Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States by James B. Minahan

Author:James B. Minahan [Minahan, James B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781135940171
Google: wSBeAgAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 20309508
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1998-10-23T00:00:00+00:00

LITHUANIA

Republic of Lithuania; Lietuva; Lietuvos Respublika

CAPITAL: Vilnius

POPULATION: (98e) 3,754,000: 3,055,000 Lithuanians in Lithuania. MAJOR NATIONAL GROUPS: Lithuanian 81.4%, Russian 8.2%, Polish 6.9%, Belarussian 1.2%, Ukrainian 1%, Jew, Latvian, Tatar, Karaim, German. MAJOR LANGUAGES: Lithuanian, Russian, Polish. MAJOR RELIGIONS: Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Lutheran, Sunni Muslim. MAJOR CITIES: (98e) Vilnius 602,000 (648,000), Kaunas 438,000 (477,000), Klaipeda 214,000 (240,000), Siauliai 151,000 (185,000), Panezevys 133,000, Alytus 85,000, Marijampole (Kapsukas) 54,000, Taurage 32,000, Druskininkai 26,000, Palanga 23,000.

GEOGRAPHY: AREA: 25,174 sq.mi.-65,217 sq.km. LOCATION: Lithuania lies in northeastern Europe, bordering on the Baltic Sea. The country borders Latvia* on the north, Belarus* on the south and east, and Poland and the Russian oblast of Kaliningrad on the south. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY: Lithuania has very few natural resources other than agricultural land, which makes up about two-thirds of the land area, and forests, about a quarter of the territory. Lying on the rim of the Russian Plain, the country has only two elevated regions, separated by the Lithuanian Lowlands: a hilly country of lakes and bogs in the east, and the Samogitian Hills in the west. The principal river is the Nemunas or Niemen, with its two main tributaries. Neither of the upland regions reaches over 1,000 feet. Over 2,800 lakes are included in Lithuania’s national territory. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS: Forty-four rural regions or rajonai (singular—rajonas) and eleven municipalities. POLITICAL STATUS: Lithuania was recognized as an independent state in 1991.

INDEPENDENCE DECLARATIONS: 16 February 1918 (from Russia); 11 March 1990 (from the Soviet Union).

FLAG: The Lithuanian national flag, the official flag of the republic, is a horizontal tricolor of yellow, green, and red.

PEOPLE: The country is the most homogeneous of the three Baltic States, with the Lithuanian people making up about 80% of the total population. The Slavic community, made up mostly of Russians and Poles, also includes minorities of Ukrainians and Belarussians. A high proportion of the population, about 33%, lives in rural areas. As in Estonia and Latvia, immigration from other parts of the Soviet Union after the Soviet annexation of Lithuania in 1940 became government policy, leading to a very mixed population in the region.

Lithuanian—an estimated 81.4% of the population, numbering about 3,055,000.

The Lithuanians are a Baltic people closely related to the neighboring Latvians, the languages of the two peoples forming the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Lithuanians are the most numerous of the so-called Baltic peoples. They are devoutly Roman Catholic, with a small Lutheran minority in the north and an Orthodox minority concentrated in the cities.

The Lithuanian nation has historically been divided into four major groups and a number of subgroups that inhabited the national territory. The major groups, speaking dialects of the Lithuanian language, are the Aukstaiciai in the northeast, the Zemaiciai in the west, the Dzukai in the southeast, and the Suvalkieciai in the south.

The Lithuanian language is considered the closest to ancient Sanskrit, the basis of all the modern Indo-European languages. Written in the Roman alphabet, Lithuanian has a large number of dialects for such a small territory, including High

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