From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Riga (Latvie: Rīga, pronounced [riːɡa] ( listen)) is the caipital an lairgest ceety o Latvie, a major industrial, commercial, cultural an financial centre o the Baltics, an an important seaport, situatit on the mouth o the Daugava. Wi 706,413 inhabitants (2010), it is the lairgest ceety o the Baltic states an third-lairgest in the Baltic region, ahint Saunt Petersburg an Stockholm (coontin residents athin the ceety limits). Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) an lies atween 1 an 10 metres (3.3 an 33 ft) abuin sea level, on a flat an sandy plain.
Riga Rīga | |
---|---|
Ceety | |
![]() A view frae St. Peter's Kirk in Riga Auld Toun. | |
Coordinates: 56°56′56″N 24°6′23″E | |
Kintra | ![]() |
Govrenment | |
• Teep | Ceety cooncil |
• Mayor | Nils Ušakovs |
Area (2002) [2] | |
• Ceety | 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) |
• Water | 48.50 km2 (18.73 sq mi) 15.8% |
• Metro | 10132 km2 (3,912 sq mi) |
Population | |
• Ceety | 706,413 |
• Density | 2,300/km2 (6,000/sq mi) |
• Metro | 1,098,523 (Riga Region) |
• Metro density | 108.3/km2 (280/sq mi) |
• Demonym | Rīdzinieki |
Ethnicity (2010) [4] | |
• Latvies | 42.5 % |
• Roushies | 40.7 % |
• Belaroushies | 4.0 % |
• Ukrainians | 3.9 % |
• Poles | 2.0 % |
• Ithers | 6.7 % |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Cawin codes | 66 & 67 |
Website | www.riga.lv |
Riga's historical centre haes been declared a UNESCO Warld Heritage Steid, an the ceety is pairticularly notable for its extensive Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau) airchitecture, which UNESCO considers tae be unparalleled onywhere in the warld.[5]
Ane theory for the oreegin o the name Riga is that it is a corruptit borraein frae the Liv ringa meanin luip, referrin tae the auncient natural harbour formed bi the tributary luip o the Daugava.[6][7] The ither is that Riga awes its name tae this awready-established role in commerce atween East an Wast,[8] as a borraein o the Latvian rija, for threshin barn, the "j" becomin a "g" in German—notably, Riga is cried Rie bi Inglis geographer Richard Hakluyt (1589),[9][10] an German historian Dionysius Fabricius (1610) confirms the oreegin o Riga frae rija.[9][11] Anither theory coud be that Riga wis named efter Riege, the German name for the River Rīdzene, a tributary o the Daugava.[12]
Riga maintains sister ceety relationships wi the follaein ceeties:[13]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.