Latgale

Latgale (Latgalian: Latgola; Latvian: Latgale; Russian: Латгалия, romanized: Latgaliya; Polish: Łatgalia; German: Lettgallen; Belarusian: Латгалія, romanized: Lathalija; Belarusian Latin: Łathalija; Latin: Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. While most of Latvia is historically Lutheran, Latgale is predominantly Catholic: 65.3% according to a 2011 survey. After the Counter-Reformation it was the northernmost predominantly Catholic province or region in Europe. There is a considerable Eastern Orthodox minority (23.8%), of which 13.8% are Russian Orthodox Christians and 10.0% are Old Believers. As of 2020, the region's population was 255,968.

The region has a large population of ethnic Russians, especially in Daugavpils, the largest city in the region and the location of the region's only public university, the University of Daugavpils. Many of the Russians who lived in Latgale before Soviet rule are Old Believers. Rēzekne, often called the heart of Latgale, Krāslava, and Ludza are other large towns in the region, which also has a Belarusian minority. There is also a significant Polish minority. As part of the Polotsk and Vitebsk guberniyas, the region was part of the Pale of Settlement and had a very large Jewish population – but many of the Jews were killed in WW2 and most of the remainder emigrated. Other than in Daugavpils, the Baltic German presence in Latgale was less sizable than in other regions of Latvia. According to the Latvian Official Statistics portal, Latgale is the only region of Latvia where the number of Slavs surpasses the number of ethnic Latvians.

Average incomes in the region are lower than in other parts of the country. Latgale also has the highest percentage of people at risk of poverty (32.7% in 2023) in Latvia.

Historically, several different forms of the name Latgalia have been used.

Since 2004, use of the Latgalian language has been the subject of a major sociolinguistic/ethnolinguistic poll and study, conducted by the Rēzekne Augstskola and the Centre d'Étude Linguistiques Pour l'Europe.

As of 2011 97,600 people in the region spoke Latgalian language, which is a standardised form of local varieties of High Latvian dialect.

Originally the territory of what is now Latgale was populated by the Eastern Baltic Latgalian tribe. During the 10th–12th centuries two principalities, Jersika and Atzele, existed on the territory of modern Latgale and Eastern Vidzeme. In addition Latgalians inhabited parts of modern Pskov Oblast in Russia and Vitebsk Region in Belarus.

In the first decade of the 13th century the Principality of Jersika, also known as Lettia, was allied with the Principality of Polotsk and Lithuanian dukes against the Bishopric of Livonia, but was defeated in 1209. Part of it was divided between the Bishopric and the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, the remainder became a vassal country. In 1239, after the death of King Visvaldis, the latter was incorporated into the territory of the Livonian Order.