Līva

Līva (German: Lyva, Lyua, Libau) was a famous river in Kurzeme in today's Latvia. It was located between the Baltic Sea and Liepāja Lake and had a length of about 6 kilometres and a width near the mouth of about 50 metres. The source of the Līva was located in Liepāja Lake near the former Pērkone river. The place where the Līva fell into the Baltic Sea was located approximately at the site of today's northern harbour in Liepāja. The river had one known island, Perkunen (Latvian: Pērkona galva); it was located near the source of the river. The Līva served as a water trade way to Grobiņa via the Liepāja lake and the port was located on it. The original suburb with a name Līva was located about 1 kilometre from the mouth of the river on both sides of it. The old name for the city Liepāja descends from the name of the river and for the centuries was associated with it. The part of the river near the mouth had become too shallow by the end of the 15th century. In the 16th century, the first Līva channel was dug up between Līva and Baltic Sea with a length of about 780 metres and a width of 50 metres. In 1697–1703, the new Trade channel was dug up and few years later the river was filled up.

Levice

Levice (Slovak pronunciation: [lɛvit͡sɛ]; Hungarian: Léva, Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈleːvɒ]; German: Lewenz; Turkish: Leva, literally lionesses) is a town in western Slovakia. The town lies on the left bank of the lower Hron river. The Old Slavic name of the town was Leva, which means "the Left One".

The town is located in the north-eastern corner of the Danubian Lowland (Podunajská nížina), 110 km east of Bratislava, 40 km south-east of Nitra, 32 km south-west of Banská Štiavnica, 55 km south-west of Zvolen and 25 km from the border with Hungary.

It is the capital of the Levice District, which is the largest district in Slovakia at 1,551 km². The town's heraldic animal is lion (in Slovak lev), and the town's colours are green and yellow.

History

Levice is first mentioned as Leua, one of the villages belonging to the parish of St. Martin's Church in Bratka (Hungarian: Baratka) in 1165. It was part of the comitatus Tekov (Bars).

First attacked by the Turks in 1544, the town was set on fire while the castle was left unharmed. The town was held by the Turks for two decades from 1663 to 1685. Under the Ottoman administration Leva was the center of a sandjak, which was part of the Uyvar eyalet.