The term Latgalians (also spelt Latgallians and sometimes known as Lettigalls, Latgolans, or Lettigallians) can refer to the inhabitants of the Latgale region in eastern Latvia in general, the ethnic Latvians of Latgale (especially those who speak the Latgalian dialect of Latvian), or to the ancient Baltic tribe. In English, the more archaic Lettigallians usually refers to the tribe. Latgalian (a language) can mean one of two things: 1) It was a language spoken by Latgallians in a great part of the area what now is Latvia. ... As a Christian ecclesiastical term, Catholic - from the Greek adjective , meaning general or universal[2] - is described in the Oxford Dictionary as follows: ~Church, (originally) whole body of Christians; ~, belonging to or in accord with (a) this, (b) the church before separation into Greek or Eastern and Latin or Western... Latgale or Latgalia (Polish: Łatgalia; German: Lettgallen) is one of the four cultural regions of Latvia recognised in the Constitution of the Latvian Republic. ... Latgalian (a language) can mean one of two things: 1) It was a language spoken by Latgallians in a great part of the area what now is Latvia. ... The Baltic Sea The Balts or Baltic peoples (Latvian: balti, Lithuanian: baltai), defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family, are descended from a group of Indo-European tribes who settled the area between lower Vistula and upper Dvina and Dneper. ...

In Latvian, latgalieši (Latgalian: latgalīši) refers to the ethnic Latvians of Latgale, which developed separately from the rest of ethnic Latvia in 1621-1917, whilst latgaļi (Latgalian: latgali) refers to the ancient tribe, though the terms are confused in colloquial Latvian and some Latgalian nationalists argue for the use of latgali to designate today's Latgalian speakers as a separate national or cultural group. Events February 9 - Gregory XV is elected pope. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ...

Ancient "Latgalians" (proto-Latvians)

The ancient Letts, or "Latgalians" (i.e. inhabitants of *Latgala, – this ancient West Baltic term derives very likely from *Lætgala = "The Lettland"; compare with *Zemgala = "The lower-land"), lived only in the central part of Latvia; in 13-14/15th centuries they assimilated in nowaday Latgale an unknown East Baltic tribe, the latter this way becaming a part of an ethnical Latvians (it's accentuating, that the Latvian term latgalieši ("Latgalians"), in sense "Eastern Latvians", dates only to the early 20th century. Letts may be the town Letts, Iowa a diary brand an alternative name for Latvians a residence hall at American University This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Zemgale (also historically known as Semigallia or Semigalia) is a historical region of Latvia and sometimes a part of Lithuania is also included. ... Livonia (Latvian: Livonija; Estonian: Liivimaa; German: Livland; Polish: Inflanty; Russian: Лифляндия or Liflandiya) once was the land of the Finnic Livonians, but came in the Middle Ages to designate a much broader territory controlled by the Livonian Order on the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea in present-day Latvia and...

Modern Latgalians

During the first independence of Latvia (1920-1940), Latgale was the only region of Latvia with strong regional political parties. Although Latvian governments would mainly promote a united Latvian culture, especially after the coup by Kārlis Ulmanis in 1934, the Latgalian language was also used. Books were published in Latgalian, it was taught in some schools, and people could choose to use Latgalian when communicating with the government. 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 3 - Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at that time. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Kārlis Ulmanis (b. ... Latgalian (a language) can mean one of two things: 1) It was a language spoken by Latgallians in a great part of the area what now is Latvia. ...

The Soviet period severely damaged Latgallian culture. Publishing in Latgalian was banned. Latvian and Russian were the only recognized languages. Motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Transliterated: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Russian: Workers of the world, unite!) Anthem(s): The Internationale (1922-1944) Hymn of the Soviet Union (1944-1991) Capital Moscow Largest city Moscow Official language(s) None; Russian de facto Government Federation of Soviet Republics  - Last President Mikhail Gorbachev  - Last Premier Ivan Silayev...

Latgalians continued to publish books and periodicals abroad. Publishing in Latgalian in Latvia resumed during the Third National Awakening in the late 1980s but is still rare. The Latgalian language is mostly used at home in rural areas and Latvian is overwhelmingly used in official use and in urban areas. Some government protection for Latgalian language is provided by the language law of 2000 which states that "the state guarantees the preservation, protection and development of the written Latgalian language as a historic form of the Latvian language." The Latvian National Awakening (in Latvian: latviešu [or latvju] tautas atmoda) refers to three distinct but ideologically related nationalist movements: the First Awakening refers to the national revival led by the Young Latvians from the 1850s to the 1880s, the Second Awakening to the movement that led to the... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

Some Latgalians consider themselves to be an ethnic group separate from Latvians. The majority opinion is, however, that present-day Latgalians are a subgroup of the Latvians. The number of people who would identify themseleves as separate from Latvians is unknown because the Latvian government does not identify Latgalians as a separate group in census data.