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Latgallians
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In Latvian, ''latgalieši'' (Latgalian: ''latgalīši'') refers to the ethnic Latvians of Latgale, whilst ''latgaļi'' (Latgalian: ''latgali'') refers to the ancient tribe, though the terms are confused in colloquial Latvian and some Latgalian Nationalists argue for the use of ''latgali'' to designate today's Latgalian speakers as a separate national or cultural group.


ANCIENT LATGALIANS

The ancient Latgalians lived in the central and the eastern parts of Latvia which are now known as Vidzeme and Latgale . Political divisions resulted in Vidzeme and Latgale developing separately from 1562 to 1917 .


MODERN LATGALIANS

During the first independence of Latvia ( 1920 - 1940 ), Latgale was the only region of Latvia with strong regional political parties. Although Latvian governments would mainly promote a united Latvian culture, especially after the coup by Kārlis Ulmanis in 1934, the Latgalian Language was also used. Books were published in Latgalian, it was taught in some schools, and people could choose to use Latgalian when communicating with the government.

The Soviet period severely damaged Latgallian culture. Publishing in Latgalian was banned. Latvian and Russian were the only recognized languages.

Latgalians continued to publish books and periodicals abroad. Publishing in Latgalian in Latvia resumed during the Third National Awakening in the late 1980s but is still rare. The Latgalian language is mostly used at home in rural areas and Latvian is overwhelmingly used in official use and in urban areas. Some government protection for Latgalian language is provided by the language law of 2000 which states that "the state guarantees the preservation, protection and development of the written Latgalian language as a historic form of the Latvian language."

Some Latgalians consider themselves to be an ethnic group separate from Latvians. The majority opinion is, however, that present-day Latgalians are a subgroup of the Latvians . The number of people who would identify themseleves as separate from Latvians is unknown because the Latvian government does not identify Latgalians as a separate group in census data.