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In 1254, a new division of the Livonian lands took place - according to an agreement between the Archbishopric of Riga, its cathedral chapter and the Livonian Order. Many Livonian cities later became members of the prosperous North European Trade Union - Hansa.

Map of the Livonian Confederation in 1260
In 1201 Bishop Albert Buksgevden founded the city of Riga. To strengthen his power, he also founded the Order of the Sword (after the defeat at the Battle of Saul, the Livonian Order as part of the Teutonic Order), which later became an independent political and economic force; the order and the bishop fought each other for political hegemony in Livonia[17]. In 1209, the bishop and the order agreed to divide the controlled lands between themselves. On the map of Europe, the state formation of German crusader knights appeared - Livonia (after the name of the local ethnic group - Livs). It included the territories where Estonia and Latvia are located today. The control of the Principality of Polotsk over its former appanages in the territory of Latvia (Kukeinos and Gersike) was lost.

In 1184, the Catholic missionary Meinard von Segeberg, with the permission of Prince Vladimir of Polotsk, began to preach Christianity in his vassal lands - among the Livs. Two years later, Archbishop Hartwig II of Bremen elevated Meinard to the rank of bishop and created the first diocese in Livonia under his command. On October 1, 1188, Pope Clement III approved Maynard as a bishop, and gave the created bishopric to Bremen. However, the Livs were not very willing to convert to Christianity and rebelled against the power of the bishop, killing Maynard's successor, Bishop Berthold

During the period of feudal fragmentation in Rus' and the emergence of appanages, the Livonian lands along the Western Dvina were dependent on the Principality of Polotsk, to which they were subordinated during the reign of Prince Vseslav Bryachislavich (1044-1101). According to the chroniclers, the Livs paid tribute to the princes of Polotsk[15], the Curonians paid tribute to the kings of Sweden

Around the 3rd millennium BC. e. Finno-Ugric tribes of pit-comb ceramics[14] (whose linguistic descendants were the historical Livs) came to the territory of modern Latvia. Not later than the 1st millennium BC. e. the Baltic tribes of the culture of hatched ceramics settled here.

The word "Latvia" for the name of all Latvian territories was first used by the Viljandi priest Dionysius Fabricius in his chronicle "Livonicae historiae compediosa series", completed in 1611. Then the term “land of Latvians” was mentioned by priests: Georg Manzel (latviešu zeme, Lettus, 1638), Jakob Lange (latviska zeme, Lexicon, 1777), Senior Stender mentioned the phrase Latvju zeme (Lexicon, 1789)

The name "Latvia" came to the Latvian language from Lithuanian, in which it was formed from the ethnonym of the Latvians - latviai (lit. latviai). The term “Latvia” was introduced into Latvian literature by the poet Auseklis[13].
For the first time, a similar name in the form of Lettia (Lettia, Letthia, Leththia) is found in the “Chronicle” of Henry of Latvia (1209), when describing the military actions of the German knights against the Jersik prince Vsevolod (Visvaldis), originally to designate the territories inhabited by the Latgalians (Gersik and Kukenois principalities) . In 1211, when these lands were divided between the Archbishop of Riga and the Livonian Order, all these lands began to be called Letthia. This name was first mentioned in a papal bull of October 20, 1210 and subsequently appeared regularly in documents until the 14th century, and in the 15th century it was finally supplanted by the name "Livonia" (Middle German Lyflant, Ifland)

The economy is focused on logistics, banking, tourism, food industry[11]. The volume of GDP at purchasing power parity for 2018 amounted to $ 57.84 billion (GDP (PPP) $ 29,901 and GDP (nominal) $ 18,031 per capita) [12]. The currency is the euro.Go to the section " condition, main indicators"
The independence of the country was proclaimed on November 18, 1918 from the Baltic Duchy. From August 5, 1940 to May 4, 1990, it was part of the USSR as one of the union republics.Go to the " " section
Member of the UN since 1991, the European Union and NATO since 2004, the OECD since June 2016. Part of the Schengen area and the Eurozone

Unitary state, parliamentary republic. President - Egils Levits[10] (since July 8, 2019), Prime Minister (official title of the post - President of Ministers of Latvia) - Krisjanis Karins (since January 23, 2019).
The economy is focused on logistics, banking, tourism, food industry[11]. The volume of GDP at purchasing power parity for 2018 amounted to $ 57.84 billion (GDP (PPP) $ 29,901 and GDP (nominal) $ 18,031 per capita) [12]. The currency is the euro.Go to the section " condition, main indicators"

Latvia (Latvian Latvija [ˈlatvija]), the official name is the Republic of Latvia (Latvian Latvijas Republika), is a state in Northern Europe [9]. According to estimates as of January 1, 2021, the population was 1,893,700[4] people (153rd in the world).Go to the section “ , settlement” Territory - 64,589 km² (122nd in the world). The length of the country from north to south is 250 km, and from west to east - 450 km. Latvia borders with Estonia in the north, Russia in the east, Belarus in the southeast and Lithuania in the south cities with equal status to the territories. Go to the section " division" The capital is Riga. The official language is Latvian.Go to the " " section