About Riga

Situated on the Baltic Sea coast at the mouth of the Daugava river, Riga is the capital of Latvia and a major regional port and industrial centre. Riga is the biggest city in the Baltic States. The city's population is about 747,000. An ancient settlement of the Livs where the Ridzene River joins the Western Dvina, Riga was founded in 1201 by Bishop Albert I of Livonia, who had landed at the mouth of the Western Dvina two years earlier with 23 ships of crusaders. A member from 1282 of the powerful Hanseatic League of northern European trading cities, Riga employed German as its official language of administration until the imposition of Russian in 1891. Nowadays, Riga is a major Baltic port, it is also a rail junction, a military base, and an industrial and cultural center. Among Riga's industries are machine building, metalworking, shipbuilding and repairing, woodworking, food processing, and the manufacture of diesel engines, streetcars, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electrical apparatus, radio and telephone equipment, meteorological instruments, textiles, building materials, and paper.