Latvia · Regions series: Zemgale Region

Zemgale, also known in German as Semgallen, is a historical region in southern Latvia on the border with Lithuania. It is one of the four regions comprising the territory of the Latvian state according to the constitution. However, the cultural and historical region is not identical to any present-day administrative unit. Its centre is Jelgava; geographically, Zemgale is characterised above all by extensive, fertile plains and a long history of agricultural use.

The name derives from the Semigallians (Semgallen), a Baltic population group that lived in the territory of present-day Latvia and Lithuania in the Middle Ages. During the Northern Crusades, the Semigallians long resisted the Teutonic Order (Deutscher Orden) and its allies. In the early modern period, the area belonged to the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (Herzogtum Kurland und Semgallen), which was established in 1561 and held as a fief under the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Jelgava, then known by the German name Mitau, was the residence of the dukes. After the end of the duchy, the region came under Russian rule in the late 18th century. Since the foundation of the independent Latvian state in 1918, Zemgale has been part of Latvia.

The heraldic emblem of the region is a silver elk on a blue background. The elk does not serve as the coat of arms of a single city, but as a symbol of the historical region. Such regional coats of arms were established in Latvia during the interwar period and subsequently enshrined in law again after the restoration of state independence.

The issue formed part of a Latvian coin series dedicated to the historical and cultural regions of Vidzeme, Kurzeme, Latgale and Zemgale. The series was connected with the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia in 1918. Zemgale concluded the series in 2018. Thus, the state anniversary was represented not only through key political events, but also through the regional components of Latvian statehood.