Vangaži
Encyclopedia
Vangaži

Vangaži ( is a town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 in central 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...

.

History

The name Vangaži was first mentioned in the 17th century as the name of a local manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

. The name itself is a combination of two words in the Livonian
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...

 language - vang (field) and aži (place). Since the 17th century there was also a Lutheran church in Vangaži. Close to the modern town of Vangaži there were several manufactures which produced paper, glass and copper products.

The modern town started in the 1950s when the concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...

 factory was founded. In 1957 the village Oktobra ciemats was founded which in 1961 was renamed to Vangaži. In 1992 Vangaži was granted the status of a town.

Sports

From 1968 to 1991 Vangaži had a relatively strong football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 club - known at first as Celtnieks Vangaži, then renamed to Betons Vangaži. From 1989 to 1991 the club coached by Vladimirs Serbins played in the top Latvian football league
Virsliga
-Past Virslīga winners:-Top scorers:-Riga football league winners:* 1910 Union Riga* 1911 British FC Riga* 1912 Union Riga* 1913 British FC Riga* 1914 British FC Riga* 1915 British FC Riga-Champions of Latvia before Virslīga:* 1922 Ķeizarmežs...

. With the bankruptcy of the concrete factory the football club was disbanded. Latvia national football team
Latvia national football team
The Latvian national football team is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia and represents the country in international football competitions, such as the World Cup and the European Championships. So far, they have never qualified for a FIFA World...

 footballer Viktors Morozs
Viktors Morozs
Viktors Morozs is a football midfielder from Latvia, currently playing for PAEEK in the Cypriot Second Division. He also plays for Latvia national football team.Morozs made his debut for Latvia in a match against Azerbaijan on 6 July 2002, but he has not been called up to the national team...

 is the most notable footballer from Vangaži.

See also

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK