Aizputes apriņķis

Aizpute County (Aizputes apriņķis; Kreis Hasenpoth, Газенпотскій уѣздъ) was a historic county of the Courland Governorate and of the Republic of Latvia. Its capital was Aizpute (Hasenpoth).

History
Created as the Chief Captaincy of Aizpute (Oberhauptmannschaft Hasenpoth) in 1819 was from southwestern parts of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia and District of Pilten after incorporation into the Russian Empire. In 1864, County of Aizpute (Kreis Hasenpoth) became one of the ten counties of the Courland Governorate.

After establishment of the Republic of Latvia in 1918, the Aizputes apriņķis existed until 1949, when the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR split it into the newly created districts (rajons) of Aizpute (dissolved in 1962) and Alsunga (dissolved in 1956).

Demographics
At the time of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, Kreis Hasenpoth had a population of 53,209. Of these, 90.4% spoke Latvian, 5.4% German, 2.5% Yiddish, 1.0% Lithuanian, 0.4% Russian, 0.2% Polish and 0.1% Romani as their native language.