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The Baltic Cities

© Scott Hegerty

The city of Riga, Latvia, celebrated the 800th anniversary of its founding in 2001. As the largest city in both Latvia and the Baltic region, its history is intertwined with the area. But while the peoples of the Baltic pride themselves on their rural roots, the cities of all three Baltic countries share long histories.

Each country also has a somewhat different relationship with its largest cities. Riga is what is known as a "primate city," one that dominates the country politically and economically while containing a large proportion of its population. With nearly one million of Latvia's 2.5 million inhabitants, Riga stands out as a giant within the country. The other cities--the Russian-dominated Daugavpils, for example--are much smaller than Riga and only serve as regional centers.

Lithuania, on the other hand, has two major cities: Vilnius and Kaunas. Vilnius, with a population around half a million (out of Lithuania's 3.5 million people) has long been tied to other countries--such as Poland--but is considered by the Lithuanians as an integral part of the country. The slightly smaller Kaunas, on the other hand, is thought to be "purer" historically--it's always been part of what is now known as Lithuania. During Lithuania's first period of independence, Kaunas served as the capital of the country. Both cities carry strong importance in the country for different reasons, and for that reason, they have equal weight.

Estonia lies somewhere in the middle between the two. The main Estonian city, Tallinn, can qualify as a primate city--it has over 400,000 people out of Estonia's 1.5 million inhabitants. But a smaller city, Tartu, is also significant because of its role as a cultural center and home to the main Estonian university, the University of Tartu. For this reason, it has been said that while Latvia has one major city, and Lithuania has two, Estonia has "one and a half."

Because of the Baltic peoples' strong ties to the land, they have long felt more comfortable in the countryside than in the cities. For this reason, the largest cities have often been highly cosmopolitan, home to ethnic minorities and often made up of more minorities than ethnic Latvians, Lithuanians or Estonians. While this phenomenon is true today as a result of the Russification of the Baltic states--Riga was only 40 percent Latvian as early as 1970--the cities were always highly populated by non-Balts. Riga had a high proportion of Germans until World War II, and Vilnius--whose large Jewish population was wiped out in the Holocaust--still is home to a large number of Poles.

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