拉脱维亚(Latvia)
正式名称拉脱维亚共和国（Republic of Latvia）
欧洲东北部国家，位於波罗的海沿岸，濒里加湾。面积64,610平方公里。人口约2,358,000（2001）。首都︰里加。拉脱维亚人占人口的一半以上；拉脱维亚人讲拉脱维亚语，为仅存的两种波罗的海语言之一。俄罗斯人约占人口的1/3。语言：拉脱维亚语（官方语）、俄罗斯语。宗教：路德宗、天主教和东正教。货币︰拉塔斯（lats）。拉脱维亚为起伏的平原，低地与低丘相间。拉脱维亚是一个完全工业化的国家，机械制造和金属加工为主要的制造业，其他产品包括船舶、运输设备、汽车、农业用具和纺织。政府形式为共和国，一院制。国家元首为总统，政府首脑是总理。
拉脱维亚原为古代波罗的人的居留地，9世纪时，波罗的人受到北欧海盗的霸权统治，但其西部讲德语的近邻对他们的统治更长久，他们在12～13世纪将基督教传遍整个拉脱维亚。宝剑骑士团於1230年征服了拉脱维亚全境，并建立日耳曼的统治。16世纪中叶至18世纪初，该地区被波兰和瑞典瓜分，但到18世纪末，整个拉脱维亚被俄罗斯吞并。1917年俄国革命後，拉脱维亚宣布独立。1939年拉脱维亚被迫允许苏联在其领土上建立军事基地，翌年苏联红军进驻拉脱维亚。1941～1944年拉脱维亚被纳粹德国占领，後苏联将该地夺回，并入苏联（美国不承认此次接管）。随着苏联解体，拉脱维亚於1991年获得独立。整个1990年代，拉脱维亚试图使经济自由化，并与西欧建立关系。
English version：
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.