Latvia country guide — editorial references, 19 October 2026 Population: 1,893,223 residents on 1 January 2021, the 2021 census count. This dated census figure is not a current population estimate. Central Statistical Bureau / Eurostat census metadata: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/metadata/EN/cens_21_esmscs21_lv.htm https://www.csp.gov.lv/lv/demografija Saeima — parliament, constitution and historical lands: https://www.saeima.lv/en/about-saeima/the-parliament-of-latvia/ https://www.saeima.lv/en/about-saeima/work-of-the-saeima/constitution/ https://www.saeima.lv/en/news/saeima-news/29942-saeima-adopts-the-historical-latvian-lands-law The one-hundred-member Saeima elects the president. The prime minister leads the government. Historical lands and municipalities are different concepts. Presidency and Foreign Ministry — independence and state continuity: https://www.president.lv/en/history https://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/article/centenary-international-recognition-latvia https://www2.mfa.gov.lv/en/belgium/history-of-latvia 18 November 1918: independence proclaimed. 4 May 1990: restoration declaration with a transition period. 21 August 1991: full independence restored. Official Language Law and Education Ministry — Latvian, Latgalian and Livonian: https://likumi.lv/ta/en/en/id/14740 https://www.izm.gov.lv/en/state-language European Commission — EU accession and euro changeover: https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/euro/eu-countries-and-euro/latvia-and-euro_en EU membership: 1 May 2004. Euro adoption: 1 January 2014, replacing the lats. NATO — member countries (Latvia joined on 29 March 2004): https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52044.htm UNESCO — World Heritage properties and living traditions: https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/lv/ https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/852/ (Historic Centre of Riga) https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1658/ (Old town of Kuldīga, inscribed in 2023) https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1187/ (Struve Geodetic Arc, transnational) https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/baltic-song-and-dance-celebrations-00087 https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/dainu-skapis-cabinet-folksongs Official Latvia tourism — regions, food and landscapes: https://www.latvia.travel/en https://www.latvia.travel/en/national-parks-latvia https://www.latvia.travel/en/latvian-national-cuisine https://www.latvia.travel/en/journey-taste-kurzeme Nature Conservation Agency — four national parks: https://www.daba.gov.lv/en/4-national-parks Latvia's Investment and Development Agency — economic sectors and trade: https://www.latvia.eu/business-innovation/ https://www.liaa.gov.lv/en/foreign-trade-statistics Quiz corrections — additional references Latvian Foreign Ministry: roughly 500 km of Baltic coastline: https://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/facts-about-latvia Official Latvia–Lithuania border demarcation (588.1 km): https://www.vestnesis.lv/ta/id/61255 Riga Black Balsam Original: 24 ingredients, distinct from its alcohol percentage: https://www.rigablack.com/en/products/riga-black-balsam-original National Encyclopaedia: Dievturība as a modern religious movement: https://enciklopedija.lv/skirklis/22202 Map data and scope The national outline is extracted without geometry changes from the repository's public/countries.geojson, built from Natural Earth 1:50m country data. https://github.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/blob/master/geojson/ne_50m_admin_0_countries.geojson https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/ (public domain) Settlement and sight coordinates are curated longitude/latitude learning points. The two groups (Riga, south and west; north and east) are practice groups, not administrative boundaries or a map of Latvia's five historical lands. Landscape pins identify representative locations, not access routes or entrances. Sight descriptions are cross-referenced with their named Wikipedia articles and official tourism and heritage sources. Closely spaced sights require zooming. Photography Existing local Latvian lesson photographs are reused without modification. Their authors, licences and Commons source links are retained from src/lib/european-speak-heroes.json in each guide image's metadata. Food: Sklandrausis.jpg by Denis tarasov, CC BY-SA 3.0, original JPEG unchanged. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sklandrausis.jpg https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Additional provenance: /images/country-guides/latvia/food.source.json