Valka county

Valka county (Latvian: Valkas apriņķis; German: Kreis Walk, Russian: Валкскій уѣздъ, romanized: Valkskiy uyezd) was a historic county in the Governorate of Livonia, and in the Republic of Latvia dissolved during the administrative territorial reform of the Latvian SSR in 1949. Its capital was Valka (Walk).

Valka County Valkas apriņķis Kreis Walk Валкскій уѣздъ
County
Location in the Governorate of Livonia
Country	Russian Empire Latvia
Russian Governorate	Livonia
Established	1745
Abolished	1949
Capital	Walk
Area
• Total	6,030.25 km2 (2,328.29 sq mi)
Population  (1897)
• Total	120,585
• Density	20/km2 (52/sq mi)

Valkas apriņķis (Walksche Kreis) on the map of Ludwig August Mellin (1798)

History

The county of Valka was created during the administrative territorial reform of the Governorate of Riga in 1783 by merging of parishes from the preexisting Kreis Riga and Kreis Wenden.

After the establishment of the Republic of Latvia in 1918, the Valkas apriņķis^[1] existed until 1949, when the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR split it into the newly created districts (rajons) of Valka and Smiltene (dissolved in 1959).

Demographics

At the time of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, Kreis Walk had a population of 120,585. Of these, 87.9% spoke Latvian, 7.2% Estonian, 2.1% German, 1.3% Russian, 1.1% Yiddish, 0.2% Polish and 0.1% Romani as their native language.^[2]