Ventspils

At the mouth of the Venta River was a settlement called Sagare, which was mentioned in 1253. In 1290 the castle "Winda" of the Livonian Order was completed as the center of the Windau commandery. The town developed around the castle. It was chartered in 1314 and became an important mercantile city of the Hanseatic League.

As part of the Duchy of Courland, Ventspils blossomed as a shipbuilding centre. 44 warships and 79 trading ships were built here, and it was from Ventspils that the Duke's fleet set out to colonize Gambia and Tobago. Metal, amber, and wood-working shops also became important to the city's development.

During the Polish-Swedish War and the Great Northern War, Ventspils was destroyed, and in 1711 a plague wiped out most of the remaining inhabitants. After the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 Ventspils fell under the control of Russian Empire.

The port was modernized in the 1890s and connected to Moscow by rail. It became one of Imperial Russia's most profitable ports