Jelgava (German: Mitau; Russian: Елгава / Митава; Polish: Mitawa) is a town in central Latvia about 41 km southwest of Riga with approximately 66,000 inhabitants. It is the largest town in Semigallia. Jelgava is often remembered as the former capital of the Duchy of Courland (as Mitau), and was the capital of the Courland region until 1919. Riga (RÄ«ga in Latvian), the capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of River Daugava, at 56°58′ N 24°8′ E. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic States and serves as a major cultural, educational, political, financial, commercial and industrial... Zemgale (also historically known as Semigallia or Semigalia) is a historical region of Latvia and sometimes a part of Lithuania is also included. ... Courland, Kurland, Couronia, or Curonia, a former Baltic province of the Teutonic Order state in Livonia (ca. ... 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Jelgava is situated on a fertile plain rising only 12 ft. above sea level on the right bank of the river Lielupe (formerly the Kurländische Aa). At high water the plain and sometimes the town as well can be inundated. Jelgava is surrounded by a canal known as Jacob's Channel (initiated by Jacob Kettler) occupying the locations of former fortifications. It is a railway center and an important market for grain and timber. Lielupe (Latvian) big river; in German Kurländische Aa, (see Aa River) is a river in Latvia. ... Cereal crops are mostly grasses cultivated for their edible seeds (actually a fruit called a caryopsis). ... Timber Timber is a term used to describe clusters of trees. ...

Etymology

The name Jelgava is believed to be derived from the Livonian word jelgab, meaning "low place." The origin of the German name Mitau is unclear, although it is suggested that it came from the words mìt or mainìt, meaning "to change." An alternate explanation is that Mitau came from Mitte in der Aue, or "the middle of the Aa." Livonian (Līvõ kēļ) belongs to the Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. ...

Sights

Jelgava has regular, broad streets lined with the mansions of the Baltic German nobility who resided at the capital of Courland. The old castle (1266) of the dukes of Courland, situated on an island in the river, was destroyed by Duke Biren, who had a spacious palace erected (1738-1772) by Bartolomeo Rastrelli at the bridge across the Lielupe. The palace contains the sarcophagi of all of the Curonian dukes. Other landmarks include the Baroque church of St. Anne, the tower of the destroyed Trinity church, and two handsome neoclassical structures, the Villa Medema and the Academia Petrina. The Baltic Germans (Baltendeutsche, Balten, and Deutschbalten respectively), were the ethnically German inhabitants of that area on the Eastern shore of the Baltic Sea which forms today the countries of Estonia and Latvia. ... Events February 26 - French defeat Germans and Sicilians at Battle of Benevento. ... Ernst Johann von Biron or Biren, (1690 - 28 December 1772), duke of Courland, was the grandson of a groom in the service of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland, who bestowed upon him a small estate, which Birens father inherited and where Biren himself was born. ... Events January 1 - Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier. ... 1772 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-71) was the most important baroque architect working in Russia. ... A sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. ... Baroque architecture, starting in the early 17th century in Italy, took the humanist Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical, theatrical, sculptural fashion, expressing the triumph of absolutist church and state. ... Anna also known as Saint Anne is known by tradition as mother of The Virgin Mary. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ...

History

The Livonian settlement Jelgava began development between the rivers Lielupe and Driksa during the 10th century. Led by the Grand Master Konrad von Mander, the crusading Livonian Order constructed the castle Mitau atop a native island fortification (Pilssala) in 1265-1266. Using Mitau as a southern fortress, the German knights subdued the surrounding Livonians and Semigallians by 1290. The town rose in importance as a defensive fixture against the Lithuanians to the south, who succeeded in plundering Jelgava in 1345. The Livonians are the indigenous Finnics who since ancient times populated the shores of the Gulf of Riga adjacent to the Indo-European Balts. ... ( 9th century - 10th century - 11th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 10th century was that century which lasted from 901 to 1000. ... The Livonian Brothers of the Sword (Latin Fratres militiae Christi, literally the brothers of the army of Christ), also known as the Christ Knights, Sword Brethren or The Militia of Christ of Livonia, was a military order started in 1202 by Albert of Buxhoeveden, bishop of Riga (or Prince-Bishop... The Alcázar of Segovia, Spain A castle (from the Latin castellum, diminutive of castra, a military camp, in turn the plural of castrum or watchpost), is a fort, a camp and the logical development of a fortified enclosure. ... Events January 20 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting. ... Events February 26 - French defeat Germans and Sicilians at Battle of Benevento. ... Events King Edward I of England banishes all Jews from Britain. ... -1...

As a result of the fall of the Livonian Order in the Livonian War, Mitau became a town of the Duchy of Courland in 1561. Jelgava received city rights in 1573, and became the capital of the united duchies of Courland and Semigallia in 1578. When the Duchy of Courland split in 1596, Jelgava became the residence of Duke Friedrich Kettler of Semigallia. The city again became the capital of the united duchies in 1617. Because the duchy was a vassal of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Jelgava was also referred to by the Polish name Mitawa. The Commonwealth's repeated wars with Sweden subjected Jelgava to several sieges. Despite the wars, the city grew as a center for trade and industry. As Courland's neighbors increased in strength, however, the duchy and Jelgava began to fall under Russia's sphere of influence. The duchess from 1711-1730 was Anna Ivanovna, the later Empress Anna I of Russia. The Reformation reached Livonia in the 1520s. ... Courland, Kurland, Couronia, or Curonia, a former Baltic province of the Teutonic Order state in Livonia (ca. ... Events The Edict of Orleans suspends the persecution of the Huguenots. ... Events January - articles of Warsaw Confederation signed, sanctioning religious freedom in Poland. ... Events January 31 - Battle of Gemblours - Spanish forces under Don John of Austria and Alexander Farnese defeat the Dutch. ... Events February 5 - 26 catholics crucified in Nagasaki, Japan. ... Events Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed I (1603-1617) to Mustafa I (1617-1623). ... A vassal, in European medieval feudalism terminology, is one who through a commendation ceremony (composed of homage and fealty) enters into mutual obligations with a lord, usually military conscription and mutual protection, in exchange for a fief. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A sphere of influence is a metaphorical region of political influences surrounding a country or a region of economic influence around an urban area. ... // Events February 24 - The London premiere of Rinaldo by George Friderich Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage. ... Events Pope Clement XII elected September 17 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed III (1703-1730) to Mahmud I (1730-1754) Anna Ivanova (Anna I of Russia) became czarina Births May 13 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. ... The crown of Anna Ioannovna Anna Ivanovna (In Russian: Анна Ивановна) (February 7, 1693 - October 28, 1740) reigned as Duchess of Courland from 1711 to 1730 and as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. ...

The penultimate duke of Courland, Ernst Johann von Biron, or Duke Biren, expanded the cultural aspects of Jelgava. He constructed the ducal palace and opened the first public library in the city. In 1775 he founded the Academia Petrina university, which became a spiritual center for the country. The duke also encouraged theatrical performances at his court. Ernst Johann von Biron or Biren, (1690 - 28 December 1772), duke of Courland, was the grandson of a groom in the service of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland, who bestowed upon him a small estate, which Birens father inherited and where Biren himself was born. ... 1775 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

With the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the citizens of Jelgava clamored for more rights. However, Imperial Russia annexed the city with Courland in 1795 during the Partitions of Poland. As the Count of Provence, the palace of Jelgava was the residence (1798-1801 and 1804-1807) of Louis XVIII before he became the French king. Although the city was occupied by Prussian troops during the Napoleonic Wars, it was largely spared destruction. The period of the French Revolution is very important in the history of France and the world. ... 1789 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Imperial Russia is the term used to cover the period of Russian history from the expansion of Russia under Peter the Great, through the expansion of the Russian Empire from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean, to the deposal of Nicholas II of Russia, the last tsar, at the start... Annexation is the legal merging of some territory into another body. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Partitions of Poland (Polish Rozbiór or Rozbiory Polski) happened in the 18th century and ended the existence of a sovereign state of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... The now-extinct title of Count of Provence belonged to local families of Frankish origin, to the House of Barcelona, to the House of Anjou and to a cadet branch of the House of Valois. ... 1798 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1801 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1807 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Louis XVIII (November 17, 1755 - September 16, 1824) was King of France from 1814 (although he declared that he considered his reign to have begun in 1795) until his death in 1824. ... The Kingdom of Prussia existed from 1701 until 1918, and from 1871 was the leading kingdom of the German Empire, comprising in its last form almost two-thirds of the area of the Empire. ... The Napoleonic Wars are the wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule of France. ...

Jelgava was further expanded after the construction of its railway in 1868. The development of its infrastructure encouraged rural Latvians to immigrate to the city, taking residence as merchants, craftsmen, teachers, and officials. By 1914 Jelgava had over 45,000 inhabitants. However, Jelgava suffered considerably after the outbreak of World War I. German troops occupied the city during the war, and after the war in 1920 Jelgava was a battleground between Soviets, German paramilitaries, and Latvian freedom fighters. After the latter's victory, Jelgava became an important city in independent Latvia. 1868 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... WWI redirects here. ... 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Soviet redirects here. ... The designation of Freikorps (German for Free Corps) was originally applied to voluntary armies. ...

As a result of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Jelgava was annexed with the rest of Latvia by the Soviet Union during World War II in 1940. Much of the city's remaining German population travelled westward through the Nazi-Soviet population transfers. German forces from Army Group North occupied Jelgava from 1941-1944 until the capture of the city by the Red Army. The city's center, industry, rail network, and public buildings were heavily damaged by the fighting with almost 90% of the city destroyed. Molotov (left), Ribbentrop (in black) and Stalin The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, also known as the Hitler-Stalin pact or Nazi-Soviet pact, was a non-aggression treaty between Germany and Russia, or more precisely between the Soviet Union and the Third Reich. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air, August 9, 1945 after the Allied atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Nazi-Soviet population transfers were a series of population transfers between 1939 and 1941 of Germans from territories occupied by Soviet Union due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, notably Bessarabia and the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia, all of which traditionally had large German minorities. ... Army Group North (Heeresgruppe Nord in German) was a high level command grouping of military units operating for Germany during World War II. The army group coordinated the operations of attached army corps, reserve formations, and direct-reporting units. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Red Army flag The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya in Russian), the armed forces organised by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ...

The rebuilding of Jelgava commenced during the years of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. Jelgava is now a city of independent Latvia and a popular tourist site. State motto: Visu zemju proletārieši, savienojieties! Official language Constitutionally, all languages were equal. ...

External Links

• Map of Jelgava (in Latvian)

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...