Kuldīga county

Kuldīga county (Latvian: Kuldīgas apriņķis, German: Kreis Goldingen, Russian: Гольдингенский уезд) was a historic county of the Courland Governorate and of the Republic of Latvia.

The Chief Captaincy of Kuldīga (German: Oberhauptmannschaft Goldingen) was founded in 1617 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia.

After establishment of the Republic of Latvia in 1918, the Kuldīgas apriņķis[1] existed until 1949, when the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR split it into the newly created districts (rajons) of Kuldīga, Saldus, Auce (dissolved in 1959) and Skrunda (dissolved in 1959).

At the time of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, Kreis Goldingen had a population of 66,335.

Of these, 86.6% spoke Latvian, 8.5% German, 4.0% Yiddish, 0.3% Lithuanian, 0.3% Romani, 0.2% Russian and 0.1% Polish as their native language.

Kuldīgas apriņķis on the map of Latvia (1938).
Goldingen County on the map of Courland Governorate (1820).