Editing Riga (section)

=== Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Swedish and Russian Empires ===
[[File:Plaza del Ayuntamiento, Riga, Letonia, 2012-08-07, DD 10.JPG|thumb|left|The [[House of the Blackheads (Riga)|building of the Brotherhood of Blackheads]] is one of the most iconic buildings of Old Riga ([[Vecrīga]]).]]
[[File:Riga 1612 panorama by Heinrich Thum.jpg|thumb|left|View of Riga from 1612, printed by [[Nikolaus Mollyn]], the first [[Printer (publishing)|book printer]] of the city.]]
[[File:Riga 1650.jpg|thumb|left|Riga in 1650. Drawing by [[Johann Christoph Brotze]].]]
[[File:Map of Riga (around 1710).tif|thumb|Map of Riga (around 1710)]]
As the influence of the Hanseatic League waned, Riga became the object of foreign military, political, religious and economic aspirations. Riga accepted the [[Reformation]] in 1522, ending the power of the archbishops. In 1524, [[iconoclast]]s during [[Iconoclast riots (Livonia)|iconoclast riots]] targeted a statue of the [[Virgin Mary]] in the cathedral to make a statement against religious icons. It was accused of being a witch, and given a [[Trial by ordeal|trial by water]] in the [[Daugava]] river. The statue floated, so it was denounced as a witch and burnt at Kubsberg.<ref name="fn_1">{{cite book|last=MacCulloch|first=Diarmaid|author-link=Diarmaid MacCulloch|title=The Reformation: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rE7uAAAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Penguin|page = 150|isbn=978-0-670-03296-9|access-date=10 February 2016}}</ref> With the demise of the [[Livonian Order]] (1561) during the [[Livonian War]], Riga for twenty years had the status of a [[free imperial city]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] before it came under the influence of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] by the [[Treaty of Drohiczyn]], which ended the war for Riga in 1581. In 1621, during the [[Polish–Swedish War (1621–1625)]], Riga and the outlying fortress of [[Daugavgrīva]] came under the rule of [[Gustavus Adolphus]], [[King of Sweden]], who intervened in the [[Thirty Years' War]] not only for political and economic gain but also in favour of German [[Lutheran]] [[Protestantism]]. During the [[Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658)]], Riga withstood a siege by Russian forces.

Riga remained one of the largest cities under the Swedish crown until 1710,<ref>The Dynamics of Economic Culture in the North Sea and Baltic Region. Uitgeverij Verloren, 2007. {{ISBN|9789065508829}}. P. 242.</ref> a period during which the city retained a great deal of autonomous self-government. In July 1701, during the opening phase of the [[Great Northern War]], the ''[[Crossing of the Düna]]'' took place nearby, resulting in a victory for king [[Charles XII of Sweden]]. Between November 1709 and June 1710, however, the Russians under [[Tsar]] [[Peter the Great]] [[Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia|besieged and captured Riga]], which was at the time [[The plague during the Great Northern War#Lithuania, Livonia, Estonia|struck by a plague]]. Along with the other Livonian towns and gentry, [[Capitulation of Estonia and Livonia|Riga capitulated to Russia]], but largely retained their privileges. Riga was made the capital of the [[Governorate of Livonia|Governorate of Riga (later, Livonia)]]. [[Swedish Empire|Sweden's northern dominance]] had ended, and Russia's [[Russian Empire|emergence as the strongest Northern power]] was formalised through the [[Treaty of Nystad]] in 1721. At the beginning of the 20th century Riga was the largest{{Dubious|date=December 2020}} timber export port in the Russian Empire and ranked the 3rd{{When|date=December 2020}} according to the external trade volume.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Port Riga over nine Centuries|url=http://rop.lv/en/about-port/history.html?showall=1&limitstart=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408153815/http://rop.lv/en/about-port/history.html?showall=1&limitstart=|archive-date=8 April 2016|publisher=Freeport of Riga Authority}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Riga {{!}} History, Population, & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Riga|access-date=2021-01-05|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=25 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125023447/https://www.britannica.com/place/Riga|url-status=live}}</ref>

During these many centuries of war and changes of power in the Baltic, and despite demographic changes, the [[Baltic Germans]] in Riga had maintained a dominant position. By 1867, Riga's population was 42.9% German.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history-museum.lv/english/pages/par-mums/muzeja-vesture.php|title=National History Museum of Latvia|work=history-museum.lv|access-date=10 February 2016|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924030429/http://www.history-museum.lv/english/pages/par-mums/muzeja-vesture.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Riga employed German as its [[official language]] of administration until the installation of Russian in 1891 as the official language in the [[Baltic provinces]], as part of the policy of [[Russification]] of the non-Russian-speaking territories of the Russian Empire, including [[Congress Poland]], Finland and the Baltics, undertaken by [[Tsar Alexander III]]. More and more Latvians started moving to the city during the mid-19th century. The rise of a Latvian [[bourgeoisie]] made Riga a centre of the [[Latvian National Awakening]] with the founding of the Riga Latvian Association in 1868 and the organisation of the first national song festival in 1873. In 1897, Riga was the sixth largest city in the Russian Empire.<ref name=beable1919>{{Citation |publisher = Russian Outlook |author=William Henry Beable |date = 1919 |location = London |title = Russian Gazetteer and Guide |via=Hathi Trust |chapter= Governments or Provinces of the Former Russian Empire |hdl=2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t56d5rp04?urlappend=%3Bseq=26 |chapter-url= http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t56d5rp04?urlappend=%3Bseq=26 }}</ref> The nationalist movement of the [[Young Latvians|Neo-Latvians]] was followed by the socialist [[New Current]] during the city's rapid industrialisation, culminating in the [[1905 Russian Revolution|1905 Revolution]] led by the [[Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party]].