Prehistory

Before the founding of the Riga itself, the Daugava River was a frequently used trade route used by the Vikings, for example, on their trips to Byzantium.

The naturally occurring location of a river port 15 kilometers up the Daugava from Riga Bay resulted in the first settlement of the tribal livers in the 100s. It was fisheries and agriculture that dominated until the trade grew, among other things, the increased activity of the Vikings.

 

Foundation of the city

The settlement also grew with the arrival of German traders. They set up a trading station with the resultant flourishing in the area. With the Germans also came the monk Meinhard of Segeberg, who sought to Christianize the pagan lives. Meinhard established a monastery in 1190, and it was part of the city formation at that time.

In 1199, Albert was appointed bishop of Riga, and he arrived in the city the following year with 23 ships and about 500 crusaders to secure Christianity that had not won the desired place in the 1100s.

In 1201, Albert founded the city of Riga, and the year after the ecclesiastical order of war, the Order of the Swords, which was open to the nobility and the merchants, aimed at Christianizing the pagan people of the area. Five years later, the bishop of established defenses around Riga began, and by introducing a division of land between the church that ruled in Riga and the members of the Order of the Swords, the military presence was strengthened rather than the normal situation with hired order knights returning home.

In addition to military strength, Bishop Albert also secured Riga’s trading position. Through papal decrees, German merchants’ trade in the Baltic was to pass through Riga, whose economy thereby flourished further.

In 1211, the first coin was minted in Riga, and the same year the foundation stone for the city’s cathedral was laid. In 1221, the Riga grocery store achieved some autonomy over the city, but it went until 1225 before the citizens did not have to pay taxes to the church and were given the right to choose the city’s government themselves. The city was thus a reality with its own constitution.

 

From Denmark to the Livonian Order

In 1221, Bishop Albert had sought military assistance from the Danish king Valdemar in protecting the church’s land from livelihood restoration from before the church’s arrival. Denmark gained dominion over the areas of present-day Estonia and Latvia; they landed in Livland, among other things, and established a fort in what became Tallinn. Within a year, the threat had diminished and Albert was able to reign from Riga.

In Bishop Albert’s last year before his death in 1229, he conquered new land to Riga, whose position of power was strengthened. In 1237, Alberta’s sword brother order was dissolved and replaced by the Liveland Order, which was a branch of the German Order. The development was strong, and the city became the archdiocese of 1254.

The ever-increasing trade led to membership of the economic and political cooperation in the Hanseatic League from 1282. Riga was already here a major commercial center throughout the region, and much of the transit trade between Russia and Western Europe also went through Riga.

The Hanseatic League weakened over the centuries, destabilizing the established order and political stability in Riga.

For many years the city was strongly influenced by the church and the ruling Livland Order, but with the Reformation in 1522 the influence of the church lapsed and in 1561 the Livland Order was dissolved.

Riga achieved a brief independence as a refuge in the German-Roman Empire in the years 1561-1581, after which the city came under the Polish-Lithuanian state. In time Poland tried to re-introduce Catholicism as a religion in the Protestant country.

 

The Swedish era and the 1600s

During the Polish-Swedish War in 1600-1629, Riga capitulated to the Swedes in 1621. Sweden gained a city characterized by many years of war. Riga was subject to economic decline, hunger and disease, and the 16th century was marked by a century of stagnation.

The Swedish rule was to the benefit of the Protestant people who shared faith with Sweden. Politically, Riga was granted the autonomy of Swedish King Gustav II, and in 1628 the city was declared the second capital of the Swedish kingdom after Stockholm. Throughout Swedish times, Riga was the largest city in Sweden and its controlled areas.

Riga’s time as a Swedish lasted until the Great Nordic War in 1700-1721, when the Russians fought against the Swedes for access to the Baltic Sea. In 1710, the Russians entered Riga, and the Russian rule was confirmed by the Nystad Treaty in 1721.

 

Russian Riga

When Russian troops under Tsar Peter the Great entered Riga in 1710, it was not only Riga’s future that changed. By the Nystad peace treaty, the whole of Sweden’s Latvian territory was transferred to Russia.

Thus, it was in the 18th century that the contours of present-day Latvia formed. In 1721, the region of Vidzeme became part of Russia, in 1772 Latgale and in 1795 Kurland, after which the entire Latvian area was brought together in the kingdom of the tsar.

In the 18th century, things went well for the city. Riga’s formerly great trade developed anew, and also culturally there was a boom; among others, the city’s first public theater opened in 1782.

In the 19th century, there was considerable economic growth in Riga, which after St. Petersburg had Russia’s largest port, and the city was, among other things, the center of the country’s European timber trade.

The construction of the railway was also of great importance for the strategically well-located city. In 1857, Riga’s defense facilities were demolished, and the development of new neighborhoods around the city center occurred quickly.

Despite centuries of Swedish and Russian power in Riga, more than 42% of the city’s citizens were Germans in the 1860s, and as in the days of Bishop Alberta, the official language of administration remained German. It was not until 1891 that Russian became the official language of the entire Baltic region.

 

Independence of the 20th Century

In the decades leading up to the First World War, much was built in Riga, including the many Art Nouveau buildings that are unique in their concentration in the world.

Industrial production was also significant in Riga, a Russian powerhouse. In the 1890s, only Saint Petersburg and Moscow had more industrial workers than Riga.

In the city, the Russian Social Democrats stood very strong, and Riga played a role during the 1905 uprising, facing both the German and the Russian nobility.

The Russian Revolution rolled in 1917, and on September 3 of that year Riga had been occupied by Germany. With the Brest-Litovsk Treaty in March 1918, Riga and the Baltic became German territory, but with the subsequent German defeat the treaty was repealed.

In the aftermath of the World War and the Russian Revolution was an opportunity for an independent Latvia, and it was proclaimed on November 18, 1918. Riga had now become the Latvian capital again for the first time since 1581.

 

Soviet era

After two decades of freedom, Latvia became part of the Soviet Union in 1940, and Riga now became the capital of the Latvian Soviet Republic. In 1941, Riga was again occupied by Germany. It was an occupation that lasted until 1944.

Throughout Riga’s Soviet era, there was a significant influx of residents from across the Union, primarily from Russia. The city manifested itself as the Baltic’s largest city. Here was a good production and thereby the boom of the economy. The population numbered one million, and thus, as Soviet law prescribed, a subway was drawn to the city, which, however, could not be built until the Soviet Union was history.

 

Capital once more

In 1988, the first Latvian movements against the country’s independence became a reality, and in 1991 Latvia from Riga was able to declare the independent republic of Latvia with Riga as its capital. Since independence, Latvia has become part of the European Union and Riga has been radically restored.