Sēlpils

Selpils occupies a historic position beside the Daugava, a river that connected the Baltic coast with inland eastern Europe. The surrounding Selonian country supported farming and local exchange, while the river offered both commercial opportunities and a route for military expansion. Medieval fortifications expressed the importance of controlling crossings and movement along the water. Local communities encountered the institutions brought by crusading conquest and the political order of Livonia.

The Livonian Order built a stronghold at Sēlpils after the conquest of the Selonian site. A town developed by the early seventeenth century and traded along the Daugava. During the Great Northern War, Swedish forces destroyed the castle in 1704; the military devastation contributed to the decline of the trading centre.