The fertile Zemgale Plain

Zemgale

Listen to the landscape

In Zemgale, the climate is drier and there are more sunny days than elsewhere in Latvia. The fertile brown soil and climatic conditions favour the development of agriculture, the region’s pride and symbol. Many people associate the Zemgale Plain with rippling fields of golden wheat, rye and barley. The greenery of the Zemgale Plain – avenues of willow or ash, birch groves and towering oaks – is also appealing. Zemgale’s broad-leaved forests intermingle with meadows and are just as characteristic as the cultivated fields. The flat terrain and loamy, impermeable rocks have given rise to Latvia’s densest network of rivers, and Lielupe also calmly flows through Zemgale.

Latvia’s first President, Jānis Čakste, and fourth President, and several-time Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis were born on the Zemgale Plain. Vilis Plūdonis, Anna Brigadere and other noteworthy Latvian writers and poets were also born in Zemgale.