6. Riga, Latvia — 12.114 points
Coastal Riga was the target of a very specific crusade by the 13th century Catholic Church and Holy Roman Empire, which steamrolled many existing local traditions but also paved the way for Riga’s future as a prosperous port city. Ethnic Germans ruled both Latvia and Estonia for seven hundred years until being absorbed by the Russian Empire. Later, during its time as part of the Soviet Union, Riga was the birthplace of Mikhail Baryshnikov. He defected in the 1970s but Russians who remained in Latvia were not made citizens after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Their numbers in Riga are high but continue to decline, as does Riga’s overall population. Native Latvians are now the largest ethnic group in Riga.
