THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS
"BELORUSSIA"
Your source of information about
Belarus!
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Belarus is a landlocked
country in Eastern Europe which borders Russia to the east, Ukraine to the
south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its
capital is Minsk — other major cities include Brest, Grodno, Gomel, Mogilev,
Vitebsk and Bobruisk. One third of the country is forested, and agriculture
and manufacturing are pillars of the economy.
Until the twentieth century the Belarusian nation lacked the opportunity to
form their national polity as the lands of modern-day Belarus belonged to
several countries, including the Duchy of Polatsk, the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. After
the failure of a short-lived Belarusian People's Republic (1918–1919)
Belarus became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Byelorussian
SSR.
The final unification of the Belarusians lands in the modern borders took
place in 1939 when the ethnically Belarusian lands that were a part of
interwar Poland were annexed by the USSR and attached to the Soviet Belarus.
The territory and its nation were devastated in the Second World War as
Belarus lost about 1/3 of its population while the loss of the economy
amounting to 35 times the republic's annual GDP but the republic recovered
in the post-war years and became one of the founding members of the United
Nations. The parliament of the republic declared the sovereignty of Belarus
on July 27, 1990 and following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus
officially declared independence on August 25, 1991. Belarus is
negotiating with Russia to unify into a single state called the Union of
Russia and Belarus, although the discussions have stalled for several years.
A total of population of approximately 9,849,000 reside in Belarus, mostly
in the urban areas surrounding Minsk and other oblast capitals. Over 80% of
the population are native Belarusians, with Russians, Ukrainians and Polish
making a sizable minority. Since a referendum in 1995, the two official
languages spoken in Belarus are Belarusian and Russian. Belarus does not
establish an official religion, yet the primary religion in the country is
Russian Orthodox.
