Republic of LatviaLatvijas Republika

Table of content

1. Overview: Politics, Geography and Population

2. Riga and Countryside

3. Economic, political and societal situation

4. History

5. Cuisine Culture

6. Sources

Politics, geography and population

Bordered to Estonia (north) Russia (east) Belarus (southeast) Lithuania (south)

Territory: 64,589 km2

Switzerland: 41,285 km2

Capital: Riga

Population: 2,217,053 inhabitants 62.1% Latvians 26.9% Russians 3.3% Belarusians 2.2% Ukrainians 2.2% Poles

President: Andris Bērziņš Prime Minister: Valdis Dombrovskis Unitary parliamentary republic Member of the EU since 2004

Riga

About 700,000 inhabitants ->

largest city in the Baltic region

Latvians 42.5%, Russians

40.7%

Centre is UNESCO World

Heritage Site, Jugendstil

Riga

The river Daugava has been an important trade route for the Vikings

Development in early Middle Ages, Hanseatic League member in 1282

Hansa as stability and growth factor in politics and economics

Latvia‘s countryside

• Wildlife include deer, bear, wolves, lynx, moose

• Daugava 1020km from Russia, through Belarus, ending in the Gulf of Riga

• Gaiziņkalns 312m

GDP, HDI and Economics

GDP per capita (PPP): $15,662 (56% of EU average in 2008) HDI: 0,805 (43rd) = very high Member of WTO since 1999 Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index: 48th, flawed democracy Human Rights generally respected

Recent economic development: Rapid economic growth before 2008

(above EU average) Latvian financial crisis 2008-2010

Easy credit market burst Export oriented economy (20% of

GDP) -10.5% GDP growth in 2008 -18% GDP growth in 2009 23% unemployment rate in 2009

Since the beginning of 2010 slow economic recovery

Introduction of Euro targeted in 2014

Societal conflicts

After Latvians independence in 1991, anyone who‘s forebears arrived after 1940 did not automatically get citizenship About 50% of the Russians (300,000)

Cannot vote in elections, hold public office or work in government institutions

Russian officially foreign language

Initially strict conditions have been relaxed, but...

...still there are cultural clashes!“There's no need for a second language. Whoever wants, can use their language at home or in school"

Latvian President Andris Berzins

"I think that over the past 20 years Russian residents of Latvia have been humiliated by authorities, by endless attempts either to assimilate or make them second-class citizens” Vladimir Linderman, co-chairman of Native

Tongue

History: Latvia before the Soviet Union

Proto-Baltic ancestors of the Latvian people settled in the Balctic area at about 3000 BC

Establishing of trade routes to Rome and Byzantium German crusader, sent by the Pope, sailed up the Daugava River in order

to seek converts in the 12th century Germans ruled large parts of today‘s Latvia in the 13th century Dynamic changes during Reformation period

Livonian War (1558-1583) – Livona (Latvia) under Polish and Lithuanian rule

Polish-Swedish War (1600-1611) – Livonia under Swedish rule

The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (including Latvia) became a Russian province in 1795

Young Latvian movement -> First National Awakening in the end of 19th century

Around 1917/1918 Russian Revolution and the end of WW I lead to a power vacuum

In February, 1922 a freely elected constituend assembly the liberal constitution Satversme, which is Latvia‘s today constitution!

History: Latvia during Soviet Union

The Baltic states got annexed first 1940 and again from 1944-1991 by the Soviet Union

Infliction of uniformity Sovietization to extinguish national identity of Baltic people

Russification of education

Creation of a Soviet national identity

Russian language compulsory

Limited expression in literature and visual arts

Song festivals remained mean of national self-expression

Deportations

History: the Singing Revolution

Upcoming campaigns and demonstrations among the Baltic states against the Soviet Union from 1987-1989 Congress for protection of Latvian language rights, democratisation of society,

economic sovereignty, cessation of immigration from the USSR, etc.

In August 23, 1989, people from all three Baltic countries held an enormous demonstration of unity: the Baltic Way - a 600 km long “chain” of human beings from Talinn through Riga to Vilnus

Introduction Glasnost and Perestroika by M. Gorbachev in 1985 Rescission of limitations on political

freedoms

Enforcing factors for discontent among Baltic states Revealing of previously withhold issues

War in Afghanistan

Chernobyl

Access to Finish (Western) TV

Cultur: Cuisine

• Agricultural products, meet, fish

Sources

International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 2012-04-18.

Baltic Thaw, Aegean freeze", The Economist, 27 February 2010, p59

Latvijas Statistika 2010, retrieved 2010/06/06

Wikipedia

Spiegel Online

Welcome to Latvia – Folk Songs

Typical Latvian Food and Drink Recipes