Dagda () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Dagda Parish,

Krāslava Municipality Krāslava Municipality (, ) is a municipality in Latgale, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2001 by Merger (politics), merging Krāslava Parish and Krāslava town. In 2009 it absorbed Auleja Parish, Indra Parish, Izvalta Parish, Kalnieši Par ...

in the

Latgale Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin alphabet, 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. Wh ...

region of

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. The town is near Latvia's border with

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 a ...

. It is the administrative center of Dagda Parish.

Climate

Dagda has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb''). In March 1972, the deepest ground frost in Latvia was registered in Dagda - .

History

Dagda as an ancestral estate was founded in the 17th century by Johann Franz von Gilsen, Chancellor of the

Duchy of Courland and Semigallia The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was a duchy in the Baltic states, 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 th ...

. He established the first Catholic community here and built a wooden church. This marked the beginning of the written history of the settlement. The last local representative of the Gilsen family, Jerzy, died in 1788. His widow sold the estate to the Bujnicki family. The most notable of them, writer and publicist

Kazimierz Bujnicki Kazimierz Bujnicki (30 November 1788 in Krasław (nowadays Krāslava) – 14 July 1878 in Dagda, Latvia) was a Polish writer. Kazimierz Bujnicki was son of Andrzej, a podkomorzy of Vitebsk (''podkomorzy witebski''), and his wife Anna. He was b ...

, made a significant contribution to the region's culture and was one of the initiators of the abolition of serfdom in

. In the early 19th century, the Dagda estate became home to a unique library, an archive, and a collection of artworks and archaeological finds accumulated by the Gilsen and Bujnicki families. All of this was destroyed during the Polish January Uprising of 1863–1864 when the estate was burned down. Only the park with its dug canals survived. According to the 1897 census, the town of Dagda had a population of 1,516 people, including 1,026 of Jewish faith and 377 Roman Catholics.

References

Cities and towns in Latgale Populated places in Krāslava Municipality Daugavpils county {{Latgale-geo-stub

Climate

History

See also

References