Latgale

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Latgale or Latgalia (Latgalian: Latgola; Polish: Łatgalia; German: Lettgallen; Russian: Latgaliya) is one of the four cultural regions of Latvia recognised in the Constitution of the Latvian Republic. It is the easternmost region north of the Daugava river. While most of Latvia is historically Lutheran, Latgale is historically predominantly Roman Catholic.

The region has a large population of ethnic Russians, especially in Daugavpils, the largest city in the region. Many of the Russians who lived in Latgale prior to the Soviet occupation are Old Believers. Rēzekne, often called the heart of Latgola, Krāslava, and Ludza are other large towns in the region, which also has a Belarusian minority. There is still a significant Polish minority (Daugavpils has almost as many Poles as Latvians). 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 most of the Jews perished in the Holocaust and much of the remainder has emigrated.

The region is one of the poorest in the European Union, and unlike in the rest of Latvia a majority of voters was opposed to EU membership in the referendum on accession.

Due to its history several different names are historically used for Latgale.

Other names for the region include Lettigallia, Latgallia, and Latgola.
The people are called latgalieši in Latvian (as distinct from latgaļi, which refers to the ancient tribe, though some modern Latgalians [especially separatists] prefer latgaļi) -- latgalīši in Latgalian, sometimes latgali -- Latgalians, Latgallians, or Lettigalls in English, and are sometimes referred to as čangaļi (sometimes derogatory -- the reference is to a novel, and Latgalians often call other Latvians "čiuļi"). The term latgalieši dates only to the early 20th century, and prior to that Latgalians were long refrred to as Vitebsk Latvians or Inflantians (in Latgalian, vitebskīši, inflantīši).
The language or dialect is called Latgalian.

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History

Originally Latgale was populated by the Latgalians, a Baltic tribe who settled in Finnic lands, later mixing with Slavs to a degree. They spoke Latgalian, part of the basis for the Latvian language. The dialect is still spoken by many Latgalians and has a standardized written form, for which reason some consider it to be a separate language.

During the 10th–12th centuries Latgale was a part of the countries of Jersika, Atzele, and Tālava; Latgalian lands included parts of what is today Vidzeme and Russia. Together with the rest of modern-day Latvia these states were conquered by the German crusaders of the Livonian Order in the 13th century and incorporated into Livonia.

In 1561 Latgale was annexed by Poland. At the treaty of Oliva most of Livonia was ceded to Sweden, but a part of Livonia including Latgale remained under Polish control; this land became known as Inflantia. During this period the Latgalian dialect of the Latvian language developed separately from the Latvian spoken in other parts of what is now Latvia and was influenced by Polish.

In 1772 Latgale was annexed by the Russian Empire, and in 1831 a period of Russification was begun, during which the Latgalian language was forbidden. This ban was lifted in 1904, and a period of Latgalian reawakening began. Many Latgalian public figures sought a reunification with the rest of Latvia in 1917 at the Congress of Rezekne, and in 1920 Latgale was finally reunited with Latvia.

After the occupation of Latvia by the USSR in 1940 Latgalia lost the eastern civil parishes of the Abrene district, which are now de facto a part of Russia.

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