European Kingdoms

Latvia (Latvija)

Also historically known as Lattonia, Lettonia, and Lettland, Latvia is a country in Northern Europe which shares its borders with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south – and both Russia and Belarus (White Russia) to the east. It is separated from Sweden in the west by the Baltic Sea, and its capital is Riga.

The Latvian territory was first populated in around 9000 BC, while the proto-Baltic ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea by around 3000 BC. The ancient Balts traded Latvia's renowned supplies of amber with Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.

9000 BC

Proto-Baltic tribes migrated into Latvia and Estonia.

by AD 900

Four Baltic tribal cultures have developed: Couronians, Latgallians, Selonians, and Semigallians.

1180

German Christian missionaries arrive. The Balts do not want to convert, so German Crusaders are sent to Latvia to convert the pagan population.

1201

Bishop Albert from Bremen lands with his followers at the mouth of the River Väina and founds the town of Riga. Europeans are becoming hungry for land at this point, and others follow the lead set by the German bishops in invading the pagan Baltic territories.

1202

Bishop Albert founds the Livonian Order of Knights, a branch of the Teutonic Knights, for the purposes of conquest and Christianisation in the Baltics.

by 1211

Christianity has effective control of the Lats, with them being governed by German bishops and the Livonian Order of Knights. The Dome Cathedral is built in Riga.

1282

Riga (and Cesis, Limba˛i, Koknese and Valmiera) are included in the Hansaetic League of trading towns in Northern Europe.

1410

The Battle of Tannenberg. Polish and Lithuanian forces under Ladislaus II (Ladislaus Jagiello) halt the eastward expansion of the Teutonic Knights. After this defeat, the Livonian Order begins to weaken and disintegrate.

1500s

This century is one of great changes for the inhabits of Latvia. The Reformation arrives and the Livonian nation collapses during the Livonian Wars.

1558 - 1583

The Livonian Wars.

1561

The Livonian Knights are dissolved. The southern regions of Estonia and the area of Livonia which makes up the modern Latvia become part of Lithuania which, in 1569, is effectively merged with Poland to form a united monarchy.

1629

The First Polish-Swedish War ends with the Treaty of Altmark, which sees most of Poland-Lithuania's Livonia come under Swedish rule. Serfdom is eased and a network of schools is established for the peasantry.

1721

Sweden fights Russia, Poland and Denmark in the Great Northern War. It is ended with the Treaty of Nystad. Vidzeme is handed to Russia.

1795

All of what is now Latvia is submerged within Imperial Russia.

1817 - 1819

The emancipation of the serfs in Latvia is something which is advantageous to the nobility, as it dispossesses the peasants of their land without compensation. The social structure changes dramatically, and a class of independent farmers establishes themselves after reforms allow the peasants to repurchase their land.

1863 - 1880

The January Uprising results in a policy of Russification. It spreads from Latgale to the rest of what is now Latvia.

1905

Revolution in the Baltics takes on a nationalist character.

1918

After being devastated by the Great War, Latvia proclaims full independence from Russia on 18 November in Riga.

1919

Three governments, Karlis Ulmanis' government, the Iskolat (which occupies almost all of the country, and the Baltic German government struggle for control.

1920

A freely elected Constituent Assembly is convened, which in 1922 adopts a liberal constitution, the Satversme, under Latvia's first president, Janis Cakste. It is suspended after Karlis Ulmanis' coup in 1934 but is reaffirmed in 1990.

1939

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is signed in Moscow on 23 August. It places the Baltic States under Soviet Russian control, and on 5 October Latvia is forced to accept a mutual assistance pact with the Soviet Union, granting the Soviets the right to station 25,000 troops on Latvian territory.

1940

On 16 June Vyacheslav Molotov presents the Latvian representative in Moscow with an ultimatum accusing Latvia of violations of that pact and on 17 June Soviet forces occupied the country. Annexation is formalised on 5 August, and in the following war more than 200,000 Latvian citizens die.

1944 - 1945

The Soviets reoccupy Latvia, and mass deportations follow as the country is forcibly Sovietised. A total of 42,975 persons are deported in 1949.

1989

The Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopts a resolution on the 'Occupation of the Baltic States', in which it declares that the occupation had been 'not in accordance with law', and not the 'will of the Soviet people'. A national movement coalescing in the Popular Front of Latvia takes advantage of glasnost under Mikhail Gorbachev.

1990 - 1991

On 4 May the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR adopts the Declaration of the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia, which results in Latvian independence. This is fully realised on 21 August 1991 under the direction of Anatolijs Gorbunovs, the caretaker president. A parliament (the Saeima) is elected in 1993, with Guntis Ulmanis as its first elected president, and Russia completing its military withdrawal in 1994.