LETT (let)
A
member of a Baltic people constituting the main population of
Latvia Common clues: Riga
resident; Baltic native; Latvian; Native of Riga; Baryshnikov, by
birth; Tolerant Latvian? Crossword
puzzle frequency:
once a year News: Foreign
travelers crossed border of Latvia 2556 thousand times in
H1 Video: Sounds
Like Latvia
Latvia
(historically Lettonia, or Lettland), officially the Republic of
Latvia (Latvian: Latvija or Latvijas Republika, Livonian: Lețmō),
is a country in Northern Europe. Latvia shares land borders with
Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south — and both
Russia and Belarus to the east. It is separated from Sweden in
the west by the Baltic Sea. The capital of Latvia is Riga
(Latvian: Rīga). Latvia has been a member state of the
European Union since May 1, 2004 and a member of NATO since March
29, 2004
Location
of Latvia (orange)
Latvia's
population has been multiethnic for centuries, though the
demographics shifted dramatically in the twentieth century due to
the World Wars, the emigration and removal of Baltic Germans, the
Holocaust, and occupation by the Soviet Union.
Latvians
and Livonians, the indigenous peoples of Latvia, now form about
60% of the population; 28% of the inhabitants are Russian.
Approximately 56% of the ethnic Russians living in Latvia are
citizens of Latvia. In 2005 there were even fewer Latvians than
in 1989, though their share of the population was larger —
1,357,099 (58.8% of the inhabitants).
The
statue of Liberty atop the Freedom Monument in Riga
This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Latvia".
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