Alexandra Groot-Koerkamp B00498420

Where is Lithuania?  How does present-day Lithuania differ geographically from the Lithuania of the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries?

Lithuania is found in North-east Europe, it is primarily surrounded by land known as Russia, Poland, Belarus, and Latvia. Its western coast is found along the eastern part of the Baltic Sea.  Lithuania’s Terrain is diverse from lowland plains to hills, rivers, lakes, and coastline.  This country that has a profound diversity in terrain, languages as well as cultures is home to approximately 3,415,000 people and has a geographical area of 65,200 km.  Its capital city Vilnius, founded by The Grand Duke Gediminas in 1387, has a population of about 549,000 citizens.  Lithuania has a long deep history of art, architecture and politics, although Lithuania today is indeed a democratic society that was not always the case.

Lithuania has been around for thousands of years and no one is quite sure when it became a country, however, it was first documented in the Annales Quedlinburgenses in 1009 A.D.  From the beginning of its documentation until 1447 Lithuania was ruled by the monarchies. In 1447, Lithuania and Poland became permanent allies but it wasn’t until 1501 that Alexander the Great.  Around the end of the 18^th century Poland became part of Russia and Lithuania also became a part of Russia, however, a small part of Lithuania was given to Prussia.  In 1905, Lithuania became an independent nation once again.

Unfortunately, their independence did not last long. In 1914, at the start of world war one Lithuania was invaded by Germany. Luckily, after the war in 1918, Lithuania declared themselves an independent nation once again. Lithuania held it independence until world war two where its occupation by the Germans and Soviets changed quite frequently.  In 1944, Lithuania became part of the Soviet Republic and remained part of the Soviet Republic until 1991, when Lithuania was granted once again its independence.

Today, Lithuania is a democratic society; its vibrant past has given it a magnificent diversity in language, culture, art and architecture. Today, in the city of Vilnius one can see architecture from almost every century, and one can visualise the evolution of Lithuania as a nation!

Works Cited

"Background Note: Lithuania." U.S. Department of State. Aug. 2007. Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. 04 Oct. 2007 <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5379.htm>. 

"History." Information About Lituania. 26 Feb. 2003. 01 Oct. 2007 <http://neris.mii.lt/history/history.html>. 

"Lithuania." National Geographic 2004. 01 Oct. 2007 <http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_lithuania.html>. 

Ramunas, B. "History." Lithuania. 2007. Microsoft and Encarta. 4 Oct. 2007 <http://www2.omnitel.net/ramunas/Lietuva/lt_history.shtml>. 

"Vilnius." Vilnius. 28 May 1999. 01 Oct. 2007 <http://neris.mii.lt/towns/vilnius/vilnius.html>.