ONE LAND · 13 ATLASES
History of Latvia in maps
Latvia as it appears in 13 interactive history atlases, from 1789 to 2015: Latvia, Soviet Union, Soviet Latvia. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Latvia before it was Latvia? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History atlases — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.
Latvia · Norse and Aztecs
| Other peoples and states — the opening position |
NORSE AND AZTECS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Livonia (mod. Latvia) · Mongol Empire
| Beyond the storm — the opening position |
MONGOL EMPIRE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Latvia (Russian Empire) · Industrial Revolution
| Industrialising — the opening position | |
| Industrialising | |
| Industrialising |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Latvia · Age of Revolutions
| The conservative monarchies — the opening position |
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Latvia · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
Latvia, annexed in 1940, had a population about one-third Russian by 1989, which made its independence campaign and its later citizenship laws contested. Riga stood at the centre of the Baltic Way, and in January 1991, days after the killings in Vilnius, Soviet special police killed several people in an assault on the Latvian interior ministry. Latvia regained independence in 1991 and joined NATO and the European Union in 2004.
| The USSR, then Russia — the opening position | |
| War, rebellion, breakaway | |
| Independent neighbours |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Latvia (Courland & Livonia) · Russian Revolution
Latvia’s war was three-cornered — nationalists, Baltic Germans and Reds — and its own Latvian Riflemen were among the Bolsheviks’ most reliable troops elsewhere in Russia. It emerged independent in 1920, a state that lasted until the Soviet annexation of 1940.
| The Tsarist empire — the opening position | |
| Provisional Government, then the Whites | |
| Soviet power | |
| Breakaway national states |
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Latvia (Russian Empire) · WWI
| The Entente & Allies — the opening position | |
| The Entente & Allies | |
| Russia in revolution | |
| Under Central Powers occupation | |
| Neutral or unaligned | |
| Neutral or unaligned |
Latvia · Stalin’s Soviet Union
Latvia was independent until June 1940, when Soviet troops occupied it and a staged election produced a request to join the Union. About 15,000 people were deported in June 1941. The country was then occupied by Germany, whose forces and local collaborators murdered most of Latvia’s Jews. Soviet rule returned in 1944–45, armed resistance followed, and in March 1949 more than 40,000 Latvians were deported in Operation Priboi.
| Annexed by the USSR, 1939–45 — the opening position | |
| Annexed by the USSR, 1939–45 | |
| Under German occupation | |
| Annexed by the USSR, 1939–45 |
STALIN’S SOVIET UNION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Latvia · Road to WW2
| Neutral & unaligned — the opening position | |
| Aggressor clients & partners | |
| Democracies & powers fighting them |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Latvia · WW2
| Soviet Union — the opening position | |
| Soviet Union |
Latvia · Cold War
| USSR & Warsaw Pact — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral | |
| Non-aligned & neutral |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Soviet Union (Latvia) · Feminism and the Tunisian Revolution
| Right won in law — the opening position | |
| No reform yet / outside this story | |
| Right won in law |
FEMINISM AND THE TUNISIAN REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Soviet Latvia · Refugee crises
| Soviet-occupied or communist — the opening position |
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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