Editing History of Latvia (section)

===Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, 1562–1795===
{{Main|Duchy of Courland and Semigallia|Couronian colonization of the Americas|Couronian colonization}}
[[File:Duchy of Courland & Semigallia 1740.svg|thumbnail|right|Duchy of Courland and Semigallia in 1740]]
After Gotthard Kettler became the first duke, other members of the Order became the nobility, with their fiefdoms becoming their estates. Kettler received nearly one-third of the land in the new duchy. [[Mitau]] (Jelgava) was designated as the capital and a Landtag was to meet there twice a year.

When Gotthard Kettler died in 1587, his sons [[Friedrich Kettler|Friedrich]] and [[Wilhelm Kettler|Wilhelm]] became the dukes of Courland. They divided the Duchy into two parts in 1596. Friedrich controlled the eastern part, [[Semigalia]] (''[[Zemgale]]''), with his residence in Mitau ([[Jelgava]]). Wilhelm owned the western part, Courland (''Kurzeme''), with his residence in Goldingen ([[Kuldīga]]). Wilhelm regained the [[Grobiņa]] district when he married the daughter of the [[Duke of Prussia]]. Here he developed [[metalwork]]ing, [[shipyard]]s, and the new ships delivered the goods of Courland to other countries. Wilhelm's conflict with local nobles ended with his removal from the duke's seat in 1616 and Friedrich became the only duke of Courland after 1616.

Under the next duke, [[Jacob Kettler]], the Duchy reached the peak of its prosperity. During his travels in Western Europe, Jacob became the eager proponent of [[mercantilism|mercantilist]] ideas. Metalworking and ship building became much more developed, and powder mills began producing gunpowder. Trading relations developed not only with nearby countries but also with [[Kingdom of England|Britain]], [[Early Modern France|France]], the [[Dutch Republic|Netherlands]] and [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]]. Jacob established the merchant fleet of the Duchy of Courland, with its main harbours in [[Ventspils|Windau]] and [[Liepāja|Libau]]. In Windau 120 ships were built, of which over 40 were warships. The duchy owned a large fleet and established two [[Courland colonization|colonies]] — [[Kunta Kinteh Island|St. Andrews Island]] in the estuary of [[Gambia River]] (in [[Africa]]) and [[Tobago]] Island (in the [[Caribbean Sea]]). Courland related place names from this period still survive today in these places.

The last duke, [[Peter von Biron]] who ruled under heavy Russian influence founded [[Academia Petrina]] in 1775. In April 1786 he purchased the Duchy of [[Żagań|Sagan]] from the [[Bohemia]]n [[Lobkovic]] family, from then additionally using the title of Duke of Żagań. In 1795, Russia determined the further fate of Courland when with its allies it began the [[Third Partition of Poland|third division of Poland]]. Given a "nice recommendation" by Russia, Duke gave up his rights in return for a large payment, signing the final document on March 28, 1795.