Daugavpils
[key], Ger. Dünaburg, city, SE Latvia, on the
Western Dvina River. It is a rail junction and commercial center. The city's
industries produce lumber, food products, electric machinery, and textiles.
It was founded (1278) by the Livonian Knights and became a strategic
fortress. Passing (1561) to the combined kingdom of Lithuania and Poland, it
was ceded to Russia in the first partition of Poland (1772). Daugavpils was
a flourishing trade center until World War I. In independent Latvia
(1918–40) it was the capital of Latgale prov. Its former
(1893–1920) Russian name was Dvinsk.
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