From April to September 1916, battles were fought here, in which about 1000 Russian soldiers, 145 of them Latvian riflemen, died during the whole of World War I. At that time there was a peninsula 3 km long and 1.5 km wide on the left bank of the Daugava, officially known as the Ikšķile bridgehead fortifications, and its territory with the small Līve manor was part of the Kurzeme province. Soldiers called the site Death Island because every day one of the defenders of the fortifications was killed or wounded here.

In 1916, the German army used the poison gas mustard gas mustard gas on a massive scale here, the first poison gas attack on the Riga front.

Today, Death Island is no longer a peninsula, but an island, so it is accessible only by boat, raft or other means of water transport. There is a monument to the defenders of Death Island on the island. The tomb of the Seven Unknown Soldiers and the trenches are also nearby.

Inside the island there is a resting place with a dry toilet, picnic area and a fireplace.

Photo from the archives of Ķekava municipality.