Ventspils received its charter in 1314 and quickly became a vital node in the Hanseatic League's trading network. The city grew around its castle and port, merchants trafficking in the goods that flowed through Baltic commerce: amber, timber, metal goods, furs moving west while cloth and manufactured goods moved east. As part of the Duchy of Courland, shipbuilding flourished alongside metalworking and wood crafts. The port became so profitable that by 1913, under Russian Imperial control, it generated 130 million rubles annually. The population exploded from 7,000 in 1897 to 29,000 just sixteen years later - a boom built on oil and rail connections to Moscow.

Success attracted catastrophe. The Polish-Swedish War devastated Ventspils, and the Great Northern War finished what remained. Then came 1711 and the plague that killed most of the survivors. The city that had built colonial fleets lay nearly empty. Recovery came slowly - shipbuilding and trade only regained importance around 1850. But when the port modernized in the 1890s and rail lines connected it to the Russian interior, Ventspils transformed into one of Imperial Russia's most profitable harbors. German occupation from 1915 to 1919 halved the population again, though some returned during Latvia's first independence.

The Red Army established a base here in 1939, and World War II brought both Soviet and German occupation. Under Soviet rule, an oil pipeline made Ventspils the USSR's leading crude export port - black gold flowing through the same harbor where Duke Jacob's ships once loaded amber and timber. North of the city, a secret emerged: VIRAC, the Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre, a Soviet radioastronomy installation whose existence remained unknown to most Latvians until 1994. The massive dishes that once tracked satellites for Moscow now serve international science.

After independence, Latvia's government launched a city beautification campaign that transformed Ventspils into one of the country's most tourist-friendly destinations. The 2002 CowParade left lasting marks: cow sculptures scattered throughout the city, from the "Latvian Black Cow" on Ostas Street to "Ms. Moo-Dunk" the basketball cow near the Olympic Centre. The giant "Sailor Cow" stands at the Southern Pier dressed as a seafarer, while the suitcase-shaped "Travelling Cow" awaits visitors on the promenade. These whimsical bovines share space with 17th-century storehouses around Market Square and a dwelling house from 1646 - one of the oldest of its type in Latvia.

Ventspils holds an unlikely national record: the highest temperature ever recorded in Latvia, reached on August 4, 2014. This ice-free port, where winters hover just below freezing and the Baltic moderates summer heat, somehow produced the country's hottest day. The Olympic Centre offers basketball, ice hockey, track and field, and football facilities. The city's basketball team has won multiple Latvian championships and placed third in the North European Basketball League in 2001-2002. The Adventure Park transforms into Lemberga skiing hill each winter. From narrow-gauge trains to digital planetariums, from Sea Festivals in July to city birthday celebrations in August, Ventspils has rebuilt itself as a destination rather than merely a port.