Līva (river)
Encyclopedia
Līva was a famous river in Kurzeme
Kurzeme
Kurzeme is the Latvian name for Courland, a historical region of Latvia.It may also refer to:* Kurzeme District, Riga, an administrative district of Riga, Latvia* Kurzeme Region, a planning region of Latvia...

 in today Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

. It was located between the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 and Liepāja Lake
Liepaja lake
Lake of Liepāja — the fifth-largest lake in Latvia, located near Liepāja in Liepāja district.Total area of the lake - 37,15 km2, length - 16.2 km, average depth - 2.0 m, coastal line length - 44.6 km....

 and had a length about 6 kilometers and a width near the mouth about 50 meters. The source of the Līva was located in Liepāja Lake
Liepaja lake
Lake of Liepāja — the fifth-largest lake in Latvia, located near Liepāja in Liepāja district.Total area of the lake - 37,15 km2, length - 16.2 km, average depth - 2.0 m, coastal line length - 44.6 km....

 near the former Pērkone river. The place where Līva felt into the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

 was located approximately on the place of today Northern harbor in Liepāja
Liepaja
Liepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...

. The river had one known island Perkunen , it was located near the source of the river. The Līva served as a water trade way to the Grobiņa
Grobina
Grobiņa is a town in western Latvia, eleven kilometers east of Liepāja. It was founded by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. Some ruins of their Grobina castle are still visible. The town was given its charter in 1695....

 via the Liepāja Lake
Liepaja lake
Lake of Liepāja — the fifth-largest lake in Latvia, located near Liepāja in Liepāja district.Total area of the lake - 37,15 km2, length - 16.2 km, average depth - 2.0 m, coastal line length - 44.6 km....

 and the port was located on it. The original suburb with a name Līva was located in the distance of about 1 kilometer from the mouth of the river on the both sides of it. The old name for the city Liepāja descent from the name of the river and for the centuries was associated with it. The part of the river near the mouth had become too shallow by the end of 15th century. In 16th century the first Līva channel was dug up between Līva and Baltic Sea with a length about 780 meters and a width of 50 meters. In 1697-1703 the new Trade channel was dug up and few years later river was filled up.

Etymology

The German name Lyva derived from Livonian language
Livonian language
Livonian belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic languages. It is a nearly extinct language, with one of its last native speakers having died in February 2009. It is closely related to Estonian...

 liiv — sand. The other sources offer alternative etymology for the name, Liva is the old name of Liepāja Lake
Liepaja lake
Lake of Liepāja — the fifth-largest lake in Latvia, located near Liepāja in Liepāja district.Total area of the lake - 37,15 km2, length - 16.2 km, average depth - 2.0 m, coastal line length - 44.6 km....

 or a derivative from the Mari language
Mari language
The Mari language , spoken by more than 600,000 people, belongs to the Uralic language family. It is spoken primarily in the Mari Republic of the Russian Federation as well as in the area along the Vyatka river basin and eastwards to the Urals...

 lya (lyva) — sand shore, sand spit. The name is also very similar to the German word fo the love — liebe.

History

The territory of the present day Latvia was cleared from the ice in about 8000 BC, in the same period the river was formed. The territory near the river, on the present territory of Liepāja
Liepaja
Liepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...

 was populated by the Baltic-Slavic Venedi tribes (West-Baltic barrow culture) from the 1 millennium BC. Līva was not mentioned by the Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

 among the rivers of Latvia known to Romans – Rudon, Turuntes and Chesinos. Later, after the 5th century the territory near the Liepāja Lake
Liepaja lake
Lake of Liepāja — the fifth-largest lake in Latvia, located near Liepāja in Liepāja district.Total area of the lake - 37,15 km2, length - 16.2 km, average depth - 2.0 m, coastal line length - 44.6 km....

 was inhabited by the Curonians
Curonians
The Curonians or Kurs were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic sea in what are now the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania from the 5th to the 16th centuries, when they merged with other Baltic tribes. They gave their name to the region of Courland , and they spoke the Old...

 (Letts) and was Danish colony. The first known source mentioning people visited neighborhood of the river are found in Rimbert
Rimbert
Saint Rimbert was archbishop of Bremen-Hamburg from 865 until his death.A monk in Turholt , he shared a missionary trip to Scandinavia with his friend Ansgar, whom he later succeeded as archbishop in Hamburg-Bremen in 865...

's Vita Ansgari
Vita Ansgari
Vita Ansgari is the biography of Ansgar, written by Rimbert, his successor as archbishop in Hamburg-Bremen. Written in about 875 CE, the Vita is an important source in not only detailing Ansgar's missionary work in Scandinavia but in its descriptions of the everyday lives of people during the...

 when the Olof (I) of Sweden
Olof (I) of Sweden
Olof was king in Sweden when Catholic missionary St. Ansgar made his second voyage from Germany to the Swedish city of Birka in the year 854 A.D....

 begin a war with the Curonians
Curonians
The Curonians or Kurs were a Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic sea in what are now the western parts of Latvia and Lithuania from the 5th to the 16th centuries, when they merged with other Baltic tribes. They gave their name to the region of Courland , and they spoke the Old...

 in 856 AD, after the war the territory come to the control of Swedes. The name Līva for the first time was mentioned in 1263. In 1424 year the river was described by the French knight Guillebert de Lannoy. In 1581 Prussian land surveyor Alhier Wrenfoß draw up the first map where the river Līva was shown.

Descriptions

The earliest known written document mentioned name Līva in 1263, in which was prohibited to build dams on the river. Līva was also mentioned in the documents about lending of the territory of the Perkunen island by the Courland bishop Otto to the Vedig fon Sacken in 1384, where the river was named spring.
Some historical documents about earlier period of the Līva river and the city Liepāja are found in Lehnbriefs acts, written in Latin language and are available from the Marburg
Marburg
Marburg is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany, on the River Lahn. It is the main town of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district and its population, as of March 2010, was 79,911.- Founding and early history :...

 Herder Institute, mostly in the Bauer’s German translation of the 16th century and are stored in Geheime Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz managed by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation , headquartered in Berlin, Germany, is one of the largest cultural institutions in the world. It was founded by a West German federal law passed on 25 July 1957, with the mission to acquire and protect the cultural legacy of the former state of Prussia...

.

Misinterpretations

For the long time the name Līva was incorrectly associated with northern sleeve of the delta of the river Bārta
Barta
The meaning of the word Barta, is almost the same as the word Barter, which mean "buying" products or services with other products or services....

 between Liepāja Lake
Liepaja lake
Lake of Liepāja — the fifth-largest lake in Latvia, located near Liepāja in Liepāja district.Total area of the lake - 37,15 km2, length - 16.2 km, average depth - 2.0 m, coastal line length - 44.6 km....

 and Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...

. It was mentioned several times by the different travelers and historians of the Medieval Ages, especially by Eberhard von Zeine and Burkhard von Hornhausen and Guillebert de Lannoy
Guillebert de Lannoy
Guillebert de Lannoy , was a Flemish traveler and diplomat, chamberlain to the duke of Burgundy, governor of the fort of Sluys, and a knight of the Golden Fleece....

 in 1423-1424. The other incorrect opinion that the Amber Route was passed near the river, it was probably passed near the river Bārta.

Today remains

On the former river flow near the Dienvidrietumu rajons in Liepāja in the 20th century was dug up a pond similar to the mouthpiece. In the port of Liepāja are located two memorial stones marking the former bed of the river. On the place of the former channel of Līva in the ninetinth century was built a Swan Pond with the rotunda
Rotunda (architecture)
A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...

on the small island , the famous tourist place in Liepaja. Also a Līvu beer is produced.

Other rivers with the similar names

  • Liwa is a river in Poland. It’s source is located in the Gaudy Lake near the city Kaminiec, it flow through Liwieniec Lake near Prabuty in Poland and fall into river Nogat.
  • Liva is a river in the Murmansk Region of Russia, the source is located in the Kolka region, flows trough Livozero, falls into Verhnee Chalmozero.
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