Vends

The Vends (; ; ) were a Balto-Finnic people that lived between the 12th to 16th centuries in the area around the town of Wenden (now Cēsis) in present-day north-central Latvia.

According to the Livonian Chronicle of Henry, prior to their arrival in the area of Wenden in the 12th century, the Vends were settled in Ventava county () by the Venta River near the present city of Ventspils in western Latvia. Their proximity to more numerous Finnic and Baltic tribes inclined the Vends to ally with the German crusaders, who began building a stone castle near the older Vendian wooden fortress in 1207. The castle of Wenden later became the residence of the Master of the Livonian Order. The last known record of the Vends' existence as a distinct entity dates from the sixteenth century.