Latvia
Updated: Sep 29, 2022
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Country Name
Latvia, and officially known as the Republic of Latvia.
Location
Latvia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe.
It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, and Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west.
Capital
Riga.
Reason for Naming
The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes (along with Couronians, Selonians, and Semigallians), which formed the ethnic core of modern Latvians together with the Finnic Livonians.
Henry of Latvia invented the latinisations of the country's name, "Lettigallia" and "Lethia", both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the country's name in Romance languages from "Letonia" and in several Germanic languages from "Lettland".
Flag
The flag of Latvia was adopted on 18 November 1918. The current Flag of Latvia was readopted on 27 February 1990.
The flag of Latvia consists of three horizontal stripes wider crimson
stripes are located at the top and at the bottom and a narrower white one is
in-between.
The red color represents the bloodshed during the struggle for independence and the white color represents justice, truth, and honor.
The flag in its current form was designed in 1917 and was officially
adopted as the national flag in 1921.
The flag was banned in times of Soviet domination, but people sometimes used it to express disagreement with this condition. It has not been readopted until 1991 when Latvia became an independent state.
* Flag Facts:
- The flag of Austria, The flag of Latvia, and the flag of Lebanon are similar to each other they are all formed of three horizontal stripes of red, white, and red, Lebanon flag is the only one that has a symbol in the center of the flag.
Language
Latvian is the dominant language as well as the official language of Latvia.
The minority languages in Latvia: are Latgalian, Russian, Ukrainian, And Belarusian. Russian, which was widely spoken during the Soviet period, is still the most widely used minority language by far.
While it is now required that all school students learn Latvian, schools also include English, German, French, and Russian in their curriculum.
English is also widely accepted in Latvia in business and tourism.
Religion
Christianity is the main religion that has been traditionally practiced in the country. The largest religion in Latvia is Christianity and the largest groups as of 2011 were: the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, Roman Catholic, and Russian Orthodox.
The country's Orthodox Christians belong to the Latvian Orthodox Church.
There are about 416 Jews residing in the country. Islam claims a few hundred followers in Latvia. Buddhists, Hindus, and some other religions also have a small presence in the nation.
Currency
Euro (€) (EUR).
Time Zone
+03:00 GMT. (Summer Time)
+02:00 GMT.
Government Regime
Unitary parliamentary republic.
Climate
In Latvia, the climate is very cold in winter, mild, and quite rainy in summer. The coastal areas are a bit more temperate, but also more humid and windy, while the eastern area has a slightly more continental climate. Coastal regions, especially the western coast of the Courland Peninsula, possess a more maritime climate with cooler summers and milder winters, while eastern parts exhibit a more continental climate with warmer summers and harsher winters.
Latvia has four obvious seasons of near-equal length. Winter starts in mid-December and lasts until mid-March. Winters have average temperatures of −6 °C (21 °F) and are characterized by stable snow cover, bright sunshine, and short days. Severe spells of winter weather with cold winds, extreme temperatures of around −30 °C (−22 °F), and heavy snowfalls are common. Summer starts in June and lasts until August. Summers are usually warm and sunny, with cool evenings and nights. Summers have average temperatures of around 19 °C (66 °F), with extremes of 35 °C (95 °F). Spring and autumn bring fairly mild weather.
On the west coast, the average temperatures are just below freezing in January and February and around 17.5 °C (63 °F) in July and August. In inland areas, the temperatures are a bit lower in winter and a bit higher in summer. Precipitation is not abundant, but it is frequent and well distributed throughout the year, however, in terms of quantity, there's a relative minimum in the early months of the year. The coast is rainier than the interior.
International Phone Code
+371
Internet Code
.lv