Presentation about Latvia by Leon v. Klitzing

1. Republic of Latvia
Latvijas Republika

2. 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

3. Politics, geography and population
 President: Andris Bērziņš
 Prime Minister: Valdis Dombrovskis
 Unitary parliamentary republic  Bordered to
 Estonia (north)
 Member of the EU since 2004  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

4. Riga
 About 700,000 inhabitants ->
largest city in the Baltic region
 Latvians 42.5%, Russians 40.7%
 Centre is UNESCO World
Heritage Site, Jugendstil

5. 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

6. Latvia‘s countryside
• Wildlife include
deer, bear, wolves, lynx,
moose
• Daugava 1020km from
Russia, through
Belarus, ending in the
Gulf of Riga
• Gaiziņkalns 312m

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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!

10. 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

11. History: the Singing Revolution
 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
 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

12. Cultur: Cuisine
• Agricultural products, meat, fish

13. 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