Latvia Auce Secondary School 2013

Area km2 Population 2.35 million Ethnic composition – 57,6% Latvian 29,6% Russian 4,1% Byelorussian 2,7% Ukrainian 2,5% Polish 1,4% Lithuanian 2,1% other nationalities

Main religions - Lutheran Protestant Roman Catholic Greek Orthodox

Currency – Lats (LVL) 1 lats consists of 100 santims

The flag and coat of arms of Latvia The National Anthem DIEVS SVĒTĪ LATVIJU God Bless Latvia The words and music were composed by Kārlis Baumanis. The anthem was approved in1920

The president of Latvia Andris Bērziņš (from 2007)

The map of Latvia is like a bitten slice of bread

There are four planning regions in Latvia.

The Birthday of Latvia November 18

A border of Latvia is 1836 km, 1370 km from them are a land border. A border of Latvia is 343 km with Estonia, 246 km with Russia, 161 km with Belorussia, 588 km with Lithuania, but the maritime boundary is 498 km

The capital of Latvia- Riga

Symbol of Latvian independence-Freedom Monument

The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea its area is km2, max. depth 459 m, med. depth – 55 m

There are 34 higher educational institutions in Latvia. University of Latvia is the major university.

The Latvian Song and Dance festival– Latvian cultural heritage. The next 25 th festival will take place in 2013 from till

Barons is well known as the creator of Latvia dainas. In recognition of the Barons' labors and the historical value of the Dainu skapis (Cabinet of Folksongs), the work was inscribed on UNESCOs Memory of the World Register in 2001.There are collected folk songs.

Famous people in Latvia Music Raimonds Pauls * Vestards Šimkus The most popular composer A world-famous pianist

Science Valters Caps (Walter Zapp) ( ) – was the inventor of the first high-resolution mini spy camera. For the first time Caps came with idea to build the mini camera, that would do the picture of the same quality as the big ones in First miniature camera Minox 8x11was produced in 1937 in Riga VEF factory.

Fridrih Candera (Friedrich Zander) ( ) – was a famous rocket, space roads and spacecraft scientist in Soviet Union. Fridrih Candera was the first who designed the first liquid-fuelled rocket, envisioned the winged rocket, solar sails, space planes, suggested to use earth atmosphere to break the spacecraft. Candera made a significant theoretical contribution to the space science. Under the name of Friedrich Zander there was named one crater Tsander in the Moon. Today there is established Fridriha Candera museum in Riga, on the street that was also named on his honour.

Jānis Stradiņš, Professor, Dr.habil.chem, Dr.hist.h.c. President of the Latvian Academy of Sciences

Sports Māris Štrombergs is a Latvian professional BMX racer. In the 2008 Summer Olympics he became the first Olympicchampion inBMX cycling. In 2012 he prolonged his Olympic title by winning the gold medal in the London Olympics

Ineta Radeviča is an athlete competing in the long jump and triple jumpAt the 2010EuropeanChampionships she won the long jump event with a new Latvian record of 6.92 metres. In 2011 she won the bronze medal in the World Championships in Daegu with a result of 6.76 metres. At the 2012SummerOlympics she finished fourth, with JanayDe Loach finishing just one centimeter ahead of her.

The band Brain Storm On 13 May 2000 in Sweden, in only 3 minutes Prāta Vētra or Brainstorm became an internationally noticed band when they participed in the 45th Eurovision song contest. Their song My Star" achieved 3rd place among 24 contestants. "My Star" was played internationally thereafter.

There are 3884 lakes in Latvia, area of 16 lakes are more than 10 km2 The biggestlake - Lake Lubāns 8,210 ha Lake Rāznas 5,7564 ha Lake Engures 4,1307 ha

Work and rest by lakes

Latgale reagion is the richest of lakes

The deepest - Lake Drīdzis – 65,1m

The clearest - Lake Velnezers

There are more than rivers in Latvia. The Daugava is the national.The symbolism of the Daugava in the history of Riga and Latvia is so important that it is known as the River of Destiny and Mother Daugava. The Daugava actually begins life in Russia, springing from the Valdai Hills in West Russia (where it is known as the Western Dvina) and making its way through Belarus before arriving in Latvia and draining in the Gulf of Riga. Out of the Daugava's 1005 kilometre length, 352 kilometres are in Latvia.

The Gauja – 452 km long, the most curved and beautiful river in Latvia

The Venta – famous for its widest waterfall in Europe

The hills in Latvia are small The biggest highland in Latvia – Gaiziņkalns 318 meters

The large Liepu hill in Latgale the highest view tower in the Baltic states

There are plains in Kurzeme and Zemgale

The Latvian national bird – the white wagtail

The Latvian national plant – the daisy

A typical Latvian food is bread baked from rye flour

The national tree -oak ( Quercus robus) In Latvian folklore it is looked as a male symbol. It is used for medical purposes as infusions using oak bark.

The national tree – Lime-tree (Tilia cordata) In Latvian folklore it is looked as a female symbol. It is used for medical purposes as infusions using lime blossoms. There are more than 120 protected worthwhile dižliepas in Latvia.