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History of Latvia

A Baltic country whose Song and Dance Festival has been held since 1873. 6 eras, 1237 to today.

Livonian Order, 1237–1561 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561, it was a member of the "Livonian Confederation". Between 1237 and 1290, the Livonian Order conquered all of Courland, Livonia and Semigallia. During the Livonian War, however, the order suffered a decisive defeat by troops of Muscovite Russia in the Battle of Ergeme in 1560.

Seat of power: Riga

Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, 1561–1795 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was a duchy in the Baltic region, then known as Livonia, that existed from 1561 to 1569 as a nominal vassal state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and subsequently made part of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom from 1569 to 1726 and incorporated into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1726. On 24 October 1795, it was annexed by the Russian Empire in the Third Partition of Poland. Gotthard Kettler, the last Master of the Livonian Order, became the first duke of Courland. Under the next duke, Jacob Kettler, the Duchy reached the peak of its prosperity.

Seat of power: Jelgava

Swedish Livonia, 1629–1721 Draft, not yet reviewed

Swedish Livonia was a dominion of the Swedish Empire from 1629 until 1721. Riga was the second largest city in the Swedish Empire at the time. In contrast to Swedish Estonia, which had submitted to Swedish rule voluntarily in 1561 and where traditional local laws remained largely untouched, the uniformity policy was applied in Swedish Livonia under Karl XI of Sweden: serfdom was abolished, peasants were offered education as well as military, administrative or ecclesiastical careers, and nobles had to transfer domains to the king in the Great Reduction. The territory in turn was conquered by the Russian Empire during the Great Northern War and, following the Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia in 1710, formed Riga Governorate.

Seat of power: Riga

Rulers

Courland Governorate, 1796–1918 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Courland Governorate, initially organized in 1795–1796 as the Courland Viceroyalty, was a province (guberniya) and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. The governorate was created in 1795 following the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, when the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was incorporated into the Russian Empire. Like the neighbouring Baltic provinces, Courland retained regional administrative autonomy managed by the local Baltic German nobility through the Courland Landtag, and serfdom was abolished in 1817. Russian rule formally ended with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, and the territory became part of the independent Republic of Latvia in November 1918.

Seat of power: Jelgava

Rulers

Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1940–1990 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic was a de facto constituent republic of the Soviet Union covering the occupied and annexed territory of Latvia from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. On 16 June 1940, after the USSR had already invaded Lithuania, it issued an ultimatum to Latvia, followed by the Soviet occupation of Latvia on 17 June. The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states from 1939 to 1940 and then from 1944 to 1991 was widely considered illegal by the international community and human rights organizations. On 4 May 1990, the Council passed the declaration "On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia," which declared the Soviet annexation void and announced the start of a transitional period to independence.

Seat of power: Riga

Rulers

Latvia, 1991 to today Draft, not yet reviewed

After centuries of Teutonic, Swedish, Polish-Lithuanian, and Russian rule, the independent Republic of Latvia was established on 18 November 1918 after breaking away from the Russian Empire. The peaceful Singing Revolution started in 1987 among the Baltic Soviet republics and ended with the restoration of both de facto and official independence on 21 August 1991. The major goals of Latvia in the 1990s, to join NATO and the European Union, were achieved in 2004. On 1 January 2014, the euro became the country's currency, superseding the Lats.

Seat of power: Riga

Rulers

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.