Welcome to Latvian history!
Latvia was originally settled by the ancient people known as Balts. In the 9th century the Balts came under the overlordship of the Varangians, or Vikings, but a more lasting dominance was established over them by their German-speaking neighbours to the west, who Christianized Latvia in the 12th and 13th centuries.
The Republic of Latvia was proclaimed on November 18, 1918, by the People’s Council of Latvia which gathered representatives from most every ethnographic region of Latvia and declared independence at the National Theatre of Latvia in the city of Riga.