Riga

**Riga** (, ) is the caipital an lairgest ceety o Latvie, a major industrial, commercial, cultural an financial centre o the Baltics, an an important seaport, situatit on the mouth o the Daugava. Wi 706,413  inhabitants (2010), it is the lairgest ceety o the Baltic states an third-lairgest in the Baltic region, ahint Saunt Petersburg an Stockholm (coontin residents athin the ceety limits). Riga's territory covers 307.17 km2 (118.60 sq mi) an lies atween 1 an 10 metres (3.3 an 33&nbsp;ft) abuin sea level, on a flat an sandy plain.

Riga's historical centre haes been declared a UNESCO Warld Heritage Steid, an the ceety is pairticularly notable for its extensive Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau) airchitecture, which UNESCO considers tae be unparalleled onywhere in the warld.

## Etymology
Ane theory for the oreegin o the name *Riga* is that it is a corruptit borraein frae the Liv *ringa* meanin luip, referrin tae the auncient natural harbour formed bi the tributary luip o the Daugava. The ither is that *Riga* awes its name tae this awready-established role in commerce atween East an Wast, as a borraein o the Latvian *rija*, for threshin barn, the "j" becomin a "g" in Germannotably, Riga is cried *Rie* bi Inglis geographer Richard Hakluyt (1589), an German historian Dionysius Fabricius (1610) confirms the oreegin o *Riga* frae *rija*. Anither theory coud be that Riga wis named efter Riege, the German name for the River Rīdzene, a tributary o the Daugava.

## Sports

### Sports clubs
* Basketbaw
** Barons LMT  — a men's basketbaw team, twa-time Latvian champion, as well as the 2008 FIBA EuroCup winner.
** TTT Riga — a women's basketbaw team, which throughoot 1960 an 1982 wan aichteen FIBA EuroLeague Women titles.
** VEF Riga
* Ice hockey
** Dinamo Riga — an ice hockey club established in 2008. It plays in the Kontinental Hockey League. Dinamo wis established as a successor tae the umwhile hockey team wi the same name, which wis foondit in 1946 but ceased tae exist in 1995.
* Fitbaa
** Skonto FC — a fitbaa club established in 1991. The club wan fowerteen successive Latvian Higher League titles. For a lang time it providit the core o the Latvian naitional fitbaa team.
** FK Jaunība
** JFK Olimps/RFS

### Sports facilities
* Arena Riga — a multi-purpose arena biggit in 2006 as the main venue for the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. It can hauld up tae 14,500 fowk an haes hostit ice hockey, basketbaw an volleybaw events, as well as Red Bull X-Fighters.
* Skonto Stadium — a fitbaa stadium, biggit in 2000. It is the main stadium uised for gemmes o the Latvian naitional fitbaa team.
* Daugava Stadium — a stadium biggit in 1958, uised for baith fitbaa an athletics.
* Latvijas Universitates Stadions

### Sports events
* Eurobasket 1937
* EuroBasket Women 2009
* 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships
* Riga Marathon

## Internaitional relations

### Twin touns — Sister ceeties
Riga maintains sister ceety relationships wi the follaein ceeties:

## References

## Freemit airtins

* Riga Municipality portal 
* Other riga - The hame page aboot Riga 
* 
* Map o Greater Riga 
* Riga —entry (airticle an engravin) frae *The National Encyclopedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge*, circa 1900
* "Riga/Рига" photo album , circa 1910
* "Foreign Corn Ports-Riga" —*The Illustrated London News*
* Riga Daily Photos an Webcams 
* Virtual Map o Riga Ceety 
* "Riga" —*pictures frae Riga*