Libau

Libau, a seaport of Courland, Russia, on the Baltic, by rail 146 miles W. by S. of Riga. It possesses a fine harbour, admitting vessels that draw 17 and 18 feet, and free from ice except for less than a fortnight in the year. Its importance as a point of export has greatly increased of late years. Its exports, consisting of grain, linseed and linseed oil-cake, petroleum, eggs, spirits, flax, hemp, &c., have an annual value of £3,000,000 or more (British trade constituting a fourth); its imports, chiefly coals, herrings, artificial manures, cotton, dyewood, and iron, under £2,000,000 (British trade nearly half of that). In 1890-95 the Russian government spent £2,500,000 on constructing a first-class naval and commercial harbour. There already existed shipbuilding-yards and a school of navigation. The industries include iron-founding, brewing, oil-pressing, &c. Libau is much frequented as a seaside-resort. One of the churches contains an organ (1886), one of the largest in the world. Pop. (1874) 10,767; (1880) 27,418; (1895) 39,000, mostly of German nationality.