Swedish Livonia

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Livland
Duchy of Livonia
Dominion of Sweden

1629 – 1721
Flag Coat of arms
Flag of Sweden (1600s–1815) Lesser coat of arms of Sweden
Capital Riga
Language(s) Swedish, Estonian, Latvian, Livonian, Low German
Religion Lutheranism
Government Principality
King of Sweden
 - 161132 Gustav II Adolf
 - 172051 Frederick I
Governor-General
 - 162228 Jacob De la Gardie
 - 16961702 Erik Dahlberg
Legislature Diet
History
 - Conquered by Sweden 1629
 - Treaty of Oliva April 23, 1660
 - Great Northern War 170021
 - Conquered by Russia 1713
 - Treaty of Nystad 1721

Livonia (Swedish: Livland) was a dominion of Sweden from the 1620s until 1721. Swedish Livonia, which constituted the southern part of Estonia and northern part of Latvia (Vidzeme region), represented the conquest of the major part of what was the Polish-Lithuanian domain, known as Duchy of Livonia and was completed by 1629. Even if Livonia and the city of Riga was under Swedish control the territory was not formally ceded until the Treaty of Oliva in 1660, where the minor part retained by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was known as Inflantia (present-day Latgale region). During this time, Riga was the biggest city in Sweden.

The territory in turn was conquered by Russia during the Great Northern War and formed the Riga Governorate. It was formally ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721.

[edit] Governors-General

The dominion was ruled by appointed Governors-General, but retained its own diet.

[edit] See also