The Latvians are a Baltic people closely related to the Lithuanians, with the Latvian language sharing many similarities to Lithuanian. Today the Latvians and Lithuanians are the only surviving members of the Baltic peoples and Baltic languages of the Indo-European family. The modern name of Latvia is thought to originate from the ancient Latvian name Latvji, which may have originated from the word Latve which is a name of the river that presumably flowed through what is now eastern Latvia.[citation needed]
Latvia is a democraticparliamentary republic and is divided into 26 districts. The capital and largest city is Riga. Latvia has been a member of the United Nations since 17 September 1991, of the European Union since 1 May 2004 and of NATO since 29 March 2004.
Population of Latvia: 2,068,000 (February, 2012) - 144th most populous country
Area of Latvia: 64,589 km2
Atlas of Latvia
Environment of Latvia
An enlargeable satellite image of Latvia
Climate of Latvia
Renewable energy in Latvia
Geology of Latvia
Protected areas of Latvia
Biosphere reserves in Latvia
National parks of Latvia
Wildlife of Latvia
Fauna of Latvia
Birds of Latvia
Mammals of Latvia
Natural geographic features of Latvia
Rivers of Latvia
World Heritage Sites in Latvia
Ecoregions of Latvia
List of ecoregions in Latvia
Ecoregions in Latvia
Administrative divisions of Latvia
Administrative divisions of Latvia
Districts of Latvia
Subdivisions of Latvia
Planning regions of Latvia
Regions of Latvia
Regions of Latvia
(current article is actually about the provinces of Latvia. The new Latvian regions were developed in accordance with EU-standardisation)
Districts of Latvia
Districts of Latvia
Subdivisions of Latvia
Subdivisions of Latvia
Municipalities of Latvia
Capital of Latvia: Riga
List of cities in Latvia
Demography of Latvia
Demographics of Latvia
Government and politics of Latvia
Politics of Latvia
Form of government: Representative democracy; unitary parliamentary republic