Latgalians (also letgali, leti) – an Easter Balt tribe, that, judging by the archeological data, can be traced back in the modern-day Latvian territory since the 6th – 7th century, but in the written sources they are mentioned starting the 11th century. (In the Nestor chronic in Ancient Russian Летьгола, In the Livonian Chronicle of Henry – Lethi, Lethigalli). A view holds that after the separation from the Samogitian, Semigallian, Selonian and Latgalian tribe communities (5th century) Latgalians lived in the modern-day Lithuanian North-East, Belarussian North, Zemgale’s East and Latgale’s South territories, but in the 12th century they reached the modern-day Eastern part of Vidzeme and Latgale. The Latgalian Eastern border was the river Velikaya. The Latgalian cultural signs have been found in castle mounds and in burial-grounds. Nowadays the Ancient Latgalians are significant as:
1. The base of Latvian ethnic genesis.
2. A symbol of statehood.
3. A source of ancient traditions. Latgalians as the biggest Balt ethnos (merging together with other Balts (the Semigallians, Selonians and Curonians) and Fenno-Ugrians (the Livonians)) had a determinative role in the development process of the Latvian people in the period of 13th – 16th centuries.