Buļļi or Rītabuļļi is a neighbourhood of Riga, the capital of Latvia. The Western area is known as Vakarbuļļi. The boundaries of the Buļļi neighborhood are the Riga city border, the Gulf of Riga, the trail leading to the Gulf of Riga, Dzintara Street, an imaginary parallel line to Roņu Street, Buļļupe. The Buļļi neighborhood is located in the extreme Northwest corner of Riga on Buļļi Island. It borders the Daugavgrīva and Kleisti neighborhoods, as well as Jūrmala city, although by land the only connection to this neighborhood is with Daugavgrīva. Administratively, this neighborhood is located in the Kurzeme District, Riga. The area of the neighborhood is . Buļļi contains the Vakarbuļļi swimming location, which is an important recreational spot for Riga residents and in 2009 was the only swimming location in the territory of Riga, which has been awarded the Blue Flag beach designation. History The Daugavgrīva (Buļļi) island has had a complicated history of formation – during the geological and geographical changes of the territory, which are related to the changes of the Lielupe and Daugava beds, Buļļupe was formed. Buļļupe, also called Buldurupe, is the old bed of the Lielupe, downstream to its former confluence with Daugava. Until the 17th century, the Lielupe did not have its own estuary. During the 1697 spring floods, when an ice block formed in the mouth of the Daugava, the waters of the Lielupe dug a new bed into the sea – they broke the dune strip of the current Buļļi or Daugavgrīva island in the middle (in the current Rītabuļļi district from Daugavgrīva), creating a new bed, along which flows directly into The Gulf of Riga. The said estuary was called Ziemeļupe, also called Jāņupe. However, over time, the new estuary became clogged (it existed for less than 100 years), and near the Daugavgrīva seaside dune strip on the land side formed the current bay – Ziemeļupe. Again in 1709 and 1759 Lielupe (where the Ziemeļupe bay is located) broke Daugavgrīva island at the present-time location of Rītabuļļi and Daugavgrīva, which was in addition to the Lielupe drainage into the sea, however, that drainage gradually became clogged until it was later artificially filled. In 1755 (or 1757, according to different sources), in the regular spring floods, the Lielupe broke the dune strip at Vārnu pub and flowed into the sea near Stirnurags (a long, narrow island appeared), as a result