Jēkabpils

Jēkabpils lies on the Daugava, opposite Krustpils and its castle on the northern bank. The castle was founded by the bishop of Riga in 1237, near an older Latgalian trading centre. Across the river, a settlement grew around the Sala inn, attracting Russian Old Believers who had fled religious persecution.

Duke Jacob of Courland granted the settlement town rights in 1670, and it took the name Jēkabmiests in his honour. A small port served an iron foundry, while foundries and other local workshops supplied the duke's wider enterprises. In 1704 a Swedish army defeated a larger Russian force near the town during the Great Northern War. River trade later revived, bringing grain, honey and other goods downstream; a ferry to Krustpils opened in 1764.