Background
Krišjānis Valdemārs was born in December 2, 1825 at "Vecjunkuri" homestead, Ārlava parish (now Valdgale parish, Courland, Latvia). He was the son of a Lutheran curate Mārtiņš Valdemārs.
Krišjānis Valdemārs was born in December 2, 1825 at "Vecjunkuri" homestead, Ārlava parish (now Valdgale parish, Courland, Latvia). He was the son of a Lutheran curate Mārtiņš Valdemārs.
He graduated from local parish school and worked as a teacher in Sasmaka (now Valdemārpils). In 1854 he graduated from gymnasium in Liepāja and started his studies at the University of Tartu (then Dorpat).
Later he worked as a parish secretary in Rundāle and Ēdole parish. His main subject and interest were economics. While studying he became known with first public declaration of nationality.
He affixed a carte de visite to his door that read "C. Woldemar studies cam.
Valdemārs is seen as the spiritual father of the Awakening. With Juris Alunāns, he led Latvian student gatherings while in Tartu and advocated the study of folklore.
After graduation in 1858 he moved to Street.Petersburg and worked as a clerk in Ministry of Finance. Also he was a correspondent in local German language newspaper "Saint Petersburgische Zeitung".
In 1862 he became editor and main publisher of the Latvian newspaper Pēterburgas Avīzes which was hitherto the most radical Latvian newspaper.
lieutenant strongly opposed Baltic German rule and the remnants of feudalism in Baltic provinces. The newspaper became the main platform for Young Latvian ideas. lieutenant was closed by Russian authorities in 1865.
In 1864 Valdemārs helped establish the first Latvian naval school in Ainaži.
Many other Latvian naval schools was established during the next years in the coastal towns of Latvia. lieutenant had big influence on local economy and culture because hundreds of Latvian peasant sons had a chance to get education for free and become captains or steersman"son
lieutenant led to the Age of a sailers in Latvia as active shipbuilding started in coastal towns and villages and those Latvian built, Latvian owned and crewed ships became the first national merchant fleet which was even involved in transport-Atlantic voyages. In later life Valdemārs was mostly involved in polemics with Baltic Germans, popularized seafaring and edited the first Latvian naval dictionary.
Valdemārs died on 7 December 1891 in Moscow.
He is buried at the Riga Great Cemetery. One of the main streets in Riga is named after him.
Latweetis." At the time, it was almost unheard of for an educated person to call himself a Latvian. Education meant Germanisation, and Valdemārs" act has been compared with Martin Luther"s posting of the 95 Theses at the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg in its importance for Latvian nationalism.