RIGA, a most important seaport of Russia, capital of Livonia, and the center of admiuistratiou for the, three Baltic provinces, Livonia, Esthonia, and Courland, stands mainly on the right bank of the Dwina. 5 m. from the mouth of that river, in the gulf of Riga. It is 376 m. s.w. of St. Petersburg, and is the terminus of a railway to Mos cow, which again connects it with the Volga, and thus with the Caspian sea, to Riga a considerable portion of the trade with the interior, and still more remote parts of Russia. A junction with the St. Petersburg and Berlin railway places this Baltic port in direct counnunication`with the rest of Europe. From the steeple of St. Peter's church, said to be the highest in the empire, a full view of the situation of the city is obtained. Riga contains a number of striking and handsome public buildings, of which the castle, or dom, built in 1204, now the residence of the governor-general of the three lia:tic provinces, is the chief. The Dwina is crossed by a bridge of boats, 800 paces Joao. of which the boats in the middle are movable. to allow of the passage of vessels, and which is entirely removed in winter. The old town is dark and gloomy, and shows all the main features of a German town of the middle ages; but the extensive suburbs are modern and handsome, and the whole is defended by ramparts, bastions, and other fortified works. Riga is the second trading town in Russia. It contains
numerous soap, candle, glass, and iron works; cloth, leather, sugar, and tobacco fac tories, and rope-walks. Shipbuilding is extensively carried on in the town and vicinity. 'I'lle principal articles of export are flax, hemp, linseed, corn, timber. tallow, and tobacco. In 1871 the exports amounted in value to .4:6,473,154; the imports, to £'2,867, 218. The total number of vessels which entered the port was 2,396, of tonnage 559,727, and the same number cleared it; of these, 580, measuring 227,425 tons, were British. Pop. '67. 102.043.
Riga was founded in the beginning of the 13th c. by Albert Buckshoevden, bishop of Livonia, and soon became a first-rate commercial town, and member of the Hanseatic league. The Teutonic knights possessed it in the.16th century. In 1621 Riga was taken by Gustavus Adolphus, and held under Swedish dominion till 1710, but was finally annexed to Russia in 1721.