Riga county

Riga county (Latvian: Rīgas apriņķis, German: Kreis Riga, Russian: Рижскій уѣздъ, romanized: Rizhskiy uyezd) was a historic county of the Duchy of Livonia, the Governorate of Livonia, and the Republic of Latvia which was dissolved during the administrative territorial reform of the Latvian SSR in 1949.

Riga County Rīgas apriņķis Kreis Riga Рижскій уѣздъ
County
Coat of arms
Location in the Governorate of Livonia
Country	Russian Empire Latvia
Russian Governorate	Livonia
Established	1566
Abolished	1949
Capital	Riga
Area
• Total	6,113.10 km2 (2,360.28 sq mi)
Population  (1897)
• Total	396,101
• Density	65/km2 (170/sq mi)

Rīgas apriņķis (Rigische Kreis) on the map of Ludwig August Mellin (1798)

History

The first iteration of Riga County (distrikt) was formed in 1566 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Livonia of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the Treaty of Drohiczyn Riga county merged into the Wenden Voivodeship (Wenden Presidency until 1598) of Poland–LIthuania in 1582.

The County of Riga was later restored in 1629 as a subdivision of Swedish Vidzeme as a consequence of the Truce of Altmark. After the incorporation of Livonia by the Russian Empire in 1721, it became one of the nine subdivisions of the Governorate of Livonia. Its capital was Riga, which was the capital of the governorate as well.

After establishment of the Republic of Latvia in 1918, the Rīgas apriņķis^[1] existed until 1949, when the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR split it into the newly created districts (rajoni) of Riga, Baldone (dissolved in 1959), Saulkrasti (dissolved in 1956) and Sigulda (dissolved in 1962).

Demographics

At the time of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, County of Riga (Kreis Riga) had a population of 396,101. Of these, 58.2% spoke Latvian, 18.2% German, 11.9% Russian, 4.7% Yiddish, 3.5% Polish, 1.6% Lithuanian, 1.1% Estonian, 0.2% Belarusian, 0.1% Tatar, 0.1% Ukrainian, 0.1% English and 0.1% French as their native language.^[2]