10,000 BC The first human settlements in Latvia.

3000 BC - Settlers included Finns, Estonians and Livs (a very small nation living in the northwestern part of Latvia, now only few hundred live) came. They split into several tribes: Zemgali, Seli, Latgali and Kursi. Most European languages can be traced back to these origins, with Latvian and Lithuanian the closest still-surviving tongues to the original..

100 BC - The Baltic tribes first appear in written records. Trade of amber jewelry, which is found in large quantities on the coasts of the Baltic Sea, flourished in the Viking times.

1100's - German traders establish a route for trade with the East, especially the flourishing Russian City Novgorod (where we stayed a night in Russia!).

1201 - Riga is founded when Bishop Albert builds a castle on the site. The foundations of the Dom cathedral are laid in 1211.

Christianity was introduced to the Baltics in 13th century. The Pope initiated crusades to the Baltics, which were considered to be equal before God as the crusade to Jerusalem. Economic motivations were far more important than the missionary duties and the crusades ended in a war, which lasted for almost 100 years.

The Germans won and became the ruling class; Latvians were the middle class. A Baltic person was unable to become a German. However, in the territory of Prussia, farmers had the possibility of becoming Germans. This is why the Baltic nations, contrary to the Prussian population, did not lose their ethnic identity.

1522 - Several radical German preachers bring the reformation to Latvia. Social unrest breaks out in 1524 and churches are vandalized, religious artifacts destroyed and monks are exiled from Riga.

1554 - Protestantism is declared the state religion, which weakened the defenses of the state and allowed the Russians to loot vast territories of Latvia.

1561-81 - Latvia was independent, or rather power was given up to the Lithuanian-Polish State for reasons of military protection to prevent Russian rule. The remains of Protestant State were secularized, and Catholicism was proclaimed the state religion.

1582 - Polish rule

1600-1629 - Polish-Swedish war. Sweden wins rule of the Baltics north of Daugava River, a Kurzeme duchy loyal to the Polish-Lithuanian Empire ruled the remainder of Latvia. The war mainly took place in the territory of present day Latvia.

1621 was the beginning of the "good Swedish times" when the Swedish king Gustav Adolf II marched into Riga. It continued until the 18th century.

1642-1682 - Duke Jacob ruled and there was great entrepreneurial spirit and rapid economic improvements and times of prosperity for Kurzeme. Schools were opened, oppression of the peasants lessened, and the Bible is translated into Latvian for the first time. Protestantism was rooted in Kurzeme, and Catholicism elsewhere.

1800's - The population of Latvia was still neither politically nor culturally able to express its own identity, because every utterance in this direction was suppressed by the feudalistic regime, but the formation of the Latvian nation finally starts when, for the first time Latvians attended the Baltic university in Dorpat (Tartu), Estonia. The educational language was German. Latvians wanted to be equal with the Germans and live in a free, independent state and not in a country ruled by foreigners, was voiced more and more often. Commerce and industry develop rapidly in Riga, making it the third most important industrial city in Czarist Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg.

1700-1721: Sweden and Russia fight for control of Livonia in the Nordic War. The army of Czarist Russia confronted Sweden for the sole purpose of conquering the ice-free harbors of the Baltic Sea. At first the Swedes, led by Charles XII, have great success, but their armies are defeated after marching on Moscow.

1710 - The Russians capture the Northern provinces, including Riga. Only 90,000 people are left alive in all of Livonia.

Russian Czar restored privileges of local Baltic German aristocrats, which were lost under Swedish rule.

1772 - Second division of Poland and Latgale was joined to the Czarist Russia,

1795 - Third division of Poland and Kurzeme joined Russia.