Riga
Riga is the capital city of the European country of Latvia. Riga is on river Daugava near the Baltic Sea.
Riga
Rīga | |
|---|---|
 From top, left to right: the Freedom Monument, the Riga City Council building, the House of the Blackheads, Līvu Square, and the Latvian National Opera | |
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
  Riga Location of Riga in Latvia | |
| Coordinates: 56°56′56″N 24°6′23″E | |
| Country |  Latvia |
| Government | |
| • Type | City council |
| • Mayor | Mārtiņš Staķis |
| Area (2002)[2] | |
| • City | 324 km2 (125 sq mi) |
| • Land | 275.5 km2 (106.4 sq mi) |
| • Water | 48.50 km2 (18.73 sq mi) 15.8% |
| • Metro | 10,133 km2 (3,912 sq mi) |
| Population (2017)[3] | |
| • City | 641,423 |
| • Density | 2,000/km2 (5,100/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 1,070,201 |
| • Metro density | 101.4/km2 (263/sq mi) |
| • Demonym | Rīdzinieki |
| Ethnicity (2016)[5] | |
| • Latvians | 46.2% |
| • Russians | 37.7% |
| • Belarusians | 3.9% |
| • Ukrainians | 3.5% |
| • Poles | 1.8% |
| • Lithuanians | 0.8% |
| • Romanies | 0.1% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Calling codes | 66 and 67 |
| GDP(nominal) | 2012 |
| - Total | €12($15) billion[6] |
| - Per capita | €18,000($21,000) |
| Website | www.riga.lv |
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|---|---|
 The old town of Riga | |
| Criteria | Cultural: i, ii |
| Reference | 852 |
| Inscription | 1997 (21st Session) |
| Area | 438.3 ha |
| Buffer zone | 1,574.2 ha |
The mayor of Riga is Mārtiņš Staķis.
History
Riga was founded in 1201. It was a castle of the Teutonic Order.
In 1710 during the Great Northern War the city was incorporated to Russia. Then it became a center of Courland province.
Since 1918 Riga has been the capital city of Latvia, including Soviet Latvia in 1940-1991.
On June 30, 1941 German troops captured Riga. The city was liberated on October 15, 1944.
People
The Riga inhabitants are named “Rīdzinieki” on Latvian and “рижане”(rizhani) on Russian.
Most of the people by ethnic origin are Latvian (45%) and 40% are Russian. Historically the city had large German population. Among other ethnic groups there are Byelorussians, Poles and Jews.
Economy
During the Soviet period the Riga wagon building factory made very big number of local trains.
Transportation
The are 8 tram and 18 trolley routes.
Notable people
- Vera Mukhina, sculptor.
- Sergey Eisenstein, movie director.
- Mikhail Zadornov, writer.
- Oleg Znarok, ice hockey player and coach.
References
- "Riga City Council". Riga City Council. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
- "Riga in Figures". Riga City Council. Archived from the original on 10 August 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2007.
- "Table RESIDENT POPULATION BY STATISTICAL REGION, CITY AND COUNTY Riga city". csb.gov.lv. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
- https://www.geo.lu.lv/fileadmin/user_upload/lu_portal/projekti/gzzf/Konferences/EGEA/Krisjane_Zira_Rigas_aglomeracija.pdf#page=10
- "Table ISG191. RESIDENT POPULATION BY ETHNICITY AND BY STATISTICAL REGION AND CITY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR 2015". csb.gov.lv. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
- "2.1. Gross Domestic Product – Stratēģijas Uzraudzības Sistēma". sus.lv. Archived from the original on 2018-01-28. Retrieved 2018-06-11.