Home to , inhabitants, the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga metropolitan area , which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at , as of Riga's territory covers Riga was founded in , and is a former Hanseatic League member. In , it was named as the European Region of Gastronomy.
In , Riga received over 1. The precise origin of the name is unknown; however, there are numerous and speculative theories for the origin of the name Riga :. However, the most reliably documented explanation is the affirmation by German historian Dionysius Fabricius that Riga's name comes from its already established role in trade: [ 22 ] "Riga obtained its name from the buildings or warehouses found in great number along the banks of the Duna, which the Livs in their own language are accustomed to call Riae".
English geographer Richard Hakluyt corroborates this account, calling Riga as Rie , as pronounced in Old Latvian.
The river Daugava has been a trade route since antiquity, part of the Vikings' Dvina—Dnieper navigation route to Byzantium. Riga began to develop as a centre of Viking trade during the early Middle Ages. The Livonian Chronicle of Henry testifies to Riga having long been a trading centre by the 12th century, referring to it as portus antiquus ancient port , and describes dwellings and warehouses used to store mostly flax, and hides.
Along with German traders the monk Meinhard of Segeberg [ 26 ] arrived to convert the Livonian pagans to Christianity. Catholic and Orthodox Christianity had already arrived in Latvia more than a century earlier, and many Latvians had been baptized.
