Daugavpils

City in eastern Latvia on the River Daugava (Western Dvina), 175 km/109 mi southeast of Riga; population (2000) 115,300. A fortress of the Teutonic Knights from 1278, it became the capital of Polish Livonia (a former independent region until 1583, comprising most of present-day Latvia and Estonia). The city is an important railway junction, and its industries include timber, engineering, and the manufacture of textiles and food products.

Under Russian control (prior to 1920 and from 1944–91, Daugavpils was known as Dvinsk. In the twenty years of Latvian inter-war independence (1920–40), it was called Latgale, and during the Nazi occupation (1941–44) Dünaburg.