GEOGRAPHY
Latvia is flanked by Estonia and the Gulf of Riga to the north, Lithuania and Belarus to the south, and the Baltic Sea to the west. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia make up the Baltic States. Latvia has an area of about 24,600 square miles. Lowlands and plains make up much of the country. Lakes, streams, marshes, and swamps are scattered throughout the terrain; morainic hills lie in the east. Sandy beaches run along the coastline. Principal rivers include the West Dvina (Daugava), Gauja, Venta, and Lielupe.
INCEPTION AS A NATION
The Germanic military and religious order Brothers of the Sword invaded the region in the early 13th century C. E. and attempted to convert the region’s tribes, both Balts, such as the Letts and Curonians, and Finno-Ugrians, such as the Esths and Livs. In 1270 the Germans formed the state of Livonia. Russian invasions set off the Livonian War in 1558, and by 1561 the Livonian order disbanded. Livonia was then divided and controlled as a duchy under Polish-Lithuanian suzerainty The northern provinces became part of Poland, while western Livonia formed Courland, a duchy.
Sweden gained control of Riga from Poland-Lithuania, although it was forced to
Relinquish Latvian territories to Russia after the Great Northern War (1700-21). Russia controlled all of Latvia by 1795. After Russia’s collapse during the Russian Revolution (1917), Latvia declared itself an independent republic in 1918. The Latvian-Russian treaty of 1920 forced Russia to respect Latvian autonomy. Upon the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Germany and then the Soviet Union (USSR) occupied Latvia, forming the Latvian soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). Latvia declared full independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
CULTURAL IDENTITY
During the 20th century Latvians found themselves in what has been called a demographic crisis, under both the Nazi and Soviet Russian regimes. The country lost some 40 percent of its ethnic Latvians during and after World War II. Hundreds of thousands of people were deported to Siberia during the years of forced Russification, many more were conscripted into the army, and the wealthiest Latvians meanwhile escaped to the West. These events virtually destroyed the Latvian middle class. In many Latvian cities the indigenous population became a minority, as many Russians took
This photograph shows a scene from the Latvian city of Riga. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-85298])
LATVIANS: NATIONALITY nation:
(Latvia (Latvija); Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika)
Derivation of name:
Possibly from Latve, the ancient name for a river; the people were known as Latviji; Finnic-speaking Livs modulated the name to Latvis, meaning "forest clearers"; the German version became Lette.
Government:
Parliamentary democracy
Capital:
Riga
Language:
Official language is Latvian, a Baltic language; Russian, Lithuanian, and Polish are also spoken.
Religion:
Most Latvians practice Lutheranism, Roman Catholicism, and Russian Orthodoxy.
Earlier inhabitants:
Tribal Balts (Curonians; Letts; Selonians; Semigallians); tribal Finno-Ugrians (Esths;
Livs; Votes)
Demographics:
More than 50 percent of the population are Latvians, descendants of Baltic and Finnic peoples; about 30 percent are Russian; minorities include Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles, and Lithuanians.
Advantage of the demographic vacuum. In the countryside prosperous farms were destroyed through forcible collectivization. Because of this systematic attempt to annihilate the identity of the Latvian state and nation, part of the Latvians’ cultural identity is the consciousness of their own fragility
Latvia’s national epic, Lacplesis (Bear slayer—written in 1888 by Andrejs Pumpurs), based on traditional Latvian folk stories, demonstrates how cultural identity, far from being a static substrate that emerges once and for all fully formed, never to change, instead evolves through time in response to the exigencies of history. Lacplesis, son of a man and a female bear, a mighty hunter, is actually atypical of Latvian folklore, in which humans more usually appear tolerant and pantheistic. Lacplesis was written at a time when the struggle for Latvian independence was reaching a crescendo; he was thus a hero for his times.
The modern Latvian poet Imants Ziedonis has written that cultural identity is such an elusive entity that it is hard to define; he prefers rather to list cultural elements particular and peculiar to a people. Taken together they can indicate something of a people’s essence. Storks, one such element, are now ubiquitous in Latvia. People treasure them and help them find nesting sites. But they were not part of the landscape in the past. Part of the reason for this seems to be the pollution and environmental degradation in neighboring countries, whereas Latvia preserves great biological diversity and a healthy ecology. Other Latvian characteristics include the use of the affectionate diminutive in folk songs; the huge Latvian song festivals that take place on an unprecedented scale, with choirs of up to 20,000 singers under the guidance of world-class conductors; the great number of landscape variations in one square kilometer of Latvian land; the Midsummer Night’s festival (St. John’s Eve, or Janu Naktis), with its unique melodies and fertility rites. There is also the Latvian custom of drinking birch sap in spring and making beverages from it to be consumed in the months of summer heat. A large book-publishing enterprise produces huge editions of poetry books for such a small nation. The music of the Latvian Women’s Choir, founded in the dark days of 1947, is a strong symbol of Latvian identity And there is the Latvju Dainas, eight volumes of some 400,000 Latvian folk songs that embody the essence of the values that build the Latvian character.
The ideal for Latvians is indicated by the word razenais, used to denote “a man of culture.” Razenais has a whole range of meanings: “strong, fertile, rich, effective, controlled, persistent.” Besides all these qualities, which apply to a single individual, Razenais has significance to the relationships between people. It is a principle of guidance, empathy, and assistance.
Further Reading
Alfred Bilmanis. History of Latvia (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1970).
Juris Dreifelds. Latvia in Transition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
John Hinden and Patrick Salmon. The Baltic Nations and Europe: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the Twentieth Century (London: Longman, 1994).
Walter R. Iwaskiw, ed. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: Country Studies (Washington, D. C.: Library of Congress, 1997).
Anatol Lieven. The Baltic Revolution: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Path to Independence (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994).
Andrejs Plakans. The Latvians: A Short History (Stanford, Calif.: Hoover Institution, 1995).
J. Rutkis. Latvia: Country and People (Stockholm, Sweden: Latvian National Foundation, 1967).
Graham Smith, ed. The Baltic States: The National Self-Determination of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (New York: St. Martin’s, 1996).
World History
