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Liepaja

(Encyclopedia)Liepaja or Liepaya both: lēĕˈpäyä [key], Ger. Libau, city (2011 provisional pop. 76,570), W Latvia. An ice-free port on the Baltic Sea, it is located at the end of an isthmus separating the Balti...

Ventspils

(Encyclopedia)Ventspils vĕntsˈpēls [key], Ger. Windau, city (2011 provisional pop. 38,645), W Latvia, on the Baltic Sea, at the mouth of the Venta River. An ice-free seaport, it exports oil brought by pipeline o...

Kook, Abraham Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Kook, Abraham Isaac ko͞ok [key], 1864–1935, Jewish scholar and philosopher, b. Latvia. He settled (1904) in Palestine, where he became the chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in 1921. He attempt...

Latvian

(Encyclopedia)Latvian or Lettish lĕtˈĭsh [key], a language belonging to the Baltic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Baltic languages). The mother tongue of close to 3 million persons livin...

Zatlers, Valdis

(Encyclopedia)Zatlers, Valdis välˈdĭs zätˈlĕrs [key], 1955–, Latvian physician and political leader. A graduate (1979) of the Riga Institute of Medicine, he is an orthopedic surgeon and was director of the ...

Ostwald, Wilhelm

(Encyclopedia)Ostwald, Wilhelm vĭlˈhĕlm ôstˈvält [key], 1853–1932, German physical chemist and natural philosopher, b. Riga, Latvia. He was professor of chemistry and director of the chemical laboratory (18...

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

(Encyclopedia)Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), international organization that came into being in 1961. It superseded the Organization for European Economic Cooperation, which had been ...

Dubnow, Simon

(Encyclopedia)Dubnow, Simon do͝obˈnôf [key], 1860–1941, Jewish historian and ideologist, b. Belorussia. Self-educated, he settled after extensive travels in St. Petersburg, where he taught Jewish history. He w...

Berlin, Sir Isaiah

(Encyclopedia)Berlin, Sir Isaiah, 1909–97, English political scientist, b. Riga, Latvia (then in Russia). His family moved to St. Petersburg when he was a boy and emigrated to London in 1921. He was educated at O...

Hillquit, Morris

(Encyclopedia)Hillquit, Morris, 1869–1933, American lawyer and Socialist leader, b. Riga, Latvia (then in Russia). He came to the United States in 1886. He was the leader of the right-wing, or constitutional, Soc...

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