Department of History

Talk by Katja Wezel, University of Latvia in Riga

Imperial Russia’s Most Successful Port. Mapping Riga as a Trade Metropolis and Multi-Ethnic City

Event Description

With the recent developments in Ukraine and Putin’s talk on restoring the Soviet or the Russian Empire, newly independent territories and cities at the former imperial periphery are again in focus. 

Riga, today’s capital of Latvia, belonged to the Russian Empire (1710-1914) and used to be one of imperial Russia’s main ports. In the decade before World War I, Riga was the port with the highest turnover, surpassing both Odessa and the capital St. Petersburg. But Riga was never really a “Russian” city: before World War I, only 18 percent of its inhabitants were native Russian speakers. More important for its economic viability were its Latvian, German, and Jewish citizens. This talk will map Riga as a port city and trading metropolis using research results obtained through GIS and archival research. It will also highlight the diversity of the people behind Riga’s economic success. 

Katja Wezel received her Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg. She was a DAAD Visiting Assistant Professor at Pitt, and a Research Associate at the Universities of Heidelberg and Göttingen/Germany. She is currently a Feodor-Lynen research fellow at the University of Latvia in Riga, supported by the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation. She is a specialist for the history of the Baltic states and works on spatial, digital, economic, and social history in the 19th and 20th centuries and memory politics. 

The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, the History Department, and the DAAD Professorship.

Date

Monday, April 3, 2023

Time

4:00pm

Location and Address

History Department Lounge

Event Series