Latvia. Information.
LATVIA (LATVIJA), Republic of Latvia - state in Eastern Europe. Square - 64 589 sq.km. Population - 2 404 926. Сapital - Riga. On north Latvia bordered upon Estonia. On south Latvia bordered upon Lithuania. On east Latvia bordered upon Russia and Belorus. Since 2,000 BC ancient pre-Baltic tribes had arrived and inhabited Latvia. These tribes eventually formed local governments independently from the Finno-Ugric Livian tribe until the thirteenth century, when they were conquered by the Germans, who renamed the territory Livonia. Founded by the Germanic Bishop Alberth of Livonia in 1201, Riga joined the Hanseatic League in 1285 and shared important cultural and economic ties to the rest of Europe. However, the new German nobility enserfed the peasantry and accorded non-Germanic peoples only limited trading and property rights. Subsequent wars and treaties ensured Livonia's partition and colonization for centuries. The Commonwealth's successes during the Livonian Wars (1558-1583) united the Latvian-populated duchies of Pardaugava, Kurzeme, and Zemgale, but the Polish-Swedish War (1600-1629) granted Sweden acquisition of Riga and the Duchy of Pardaugava, minus Latgale, leaving Latvia again split ethnically. In turn, victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) gave Russia control over the Latvian territories. The onset of WWI brought German occupation of the western coastal province of Kurzeme, and Latvians heroically countered the invasion. The sagging military campaign generally increased Latvian and LSDU support for the Bolsheviks' successful October Revolution in 1917. These circumstances led to the formation of the soviet "Iskolat Republic" in the unoccupied section of Latvia. In opposition to this government and to the landed barons' German sympathies stood primarily the Latvian Provisional National Council and the Riga Democratic Bloc. These and other political parties formed the Latvian People's Council which on November 18, 1918 declared Latvia's independence. The effects of the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement of 1939 steadily forced Latvia under Soviet influence until August 5, 1940, when the Soviet Union finally annexed Latvia. After the war, the U.S.S.R. subjected the Latvian republic to a scale of social and economic reorganization which rapidly transformed the rural economy to heavy industry. Latvia claimed de facto independence on August 21, 1991 in the aftermath of the failed Soviet coup attempt. Currecy : 1 Latvian lat (LVL) = 100 santims.
Full information about stamps of
Latvia
you can find at site:
veikals.pasts.lv
