LIEPAJA

German Libau, Russian Libava, city and port, Latvia, on the west (Baltic Sea) coast at the northern end of Lake Liepaja. First recorded in 1253, when it was a small Kurish settlement, Liepaja was the site of a fortress built by the Knights of the Teutonic Order in 1263. It was created a town in 1625, and in 16971703 a canal was cut to the sea and a port was built. In 1701, during the Great Northern War, Liepaja was captured by Charles XII of Sweden, but the end of the war saw the city in Polish possession. It was taken by Russia in the Third Partition of Poland, in 1795. Liepaja's importance as a port, especially for grain export, was greatly stimulated in 1876 by the construction of the railway from Romny in the Ukraine. In 1893 a naval port was built, and its function as a naval base persisted through World Wars I and II, when the city suffered heavy damage, to the present. Modern Liepaja has important industries, producing steel, agricultural machinery, linoleum, sugar, canned fish, textiles, and footwear. It is a deep-sea fishing base and has several schools including a college of navigation and a branch of the Riga Polytechnic Institute. Pop. (1989 prelim.) 114,000.