Swedish Livonia
The territory, which constituted the southern part of modern Estonia (including the island of Ösel ceded by Denmark after the Treaty of Brömsebro) and the northern part of modern Latvia (the Vidzeme region), represented the conquest of the major part of the Polish-Lithuanian Duchy of Livonia during the 1600–1629 Polish-Swedish War.Parts of Livonia and the city of Riga were under Swedish control as early as 1621 and the situation was formalized in the Truce of Altmark 1629, but the whole territory was not ceded formally until the Treaty of Oliva in 1660.Together with other Baltic Sea dominions, Livonia served to secure the Swedish dominium maris baltici.In contrast to Swedish Estonia, which had submitted to Swedish rule voluntarily in 1561 and where traditional local laws remained largely untouched, the uniformity policy was applied in Swedish Livonia under Karl XI of Sweden: serfdom was abolished, peasants were offered education as well as military, administrative or ecclesiastical careers, and nobles had to transfer domains to the king in the Great Reduction.The territory in turn was conquered by the Russian Empire during the Great Northern War and, following the Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia in 1710, formed Riga Governorate.
Coat of arms(18th century)Swedish EmpireDominionSwedishEstonianLatvianLivonianLow GermanLutheranismKing of SwedenGustav II AdolfFrederick IGovernor-GeneralSwedenConqueredRussiaDuchy of LivoniaRiga GovernorateEstoniaLatviaHistory of LatviaKunda cultureNarva cultureCorded Ware cultureAmber RoadBaltic FinnsLivoniansLatgaliansCuroniansSeloniansSemigalliansPrincipality of JersikaPrincipality of KokneseTālavaLivonian CrusadeLivonian Brothers of the SwordLivonian OrderArchbishopric of RigaBishopric of CourlandTerra MarianaBaltic GermansLivonian WarKingdom of LivoniaInflanty VoivodeshipPolish–Swedish Wars (1600–1629)Second Northern WarGreat Northern WarDuchy of Courland and SemigalliaCouronian colonizationGovernorate of LivoniaCourland GovernorateVitebsk GovernorateThe First Latvian National AwakeningNew CurrentLatvian RiflemenGerman occupationUnited Baltic DuchyLatvian Socialist Soviet RepublicWar of Independence1934 Latvian coup d'état1940 Soviet occupationNazi occupationThe Holocaust in Latvia1944 Soviet re-occupationLatvian Soviet Socialist RepublicPopular Front of LatviaSinging RevolutionRestoration of Independence2008 Latvian financial crisisChronologyDenmarkTreaty of BrömsebroVidzemePolish-Swedish WarTruce of AltmarkTreaty of OlivaWenden VoivodeshipPolish–Lithuanian CommonwealthLatgaledominium maris balticiSwedish Estoniauniformity policyKarl XI of SwedenGreat ReductionRussian EmpireCapitulation of Estonia and LivoniaTreaty of NystadSwedish IngriaChristinaCharles X GustavCharles XICharles XIIUlrika Eleonoragovernors-generalJacob De la GardieGustaf HornJohan SkytteBengt OxenstiernaHerman WrangelGabriel Bengtsson OxenstiernaMagnus Gabriel De la GardieAxel LillieFabian von FersenJacob Johan HastferErik DahlbergCarl Gustaf FrölichAdam Ludwig LewenhauptHenrik Otto AlbedyllNiels Jonsson Stromberg af ClastorpList of Swedish regimentsFree CompanyÖselianRise of Sweden as a Great PowerDuchy of Estonia (1561–1721)Estonia under Swedish ruleBishopric of Ösel-Wiek