Latvia wasn’t always called Latvia – and for most of history, you won’t have found a place called “Latvia” on a map. Only in the 20th century did Latvia become an independent country. This also means that if you are
Finnic Influences in Latvia: Language and Vocabulary
This is the last post in a series on Finnic influences in Latvia. You can also read the other posts in the series about Finnic influence on place names and personal names, as well as read about population crossover at
Mappy Monday – The River Gauja
A lot of attention is paid to the Daugava, the biggest and longest river in Latvia, that goes through the middle of the country – but few outside of Latvia know about the Gauja river, which is the longest river
Mappy Monday – Ethnic and Religious Enclaves
Latvia is not and has never been one monoethnic entity. Certainly, Latvians – and Luteran Latvians, at that – have made up the majority, but they are not the only ones living in Latvia. Throughout the years, there have been
Finnic Influences in Latvia: Population Crossover
This is the third post in a series about Finnic influences in Latvia. You can read the first one about place names here and the second one about personal names here. Today we will be looking at population crossover. But
Mappy Monday – Administrative Divisions?!
One common point of confusion/frustration when it comes to tracking Latvian locations on maps throughout the centuries is the big jumble of administrative divisions. Some have stayed constant and relatively simple – like cities, albeit increasing in size – while
Mappy Monday – Prefixes Everywhere!
Rural Latvia was and is covered with farms – usually quite small in size, and all with names. Many of these names have been around for centuries – in most cases, longer than surnames. Many of these farm names come
Finnic Influences in Latvia: Personal Names
Time for my second post on Finnic influences in Latvia – see the first one on place names here. This post was planned for last week, but then my laptop’s motherboard died, and since it would have cost so much
Mappy Monday – Both Sides of the Daugava
Daugav’ abas malas, mūžam nesadalÄs, ir Kurzeme, ir Vidzeme, ir Latgale mÅ«su… (Daugava and both its shores, never divided, here we have Kurzeme, Vidzeme, Latgale ours…) -“Daugav’ abas malas” (composer J. Norvilis) There are many iconic images and ideas in
Mappy Monday – All Roads Lead Out of RÄ«ga
I know the saying is typically “all roads lead to X”, but in this case, both are true, though I’ll be talking more about RÄ«ga rather than the rest of the country for this. Many old cities have pretty some