Aizkraukle is a town in Vidzeme

Vidzeme

Vidzeme is one of the historical and cultural regions of Latvia. Literally meaning "the Middle Land" it is situated in north-central Latvia north of the Daugava River...

 region in Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

, the administrative centre of Aizkraukle municipality

Aizkraukle municipality

Aizkraukle municipality is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2001 by merging town Aizkraukle and Aizkraukle parish the administrative centre being Aizkraukle.- References :...

 on the right bank of the Daugava River.

History

Aizkraukle before the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 was formerly known by its German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 name of Ascheraden. The ancient hillfort of Livs was used by the German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 knights for the building of Aizkraukle Castle

Aizkraukle Castle

Aizkraukle Castle - ruins of a medieval castle, located on the right bank of the river Daugava in Latvia west from the modern town of Aizkraukle, in Aizkraukle region. The castle has been built in second half of 14th century by Livonian Order. From 1334-1480 it was the seat of a Komtur.In 1559,...

 in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, of which some ruins still remain.

The present town of Aizkraukle was built in the 1960s as a village for the builders of the nearby hydroelectric power plant of Pļaviņas

Plavinas

Pļaviņas is a town in Latvia. The town is located on the Daugava river.-See also:*List of cities in Latvia*Pļaviņas municipality...

. It became a town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 and the centre of the later Aizkraukle District

Aizkraukle District

Aizkraukle District was an administrative division of Latvia, located in Vidzeme and Selonia regions, in the country's centre.Districts were eliminated during the administrative-territorial reform in 2009.-References:...

 in 1967. It was initially named Stučka (after a Latvian communist

Peteris Stucka

Pēteris Stučka, sometimes spelt Pyotr Ivanovich Stuchka ; b. in Koknese parish, Governorate of Livonia — d. January 25, 1932 in Moscow) was the head of the Bolshevik government in Latvia during the Latvian War of Independence, one of the leaders of the New Current movement in the late 19th...

) during the Soviet era. In 1991 it was renamed Aizkraukle, the historical local name.

General industries in the area are: power generation, woodworking, printing and agriculture.

In 2004 Aizkraukle was awarded "The tidiest town in Latvia 2004" in its size group.

See also

List of cities in Latvia