CultureTrivia

Top Ten Curious Facts About Latvia

On the 18th of November 1918, the People’s Council of Latvia issued a proclamation of independence for the Baltic republic, after three centuries under imperial Russia. To this day, the date is commemorated as Proclamation Day. In honour of this centenary, here are ten facts you may not know about the Republic of Latvia!

1 – Latvia is a former colonial power. Kind of. During the 17th Century, the country – then known as the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia – established two colonies. One in the new world: Tobago, in the Caribbean. The other was Kunta Kinteh, then known as St Andrews island, in the estuary of the River Gambia.

2 – During the Soviet era, the town of Karosta used to host an ominous military prison. The facility is now a hostel, offering a prison experience which involves residing in cells, under guard by angry uniformed officers, mandatory physical activity and more.

3 – It has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. In 2015, with a population of just under two million, there were only 1,799 adults who could not read.

4 – Latvia engaged in a bit of friendly competition with its neighbouring Baltic country Estonia. The latter holds the record for the highest point in the Baltics – a peak called Suur Munamägi, reaching a grand total of 318m. Latvia’s own highest peak only goes to 312m, so the country decided to build a tower that would exceed 320 meters in length. The project was abandoned due to safety concerns.

Suur Munamägi
Suur Munamägi

5 – The country’s former Minister of Finance, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, has a side hobby she has cultivated to great lengths: chess. Indeed, she won the title of Woman Grandmaster of professional chess in 2001.

6 – Latvians are really fond of trees, and not just because 54% of the country is covered in forests, making it the greenest EU member state. The people are also avid consumers of maple products, not just syrup but straight-up maple juice, collected from tree trunks in springtime and chugged down.

7 – Latvia was one of the countries that suffered the most during the Second World War, coming third in body count relative to population size, behind only Poland and Lithuania. It is estimated that over 12% of Latvia’s population was killed during the war, which saw the tiny Baltic country come under Soviet occupation during the Nazi-Soviet alliance, then under German occupation, and finally under Soviet occupation again until the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

Riga, Soviet Occupation, 19408 – Latvia is experiencing a steady demographic decline, and is one of the very few countries to have a smaller population today than in 1950. The only other EU Member State that can claim the same is Bulgaria.

9 – True to the stereotype, potato farming is a big business in Latvia, accounting for a whopping 6.7% of its total agricultural output. This is the highest percentage of any EU Member State!

10 – Latvia is home to the widest waterfall on the European continent, the Ventas Rumba in Kuldīga. The impressive waterfall is the site of the spectacle of fish swimming up rapids and jumping up the waterfall every spring, as they head for the safe havens where they will depose their eggs, laying the groundwork for the next generation.

Did you enjoy learning more about Latvia? Why not check out also some curious facts from its Baltic neighbours, Estonia and Lithuania?

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Tullio Pontecorvo

Student of political science and international relations, co-founder of My Country? Europe. Aspiring sci-fi author. Believes shooting aliens in the face to be the ultimate form of gaming.

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