Livonia

Livonia (Livonian: Līvõmō, Estonian: Liivimaa, German and Scandinavian languages: Livland, Latvian and Lithuanian: Livonija, Polish: Inflanty, archaic English Livland,Liwlandia; Russian: Лифляндия / Liflyandiya), a historic region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, was once the land of the Finnic Livonians inhabiting the principal ancient Livonian County Metsepole with its center at Turaida (in present-day Latvia). The most prominent ruler of ancient Livonia, Caupo of Turaida, died in 1217.

During the Livonian Crusade (1193–1290) the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, known as the Livonian Order from 1237, colonized ancient Livonia. The name Livonia came to designate a much broader territory: Terra Mariana on the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea, in the present-day Latvia and Estonia. It bordered on the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland in the north-west, Lake Peipus and Russia to the east, and Lithuania to the south.