Daugavpils is a state city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city derives its name. The parts of the city to the north of the river belong to the historical Latvian region of Latgale, and those to the south lie in Selonia. It is the second-largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some 230 kilometres northwest and is the ninth most populous city in the Baltic states.
City from different points of view
Daugavpils (Dvinsk) town centre at the beginning of the 20th century
A 1912 photo by Prokudin-Gorsky
Polish 5th Legions' Infantry Regiment in Daugavpils
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast, and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi), with a population of 1.9 million. The country has a temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Riga. Latvians belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian, one of the only two surviving Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family. Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population.
Turaida Castle near Sigulda, built in 1214 under Albert of Riga
Latvians national rally in Dundaga in 1905
Jānis Čakste (1859–1927), the first president of Latvia
Red Army troops enter Riga (1940).