Close contact among the so-called Eastern Balts (the Latvians with the Lithuanians as well) had been considerably weakened since 1290 as a result of the conquest of Latvian territory by the German Knights of the Sword.

The Latvian (Latgalian) people achieve a separate identity around the sixteenth century, when they completely assimilate the other Balts, as well as a greater part of the Livs (also called Livonians, Livians), who are of Finnic descent and live on Latvian territory.

The first Latvian book is the Catechismus Catholicorum of 1585.