Latvian is one of only two surviving Baltic languages, the other being Lithuanian, both belonging to the Indo-European family. It evolved from ancient Baltic dialects spoken along the eastern Baltic coast and absorbed significant influences from Livonian (a Finno-Ugric language), German, and later Russian over centuries of foreign rule. Written Latvian appeared in the 16th century with religious texts produced by German Lutheran clergy, but standardisation of the modern language occurred primarily in the 19th century during the Latvian National Awakening. Soviet occupation from 1940 to 1991 led to large-scale Russian immigration, making Russian a dominant second language. Latvian was re-established as the sole official state language following independence in 1991.
