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Latvia Youth International Footballers
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the Baltic states; and is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of , with a population of 1.9 million. The country has a temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Riga. Latvians belong to the ethno-linguistic group of the Balts; and speak Latvian, one of the only two surviving Baltic languages. Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population. After centuries of Teutonic, Swedish, Polish-Lithuanian and Russian rule, which was mainly executed by the local Baltic German aristocracy, the independent Republi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dievs, Svētī Latviju!
"" (; "God Bless Latvia!") is the national anthem of Latvia. Created in 1873 as a patriotic song, it did not gain official status until 1920. History and composition The music and lyrics were written in 1873 by Kārlis Baumanis, a teacher who was part of the Young Latvians, Young Latvian nationalist movement. It has been speculated that Baumanis may have borrowed part of the lyrics from a popular song that was sung to tune of "God Save the Queen", modified them and set them to music of his own. Baumanis's lyrics were different from the modern ones: he used the term "Baltic governorates, Baltics" synonymously and interchangeably with "Latvia" and "Latvians", so "Latvia" was actually mentioned only at the beginning of the first verse. Later, the term "Latvia" was removed and replaced with "Baltics" to avoid a ban on the song. This has led to the misapprehension that the term "Latvia" was not part of the song until 1920, when it was chosen as national anthem, and the word "Baltics ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |