Latvia is in the middle of the three Baltic countries.  Estonia lies to the north, Russia to the east, Belarus to the southeast and Lithuania to the south.  On the west is the Baltic Sea and the large Gulf of Riga.
     Latvia was briefly independent between World War I and II.  Like Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia was annexed by the Soviet Union early in World War II.  Within a year Germany invaded.  After World War II Latvia remained a part of the Soviet Union until it collapsed in 1991.  The last Russian troops left in 1994 and Latvia joined NATO and the EU in 2004.