1949-1991






Latvia since 1991



In 1991 Latvia joined the UN, in 1995 the Council of Europe, in 2004 NATO and the EU. Russia withdrew her last troops in 1994.
The treatment of Latvia's Russian residents (in 1993 33.5 % of the population) was a dominant issue in Latvian politics since independence. A 1991 law limited Latvian citizenship to those who held it prior to the Soviet annexation of 1940, respectively to their descendants; all Latvian residents, irreverent of their ethnicity, were granted equal rights. A 2004 law restricted the usage of Russian in schools; a 2006 law requires applicants for Latvian citizenship to have good knowledge of the language.
The transition from state-planned economy to free market economy initially brought rampant inflation. The introduction of a new currency, the Lat, in 1993 brought stability. Latvia was affected by the Russian currency crisis of 1998, but experiences strong growth since 2000.






EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Timeline Latvia, from BBC News
History of Latvia, from vernet.tv
Riga, History of, from vest_ang
History, from about Liepaja
Article Economy of Latvia, from Wikipedia
Article Politics of Latvia, from Wikipedia
DOCUMENTS World Statesmen : Latvia
Historical Population Statistics : Latvia, from Population Statistics at Univ. Utrecht
REFERENCE David G. Kirby, The Baltic World 1772-1993, London : Longman 1995
Andrejs Plakans, The Latvians. A Short History, Stanford : Hoover Institution Press 1995 [G]
Article : Latvia, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1992-1993 pp.877-879, 1993-1994 pp.870-873, 1994-1995 pp.863-867, 1995-1996 pp.860-864, 1996-1997 pp.809-813, 1997-1998 pp.820-825, 1998-1999 pp.879-885, 2000 pp.1005-1011, 2001 pp.981-987, 2002 pp.1023-1029, 2003 pp.1025-1031, 2004 pp.1031-1037, 2005 pp.1037-1043, 2006 pp.1035-1041 [G]
Entry : Travel Warning - Latvia, pp.534-535, in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2000, Supplement [G]
Entry : Republic of Latvia, Cabinet p.59, Background Notes : Latvia, pp.798-804, in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2003 [G]
Entry : Latvia, pp.642-647 in : IMF, International Financial Statistics Yearbook 2001 [G]
Article : Baltic Republics, in : Americana Annual 1993 pp.130-131, 1994 pp.130-131 [G]
Article : Latvia, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1992 p.434, 639, 1993 pp.445, 649, 1994 pp.443, 650, 1995 pp.436-437, 650, 1996 pp.434, 650, 1997 pp.444, 648, 2002 pp.456, 654 [G]


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on October 31st 2006, last revised on March 22nd 2007

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