什麼是拉脱維亞

正式名稱拉脱維亞共和國（Republic of Latvia）

歐洲東北部國家，位於波羅的海沿岸，瀕里加灣。面積64,610平方公里。人口約2,358,000（2001）。首都︰里加。拉脱維亞人占人口的一半以上；拉脱維亞人講拉脱維亞語，為僅存的兩種波羅的海語言之一。俄羅斯人約佔人口的1/3。語言：拉脱維亞語（官方語）、俄羅斯語。宗教：路德宗、天主教和東正教。貨幣︰拉塔斯（lats）。拉脱維亞為起伏的平原，低地與低丘相間。拉脱維亞是一個完全工業化的國家，機械製造和金屬加工為主要的製造業，其他產品包括船舶、運輸設備、汽車、農業用具和紡織。政府形式為共和國，一院制。國家元首為總統，政府首腦是總理。

拉脱維亞原為古代波羅的人的居留地，9世紀時，波羅的人受到北歐海盜的霸權統治，但其西部講德語的近鄰對他們的統治更長久，他們在12～13世紀將基督教傳遍整個拉脱維亞。寶劍騎士團於1230年征服了拉脱維亞全境，並建立日耳曼的統治。16世紀中葉至18世紀初，該地區被波蘭和瑞典瓜分，但到18世紀末，整個拉脱維亞被俄羅斯吞併。1917年俄國革命後，拉脱維亞宣佈獨立。1939年拉脱維亞被迫允許蘇聯在其領土上建立軍事基地，翌年蘇聯紅軍進駐拉脱維亞。1941～1944年拉脱維亞被納粹德國佔領，後蘇聯將該地奪回，併入蘇聯（美國不承認此次接管）。隨着蘇聯解體，拉脱維亞於1991年獲得獨立。整個1990年代，拉脱維亞試圖使經濟自由化，並與西歐建立關係。

Latvia

Country, northeastern Europe, along the shores of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga. Area: 24,946 sq mi (64,610 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 2,472,000. Capital: Riga. Just over half of the population are Latvians, or Letts, who speak Latvian, one of two surviving Baltic languages. Ethnic Russians make up about one-third of the population. Languages: Latvian (official), Russian. Religions: Lutheranism, Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy. Currency: lats. Latvia is an undulating plain, with fairly flat lowlands alternating with hills. It is a fully industrialized nation; its leading manufacturing activities are machine building and metal fabrication. Other manufactured goods include ships, transportation equipment, motors, agricultural implements, and textiles. It is a republic with one legislative body; its chief of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. Latvia was settled by the Balts in ancient times. They came under the overlordship of the Varangians, or Vikings, in the 9th century and were later dominated by their German-speaking neighbors to the west, who Christianized Latvia in the 12th-13th century. The Knights of the Sword conquered Latvia by 1230 and established German rule. From the mid-16th to the early 18th century, the region was split between Poland and Sweden, but by the end of the 18th century all of Latvia had been annexed by Russia. Latvia declared its independence after the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1939 it was forced to grant military bases to the Soviet Union, and in 1940 the Soviet Red Army invaded. Held by Nazi Germany 1941-44, the country was recaptured by the Soviets and incorporated into the Soviet Union (the U.S. did not recognize this takeover). With the Soviet Union breakup, Latvia gained its independence in 1991; throughout the 1990s it sought to privatize the economy and build ties with Western Europe.