Riga county (, , ) was a historic county of the Duchy of Livonia, the Governorate of Livonia, and the Republic of Latvia which was dissolved during the administrative territorial reform of the Latvian SSR in 1949.
The first iteration of Riga County (distrikt) was formed in 1566 as a subdivision of the Duchy of Livonia of the PolishâÂÂLithuanian Commonwealth. After the Treaty of Drohiczyn Riga county merged into the Wenden Voivodeship (Wenden Presidency until 1598) of PolandâÂÂLIthuania in 1582.
The County of Riga was later restored in 1629 as a subdivision of Swedish Vidzeme as a consequence of the Truce of Altmark. After the incorporation of Livonia by the Russian Empire in 1721, it became one of the nine subdivisions of the Governorate of Livonia. Its capital was Riga, which was the capital of the governorate as well.
After the establishment of the Republic of Latvia in 1918, the Rëgas aprià Â÷is was expanded in 1924 with parts of Bauska county (Baldone Parish, Lëve-Bramberga Parish, Tome Parish) and Linde Parish of Jaunjelgava county. The city of Riga (Rëgas pilsÃÂta) was considered as a separate first-level municipality.
In 1949, during the Soviet occupation, the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR abolished counties and split the Rëgas aprià Â÷is into of Riga, Baldone (dissolved in 1959), Saulkrasti (dissolved in 1956) and Sigulda districts (dissolved in 1962). The city of Riga remained as a separate "city of republican significance" ().
At the time of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, County of Riga (Kreis Riga) had a population of 396,101. Of these, 58.2% spoke Latvian, 18.2% German, 11.9% Russian, 4.7% Yiddish, 3.5% Polish, 1.6% Lithuanian, 1.1% Estonian, 0.2% Belarusian, 0.1% Tatar, 0.1% Ukrainian, 0.1% English and 0.1% French as their native language.