Liepāja

Liepāja (Russian, Liyepaya; German, Libau), town in Latvia, an important ice-free port on the Baltic Sea. Its factories produce steel, machinery, and processed food. Liepāja, founded in 1263 as a fortress of the Teutonic Knights, passed to Lithuania in 1418 and to Prussia in 1560; it was captured by Charles XII of Sweden in 1701 and annexed by Russia in 1795. The city was part of independent Latvia from 1918 to 1940, when it was annexed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). German troops held the city from 1941 to 1944. Liepāja again became part of Latvia when the latter gained its independence in 1991. Population 86,496 (2004 estimate).