Lithuania
DromEdu coordinators and mediators visiting school in Lithuani
Facts
& figures
Lithuania is part of the Eastern European time zone (GMT+2). However,
on March 25th, when the countries of the Central European time zone 'spring
forward' by one hour, Lithuania will be GMT + 1. So, when it is 12:00
in Lithuania, it will be the same time in Paris, 11:00 in England, 12:00
in Tallinn, 13:00 in Riga and 13:00 in Moscow. Over the past few years
local politicians have been playing with time and going back and forth
on the issue of daylight savings. This has also been the case in Latvia,
whose government recently decided to go against the grain of its Baltic
neighbours and move the clocks forward by one hour as of March 25th. So
if you are travelling to Latvia after this date be sure to adjust your
watch accordingly. And if you are planning on continuing to Estonia, you
had better keep track of the time.
Population
Lithuania (2001): Total:
3,483 872; 2.5 million urban residents and 1.2 million rural.
Ethnic Composition: Lithuanians 2 907 000 (83.4%), Russians
219 700 (6.3%), Poles 234 900 (6.7%), Belarusians 42 800 (1.2%) 1.4%,
Ukrainians 22 400(0,65%), Jews 4 900 (0.12%), Others 0.7% (2001).
Vilnius (2001):
Total: 576,400.
Ethnic Composition: 57.5% Lithuanians,
19% Poles, 14% Russians, 4% Belarusians, 0.7% Jews, 3.3% others.
Geography
Territory:
At 65,300km2 Lithuania is the largest of the three Baltic nations. Fertile
lowland peppered with many lakes.
Borders:
Baltic
sea 99km, Belarus 502km, Latvia 453km, Kaliningrad (Russia) 227km, Poland
91km.
Elevation: Vilnius
stands 213 m above sea level. The highest point (depending on who you
ask) is either Juozapine or Kruopine, both 293 to 294 m high.
Longest River: Nemunas 937km (of which 475km in Lithuania).
Largest Lake: Druksciai 4479 hectares.
Highest Point: Juozapine 293.6 metres.
Climate
In 1999 there were 1883 hours of sunshine.
Total precipitation: 518.4mm
Average humidity: 77%
According to the late French linguist Antoine Meilet (1866-1936) “If one wants to know how our ancestors spoke, he has to come and hear the Lithuanian country people speaking”. As true now as it was in his day, this comment works just as well if applied to city folk. Lithuanian, and its close northern relative Latvian, are very odd languages indeed, and are notable also for being exceptionally antique. The oldest Indo-European languages still spoken today, they are, allegedly, remarkably similar in grammatical form to that old chestnut, Sanskrit. With seven noun cases, five declension patterns, absolutely no similarity to anything you’ve come across before, and an ominous necessity to pronounce the stress of a word in the right place in order to be understood, getting to grips with the local lingo is at best tough. In the central bars and restaurants of Lithuania’s major cities (Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda) it’s possible to get by with just English, but move too far from the middle of things and it starts to get a little more difficult to communicate. On the upside, Lithuania’s rich and complicated history has left the country with many natural bilingual and trilingual speakers. Russian, German, and to a lesser extent Polish are widely spoken here.
Lithuanian´s history
The Lithuanian state arose and strengthened to counter the religious fervour of crusading Germanic knights. Lithuania was the last pagan state in Europe to be converted to Christianity.
7th - 2nd centuries BC
The first Baltic tribes establish themselves on what's now known as Lithuanian territory.
11th century
The word Lithuania is first used in written texts (AD1009).
13th century
Duke Mindaugas unites local chieftains to defeat the Livonian knights at the battle of Saule in 1236, thus establishing the state of Lithuania. Embracing Christianity for political reasons he is crowned Lithuania's one and only king in 1253.
14th century Grand Duke Gediminas invites European merchants and other notaries to his new capital in B>1323, the accepted date of the founding of Vilnius. Threatened by enemies from both the east and the west, Grand Duke Jogaila secures a dynastical pact with Poland. Under the 1385 Kreva Act Jogaila marries the Polish crown princess Jadvyga. Around the same time, Christianity finally arrives in Lithuania. The Jogaila dynasty rules over the Polish-Lithuanian kingdom for almost two hundred years.
In 1410 Polish - Lithuanian armies led by Jogailaand Grand Duke Vytautas defeat the Teutonic knights at the battle of Tannenberg / Grünwald / Zalgiris. By 1430 the Lithuanian lands extend from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
The Renaissance brings marked cultural advances, notably the printing of the first Lithuanian book in 1547, and the founding of Vilnius University in 1579.At the Union of Lublinin 1568 the Polish - Lithuanian kingdom is formally merged into a commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita) headed by an elected monarch. The end of the Jogaila dynasty in 1572 results in the political and cultural marginalisation of Lithuania. Polish becomes the state language.
The Livonian wars with Russia and Sweden drain the Commonwealth's resources. Weakened by internal dissent it falls victim to a partitioning between Russia, Austria and Prussia. In 1795 Lithuania becomes part of Russia.
19th century
Tsarist rule brings strict censorship and forced Russification. A ban is imposed on Latin script forcing the smuggling in of books from neighbouring Königsberg (now known as Kaliningrad, and ironically part of Russia). Patriotic unrest leads to the 1863 national uprising. In 1864 Count Muravyov ('The Hangman') is sent to Vilnius to restore order. Thousands of Lithuanians emigrate to North America. Along with repression comes the revival of Lithuanian culture and tradition, and in 1883 Jonas Basanavicius publishes the first Lithuanian-language newspaper.
20th Century
The First World War brings hope of a Lithuanian autonomy, and under the German tutelage of 1915 - 1918 the Lithuanian Council (Taryba) proclaims the Republic of Lithuania on February 16, 1918 (Independence Day). Heavy fighting between Poland, Lithuania and the Bolsheviks between 1919 and 1920 brings about the Polish annexation of Vilnius on October 9, 1920. Poland declares Kaunas the new capital, until Vilnius is right fully restored again in 1941. During the inter-war period independent Lithuania prospers under the thirteen year leadership of strongman Antanas Smetona (1926-1939).
Lithuanian independence ends with the secret signing of the 1939 Molotov - Ribbentropp act between Hitler and Stalin, who carve up spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. Lithuania is subjected to Soviet and Nazi occupation in turn. Between 1941 and 1944Gestapo and SS units organise the mass murder of over two-hundred thousand Jews - 94% of the entire Lithuanian Jewish population. The return of the Red Army and the re-incorporation of Lithuania into the USSR on July 7, 1944 results in the deportation of a quarter of a million Lithuanians to the Siberian gulags, a task they'd already begun in 1941before the Nazis arrived. Polish - Lithuanians are extradited to Poland. Lithuanian partisans, dubbed the 'Forest Brothers', wage guerrilla warfare until 1953. Despite over four decades of forced Soviet assimilation Lithuania never loses its identity. On May 14, 1972 nineteen year - old student Romas Kalanta commits suicide in the public gardens in Kaunas, sparking the first public protests against the Soviet system.
Independence and Beyond
1988
June 3
The Lithuanian Reform Movement Sajudis is founded by some five hundred representatives of the intelligentsia, advocating 'openness, democracy and sovereignty'.
Aug 23
A quarter of a million people gather in Vilnius to mark the 49th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which sealed Lithuania's incorporation into the Soviet Union.
Sept 16-18
Some 15,000 protesters join hands around the Ignalina nuclear power plant demanding a halt to the construction of a third Chernobyl-type reactor.
Oct 7
The Lithuanian flag is raised on Gediminas Castle.
Dec 24
Christmas Eve is celebrated openly for the first time since the end of the Second World War.
1989
Feb 16
Lithuanian Independence Day is officially commemorated.
Aug 23
An estimated two million Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians join hands in a human chain stretching the 650km between Vilnius to Tallinn to protest the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Dec 20
The Lithuanian Communist Party declares itself independent from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1990
Jan 11-13
Mikhail Gorbachev is heckled everywhere he goes by some 300,000 pro-independence demonstrators in Vilnius.
March 4
Pro-independence Sajudis candidates receive an overall majority in the first free elections in Lithuania since 1940.
March 11
The Supreme Council declares the restoration of Lithuanian independence. Dr Vytautas Landsbergis is elected parliamentary chairman.
April 17
Moscow imposes an economic blockade.
1991
Jan 13
Soviet troops kill fourteen unarmed civilians in an assault on Vilnius' TV tower.
Feb 12
Iceland becomes the first country to recognise an independent Lithuania.
July 31
Seven border guards and policemen are killed at the Medininkai border checkpoint by Soviet special forces.
Aug 21
The Moscow putsch collapses. Soviet troops leave the buildings they've occupied since January. Lenin's statue is removed from Luki?kiø Square.
Aug 29
Sweden becomes the first Western country to open an embassy in Vilnius.
Sept 2
The United States recognise Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Sept 17
All three Baltic countries are re-admitted into the UN.
1992
Feb 8
Lithuanians participate under their own flag at the Winter Olympics for the first time since 1928.
May 13
French President Francois Mitterrand becomes the first Western European head of state to visit the newly independent Lithuania.
1993
June 25 - Lithuania's pre-war currency, the litas, is re-introduced.
Aug 31 - The last Russian soldier leaves Lithuania.
Sept 4-8 - Pope John Paul II visits.
1994
Jan 27 - Lithuania becomes the second country after Romania to join NATO's Partnership for Peace programme.
Dec - Vilnius Old Town joins the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
1995
June 12 - Lithuania signs an Association Agreement with the European Union.
1997
July 1 - The Lithuanian parliament (Seimas) passes a property restitution law, allowing pre-war property owners or their descendants to reclaim property nationalised under the Soviet regime.
1998
Jan 4 - Valdas Adamkus is elected president. Adamkus, who fled Lithuania in 1944, was a senior official at the Environmental Protection Agency in Chicago before returning to Lithuania to run for president.
Dec 21 - Seimas abolishes the death penalty in response to international pressure from the European Union.
1999
Dec 13 - Accession talks begin between Lithuania and the European Union (the earliest possible date of Lithuania's accession is 2004). A major stumbling block is the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant. On December 31 a memorandum is signed by representatives of both parties for the funding of a 2005 closure.
2000
At the Sydney Olympics Lithuania win two gold and three bronze medals. The basketball team win its third Olympic bronze coming within a few points of beating the American dream team for gold.
2001
Jun - The Dalai Lama visits Lithuania.
2002
The President elections won by R.Paksas
Capital of Lithuania
Vilnius
Ah Vilnius, the city of dreams on the cup of a new century. The capital of Lithuania has in 2003 re-elected their mayor Arturas Zuokas.
(Source: www.inyourpocket.com/lithuania/en
)