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The Saeima, a unicameral legislative body, now is the highest organ of state authority. It initiates and approves legislation sponsored by the Prime Minister. The prime minister has full responsibility and control over his cabinet, and the president holds a primarily ceremonial role as head of state. In autumn 1991 Latvia reimplemented significant portions...
For centuries under Hanseatic and German influence and then during its inter-war independence, Latvia used its geographic location as an important East-West commercial and trading center. Industry served local markets, while timber, paper, and agricultural products supplied Latvia's main exports. Conversely, the years of Russian and Soviet occupation...
Amateur art thrives in Latvia. Clubs and individual enterprises have drama groups, choirs, ensembles, orchestras, and dance companies. Latvia has a conservatory of music, an academy of arts, and a number of specialized secondary educational establishments for students of music, painting, and the applied arts. Noted Latvian composers include Jazeps Medin...
Since 9,000 BC ancient peoples of unknown origin had inhabited Latvia, but by 3,000 BC the ancestors of the Finns had settled the region. A millennium later, pre-Baltic tribes had arrived and within time evolved into the Baltic Couranian, Latgallian, Selonian, and Semigallian groups. These tribes eventually formed local governments independently from...
Between 55.40 and 58.05 latitude and 20.58 and 28.14 longitude, Latvia lies on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea on the level northwestern part of the rising East European platform. About 98% of the country lies under 200m elevation (640 ft.). The damp climate resembles New England's. With the exception of the coastal plains, the Ice Age divided...
Latvians occasionally refer to themselves by the ancient name of quot;Latvji, quot; which may have originated from a quot;Latve quot; river that presumably flowed through what is now eastern Latvia. A small Finno-Ugric tribe known as the Livs settled among the Latvians and modulated the name to quot;Latvis, quot; meaning quot;forest-clearers, quot;...
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