{{Short description|18th–20th century county in Latvia}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Valka County | native_name = {{ubl|{{lang|lv|Valkas apriņķis}}|{{lang|de|Kreis Walk}}|{{lang|ru|Валкскій уѣздъ}}}} | settlement_type = County | image_map = Valkas apriņķis 1940.svg | mapsize = 225px | map_caption = Valkas apriņķis within Latvia in 1940 | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{ubl|Russian Empire|Latvia}} | subdivision_type1 = Russian Governorate | subdivision_name1 = Livonia | established_title = Established | established_date = 1745 | extinct_title = Abolished | extinct_date = 1949 | seat_type = Capital | seat = Valka (Walk) | area_total_km2 = 6030.25 | population_as_of = 1897 | population_total = 120,585 | population_density_km2 = auto }} [[File:Liflandia Governorate Valksky uezd.svg|thumb|Valka county within the Governorate of Livonia]] [[File:Atlas von Liefland 4.tif|thumb|Valkas apriņķis (''Walksche Kreis'') on the map of Ludwig August Mellin (1798)]] '''Valka county''' ({{langx|lv|Valkas apriņķis}}; {{Langx|de|Kreis Walk}}, {{Langx|ru|label=Russian|Валкскій уѣздъ|Valkskiy uyezd}}) was a historic county in the Governorate of Livonia, and in the Republic of Latvia dissolved during the administrative territorial reform of the Latvian SSR in 1949. Its capital was Valka (''Walk'').
== History == The county of Valka was created during the administrative territorial reform of the Governorate of Riga in 1783 by merging of parishes from the preexisting Kreis Riga and Kreis Wenden.
After the establishment of the Republic of Latvia in 1918, the ''Valkas apriņķis''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.letonika.lv/groups/default.aspx?q=apri%C5%86%C4%B7is&s=0&g=2&r=10621033|title=Letonika.lv. Vārdnīcas - Latviešu—angļu vārdnīca. Apriņķis = district or county|website=www.letonika.lv|access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref> existed until 1949, when the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR split it into the newly created districts (''rajons'') of Valka and Smiltene (dissolved in 1959).
==Demographics== At the time of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, the county had a population of 120,585. Of these, 87.9% spoke Latvian, 7.2% Estonian, 2.1% German, 1.3% Russian, 1.1% Yiddish, 0.2% Polish and 0.1% Romani as their native language.<ref>[http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97_uezd.php?reg=732 Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г.]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Kreis Walk}}
{{List of former Latvian counties and districts}}
{{Authority control}}
{{coord missing|Latvia}}
Category:Counties of Latvia Category:Uezds of the Governorate of Livonia Category:Valka county
{{Estonia-hist-stub}} {{Latvia-hist-stub}}