Editing History of Latvia (section)

===Swedish Livonia, 1629–1721===
{{Main|Swedish Livonia}}
[[File:17cenBaltic.jpg|thumbnail|right|Swedish Baltic possessions, with Polish Livonia]]
During the [[Polish–Swedish War (1600–1629)]] Riga and the largest part of Duchy of Livonia came under Swedish rule in 1621. During the Swedish rule, this region was known as the "Swedish Bread Basket" because it supplied the larger part of the [[Swedish Empire|Swedish Kingdom]] with wheat.

Riga was the second largest city in the [[Swedish Empire]] at the time. 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 in the estates owned by the Swedish crown, peasants were offered education and military, administrative or ecclesiastical careers, and nobles had to transfer domains to the king in the [[Great Reduction]]. These reforms were subsequently reversed by [[Peter I of Russia]] when he conquered Livonia.

In 1632 the Swedish king [[Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden|Gustavus Adolphus]] founded [[Dorpat University]] which became the intellectual focus for population of Livonia. The translation of the whole Bible into Latvian in 1685 by [[Johann Ernst Glück]] was subsidized by the Swedish government. Schools for Latvian speaking peasantry were set up in the country parishes. In Latvian history this period is generally praised as the "good Swedish times".