Riga, capital of Livonia, and next after St Petersburg and Odessa the third seaport of Russia. lies on the Dwina (crossed here by a bridge of boats and a railway bridge) 7 miles from the mouth of the river, and 350 by rail SW. of St Petersburg via Pskoff. The old town has narrow streets and mediæval houses and stores; but the suburbs are laid out in broad streets with handsome buildings. The chief edifices are the cathedral built in 1204, burned down in 1547, but rebuilt; St Peter's Church (1406), with a steeple 460 feet high; the castle of the old Knights of the Sword, built 1494-1515, the former residence of the grand-master of the order; and several old guild houses and Hanseatic halls. It is the seat of an archbishop of the Greek Church. Its industries are rapidly growing; they turn out cottons, machines, tobacco, corks, spirits, oil, metal wares, glass, paper, flax, jute, and oilcloth, and employ nearly 12,000 work-people. The exports reach an annual average of £5,560,000 (£2,396,000 in 1866), and embrace grain (average £1,433,000), timber (£1,175,000), flax (£1,077,000), linseed (£581,500), hemp and hemp-seed (£443,000), wool, hides, eggs, oilcake, hair (horse and camel), and mineral oil. The imports (iron and steel, coal, machinery, cotton, dye-woods, corkwood, herrings, manure, woollens, and wine) average £2,233,000 (£675,000 in 1866). Britain's share in this trade is represented by an average of £2,604,000 for exports and £978,350 for imports. The port, which is closed by ice for three to four months in the winter, is entered by an average of 2396 vessels of 1,047,915 tons every year, of which 625 of 464,500 tons are British. Riga has grown from 102,590 inhabitants in 1867 to 169,329 in 1881, and 181,935 in 1891. Nearly one-half are Germans (with German-speaking Jews), one-fourth Russians, and one-fourth Letts. Riga was founded in 1201 by Albert, Bishop of Livonia, and soon became a first-rate commercial town, and member of the Hanseatic League. It belonged to Poland from 1561, and in 1621 was taken by Gustavus Adolphus, and in 1710 was finally annexed to Russia.
The GULF OF RIGA is an inlet on the east side of the Baltic Sea, which washes the shores of Courland, Livonia, and Esthonia. It is 105 miles in length from north to south, and about 60 in breadth. The islands of Oesel, Dagö, Mohn, and Worms lie athwart the entrance. The chief river which falls into the gulf is the Dwina. Sandbanks render navigation in some parts dangerous.