is situated in the northwest of the country. The capital city Riga is located on the shores of this inlet, where the Daugava river flows into it. Other major cities include Daugavpils further upriver and Liepaja along the Baltic coast.

The Latvian climate is maritime and temperate in nature, with cool summers and wet, moderate winters.

Latvia is historically and culturally divided in four or five distinct regions.

HISTORY Known originally as Livonia, the area that now constitutes Latvia was under the influence of the German Sword Brethren (Schwertbrder) from the 13th century onward until the 16th century, when the institution of Livonia was terminated and sold by the local aristocracy to Poland. During several wars different regions of Latvia were occupied by Poland, Sweden and Russia. However, in the 18th, during the Great Northern War, and later, following the Partitions of Poland, Russia gained control over Latvia and the neighbouring regions.

With Russia devastated by revolution and World War I, Latvia declared its independence on November 18, 1918. After independence was gained, there still were two years of battles against German militarists, Russian communists and adventurers like Pavel Bermont-Avalov. These two years are called The Struggle for Independence.

During the 1920s and early 1930s, Latvia enjoyed an elected, republican government. Its constitution was adopted on February 15th, 1922. It acknowledged that the people themselves were sovereign, and provided for the proportional election of their representatives by all Latvians of at least 21 years of age. As with most democratic governments, it was a multi-party system, with between 22 and 28 parties, at any given time, holding at least one seat in the parliament, called the Saeima. Governments (parliamentary governments refer to the administration in power as a "government", not to be confused with the formal entity running a given region, also called "government", such as the United States government) were usually organized by coalitions of parties, forming a large enough percentage to control the whole.

This system was overthrown by Prime Minister Karlis Ulmanis, in a military coup in 1934. Latvia became an authoritarian state. Its independence lasted only briefly, as the Soviet Union occupied and annexed the country on 17 June 1940 in accordance with the Soviet-German agreement (Ribbentrop-Molotov pact) of 1939. Latvians - like most other Europeans - were involved in World War II; it began when the Red Army recruited troops in 1941. After the Soviet Union was pushed out by Nazi Germany a little later, locals were recruited for a "border patrol" and formed a legion in the Waffen SS. Latvians therefore fought for both sides in large numbers.

Except for a brief period of German occupation during World War II, Latvia was part of the Soviet Union as Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic until the country regained its independence on 21 August 1991. In 2004 the country became a member of both NATO and the European Union.

On September 20, 2003, in a nationwide referendum 66.9% of the Latvians voted in favour of joining the European Union. Latvia became a full-fledged member of the European Union on May 1, 2004. Latvia is a NATO member since March 29, 2004.

Since year 2000 Latvia has had one of the highest GDP growth rates in Europe [1]. In 2004, annual GDP growth was 8.5% and inflation was 6.2%. Unemployment was 8.5% - almost unchanged compared to the previous two years. Privatization is mostly completed, except for some of the large state-owned utilities. Latvia is a member of the World Trade Organisation (1999) and the European Union (2004).

Latvia's population has been multiethnic for centuries. In 1897 the first official census in this area indicated that Latvians formed 68.3 percent of the total population of 1.93 million; Russians accounted for 12.0 percent, Jews for 7.4 percent, Germans for 6.2 percent, and Poles for 3.4 percent. The remainder were Lithuanians, Estonians, Gypsies, and various other nationalities.

Latvians are the indigenous people of Latvia. Now little less than 60% of the population are ethnic Latvians. Almost 29% are Russian which are the largest national minority in Latvia.

* Latvia people - 2004, Central statistic agency

In some major Latvian cities (e.g. Daugavpils, Riga and Rezekne) Latvians are even outnumbered by Russians and other minorities. Minorities from other countries such as Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania etc. also live in Latvia. The ethnic mix of the population of Latvia is largely the result of massive immigration during the years of the Soviet occupation, which resulted in a decline of the share of ethnic Latvians from around 80% in 1935 to 52% in 1989.