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Latgale (other)
Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin: ''Łathalija''; ), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. While most of Latvia is historically Lutheran, Latgale is predominantly Catholic: 65.3% according to a 2011 survey. After the Counter-Reformation it was the northernmost predominantly Catholic province or region in Europe. There is a considerable Eastern Orthodox minority (23.8%), of which 13.8% are Russian Orthodox Christians and 10.0% are Old Believers. As of 2020, the region's population was 255,968. The region has a large population of ethnic Russians, especially in Daugavpils, the largest city in the region and the location of the region's only public university, the University of Daugavpils. Many of the Russians who lived in Latgale before Soviet rule are Old Believers. Rēzekne, often called the heart of Latgale, Krāslava, and Ludza are other large towns in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rēzekne Castle
Rēzekne Castle ruins () are located in the downtown of Rēzekne, Latvia, a city in the center of Latgale. The castle served as a base of the local Livonian order landlords until the 16th century and also as the main military support base for battles against Russians and Lithuanians. Today, fragments of the stone walls and the foundation can be seen on the ancient castle hill. History Archeological excavations reveal that between the 9th and 12th centuries a Latgalians, Latgalian wooden fortress was situated in the place where the castle ruins now stand. It is unknown when the Latgalian fortress was destroyed; however, in 1285, the master of the Livonian Order Vilhelms Šurborgs built a stone fortress on the Rositten stone hill. The fortress consisted of a two-story brick and stone castle with a three-storey towers and thick brick walls, functioning as the administrative seat of Rezekne. The castle was ravaged and rebuilt many times. Between 1577 and 1579, it was occupied by Cz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russians In Latvia
In Latvia, Russians have been the largest ethnic minority in the country for the last two centuries. The number of Russians in Latvia more than quadrupled during the Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944, Soviet occupation of Latvia when the size of the community grew from 8.8% of the total population in 1935 (206,499) to 34.0% in 1989 (905,515). It started to decrease in size again after Latvia regained independence in 1991 falling to 24.1% at the beginning of 2025. Ancient Latvia The Latvian word ''krievi'' for "Russians" and ''Krievija'' for "Russia" (and ''Krievzeme'' for Ruthenia) is thought to have originated from Krivichs, one of the tribal unions of Early East Slavs. During the 11th–12th centuries, Principality of Jersika, Jersika and Principality of Koknese, Koknese, principalities in Eastern Latvia paid tribute to the Principality of Polatsk. Livonia Koknese was taken by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1208 and Jersika in 1209 and later both incorporated into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latgalians (modern)
The Latgalians (, ) are an ethnographic group living in Latgale region in Latvia, who speak Latgalian and Standard Latvian. Their distinct culture sets them apart from other Latvians. Name In the Latgalian language, the terms ''latgalīši'' and ''latgaļi'' have been traditionally used as synonyms describing both ancient and contemporary Latgalians as a part of the same continuum. The term ''latgalīši'' (in both meanings) prevailed in Latgalian literature and mass media during the first decades of the 20th century, whereas the term ''latgali'' has been consistently used (also in both meanings) in Latgalian literature and media published during the 1920s and 1930s in Latvia and from 1940 to 1988 in exile. Since the cultural revival of Latgalians in 1988, there is a tendency in Latgalian literature and media to follow Latvians in their use of both names. Early history Modern Latgalians developed as a result of Latgale having developed separately from other parts of contem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavs
The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and Northern Asia, though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the Baltic states and Central Asia, and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the Americas, Western Europe, and Northern Europe. Early Slavs lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages (approximately from the 5th to the 10th century AD), and came to control large parts of Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe between the sixth and seventh centuries. Beginning in the 7th century, they were gradually Christianized. By the 12th century, they formed the core population of a number of medieval Christian states: East Slavs in the Kievan Rus', South Slavs in the Bulgarian Empire, the Principality of Serbia, the Duchy of Croatia and the Banate of B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baltic German
Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end of World War II, Baltic Germans have drastically declined as a geographically determined ethnic groups in Europe, ethnic group in the region, with diaspora generally relocating to Germany proper and beyond. Since the late Middle Ages, native German-speakers formed the majority of merchants and clergy, and the large majority of the Baltic nobility, local landowning nobility who effectively constituted a ruling class over indigenous Latvians, Latvian and Estonians, Estonian non-nobles. By the time a distinct Baltic German ethnic identity began emerging in the 19th century, the majority of self-identifying Baltic Germans were non-nobles belonging mostly to the urban and professional middle class. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Catholic Chu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pale Of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (''de facto'' until 1915) in which permanent settlement by Jews was allowed and beyond which the creation of new Jewish settlements, permanent or temporary, was mostly forbidden. Jews were allowed to live outside the area, including those with university education, the ennobled, members of the most affluent of the merchant guilds and particular artisans, some military personnel and some services associated with them, including their families, and sometimes their servants. Pale is an archaic term meaning an enclosed area. Jews were also allowed to settle in colonies outside of the Pale, such as in Siberia. The Pale of Settlement included all of modern-day Belarus and Moldova, much of Lithuania, Ukraine and east-central Poland, and relatively small parts of Latvia and what is now the western Russian Federation. It extended from the eastern ''pale'', or demarcation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vitebsk Governorate
Vitebsk Governorate (, ) was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting Belarusian Governorate and existed until 1924. Today most of the area belongs to Belarus, the northwestern part to Latvia and the northeastern part to Pskov and Smolensk Oblasts of Russia.Together with the Vilna, Kovno, Grodno, Minsk, and Mogilev Governorates, it formed the Northwestern Krai. The provincial city was Vitebsk, the largest city was Dvinsk. On January 1, 1919, the Provisional Revolutionary Government issued a manifesto proclaiming the formation of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus (SSRB) within the RSFSR, which included the Vitebsk, Grodno, Mogilev, Minsk and Smolensk provinces. On January 16, 1919 by the decision of the Central Committee of the RCP the Vitebsk, Mogilev and Smolensk provinces were returned into direct subordination to the RSFSR. By the decision of the Pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polotsk
Polotsk () or Polatsk () is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the Dvina River and serves as the administrative center of Polotsk District. Polotsk is served by Polotsk Airport and Borovitsy air base. As of 2025, it has a population of 79,285. Nomenclature The Old East Slavic name, ''Polotesk'', derives from the Polota river, which flows into the neighboring Western Dvina. The Vikings rendered that name as ''Palteskja''. Geography Lakes * Lake Babyna Climate History Polotsk is one of the earliest mentioned cities of the Eastern Slavs. The '' Primary Chronicle'' mentioned Polotsk in the year 862 (as Полотескъ, /poloteskŭ/), together with Murom and Belozersk. However, an archaeological expedition from the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus suggests that Polotsk existed in the first half of the 9th century. The first known prince of Polotsk was Rogvolod (ruled 945–978). He had two sons and a daughter n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poles In Latvia
The Polish minority in Latvia (; ) numbers about 51,548 and (according to the Latvian data from 2011) forms 2.3% of the population of Latvia. Poles are concentrated in the former Inflanty Voivodeship region, with about 18,000 in Daugavpils (Dyneburg) and 17,000 in Riga. People of Polish ethnicity have lived on the territory of modern Latvia since the 16th century. In modern Latvia their citizenship status vary: non-citizens of Latvia, as citizens of Poland, or as citizens of Latvia. Demography Mixed marriages are common for the ethnic Poles in Latvia: per cent distribution of males with spouse of different ethnicity was 89%, of females with spouse of different ethnicity was 90% (1990–2007)LR Ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an area of with a population of . The country has a hemiboreal climate and is administratively divided into Regions of Belarus, six regions. Minsk is the capital and List of cities and largest towns in Belarus, largest city; it is administered separately as a city with special status. For most of the medieval period, the lands of modern-day Belarus was ruled by independent city-states such as the Principality of Polotsk. Around 1300 these lands came fully under the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and subsequently by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; this period lasted for 500 years until the Partitions of Poland, 1792-1795 partitions of Poland-Lithuania placed Belarus within the Belarusian history in the Russian Empire, Russian Empire for the fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludza
Ludza (; , , , , ''Ludza'') is a town in the Latgale region of eastern Latvia. Ludza is the oldest town in Latvia and this is commemorated by a key in its coat of arms. Ludza is the administrative centre of Ludza Municipality that is located nearby the Russian border. The population as of 2020 was 7,667. History After Nikolay Karamzin, Ludza was first mentioned as ''Лючин'' in Hypatian Codex dating back to 1173 or 1177. In 1399 the Livonian Order built a stone fortress atop an older Latgalian fortress and used Ludza as an eastern outpost in Livonia. Ludza Castle ruins can be visited nowadays. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth After the dissolution of the Livonian Order in 1561, Ludza was incorporated into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and became a part of Wenden Voivodeship. In January 1626, during the Polish-Swedish War, Ludza was captured without a battle by Sweden due to the defeat of the forces of Polish-Lithuanian marshal Jan Stanisław Sapieha. Later it was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krāslava
Krāslava (; , , , , ) is a town and the administrative centre of Krāslava Municipality. The town lies on the Daugava, upstream and to the east of the city of Daugavpils. Most of the town is situated on the right coast of the Daugava. As defined by Latvian law, Krāslava belongs partially to the Latgale region (on the right side of the Daugava) and partially to the Selonia region (on the left side of the Daugava). History * Krāslava was an important hillfort on the waterway from the Varangians to the Byzantine Empire since early Middle Ages, part of the orthodox Principality of Jersika in the 13th century. * In 1558 was mentioned for the first time in written sources of Livonian Order as ''Kreslau'' (in German). * In 1676 the church was built by Society of Jesus, Jesuit Order and Krāslava became the most northern located center of the Jesuit movement on the border with the areas dominated by Protestant and Orthodox churches. * In 1729 Count Jan Ludwik Plater bought Krāslava. Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
