Lithuania – Wikipedia

This article is about the nation. For early uses, see Lithuania ( disambiguation ) “ Litwa ” redirects here. For other uses, see Litwa ( disambiguation )
state in Northern Europe

Coordinates : Lithuania ( ; [ 13 ] lithuanian : Lietuva [ lʲɪɛtʊˈvɐ ] ), formally the Republic of Lithuania ( lithuanian : Lietuvos Respublika ), is a area in the Baltic region of Europe. [ a ] It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern prop up of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania shares land borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia to the southwesterly. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km2 ( 25,200 sq nautical mile ), with a population of 2.8 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius ; other major cities are Kaunas and Klaipėda. Lithuanians belong to the ethno-linguistic group of the Balts and talk Lithuanian, one of only a few live Baltic languages. For millennia the southeast shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by versatile Baltic tribe. In the 1230s, lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, founding the Kingdom of Lithuania on 6 July 1253. In the fourteenth hundred, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest country in Europe ; [ 19 ] contemporary Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were all lands of the Grand Duchy. The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were in a de facto personal union from 1386 with the marriage of the polish queen Hedwig and Lithuania ‘s Grand Duke Jogaila, who was crowned King jure uxoris Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland. The Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania was established by the Union of Lublin in July 1569. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighbouring countries dismantled it in 1772–1795, with the russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania ‘s territory. As World War I ended, Lithuania ‘s Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, founding the modern Republic of Lithuania. In World War II, Lithuania was occupied first by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. Towards the goal of the war in 1944, when the Germans were retreating, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. Lithuanian armed underground to the soviet occupation lasted until the early on 1950s. On 11 March 1990, a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union, Lithuania passed the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, becoming the first soviet republic to proclaim its independence. [ 20 ] Lithuania is a develop state, with a senior high school income advanced economy ; rank very high in the Human Development Index. It ranks favorably in terms of civil liberties, press freedom and internet exemption. Lithuania has experienced a gradual population decline since the 1990s, with social issues such as income inequality and high suicide rate remaining a problem. Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, eurozone, the Nordic Investment Bank, Schengen Agreement, NATO and OECD. It participates in the Nordic-Baltic Eight ( NB8 ) regional co-operation format .

etymology [edit ]

Lithuania ‘s mention in spell, 1009 The first base known commemorate of the mention of Lithuania ( lithuanian : Lietuva ) is in a 9 March 1009 story of Saint Bruno in the Quedlinburg Chronicle. [ 21 ] The Chronicle recorded a latinize form of the name Lietuva : Litua [ 22 ] ( pronounce [ litua ] ). due to the miss of reliable testify, the genuine meaning of the diagnose is nameless. Nowadays, scholars hush debate the mean of the son and there are a few plausible versions. [ 23 ] Since Lietuva has a suffix ( – uva ), the original bible should have no suffix. [ 23 ] A probable candidate is Lietā. Because many Baltic ethnonyms originated from hydronyms, linguists have searched for its origin among local hydronyms. normally, such names evolved through the comply action : hydronym → place name → ethnonym. [ 24 ] Lietava, a small river not far from Kernavė, the core area of the early lithuanian state and a possible first capital of the eventual Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is normally credited as the source of the appoint. [ 24 ] however, the river is very little and some find it improbable that such a little and local object could have lent its list to an integral nation. On the early pass, such mention is not unprecedented in worldly concern history. [ 25 ] Artūras Dubonis proposed another hypothesis, [ 26 ] that Lietuva relates to the password leičiai ( plural of leitis ). From the middle of the thirteenth century, leičiai were a clear-cut warrior social group of the lithuanian society subordinate to the lithuanian ruler or the state itself. The news leičiai is used in the 14–16th hundred historical sources as an ethnonym for Lithuanians ( but not Samogitians ) and is still used, normally poetically or in historical context, in the latvian speech, which is closely related to Lithuanian. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ]

history [edit ]

The foremost people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the survive frigid menstruation in the tenth millennium BC : Kunda, Neman and Narva cultures. [ 30 ] They were traveling hunters and did not form stable settlements. In the 8th millennium BC, the climate became a lot warm, and forests developed. The inhabitants of what is now Lithuania then travelled less and engaged in local anesthetic hunt, gather and fresh-water fishing. agriculture did not emerge until the 3rd millennium BC due to a coarse climate and terrain and a lack of desirable tools to cultivate the state. Crafts and barter besides started to form at this clock. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, interracial with the local population and formed diverse Baltic tribe. [ 31 ] The Baltic tribes did not maintain close cultural or political contacts with the Roman Empire, [ 32 ] but they did maintain trade contacts ( see Amber Road ). Tacitus, in his survey Germania, described the Aesti people, inhabitants of the south-eastern Baltic Sea shores who were probably Balts, around the year 97 AD. The westerly Balts differentiated and became known to outside chroniclers first. Ptolemy in the second hundred AD know of the Galindians and Yotvingians, and early medieval chroniclers mentioned Old Prussians, Curonians and Semigallians. [ 33 ] The lithuanian lyric is considered to be very cautious for its close connection to indo-european roots. It is believed to have differentiated from the latvian lyric, the most closely relate existing language, around the seventh hundred. [ 34 ] Traditional Lithuanian heathen customs and mythology, with many antediluvian elements, were long preserved. Rulers ‘ bodies were cremated up until the conversion to Christianity : the descriptions of the cremation ceremonies of the fantastic dukes Algirdas and Kęstutis have survived. [ 35 ]

Grand Duchy of Lithuania [edit ]

[19] Lithuania’s strength was its [36] Changes in the territory of Lithuania from the 13th to fifteenth hundred. At its bill, Lithuania was the largest state of matter in Europe Lithuania ‘s forte was its toleration of assorted cultures and religions From the 9th to the 11th centuries, coastal Balts were subjected to raids by the Vikings, [ 37 ] and the kings of Denmark collected protection at times. [ citation needed ] During the 10–11th centuries, lithuanian territories were among the lands paying tribute to Kievan Rus ‘, and Yaroslav the Wise was among the Ruthenian rulers who invaded Lithuania ( from 1040 ). [ citation needed ] From the mid-12th hundred, it was the Lithuanians who were invading Ruthenian territories. In 1183, Polotsk and Pskov were ravaged, and even the distant and potent Novgorod Republic was repeatedly threatened by the excursions from the emerging lithuanian war car toward the end of the twelfth century. [ 38 ] From the late twelfth century, an organized lithuanian military pull existed ; it was used for external raids, plundering and the gain of slaves. such military and monetary activities fostered social differentiation and triggered a conflict for ability in Lithuania. This initiated the formation of early on statehood, from which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania developed. [ 39 ] [ 40 ] The disparate lithuanian tribe along the Nemunas were united into the lithuanian state by 1219, at the latest. [ 41 ] The only lithuanian Roman Catholic king, Mindaugas, was baptised as a Roman Catholic in 1251 and crowned as King of Lithuania on 6 July 1253. [ 42 ] After his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the livonian Order. Siege of Pilėnai is noted for the Lithuanians ‘ department of defense against the intruders. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded quickly, overtaking former Ruthenian principalities of Kievan Rus ‘. [ 43 ] On 22 September 1236, the Battle of Saulė between Samogitians and the livonian Brothers of the Sword took plaza close to Šiauliai. The livonian Brothers were defeated during it and their further seduction of the Balts lands were stopped. [ 44 ] The struggle prompt rebellions among the Curonians, Semigallians, Selonians, Oeselians, tribes previously conquered by the Sword-Brothers. Some thirty years ‘ deserving of conquests on the left bank of Daugava were lost. [ 45 ] In 2000, the lithuanian and latvian parliaments declared 22 September to be the Day of Baltic Unity. [ 46 ]
According to the legend, Grand Duke Gediminas was once hunting near the Vilnia River ; tired after the successful search, he settled in for the night and dream of a huge Iron Wolf standing on crown a mound and howl as solid and forte as a hundred wolves. Krivis ( pagan priest ) Lizdeika interpreted the dream that the Iron Wolf represents Vilnius Castles. Gediminas, obeying the will of gods, built the city and gave it the name Vilnius – from the stream of the Vilnia River. [ 47 ] In 1362 or 1363, Grand Duke Algirdas achieved a decisive victory in the Battle of Blue Waters against Golden Horde and stopped its promote expansion in the contemporary Ukraine. [ 48 ] The victory brought the city of Kyiv and a boastfully part of contemporary Ukraine, including sparsely populated Podolia and Dykra, under the operate of the expanding Grand Duchy of Lithuania. [ 49 ] After taking Kyiv, Lithuania became a steer neighbor and rival of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. [ 50 ] By the end of the fourteenth century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included contemporary Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. [ 51 ] The geopolitical position between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an aide lyric to the Latin for official documents. [ 52 ] In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Poland ‘s volunteer to become its king. Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal marriage between Poland and Lithuania. Lithuania was one of the final pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity. While territories to the north had been Christianized in 1186 by western merchants and missionaries who formed the order of the Brothers and the Sword to spread Christianity through military organization, the Lithuanians had defeated the Order ‘s competitive efforts in 1236. [ 53 ] [ 54 ]
After two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the bill of its territorial expansion, centralization of the state began, and the lithuanian nobility became increasingly big in state politics. In the bang-up Battle of the Vorskla River in 1399, the combine forces of Tokhtamysh and Vytautas were defeated by the Mongols. Thanks to close cooperation, the armies of Lithuania and Poland achieved a victory over the Teutonic Knights in 1410 at the Battle of Grunwald, one of the largest battles of chivalric Europe. [ 55 ] [ 56 ] [ 57 ] In January 1429, at the Congress of Lutsk Vytautas received the style of King of Lithuania with the back of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, but the envoys who were transporting the pate were stopped by polish magnates in fall of 1430. Another pate was sent, but Vytautas died in the Trakai Island Castle respective days before it reached Lithuania. He was buried in the Cathedral of Vilnius. [ 58 ] After the deaths of Jogaila and Vytautas, the lithuanian nobility attempted to break the union between Poland and Lithuania, independently selecting Grand Dukes from the Jagiellon dynasty. But, at the goal of the fifteenth hundred, Lithuania was forced to seek a closer alliance with Poland when the growing exponent of the Grand Duchy of Moscow threatened Lithuania ‘s russian principalities and sparked the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars and the Livonian War .
On 8 September 1514, the Battle of Orsha between Lithuanians, commanded by the Grand Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski, and Muscovites was fought. According to Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii by Sigismund von Herberstein, the primary generator for data on the battle, the much smaller army of Poland–Lithuania ( under 30,000 men ) defeated a power of 80,000 Muscovite soldiers, capturing their camp and commander. [ 59 ] The battle destroyed a military alliance against Lithuania and Poland. Thousands of Muscovites were captured as prisoners and used as labourers in the lithuanian manors, while Konstanty Ostrogski delivered the captured Muscovite flags to the Cathedral of Vilnius. [ 60 ] [ 61 ] The Livonian War was ceased for ten years with a Truce of Yam-Zapolsky signed on 15 January 1582 according to which the already Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth recovered Livonia, Polotsk and Velizh, but transferred Velikiye Luki to the Tsardom of Russia. The armistice was extended for twenty years in 1600, when a diplomatic deputation to Moscow led by Lew Sapieha concluded negotiations with Tsar Boris Godunov. [ 62 ] The armistice was broken when the Poles invaded Muscovy in 1605 .

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth [edit ]

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was created in 1569 by the Union of Lublin. As a member of the Commonwealth, Lithuania retained its institutions, including a separate army, currency, and statutory laws – the Statute of Lithuania. [ 63 ] Eventually Polonization affected all aspects of lithuanian animation : politics, language, culture, and national identity. From the mid-16th to the mid-17th centuries, culture, arts, and education flourished, fueled by the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. From 1573, the Kings of Poland and Grand Dukes of Lithuania were elected by the nobility, who were granted ever-increasing Golden Liberties. These liberties, particularly the liberum veto, led to anarchy and the eventual dissolving of the submit. The Commonwealth reached its Golden Age in the early seventeenth century. Its brawny fantan was dominated by nobles who were reluctant to get involved in the Thirty Years ‘ War ; this disinterest spared the country from the ravages of a political-religious conflict that devastated most of contemporary Europe. The Commonwealth held its own against Sweden, the Tsardom of Russia, and vassals of the Ottoman Empire, and even launched successful expansionist offensives against its neighbours. In several invasions during the Time of Troubles, Commonwealth troops entered Russia and managed to take Moscow and hold it from 27 September 1610 to 4 November 1612, when they were driven out after a siege. [ 64 ]
In 1655, after the extinguish struggle, for the first base time in history the lithuanian capital Vilnius was taken by a foreign army. [ 65 ] The russian army looted the city, glorious churches, and manors. Between 8,000 and 10,000 citizens were killed ; the city burned for 17 days. Those who returned after the catastrophe could not recognise the city. The russian occupation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lasted astir to 1661. many artefacts and cultural inheritance were either lost or looted, significant parts of the department of state archive – Lithuanian Metrica, collected since the thirteenth century, were lost and the rest was moved out of the country. During the Northern Wars ( 1655–1661 ), the lithuanian district and economy were devastated by the swedish united states army. Almost all district of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was occupied by swedish and russian armies. This period is known as Tvanas ( The Deluge ). Before it could amply recover, Lithuania was ravaged during the Great Northern War ( 1700–1721 ). The war, a plague, and a famine caused the deaths of approximately 40 % of the country ‘s population. [ 66 ] Foreign powers, specially Russia, became dominant in the domestic politics of the Commonwealth. [ 67 ] numerous fractions among the nobility used the Golden Liberties to prevent any reforms. [ 67 ] The Constitution of 3 May 1791 was adopted by the Great Sejm ( parliament ) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth trying to save the state. The legislation was designed to redress the Commonwealth ‘s political defects due to the arrangement of Golden Liberties, besides known as the “ Nobles ‘ democracy, ” which had conferred disproportionate rights on the nobility ( Szlachta ) and over time had corrupted politics. The constitution sought to supplant the prevail anarchy fostered by some of the state ‘s magnates with a more democratic constituent monarchy. It introduced elements of political equality between town and nobility, and placed the peasants under the protection of the government, therefore mitigating the worst abuses of serfdom. It banned parliamentary institutions such as the liberum veto, which had put the Sejm at the mercy of any deputy who could revoke all the legislation that had been passed by that Sejm. It was drafted in relation back to a transcript of the United States Constitution. [ 68 ] [ 69 ] [ 70 ] It is regarded as the earth ‘s second-oldest codified national governmental fundamental law after the 1787 U.S. Constitution. [ 67 ]

russian conglomerate [edit ]

Bishop Motiejus Valančius resisted Russification. He urged protest against the close of Catholic churches and organised reserve printing in lithuanian in Lithuania Minor finally, the Commonwealth was partitioned in 1772, 1792, and 1795 by the Russian Empire, Prussia, and the Habsburg Monarchy. The largest area of lithuanian territory became part of the Russian Empire. After the abortive uprisings in 1831 and 1863, the Tsarist authorities implemented a number of Russification policies. In 1840 the Third Statute of Lithuania was abolished. They banned the lithuanian press, closed cultural and educational institutions and made Lithuania contribution of a newfangled administrative region called Northwestern Krai. The Russification failed, owing to an extensive net of lithuanian reserve smugglers and privy lithuanian homeschooling. [ 71 ] After the Russo-Turkish War ( 1877–1878 ), when german diplomats assigned what were seen as russian spoils of war to Turkey, the relationship between Russia and the german Empire became complicated. The russian Empire resumed the construction of fortresses at its western borders for defense against a potential invasion from Germany in the West. On 7 July 1879 the russian Emperor Alexander II approved a proposal from the russian military leadership to build the largest “ excellent ” defensive structure in the entire state – the 65 km2 ( 25 sq security service ) Kaunas Fortress. [ 72 ] Large numbers of Lithuanians went to the United States in 1867–1868 after a famine. [ 73 ] Simonas Daukantas promoted a revert to Lithuania ‘s pre- Commonwealth traditions, which he depicted as a Golden Age of Lithuania and a refilling of the native acculturation, based on the lithuanian terminology and customs. With those ideas in heed, he wrote already in 1822 a history of Lithuania in Lithuanian – Darbai senųjų lietuvių ir žemaičių ( The Deeds of Ancient Lithuanians and Samogitians ), though it was not published at that time. A colleague of S. Daukantas, Teodor Narbutt wrote in Polish a copious Ancient History of the Lithuanian Nation ( 1835–1841 ), where he alike expounded and expanded further on the concept of historic Lithuania, whose days of glory had ended with the Union of Lublin in 1569. Narbutt, invoking german scholarship, pointed out the relationship between the Lithuanian and Sanskrit languages. A lithuanian National Revival, inspired by the ancient lithuanian history, linguistic process and culture, laid the foundations of the modern lithuanian state and independent Lithuania .

20th and 21st centuries [edit ]

As a consequence of the Great Retreat during World War I, Germany occupied the stallion territory of Lithuania and Courland by the end of 1915. [ 74 ] A modern administrative entity, Ober Ost, was established. Lithuanians lost all political rights they had gained : personal freedom was restricted, and at the begin, the lithuanian press was banned. [ 75 ] however, the lithuanian intelligentsia tried to take advantage of the existing geopolitical position and began to look for opportunities to restore Lithuania ‘s independence. On 18–22 September 1917, the Vilnius Conference elected the 20-member Council of Lithuania. The council adopted the Act of Independence of Lithuania on 16 February 1918 which proclaimed the restoration of the autonomous state of Lithuania governed by democratic principles, with Vilnius as its capital. The department of state of Lithuania which had been built within the framework of the Act lasted from 1918 until 1940 .
Following the capitulation of Germany in November 1918, the first Provisional Constitution of Lithuania was adopted and the foremost government of Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras was organized. At the lapp time, the army and early state of matter institutions began to be organized. Lithuania fought three wars of independence : against the Bolsheviks who proclaimed the lithuanian soviet Socialist Republic, against the Bermontians, and against Poland. [ 76 ] [ 77 ] As a result of the stag Żeligowski ‘s Mutiny in October 1920, Poland took see of Vilnius Region and annexed it as Wilno Voivodeship in 1922. [ 78 ] Lithuania continued to claim Vilnius as its de jure capital ( the de facto, probationary capital being Kaunas ) and relations with Poland remained peculiarly tense and hostile for the entire interwar period. In January 1923, Lithuania staged the Klaipėda Revolt and captured Klaipėda Region ( Memel territory ) which was detached from East Prussia by the Treaty of Versailles. The region became an autonomous area of Lithuania .
On 15 May 1920, the first meeting of the democratically elected component assembly took position. The documents it adopted, i. e. the impermanent ( 1920 ) and permanent ( 1922 ) constitutions of Lithuania, strove to regulate the life sentence of the newfangled express. Land, finance, and educational reforms started to be implemented. The currency of Lithuania, the lithuanian litas, was introduced. The University of Lithuania was opened. [ 79 ] All major public institutions had been established. As Lithuania began to gain constancy, foreign countries started to recognize it. In 1921 Lithuania was admitted to the League of Nations. [ 80 ] On 17 December 1926, a military coup d’état took seat, resulting in the replacement of the democratically elective government with a conservative authoritarian politics led by Antanas Smetona. Augustinas Voldemaras was appointed to form a government. The alleged authoritarian phase had begun strengthening the determine of one party, the lithuanian Nationalist Union, in the country. In 1927, the Seimas was dissolved. [ 81 ] A newly fundamental law was adopted in 1928, which consolidated presidential powers. gradually, opposition parties were banned, censoring was tightened, and the rights of national minorities were narrowed. [ 82 ] [ 83 ]
Lituanica above above New York in 1933. The transatlantic flight was one of the most accurate in air travel history. It equaled, and in some aspects surpassed, Charles Lindbergh ‘s classical flight. On 15 July 1933, Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas, Lithuanian pilots, emigrants to the United States, made a significant flight in the history of populace air travel. They flew across the Atlantic Ocean, covering a distance of 6,411 km ( 3,984 mile ) without landing, in 37 hours and 11 minutes ( 172.4 kilometers per hour ( 107.1 miles per hour ) ). In terms of comparison, ampere far as the distance of non-stop flights was concerned, their consequence ranked second lone to that of Russell Boardman and John Polando. The probationary capital Kaunas, which was nicknamed Little Paris, and the country itself had a western standard of support with sufficiently high gear salaries and depleted prices. At the time, modify workers there were earning very alike real wages as workers in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France, the area besides had a amazingly high natural addition in population of 9.7 and the industrial production of Lithuania increased by 160 % from 1913 to 1940. [ 84 ] [ 85 ] The situation was aggravated by the global economic crisis. [ 86 ] The leverage price of agricultural products had declined importantly. In 1935, farmers began strikes in Suvalkija and Dzūkija. In summation to economic ones, political demands were made. The government cruelly suppressed the unrest. In the spring of 1936, four peasants were sentenced to end for starting the riots. [ 87 ]
On 20 March 1939, after years of rising tensions, Lithuania was handed an ultimatum by Nazi Germany demanding it relinquish the Klaipėda Region. Two days later, the lithuanian government accepted the ultimatum. [ 88 ] When Nazi Germany and Soviet Union concluded the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, Lithuania was initially assigned to the german sphere of influence but was later transferred to the Soviet sphere. At the outbreak of World War II, Lithuania declared neutrality. [ 89 ]
In October 1939, Lithuania was forced to sign the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty : five soviet military bases with 20,000 troops were established in Lithuania in exchange for Vilnius, which the Soviets had captured from Poland. [ 90 ] Delayed by the Winter War with Finland, the Soviets issued an ultimatum to Lithuania on 14 June 1940. They demanded the substitution of the lithuanian government and that the Red Army be allowed into the country. The government decided that, with soviet bases already in Lithuania, armed resistance was impossible and accepted the ultimatum. [ 91 ] President Smetona left the country, hoping to form a government in exile, while more than 200,000 soviet red army soldiers crossed the Belarus–Lithuania border. [ 92 ] The adjacent day, identical ultimatums were presented to Latvia and Estonia. The baltic states were occupied. The Soviets followed semi-constitutional procedures for transforming the independent countries into soviet republics and incorporating them into the Soviet Union. Vladimir Dekanozov was sent to supervise the formation of the puppet People ‘s Government and the rig election to the People ‘s Seimas. The lithuanian soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed on 21 July and accepted into the Soviet Union on 3 August. Lithuania was quickly sovietize : political parties and assorted organizations ( except the Communist Party of Lithuania ) were outlawed, some 12,000 people, including many big figures, were arrested and imprisoned in Gulag as “ enemies of the people ”, larger individual property was nationalized, the lithuanian litas was replaced by the Soviet ruble, grow taxes were increased by 50–200 %, the lithuanian Army was transformed into the 29th Rifle Corps of the Red Army. [ 93 ] On 14–18 June 1941, less than a workweek before the Nazi invasion, some 17,000 Lithuanians were deported to Siberia, where many perished due to inhumane be conditions ( see the June exile ). [ 94 ] [ 95 ] The occupation was not recognized by western powers and the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service, based on pre-war consulates and legations, continued to represent freelancer Lithuania until 1990 .
When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Lithuanians began the anti-Soviet June Uprising, organized by the lithuanian Activist Front. Lithuanians proclaimed independence and organized the probationary Government of Lithuania. This politics quickly self-disbanded. [ 96 ] Lithuania became part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland, German civil administration. [ 97 ]
By 1 December 1941, over 120,000 lithuanian Jews, or 91–95 % of Lithuania ‘s pre-war Jewish community, had been killed. [ 98 ] : 110 about 100,000 Jews, Poles, Russians and Lithuanians were murdered at Paneriai. [ 99 ] however, thousands of lithuanian families risking their lives besides protected Jews from the Holocaust. [ 100 ] Israel has recognized 893 Lithuanians ( as of 1 January 2018 ) as Righteous Among the Nations for risking their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. [ 101 ] approximately 13,000 men served in the lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions. [ 102 ] 10 of the 26 lithuanian Auxiliary Police Battalions working with the Nazi Einsatzkommando, were involved in the bulk killings. Rogue units organised by Algirdas Klimaitis and supervised by SS Brigadeführer Walter Stahlecker started the Kaunas pogrom in and around Kaunas on 25 June 1941. [ 103 ] [ 104 ] In 1941, the lithuanian Security Police ( Lietuvos saugumo policija ), subordinate to Nazi Germany ‘s Security Police and Nazi Germany ‘s Criminal Police, was created. The Lietuvos saugumo policija targeted the communist belowground. [ 105 ] A new occupation had begun. Nationalized assets were not returned to the residents. Some of them were forced to fight for Nazi Germany or were taken to german territories as forced labourers. jewish people were herded into ghetto and gradually killed by shooting or sending them out to concentration camps. [ 106 ] [ 107 ]
After the retreat of the german arm forces, the Soviets reestablished their control of Lithuania in July–October 1944. The massive deportations to Siberia were resumed and lasted until the death of Stalin in 1953. Antanas Sniečkus, the leader of the Communist Party of Lithuania from 1940 to 1974, [ 108 ] supervised the arrests and deportations. [ 109 ] All Lithuanian national symbols were banned. Under the pretext of Lithuania ‘s economic recovery, the Moscow authorities encouraged the migration of workers and other specialists to Lithuania with the intention to far integrate Lithuania into the Soviet Union and to develop the country ‘s industry. At the same time, Lithuanians were lured to work in the USSR by promising them all the privileges of settling in a new place. The second soviet occupation was accompanied by the guerrilla war of the lithuanian population, which took home in 1944–1953. It sought to restore an independent state of Lithuania, to consolidate majority rule by destroying communism in the state, returning home values and the freedom of religion. About 50,000 Lithuanians took to the forests and crusade soviet occupants with a artillery in their hands. [ 110 ] [ 111 ] In the late stages of the partisan war, Lithuanians formed the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters and its leader Jonas Žemaitis ( codename Vytautas ) was posthumously recognized as the president of Lithuania. [ 112 ] Despite the fact that the guerrilla war did not achieve its finish of liberating Lithuania and that it resulted in more than 20,000 deaths, the armed resistance de facto demonstrated that Lithuania did not voluntarily join the USSR and it besides legitimized the will of the people of Lithuania to be independent. [ 113 ] lithuanian courts and the ECHR both treat the Soviets ‘ annihilation of the lithuanian partisans as a genocide. [ 114 ]
The Baltic Way was a mass anti-Soviet demonstration where approx. 25 % of the population of the Baltic states participated flush with the inhibition of partisan resistance, the soviet politics failed to stop the movement for the independence of Lithuania. The underground dissentient groups were active voice publishing the metro press and catholic literature. The most active participants of the motion included Vincentas Sladkevičius, Sigitas Tamkevičius and Nijolė Sadūnaitė. In 1972, after Romas Kalanta ‘s public self-immolation, the unrest in Kaunas lasted for several days. [ 115 ]
An Anti-Soviet beat up in Vingis Park of about 250,000 people. Sąjūdis was a movement which led to the restoration of an Independent State of Lithuania. The Helsinki Group, which was founded in Lithuania after the international conference in Helsinki ( Finland ), where the post-WWII borders were acknowledged, announced a declaration for Lithuania ‘s independence on extraneous radio post. [ 116 ] The Helsinki Group informed the western global about the situation in the Soviet Lithuania and violations of human rights. With the begin of the increased openness and foil in government institutions and activities ( glasnost ) in the Soviet Union, on 3 June 1988, the Sąjūdis was established in Lithuania. very soon it began to seek country ‘s independence. [ 117 ] Vytautas Landsbergis became motion ‘s leader. [ 118 ] The supporters of Sąjūdis joined drift ‘s groups all over Lithuania. On 23 August 1988 a big rally took place at the Vingis Park in Vilnius. It was attended by approx. 250,000 people. [ 119 ] A year late, on 23 August 1989 commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and aiming to draw the attention of the whole worldly concern to the occupation of the Baltic states, a political demonstration, the Baltic Way, was organized. [ 120 ] The event, led by Sąjūdis, was a homo chain spanning 600 kilometres ( 370 michigan ) across Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, indicating the desire of the people of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to break away from the Soviet Union .
On 11 March 1990, the Supreme Council announced the restoration of Lithuania ‘s independence. Lithuania became the first base Soviet-occupied state to announce the restitution of independence. On 20 April 1990, the Soviets imposed an economic blockade by ceasing to deliver supplies of raw materials ( primarily oil ) to Lithuania. [ 122 ] not only the domestic industry, but besides the population started feeling the lack of fuel, substantive goods, and even hot water. Although the barricade lasted for 74 days, Lithuania did not renounce the declaration of independence. gradually, economic relations had been restored. however, tensions had peaked again in January 1991. At that time, attempts were made to carry out a coup d’etat using the Soviet Armed Forces, the Internal Army of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the USSR Committee for State Security ( KGB ). Because of the poor people economic situation in Lithuania, the forces in Moscow thought the coup d’etat d’état would receive potent populace patronize. [ 123 ]
[124] On 13 January 1991, soviet forces fired hot rounds at unarmed independence supporters and crushed two of them with tanks, killing 13 in sum. To this day, Russia refuses to extradite the perpetrators who were convicted of war crimes People from all over Lithuania flooded to Vilnius to defend their legitimately elected Supreme Council of the Republic of Lithuania and independence. The coup ended with a few casualties of passive civilians and caused huge material loss. not a individual person who defended lithuanian Parliament or other state institutions used a weapon, but the soviet Army did. soviet soldiers killed 14 people and injured hundreds. A large share of the lithuanian population participated in the January Events. [ 125 ] [ 126 ] shortly after, on 11 February 1991, the Icelandic parliament voted to confirm that Iceland ‘s 1922 recognition of lithuanian independence was silent in wide effect, as it never formally recognized the Soviet Union ‘s control over Lithuania, [ 127 ] and that full diplomatic relations should be established deoxyadenosine monophosphate soon as possible. [ 128 ] [ 129 ] On 31 July 1991, soviet paramilitaries killed seven lithuanian boundary line guards on the belarusian bound in what became known as the Medininkai Massacre. [ 130 ] On 17 September 1991, Lithuania was admitted to the United Nations. On 25 October 1992, the citizens of Lithuania voted in a referendum to adopt the current constitution. On 14 February 1993, during the direct general elections, Algirdas Brazauskas became the first president after the renovation of independence of Lithuania. On 31 August 1993 the last units of the soviet Army left the territory of Lithuania. [ 131 ] On 31 May 2001, Lithuania joined the World Trade Organization ( WTO ). [ 132 ] Since 29 March 2004, Lithuania has been part of the NATO. [ 133 ] On 1 May 2004, it became a fully-fledged member of the European Union, [ 134 ] and a member of the Schengen Agreement on 21 December 2007. [ 135 ] On 1 January 2015, Lithuania joined the eurozone and adopted the European Union ‘s single currentness as the last of the Baltic states. [ 136 ] On 4 July 2018, Lithuania formally joined OECD. [ 137 ] Dalia Grybauskaitė ( 2009–2019 ) was the first female President of Lithuania and the foremost president to be re-elected for a second gear straight term. [ 138 ]

geography [edit ]

physical map and geomorphologic subsection of Lithuania. Lithuania is located in the Baltic region of Europe [ a ] and covers an area of 65,200 km2 ( 25,200 sq secret intelligence service ). [ 139 ] It lies between latitudes 53° and 57° N, and by and large between longitudes 21° and 27° E ( part of the Curonian Spit lies west of 21° ). It has about 99 kilometres ( 61.5 mi ) of arenaceous coastline, lone about 38 kilometres ( 24 mi ) of which face the candid Baltic Sea, less than the other two baltic Sea countries. The rest of the seashore is sheltered by the Curonian sand peninsula. Lithuania ‘s major warm-water port, Klaipėda, lies at the minute mouth of the Curonian Lagoon ( lithuanian : Kuršių marios ), a shallow lagoon extending south to Kaliningrad. The country ‘s independent and largest river, the Nemunas River, and some of its tributaries carry international shipping. Lithuania lies at the edge of the North european Plain. Its landscape was smoothed by the glaciers of the final frost senesce, and is a combination of control lowlands and highlands. Its highest bespeak is Aukštojas Hill at 294 metres ( 965 foot ) in the eastern separate of the country. The terrain features numerous lakes ( Lake Vištytis, for example ) and wetlands, and a assorted forest zone covers over 33 % of the country. Drūkšiai is the largest, Tauragnas is the deep and Asveja is the longest lake in Lithuania. After a re-estimation of the boundaries of the celibate of Europe in 1989, Jean-George Affholder, a scientist at the Institut Géographique National ( french National Geographic Institute ), determined that the geographic center of Europe was in Lithuania, at, 26 kilometres ( 16 mile ) north of Lithuania ‘s capital city of Vilnius. [ 140 ] Affholder accomplished this by calculating the center of graveness of the geometric visualize of Europe .

climate [edit ]

Lithuania has a temperate climate with both maritime and continental influences. It is defined as humid continental ( Dfb ) under the Köppen climate classification ( but is close to oceanic in a constrict coastal zone ). average temperatures on the coast are −2.5 °C ( 27.5 °F ) in January and 16 °C ( 61 °F ) in July. In Vilnius the average temperatures are −6 °C ( 21 °F ) in January and 17 °C ( 63 °F ) in July. During the summer, 20 °C ( 68 °F ) is common during the day while 14 °C ( 57 °F ) is coarse at night ; in the past, temperatures have reached arsenic high as 30 or 35 °C ( 86 or 95 °F ). Some winters can be very cold. −20 °C ( −4 °F ) occurs about every winter. Winter extremes are −34 °C ( −29 °F ) in coastal areas and −43 °C ( −45 °F ) in the east of Lithuania. The average annual haste is 800 millimeter ( 31.5 in ) on the coast, 900 millimeter ( 35.4 in ) in the Samogitia highlands and 600 millimeter ( 23.6 in ) in the eastern function of the nation. Snow occurs every year, it can snow from October to April. In some years sleet can fall in September or May. The growing season lasts 202 days in the western separate of the nation and 169 days in the eastern part. severe storms are rare in the easterly share of Lithuania but common in the coastal areas. The longest records of measure temperature in the Baltic area cover about 250 years. The data indicate warm periods during the latter half of the eighteenth century, and that the nineteenth century was a relatively cool period. An early 20th-century calefacient culminated in the 1930s, followed by a smaller cool that lasted until the 1960s. A warming course has persisted since then. [ 141 ] Lithuania experienced a drought in 2002, causing forest and peat bog down fires. [ 142 ]

environment [edit ]

After the restoration of Lithuania ‘s independence in 1990, the Aplinkos apsaugos įstatymas ( Environmental Protection Act ) was adopted already in 1992. The law provided the foundations for regulating social relations in the field of environmental protection, established the basic rights and obligations of legal and natural persons in preserving the biodiversity built-in in Lithuania, ecological systems and the landscape. [ 144 ] Lithuania agreed to cut carbon emissions by at least 20 % of 1990 levels by the year 2020 and by at least 40 % by the year 2030, together with all European Union members. besides, by 2020 at least 20 % ( 27 % by 2030 ) of the state ‘s entire energy pulmonary tuberculosis should be from the renewable energy sources. [ 145 ] In 2016, Lithuania introduced specially effective container sediment legislation, which resulted in collecting 92 % of all packagings in 2017. [ 146 ] Lithuania does not have high mountains and its landscape is dominated by blooming meadows, dense forests and fecund fields of cereals. however it stands out by the abundance of hillforts, which previously had castles where the ancient Lithuanians burned altars for heathen gods. [ 147 ] Lithuania is a particularly water area with more than 3,000 lakes, by and large in the northeast. The country is besides drained by numerous rivers, most notably the longest Nemunas. [ 147 ] Lithuania is home to two sublunar ecoregions : cardinal european blend forests and Sarmatic desegregate forests. [ 148 ] Forest has farseeing been one of the most important natural resources in Lithuania. Forests occupy one third of the state ‘s district and timber-related industrial production accounts for about 11 % industrial production in the nation. [ 149 ] Lithuania has five national parks, [ 150 ] 30 regional parks, [ 151 ] 402 nature reserves, [ 152 ] 668 state-protected lifelike inheritance objects. [ 153 ] Lithuania is ranked fifth, second to Sweden ( first gear 3 places are not granted ) in Climate Change Performance Index ( CCPI ). [ 154 ] It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 1.62/10, ranking it 162nd globally out of 172 countries. [ 155 ]

biodiversity [edit ]

[156] which has the highest-density stork population in Europe.[157]White stork is the national bird of Lithuaniawhich has the highest-density stork population in Europe. lithuanian ecosystems include natural and semi-natural ( forests, bogs, wetlands and meadows ), and anthropogenetic ( agrarian and urban ) ecosystems. Among natural ecosystems, forests are particularly important to Lithuania, covering 33 % of the country ‘s district. Wetlands ( raised bogs, fens, transitional mires, etc. ) embrace 7.9 % of the state, with 70 % of wetlands having been lost ascribable to drainage and peat extraction between 1960 and 1980. Changes in wetland implant communities resulted in the refilling of moss and pot communities by trees and shrubs, and fens not directly affected by country reclamation have become dry as a resultant role of a drop curtain in the water mesa. There are 29,000 rivers with a total duration of 64,000 km in Lithuania, the Nemunas River basin occupying 74 % of the territory of the country. due to the construction of dams, approximately 70 % of spawning sites of electric potential catadromous fish species have disappeared. In some cases, river and lake ecosystems continue to be impacted by anthropogenetic eutrophication. [ 158 ] agricultural land comprises 54 % of Lithuania ‘s territory ( roughly 70 % of that is arable land and 30 % meadows and pastures ), approximately 400,000 hour angle of agricultural land is not farmed, and acts as an ecological recess for weeds and incursive plant species. Habitat deterioration is occurring in regions with very productive and expensive lands as crop areas are expanded. Currently, 18.9 % of all implant species, including 1.87 % of all known fungi species and 31 % of all known species of lichens, are listed in the lithuanian Red Data Book. The tilt besides contains 8 % of all fish species. [ 158 ] The wildlife populations have rebounded as the hunt became more restricted and urbanization allowed replanting forests ( forests already tripled in size since their lows ). presently, Lithuania has approximately 250,000 larger wild animals or 5 per each square kilometer. The most fecund large wild animal in every part of Lithuania is the roe deer, with 120,000 of them. They are followed by boars ( 55,000 ). other ungulates are the deer ( ~22,000 ), fallow-deer ( ~21,000 ) and the largest one : elk ( ~7,000 ). Among the lithuanian predators, foxes are the most common ( ~27,000 ). Wolves are, however, more deep-rooted into the mythology as there are merely 800 in Lithuania. evening rarer are the lynxes ( ~200 ). The large animals mentioned above exclude the rabbit, ~200,000 of which may live in the lithuanian forests. [ 159 ]

Government and politics [edit ]

government [edit ]

Since Lithuania declared the restoration of its independence on 11 March 1990, it has maintained strong democratic traditions. It held its foremost freelancer general elections on 25 October 1992, in which 56.75 % of voters supported the raw constitution. [ 160 ] There were intense debates concerning the constitution, particularly the role of the president. A discriminate referendum was held on 23 May 1992 to gauge populace opinion on the matter, and 41 % of voters supported the restoration of the President of Lithuania. [ 160 ] Through compromise, a semi-presidential system was agreed on. [ 4 ]
The lithuanian head of state is the president, immediately elected for a five-year term and serving a utmost of two terms. The president oversees foreign affairs and national security system, and is the commander-in-chief of the military. [ 161 ] The president besides appoints the flower minister and, on the latter ‘s nominating speech, the lie of the cabinet, ampere well as a phone number of early top civil servants and the judges for all courts. [ 161 ] The stream lithuanian promontory of state, Gitanas Nausėda was elected on 26 May 2019 by unanimously winning in all municipalities of Lithuania. [ 162 ] The judges of the Constitutional Court ( Konstitucinis Teismas ) serve nine-year terms. They are appointed by the President, the Chairman of the Seimas, and the Chairman of the Supreme Court, each of whom appoint three judges. The unicameral Lithuanian fantan, the Seimas, has 141 members who are elected to four-year terms. 71 of the members of its members are elected in single-member constituencies, and the others in a countrywide right to vote by proportional representation. A party must receive at least 5 % of the national vote to be eligible for any of the 70 national seats in the Seimas. [ 163 ]

political parties and elections [edit ]

Lithuania was one of the first countries in the world to grant women a right to vote in the elections. lithuanian women were allowed to vote by the 1918 Constitution of Lithuania and used their newly granted right for the inaugural time in 1919. By doing so, Lithuania allowed it earlier than such democratic countries as the United States ( 1920 ), France ( 1945 ), Greece ( 1952 ), Switzerland ( 1971 ). [ 164 ] Lithuania exhibits a break up multi-party arrangement, [ 165 ] with a issue of little parties in which alliance governments are common. ordinary elections to the Seimas take place on the second Sunday of October every four years. [ 163 ] To be eligible for election, candidates must be at least 25 years old on the election day, not under allegiance to a foreign state and permanently reside in Lithuania. Persons serving or due to serve a sentence imposed by the court 65 days before the election are not eligible. besides, judges, citizens performing military service, and servicemen of professional military service and officials of statutory institutions and establishments may not stand for election. [ 166 ] Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats won the 2020 lithuanian parliamentary elections and gained 50 of 141 seats in the parliament. [ 167 ] In October 2020, the prime ministerial campaigner of Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats ( TS-LKD ) Ingrida Šimonytė formed a centre-right coalition with two free parties. [ 168 ]
The President of Lithuania is the head of express of the country, elected to a five-year term in a majority right to vote. Elections take put on the last Sunday no more than two months before the conclusion of stream presidential term. [ 169 ] To be eligible for election, candidates must be at least 40 years old on the election day and reside in Lithuania for at least three years, in addition to satisfying the eligibility criteria for a member of the parliament. Same President may serve for not more than two terms. [ 170 ] Gitanas Nausėda has won the most recent election as an independent campaigner in 2019. [ 162 ] Each municipality in Lithuania is governed by a municipal council and a mayor, who is a member of the municipal council. The number of members, elected on a four-year condition, in each municipal council depends on the size of the municipality and varies from 15 ( in municipalities with fewer than 5,000 residents ) to 51 ( in municipalities with more than 500,000 residents ). 1,524 municipal council members were elected in 2015. [ 171 ] Members of the council, with the exception of the mayor, are elected using proportional representation. Starting with 2015, the mayor is elected directly by the majority of residents of the municipality. [ 172 ] Social Democratic Party of Lithuania won most of the positions in the 2015 elections ( 372 municipal councils seats and 16 mayors ). [ 173 ] As of 2019, the number of seats in the European Parliament allocated to Lithuania was 11. [ 174 ] ordinary elections take position on a Sunday on the same day as in early EU countries. The vote is clear to all citizens of Lithuania, ampere well as citizens of other EU countries that permanently reside in Lithuania, who are at least 18 years previous on the election day. To be eligible for election, candidates must be at least 21 years old on the election day, a citizen of Lithuania or a citizen of another EU country permanently residing in Lithuania. Candidates are not allowed to stand for election in more than one country. Persons serving or due to serve a conviction imposed by the court 65 days before the election are not eligible. besides, judges, citizens performing military avail, and servicemen of professional military military service and officials of statutory institutions and establishments may not stand for election. [ 175 ] Six political parties and one committee representatives gained seats in the 2019 elections. [ 176 ]

police and law enforcement [edit ]

After regaining of independence in 1990, the largely modified soviet legal codes were in force for about a ten. The current constitution of Lithuania was adopted on 25 October 1992. [ 177 ] In 2001, the Civil Code of Lithuania was passed in Seimas. It was succeeded by the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code in 2003. The approach to the condemnable law is inquisitorial, as opposed to adversarial ; it is by and large characterised by an insistence on formality and rationalization, as opposed to practicality and ease. prescriptive legal act enters into force out on the following day after its publication in the Teisės aktų registras, unless it has a by and by entry into pull date. [ 178 ] The European Union law is an built-in depart of the lithuanian legal arrangement since 1 May 2004. [ 179 ] Lithuania, after breaking away from the Soviet Union had a difficult crime position, however, the lithuanian law enforcement agencies eliminated many criminals over the years, making Lithuania a sanely dependable area. [ 180 ] Crime in Lithuania has been declining quickly. [ 181 ] Law enforcement in Lithuania is primarily the province of local Lietuvos policija ( lithuanian Police ) commissariats. They are supplemented by the Lietuvos policijos antiteroristinių operacijų rinktinė Aras ( Anti-Terrorist Operations Team of the lithuanian Police Aras ), Lietuvos kriminalinės policijos biuras ( lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau ), Lietuvos policijos kriminalistinių tyrimų centras ( lithuanian Police Forensic Research Center ) and Lietuvos kelių policijos tarnyba ( lithuanian Road Police Service ). [ 182 ] In 2017, there were 63,846 crimes registered in Lithuania. Of these, thefts comprised a large part with 19,630 cases ( 13.2 % less than in 2016 ). While 2,835 crimes were identical hard and arduous ( crimes that may result in more than six years imprisonment ), which is 14.5 % less than in 2016. wholly, 129 homicides or attempted homicide occurred ( 19.9 % less than in 2016 ), while good bodily damage was registered 178 times ( 17.6 % less than in 2016 ). Another debatable crime bootleg cases besides decreased by 27.2 % from 2016 numbers. meanwhile, crimes in electronic data and information technology security fields perceptibly increased by 26.6 %. [ 183 ] In the 2013 Special Eurobarometer, 29 % of Lithuanians said that corruption affects their daily lives ( EU average 26 % ). furthermore, 95 % of Lithuanians see corruptness as widespread in their nation ( EU average 76 % ), and 88 % agreed that bribery and the manipulation of connections is frequently the easiest direction of obtaining certain public services ( EU average 73 % ). [ 184 ] Though, according to local arm of Transparency International, corruption levels have been decreasing over the past decade. [ 185 ] capital punishment in Lithuania was suspended in 1996 and fully eliminated in 1998. [ 186 ] Lithuania has the highest number of prison inmates in the EU. According to scientist Gintautas Sakalauskas, this is not because of a high gear criminalism rate in the country, but ascribable to Lithuania ‘s high repression degree and the lack of trust of the convicted, who are frequently sentenced to a imprison imprisonment. [ 187 ]

administrative divisions [edit ]

The stream system of administrative division was established in 1994 and modified in 2000 to meet the requirements of the European Union. The country ‘s 10 counties ( lithuanian : singular – apskritis, plural – apskritys ) are subdivided into 60 municipalities ( lithuanian : singular – savivaldybė, plural – savivaldybės ), and far divided into 500 elderships ( lithuanian : curious – seniūnija, plural – seniūnijos ). Municipalities have been the most important unit of presidency in Lithuania since the organization of county governorship ( apskrities viršininkas ) was dissolved in 2010. [ 188 ] Some municipalities are historically called “ district municipalities ” ( much shortened to “ district ” ), while others are called “ city municipalities ” ( sometimes shortened to “ city ” ). Each has its own elect government. The election of municipality councils in the first place occurred every three years, but now takes topographic point every four years. The council appoints elders to govern the elderships. Mayors have been immediately elected since 2015 ; anterior to that, they were appointed by the council. [ 189 ] Elderships, numbering over 500, are the smallest administrative units and do not play a character in national politics. They provide necessity local anesthetic public services—for example, registering births and deaths in rural areas. They are most active in the social sector, identifying needy individuals or families and organizing and distributing benefit and other forms of relief. [ 190 ] Some citizens feel that elderships have no real number power and receive besides little attention, and that they could otherwise become a source of local anesthetic inaugural for addressing rural problems. [ 191 ]

alien relations [edit ]

Lithuania became a penis of the United Nations on 18 September 1991, and is a signer to a number of its organizations and early international agreements. It is besides a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, angstrom well as NATO and its adjunct North Atlantic Coordinating Council. Lithuania gained membership in the World Trade Organization on 31 May 2001, and joined the OECD on 5 July 2018, [ 193 ] while besides seeking membership in other western organizations. Lithuania has established diplomatic relations with 149 countries. [ 194 ] In 2011, Lithuania hosted the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Ministerial Council Meeting. During the moment one-half of 2013, Lithuania assumed the function of the presidency of the European Union .
The postage is dedicated to Lithuania ‘s presidency of the European Union. Post of Lithuania, 2013. Lithuania is besides active in developing cooperation among northerly european countries. It has been a extremity of the Baltic Council since its institution in 1993. The Baltic Council, located in Tallinn, is a permanent organization of international cooperation that operates through the Baltic Assembly and the Baltic Council of Ministers. Lithuania besides cooperates with Nordic and the two other baltic countries through the NB8 format. A similar format, NB6, unites Nordic and Baltic members of EU. NB6 ‘s focus is to discuss and agree on positions before presenting them to the Council of the European Union and at the meetings of EU alien affairs ministers. The Council of the Baltic Sea States ( CBSS ) was established in Copenhagen in 1992 as an informal regional political forum. Its independent calculate is to promote consolidation and to close contacts between the region ‘s countries. The members of CBSS are Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Russia, and the european Commission. Its perceiver states are Belarus, France, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine. The Nordic Council of Ministers and Lithuania engage in political cooperation to attain reciprocal goals and to determine new trends and possibilities for joint cooperation. The council ‘s data office aims to disseminate Nordic concepts and to demonstrate and promote Nordic cooperation .
Lithuania was recently a extremity of the United Nations Security Council. Its representatives are on the right english. Lithuania, together with the five Nordic countries and the two other baltic countries, is a extremity of the Nordic Investment Bank ( NIB ) and cooperates in its NORDPLUS broadcast, which is committed to education. The Baltic Development Forum ( BDF ) is an freelancer nonprofit organization that unites big companies, cities, business associations and institutions in the Baltic Sea region. In 2010 the BDF ‘s 12th summit was held in Vilnius. [ 195 ] Poland was highly supportive of lithuanian independence, despite Lithuania ‘s discriminatory treatment of its polish minority. [ 196 ] [ 197 ] The former Solidarity leader and Polish President Lech Wałęsa criticised the government of Lithuania over discrimination against the polish minority and rejected Lithuania ‘s order of Vytautas the Great. [ 198 ] Lithuania maintains greatly warm reciprocal relations with Georgia and powerfully supports its european Union and NATO aspirations. [ 199 ] [ 200 ] [ 201 ] During the Russo-Georgian War in 2008, when the russian troops were occupying the territory of Georgia and approaching towards the Georgian capital Tbilisi, President Valdas Adamkus, together with the polish and ukrainian presidents, went to Tbilisi by answering to the Georgians request of the external aid. [ 202 ] [ 203 ] Shortly, Lithuanians and the lithuanian Catholic Church besides began collecting fiscal support for the war victims. [ 204 ] [ 205 ] In 2004–2009, Dalia Grybauskaitė served as european Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget within the José Manuel Barroso -led Commission. [ citation needed ] [ 206 ] In 2013, Lithuania was elected to the United Nations Security Council for a biennial terminus, [ 207 ] becoming the first Baltic area elected to this post. During its membership, Lithuania actively supported Ukraine and frequently condemned Russia for the military intervention in Ukraine, immediately earning huge Ukrainians esteem. [ 208 ] [ 209 ] As the War in Donbas progressed, President Dalia Grybauskaitė has compared the Russian President Vladimir Putin to Josef Stalin and to Adolf Hitler, she has besides called Russia a “ terrorist submit ”. [ 210 ] In 2018 Lithuania, along with Latvia and Estonia were awarded the Peace of Westphalia Prize [ de ] – for their especial model of democratic development and contribution to peace in the continent. [ 211 ] In 2019 Lithuania condemned the turkish nauseating into north-eastern Syria. [ 212 ] The 2023 NATO summit will be held in the lithuanian capital Vilnius. [ 213 ]

military [edit ]

lithuanian Army soldiers with their NATO allies during Iron Sword 2014 The Lithuanian Armed Forces is the name for the unite arm forces of lithuanian Land Force, Lithuanian Air Force, Lithuanian Naval Force, lithuanian Special Operations Force and early units : Logistics Command, Training and Doctrine Command, Headquarters Battalion, Military Police. directly subordinated to the Chief of Defence are the special Operations Forces and military Police. The Reserve Forces are under command of the lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces. The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of some 20,000 active personnel, which may be supported by reserve forces. [ 214 ] Compulsory conscription ended in 2008 but was reintroduced in 2015. [ 215 ] The Lithuanian Armed Forces presently have deployed personnel on international missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Mali and Somalia. [ 216 ] Lithuania became a entire penis of NATO in March 2004. Fighter jets of NATO members are deployed in Zokniai airport and provide safety for the Baltic airspace. Since the summer of 2005, Lithuania has been part of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan ( ISAF ), leading a peasant Reconstruction Team ( PRT ) in the township of Chaghcharan in the province of Ghor. The PRT includes personnel from Denmark, Iceland and the US. There are besides special mathematical process forces units in Afghanistan, placed in Kandahar Province. Since joining external operations in 1994, Lithuania has lost two soldiers : Lt. Normundas Valteris fell in Bosnia, as his patrol vehicle drove over a mine. Sgt. Arūnas Jarmalavičius was fatally wounded during an attack on the camp of his Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan. [ 217 ] The lithuanian National Defence Policy aims to guarantee the preservation of the independence and reign of the department of state, the integrity of its kingdom, territorial waters and airspace, and its constituent order. Its main strategic goals are to defend the nation ‘s interests, and to maintain and expand the capabilities of its armed forces so they may contribute to and participate in the missions of NATO and European Union penis states. [ 218 ] The defense ministry is responsible for fight forces, search and rescue, and intelligence operations. The 5,000 margin guards descent under the Interior Ministry ‘s supervision and are responsible for molding protection, recommendation and customs duties, and share responsibility with the united states navy for smuggling and drug traffic interdiction. A particular security department handles VIP protection and communications security. In 2015 National Cyber Security Centre of Lithuania was created. paramilitary organization Lithuanian Riflemen ‘s Union acts as a civilian self-defense institution. According to NATO, in 2020, Lithuania allocated 2.13 % of its GDP to the national defense. [ 219 ] For a long time, specially after the ball-shaped fiscal crisis in 2008, Lithuania lagged behind NATO allies in terms of defensive structure spend. however, in late years it has begun to quickly increase the fund, exceeding the NATO road map of 2 % in 2019 .

economy [edit ]

[220] Lithuania ‘s GDP per head compared to rest of the worldly concern ( 2020 ) Lithuania has an open and mix economy that is classified as high-income economy by the World Bank. [ 221 ] According to data from 2016, the three largest sectors in lithuanian economy are – services ( 68.3 % of GDP ), diligence ( 28.5 % ) and department of agriculture ( 3.3 % ). [ 222 ] World Economic Forum ‘s Global Competitiveness Report ranks Lithuania 41st ( of 137 rank countries ). Lithuania joined NATO in 2004, [ 223 ] EU in 2004, [ 224 ] Schengen in 2007 [ 225 ] and OECD in 2018. [ 193 ] On 1 January 2015, euro became the national currency replacing litas at the pace of EUR 1.00 = LTL 3.45280. [ 226 ] agricultural products and food comprise 18.3 % of exports ; other major sectors include chemical products and plastics ( 17.8 % ), machinery and appliances ( 15.8 % ), mineral products ( 14.7 % ), wood and furniture ( 12.5 % ). [ 227 ] According to data from 2016, more than half of all lithuanian exports go to 7 countries including Russia ( 14 % ), Latvia ( 9.9 % ), Poland ( 9.1 % ), Germany ( 7.7 % ), Estonia ( 5.3 % ), Sweden ( 4.8 % ) and United Kingdom ( 4.3 % ). [ 228 ] Exports equaled 81.31 percentage of Lithuania ‘s GDP in 2017. [ 229 ] lithuanian GDP experienced very high real growth rates for ten up to 2009, peaking at 11.1 % in 2007. As a result, the area was frequently termed as a Baltic Tiger. however, in 2009 due to a global fiscal crisis marked experienced a drastic decline – GDP contracted by 14.9 % [ 230 ] and unemployment rate reached 17.8 % in 2010. [ 231 ] After the refuse of 2009, lithuanian annual economic growth has been much slower compared to pre-2009 years. According to IMF, fiscal conditions are conducive to growth and fiscal soundness indicators remain strong. The public debt ratio in 2016 fell to 40 percentage of GDP, to compare with 42.7 in 2015 ( before ball-shaped finance crisis – 15 percentage of GDP in 2008 ). [ 232 ]
[233] Lithuania, GNI per caput, PPP ( current international $ ), 2016 On average, more than 95 % of all extraneous direct investment in Lithuania comes from european Union countries. Sweden is historically the largest investor with 20 % – 30 % of all FDI in Lithuania. [ 234 ] FDI into Lithuania spiked in 2017, reaching its highest always recorded number of greenfield investment projects. In 2017, Lithuania was one-third state, after Ireland and Singapore by the average job rate of investment projects. [ 235 ] The US was the leading source area in 2017, 24.59 % of total FDI. Next up are Germany and the UK, each representing 11.48 % of total undertaking numbers. [ 236 ] Based on the Eurostat ‘s data, in 2017, the prize of lithuanian exports recorded the most rapid growth not only in the baltic countries, but besides across Europe, which was 16.9 per penny. [ 237 ] In the period between 2004 and 2016, one out of five Lithuanians emigrated, chiefly due to insufficient income for residents ; [ 238 ] secondarily seeking to study afield. long term emigration and economy emergence has resulted in a noticeable dearth in the labor market [ 239 ] and growth in salaries being larger than growth in tug efficiency. [ 240 ] unemployment rate in 2017 was 8.1 %. [ 241 ]
A proportional theatrical performance of Lithuania exports, 2019 As of 2020, lithuanian median wealth per adult was $ 29,679 ( base was $ 63,500 ), while the total national wealth was $ 138 billion. [ 242 ] As of 2021, the median monthly internet wage in Lithuania was over €1,000 [ 243 ] or $ 2,200 adjusted for purchasing exponent parity. [ 244 ] Although, cost of live in the country besides is sufficiently less with the price flat for family concluding consumption outgo ( HFCE ) – 63, being 39 % lower than europium average – 102 in 2016. [ 245 ] Lithuania has a flat tax rate rather than a liberal scheme. According to Eurostat, [ 246 ] the personal income tax ( 15 % ) and corporate tax ( 15 % ) rates in Lithuania are among the lowest in the EU. The country has the lowest implicit rate of tax on capital ( 9.8 % ) in the EU. corporate tax pace in Lithuania is 15 % and 5 % for small businesses. 7 release Economic Zones are operating in Lithuania. [ 247 ]

Information technology production is growing in the nation, reaching 1.9 billion euros in 2016. [ 248 ] In 2017 only, 35 [ 249 ] FinTech companies came to Lithuania – a solution of lithuanian government and Bank of Lithuania simplified procedures for obtaining licences for the activities of e-money and requital institutions. [ 250 ] Europe ‘s first international Blockchain Centre launched in Vilnius in 2018. [ 251 ] Lithuania has granted a sum of 39 e-money licenses, moment in the EU only to the U.K. with 128 licenses. In 2018 Google set up a requital company in Lithuania. [ 252 ]

Companies [edit ]

Largest companies of Lithuania in 2020, by gross : [ 253 ]

department of agriculture [edit ]

department of agriculture in Lithuania dates to the Neolithic period, about 3,000 to 1,000 BC. It has been one of Lithuania ‘s most crucial occupations for many centuries. [ 255 ] Lithuania ‘s accession to the European Union in 2004 usher in a modern agricultural earned run average. The EU pursues a very high criterion of food safety and purity. In 1999, the Seimas ( parliament ) of Lithuania adopted a police on Product Safety, and in 2000 it adopted a law on Food. [ 256 ] [ 257 ] The reform of the agrarian marketplace has been carried out on the basis of these two laws. In 2016, agricultural output in Lithuania was 2.29 billion euros. Cereal crops occupied the largest region of it ( 5709.7 tons ), other significant types include : carbohydrate beets ( 933.9 tons ), rapeseed ( 392.5 tons ) and potatoes ( 340.2 tons ). Products totaling 4,385.2 million euros were exported from Lithuania to foreign markets, of which products for 3,165.2 million euros were lithuanian origin. export of agrarian and food products accounted for 19.4 % of all exports of goods from the state. [ 258 ] constituent farm is constantly becoming more popular in Lithuania. The condition of organic growers and producers in the country is granted by the public body Ekoagros. In 2016, there were 2539 such farms that occupied 225541,78 hectares. Of these, 43,13 % were cereals, 31,22 % were perennial grasses, 13,9 % were leguminous crops and 11,75 % were others. [ 259 ]

skill and technology [edit ]

foundation of the University of Vilnius in 1579 was a major factor of establishing local scientist community in Lithuania and making connections with other universities and scientists of Europe. Georg Forster, Jean-Emmanuel Gilibert, Johann Peter Frank and many early visiting scientists have worked at University of Vilnius. lithuanian bajoras and Grand Duchy of Lithuania artillery technical Kazimieras Simonavičius is a pioneer of rocketry, who has published Artis Magnae Artilleriae in 1650 that for over two centuries was used in Europe as a basic artillery manual and contains a big chapter on quality, construction, production and properties of rockets ( for military and civil purposes ), including multistage rockets, batteries of rockets, and rockets with delta wing stabilizers. [ 260 ] [ 261 ] A botanist Jurgis Pabrėža ( 1771-1849 ), created first base systematic guide of lithuanian flora Taislius auguminis ( Botany ), written in Samogitian dialect, the Latin-Lithuanian dictionary of plant names, first lithuanian textbook of geography. During the Interwar period humanist and social scientists emerged such as Vosylius Sezemanas, Levas Karsavinas, Mykolas Römeris. Due to the World Wars, lithuanian skill and scientists suffered heavily from the occupants, however some of them reached a first achievements in their life. Most notably, Antanas Gustaitis, Vytautas Graičiūnas, Marija Gimbutas, Birutė Galdikas, A. J. Kliorė, Algirdas Julius Greimas, medievalist Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Algirdas Antanas Avižienis. [ 262 ] [ 263 ] [ 264 ] [ 265 ] [ 266 ] Jonas Kubilius, long-run curate of the University of Vilnius is known for works in Probabilistic number theory, Kubilius model, Theorem of Kubilius and Turán–Kubilius inequality bear his name. Jonas Kubilius successfully resisted attempts to Russify the University of Vilnius. [ 267 ] Nowadays, the state is among centrist innovators group in the International Innovation Index. [ 268 ] and in the european Innovation Scoreboard ranked 15th among europium countries. [ 269 ] Lithuania was ranked fortieth in the Global Innovation Index in 2020, down from 38th in 2019. [ 270 ] [ 271 ] [ 272 ] [ 273 ] Lasers and biotechnology are flagship fields of the lithuanian skill and gamey technical school industry. [ 274 ] [ 275 ] lithuanian “ Šviesos konversija ” ( Light Conversion ) has developed a femtosecond laser system that has 80 % marketshare global, and is used in DNA research, ophthalmological surgeries, nanotech industry and skill. [ 276 ] [ 277 ] Vilnius University Laser Research Center has developed one of the most knock-down femtosecond lasers in the world dedicated chiefly to oncological diseases. [ 278 ] In 1963, Vytautas Straižys and his coworkers created Vilnius photometric system that is used in astronomy. [ 279 ] Noninvasive intracranial pressure and blood flow measuring devices were developed by KTU scientist A. Ragauskas. [ 280 ] K.Pyragas contributed to Control of chaos with his manner of delayed feedback master – Pyragas method. Kavli Prize laureate Virginijus Šikšnys is known for his discoveries in CRISPR airfield – invention of CRISPR- Cas9. [ 281 ] [ 282 ]
Lithuania has launched three satellites to outer space : LitSat-1, Lituanica SAT-1 and LituanicaSAT-2. [ 283 ] Lithuanian Museum of Ethnocosmology and Molėtai Astronomical Observatory is located in Kulionys. [ 284 ] 15 R & D institutions are members of lithuanian Space Association ; Lithuania is a cooperating state with european Space Agency. [ 285 ] [ 286 ] Rimantas Stankevičius is the only ethnically lithuanian astronaut. [ 287 ] Lithuania in 2018 became Associated Member State of CERN. [ 288 ] Two CERN incubators in Vilnius and Kaunas will be hosted. [ 289 ] Most advanced scientific inquiry in Lithuania is being conducted at the Life Sciences Center, [ 290 ] Center For Physical Sciences and Technology. [ 291 ] As of 2016 calculations, annually growth of Lithuania ‘s biotechnology and life science sector was 22 % over the past 5 years. 16 academic institutions, 15 R & D centres ( skill parks and invention valleys ) and more than 370 manufacturers operate in the lithuanian life skill and biotechnology diligence. [ 292 ] In 2008 the Valley development course of study was started aiming to upgrade lithuanian scientific research infrastructure and encourage business and science cooperation. Five R & D Valleys were launched – Jūrinis ( nautical technologies ), Nemunas ( agro, bioenergy, forestry ), Saulėtekis ( laser and unaccented, semiconductor ), Santara ( biotechnology, medicate ), Santaka ( sustainable chemistry and drugstore ). [ 293 ] lithuanian Innovation Center is created to provide support for innovations and research institutions. [ 294 ]

tourism [edit ]

Statistics of 2016 showed that 1.49 million tourists from alien countries visited Lithuania and spent at least one night in the state. The largest total of tourists came from Germany ( 174,800 ), Belarus ( 171,900 ), Russia ( 150,600 ), Poland ( 148,400 ), Latvia ( 134,400 ), Ukraine ( 84,000 ), and the UK ( 58,200 ). The total contribution of Travel & Tourism to country GDP was EUR 2,005.5mn, 5.3 % of GDP in 2016, and is forecast to rise by 7.3 % in 2017, and to rise by 4.2 % protactinium to EUR 3,243.5mn, 6.7 % of GDP in 2027. [ 295 ] Hot air out balloon is very popular in Lithuania, particularly in Vilnius and Trakai. Bicycle tourism is growing, particularly in lithuanian Seaside Cycle Route. EuroVelo routes EV10, EV11, EV13 go through Lithuania. sum length of bicycle tracks amounts to 3769 kilometer ( of which 1988 kilometer is asphalt paving ). [ 296 ] Nemunas Delta Regional Park and Žuvintas biosphere reserve are known for birdwatching. [ 297 ] domestic tourism has been on the rise a well. presently there are up to 1000 places of drawing card in Lithuania. Most tourists visit the big cities— Vilnius, Klaipėda, and Kaunas, seaside resorts, such as Neringa, Palanga, and Spa towns – Druskininkai, Birštonas. [ 298 ]

infrastructure [edit ]

communication [edit ]

Lithuania has a well explicate communications infrastructure. The state has 2,8 million citizens [ 299 ] and 5 million SIM cards. [ 300 ] The largest LTE ( 4G ) mobile network covers 97 % of Lithuania ‘s territory. [ 301 ] custom of pay back call lines has been quickly decreasing ascribable to rapid expansion of mobile-cellular services. [ 302 ] In 2017, Lithuania was top 30 in the universe by average mobile broadband speeds and clear 20 by median cook broadband speeds. [ 303 ] Lithuania was besides top 7 in 2017 in the list of countries by 4G LTE penetration. In 2016, Lithuania was ranked seventeenth in United Nations ‘ e-participation index. [ 304 ] [ 305 ] There are four TIER III datacenters in Lithuania. [ 306 ] Lithuania is 44th globally graded area on data center concentration according to Cloudscene. [ 307 ] long-run project ( 2005–2013 ) – Development of Rural Areas Broadband Network ( RAIN ) was started with the objective to provide residents, department of state and municipal authorities and businesses with fiber-optic broadband access in rural areas. RAIN infrastructure allows 51 communications operators to provide network services to their clients. The visualize was funded by the European Union and the lithuanian government. [ 308 ] [ 309 ] 72 % of lithuanian households have access to internet, a number which in 2017 was among EU ‘s lowest [ 310 ] and in 2016 ranked 97th by CIA World Factbook. [ 311 ] Number of households with internet access is expected to increase and reach 77 % by 2021. [ 312 ] Almost 50 % of Lithuanians had smartphones in 2016, a number that is expected to increase to 65 % by 2022. [ 313 ] Lithuania has the highest FTTH ( Fiber to the home ) penetration rate in Europe ( 36.8 % in September 2016 ) according to FTTH Council Europe. [ 314 ]

ecstasy [edit ]

major highways in Lithuania Lithuania received its first railroad track connection in the middle of the nineteenth century, when the Warsaw – Saint Petersburg Railway was constructed. It included a reach from Daugavpils via Vilnius and Kaunas to Virbalis. The first and alone still operating burrow was completed in 1860. Rail enchant in Lithuania consists of 1,762 km ( 1,095 mi ) of 1,520 millimeter ( 4 foot 11.8 in ) russian bore railway of which 122 kilometer ( 76 mile ) are electrified. This railway network is discrepant with european criterion gauge and requires train switching. however, lithuanian railroad track network besides has 115 kilometer ( 71 myocardial infarction ) of criterion estimate lines. [ 315 ] More than half of all inland freight transported in Lithuania is carried by rail. [ 316 ] The Trans-European standard gauge Rail Baltica railroad track, linking Helsinki – Tallinn – Riga – Kaunas – Warsaw and continuing on to Berlin is under construction. In 2017, Lietuvos Geležinkeliai, a party that operates most railroad track lines in Lithuania, received EU punishment for breaching EU ‘s antimonopoly laws and restricting competition. [ 317 ]
transportation is the third largest sector in lithuanian economy. [ 318 ] lithuanian transportation companies drew care in 2016 [ 319 ] and 2017 [ 320 ] with huge and record-breaking orders of trucks. about 90 % of commercial truck traffic in Lithuania is international transports, the highest of any EU nation. [ 321 ] Lithuania has an extensive network of motorways. WEF grades lithuanian roads at 4,7 / 7,0 [ 322 ] and lithuanian road authority ( LAKD ) at 6,5 / 10,0. [ 323 ] The Port of Klaipėda is the only commercial cargo port in Lithuania. In 2011 45.5 million tons of cargo were handled ( including Būtingė vegetable oil terminal figures ) [ 324 ] Port of Klaipėda is outside of EU ‘s 20 largest ports, [ 325 ] [ 326 ] but it is the eighth largest port in the Baltic Sea area [ 327 ] [ 328 ] with ongoing expansion plans. [ 329 ] Vilnius International Airport is the largest airport in Lithuania, 91st busiest airport in Europe ( EU ‘s 100 largest airports ). It served 3.8 million passengers in 2016. [ 330 ] early international airports include Kaunas International Airport, Palanga International Airport and Šiauliai International Airport. Kaunas International Airport is besides a little commercial cargo airport which started regular commercial cargo traffic in 2011. [ 331 ] The inland river cargo port in Marvelė, linking Kaunas and Klaipėda, received first cargo in 2019. [ 332 ]

Water provision and sanitation [edit ]

mineral water spring in Birštonas Lithuania has one of the largest fresh water system supplies, compared with other countries in Europe. Lithuania and Denmark are the only countries in Europe, which are fully equipped with clean groundwater. Lithuanians consume about 0.5 million cubic meters of water per day, which is merely 12–14 percentage of all explored fresh groundwater resources. [ 333 ] Water choice in the area is very high and is determined by the fact that drink water comes from bass layers that are protected from contamination on the surface of the earth. Drilling depth normally reaches 30–50 meters, but in Klaipėda Region it even reaches 250 meters. consequently, Lithuania is one of identical few european countries where groundwater is used for centralize water provide. With a large underground fresh body of water reserves, Lithuania exports mineral-rich water to early countries. Approved mineral water measure is about 2.7 million cubic meters per class, while product is only 4–5 percentage of all mineral water resources. [ 334 ] Vilnius is the merely Baltic capital that uses centralized water system supplying from deep water springs, which are protected from befoulment and has no nitrates or nitrites that are harmful to the human soundbox. Water is cleaned without chemicals in Lithuania. About 20 % of the consume water in the state is a non-filtered very high gear quality water. [ 335 ]

Energy [edit ]

systematic diversification of energy imports and resources is Lithuania ‘s key energy scheme. [ 336 ] long-run aims were defined in National Energy Independence scheme in 2012 by Lietuvos Seimas. [ 337 ] It was estimated that strategic energy independence initiatives will cost 6.3–7.8 billion Eur in total and provide annual savings of 0.9–1.1 billion EUR. After the decommission of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, Lithuania turned from electricity exporter to electricity importer. Unit No. 1 was closed in December 2004, as a condition of Lithuania ‘s submission into the European Union ; Unit No. 2 was closed gloomy on 31 December 2009. Proposals have been made to construct a fresh – Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania. [ 338 ] however, a non-binding referendum held in October 2012 clouded the prospects for the Visaginas project, as 63 % of voters said no to a new nuclear might plant. [ 339 ]
The area ‘s main chief beginning of electrical might is Elektrėnai Power Plant. other primary sources of Lithuania ‘s electrical power are Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant and Kaunas Hydroelectric Power Plant. Kruonis Pumped Storage Plant is the only in the Baltic states ability plant to be used for regulation of the power system ‘s operation with generating capability of 900 MW for at least 12 hours. [ 340 ] As of 2015, 66 % of electrical power was imported. [ 341 ] First geothermal heating plant ( Klaipėda Geothermal Demonstration Plant ) in the Baltic Sea region was built in 2004. Lithuania–Sweden submarine electricity interconnection NordBalt and Lithuania–Poland electricity interconnection LitPol Link were launched at the end of 2015. [ 342 ] In order to break down Gazprom ‘s monopoly [ 343 ] [ 344 ] in natural gas market of Lithuania, first boastfully scale LNG meaning terminal ( Klaipėda LNG FSRU ) in the baltic area was built in port of Klaipėda in 2014. The Klaipėda LNG terminal was called Independence, thus emphasising the aim to diversify energy market of Lithuania. Norvegian company Equinor supplies 540 million cubic metres ( 19 billion cubic feet ) of natural natural gas annually from 2015 until 2020. [ 345 ] The concluding is able to meet the Lithuania ‘s necessitate 100 percentage, and Latvia ‘s and Estonia ‘s national demand 90 percentage in the future. [ 346 ] Gas Interconnection Poland–Lithuania ( GIPL ), besides known as Lithuania–Poland pipeline, is a nominate natural natural gas pipeline interconnection between Lithuania and Poland that is expected to be finished by 2019. In 2018 synchronising the Baltic States ‘ electricity grid with the Synchronous power system of Continental Europe has started. [ 347 ] In 2016, 20,8 % of electricity consumed in Lithuania came from renewable sources. [ 348 ]

Demographics [edit ]

population of Lithuania 1915–2014 population density Since the Neolithic time period the native inhabitants of the lithuanian territory have not been replaced by any other ethnic group, so there is a high probability that the inhabitants of contemporary Lithuania have preserved the genetic musical composition of their forebears relatively undisturbed by the major demographic movements, [ 349 ] [ 350 ] [ 351 ] although without being actually isolated from them. [ 352 ] The lithuanian population appears to be relatively homogeneous, without apparent genic differences among cultural subgroups. [ 353 ] A 2004 psychoanalysis of MtDNA in the lithuanian population revealed that Lithuanians are close to the Slavic and Finno-Ugric speak populations of Northern and Eastern Europe. Y-chromosome SNP haplogroup psychoanalysis showed Lithuanians to be closest to Latvians and Estonians. [ 354 ] According to 2014 estimates, the age social organization of the population was as follows : 0–14 years, 13.5 % ( male 243,001/female 230,674 ) ; 15–64 years : 69.5 % ( male 1,200,196/female 1,235,300 ) ; 65 years and over : 16.8 % ( male 207,222/female 389,345 ). [ 16 ] The medial historic period was 41.2 years ( male : 38.5, female : 43.7 ). [ 355 ] Lithuania has a sub-replacement fertility pace : the full richness rate ( TFR ) in Lithuania is 1.59 children born/woman ( 2015 estimates ). [ 356 ] As of 2014, 29 % of births were to unmarried women. [ 357 ] The age at first marriage in 2013 was 27 years for women and 29.3 years for men. [ 358 ]

functional urban areas [edit ]

cultural groups [edit ]

Residents of Lithuania by ethnicity (2011)[360]
Lithuanians			84.2%
Poles			7.1%
Russians			5.8%
Belarusians			1.2%
Ukrainians			0.5%
Others			1.7%

cultural Lithuanians make up about five-sixths of the country ‘s population and Lithuania has the most homogeneous population in the Baltic States. In 2015, the population of Lithuania stands at 2,921,262, 84.2 % of whom are cultural Lithuanians who speak Lithuanian, which is the official language of the state. several goodly minorities exist, such as Poles ( 6.6 % ), Russians ( 5.8 % ), Belarusians ( 1.2 % ) and Ukrainians ( 0.5 % ). [ 360 ] Poles in Lithuania are the largest minority, concentrated in southeasterly Lithuania ( the Vilnius region ). Russians in Lithuania are the second largest minority, concentrated by and large in two cities. They constitute ample minorities in Vilnius ( 12 % ) [ 361 ] and Klaipėda ( 19.6 % ), [ 362 ] and a majority in the town of Visaginas ( 52 % ). [ 363 ] About 3,000 Roma live in Lithuania, largely in Vilnius, Kaunas and Panevėžys ; their organizations are supported by the National Minority and Emigration Department. [ 364 ] For centuries a little Tatar community has flourished in Lithuania. [ 365 ] The official terminology is lithuanian, but in some areas there is a significant presence of minority languages, such as polish, russian, belarusian and ukrainian. The greatest presence of minorities and the habit of these languages is in Šalčininkai District Municipality, Vilnius District Municipality and Visaginas Municipality. yiddish is spoken by members of the bantam remaining jewish community in Lithuania. The express laws guarantee education in minority languages and there are numerous publicly funded schools in the areas populated by minorities, with polish as the linguistic process of education being the most widely available. [ 366 ] According to the lithuanian population census of 2011, [ 362 ] about 85 % of the state ‘s population talk Lithuanian as their native lyric, 7.2 % are native speakers of russian and 5.3 % of Polish. About 39 % of lithuanian residents talk russian as a foreign lyric, 20 % – English, 9 % – German, 6 % – Polish, 3 % – french. [ 367 ] Most lithuanian schools teach english as the first alien language, but students may besides study german, or, in some schools, french or russian. Around 80 % of young people in Lithuania know English. [ 368 ]

urbanization [edit ]

There has been a firm campaign of population to the cities since the 1990s, encouraged by the plan of regional centres, such as Alytus, Marijampolė, Utena, Plungė, and Mažeikiai. By the early twenty-first hundred, about two-thirds of the total population lived in urban areas. As of 2015, 66.5 % of the total population lives in urban areas. [ 16 ] Lithuania ‘s functional urban areas include Vilnius ( population 696,000 in 2016 ) and Kaunas ( population 387,000 in 2016 ). [ 369 ] The fDI of the Financial Times in their research Cities and Regions of the Future 2018/19 ranked Vilnius one-fourth in the mid-sized european cities category and Vilnius county was ranked tenth in the belittled european regions category. [ 370 ]

Health [edit ]

Kaunas Clinics is the largest and the most advanced medical institution in Lithuania. Lithuania provides free state-funded healthcare to all citizens and registered long-run residents. [ 372 ] It co-exists with a significant private healthcare sector. In 2003–2012, the network of hospitals was restructured, as part of wide healthcare service reforms. It started in 2003–2005 with the expansion of ambulant services and basal care. [ 373 ] In 2016, Lithuania ranked 27th in Europe in the Euro health consumer index, a ranking of european healthcare systems based on waiting time, results and early indicators. As of 2019 lithuanian life anticipation at birth was 76.0 ( 71.2 years for males and 80.4 for females ) [ 374 ] and the baby deathrate rate was 2.99 per 1,000 births. [ 375 ] The annual population growth rate increased by 0.3 % in 2007. Lithuania has seen a dramatic rise in suicides in the 1990s. [ 376 ] The suicide rate has been constantly decreasing since, but it still remains the highest in the EU and the OECD. [ 377 ] The suicide rate as of 2019 is 20.2 per 100,000 people. [ 376 ] Suicide in Lithuania has been a discipline of research, but the independent reasons behind the high rate are thought to be both psychological and economic, including : sociable transformations and economic recessions, dipsomania, lack of tolerance in the society, bullying. [ 378 ] By 2000 the huge majority of lithuanian health care institutions were nonprofit enterprises and a individual sector developed, providing by and large outpatient services which are paid for out-of-pocket. The Ministry of Health besides runs a few health concern facilities and is involved in the operate of the two major lithuanian education hospitals. It is creditworthy for the State Public Health Centre which manages the populace health network including ten county populace health centres with their local anesthetic branches. The ten counties run county hospitals and specialised health concern facilities. [ 379 ] There is Compulsory Health Insurance for the lithuanian residents. There are 5 Territorial Health Insurance Funds, covering Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys. Contributions for people who are economically active are 9 % of income. [ 380 ] Emergency checkup services are provided unblock of appoint to all residents. Access to the secondary coil and third wish, such as hospital treatment, is normally via referral by a general practitioner. [ 381 ] Lithuania besides has one of the lowest health wish prices in Europe. [ 382 ]

religion [edit ]

According to the 2011 census, 77.2 % of residents of Lithuania were Catholics. [ 383 ] Catholicism has been the main religion since the official Christianisation of Lithuania in 1387. The Catholic Church was persecuted by the russian Empire as part of the Russification policies and by the Soviet Union as separate of the overall anti-religious campaigns. During the Soviet era, some priests actively led the electric resistance against the Communist government, as symbolised by the Hill of Crosses and exemplified by The Chronicle of the Catholic Church in Lithuania. 4.1 % of the population are Eastern Orthodox, chiefly among the russian minority. The community of Old Believers ( 0.8 % of population ) dates back to the 1660s. Protestants are 0.8 %, of which 0.6 % are Lutheran and 0.2 % are Reformed. The reformation did not impact Lithuania to a great extent as seen in East Prussia, Estonia, or Latvia. Before World War II, according to Losch ( 1932 ), the Lutherans were 3.3 % of the sum population. [ 384 ] They were chiefly Germans and prussian Lithuanians in the Klaipėda Region ( Memel territory ). This population fled or was expelled after the war, and today Protestantism is chiefly represented by ethnic Lithuanians throughout the northern and western parts of the area, arsenic good as in big urban areas. newly arriving evangelical churches have established missions in Lithuania since 1990. [ 385 ] hinduism is a minority religion and a fairly recent development in Lithuania. Hinduism is spread in Lithuania by Hindu organizations : ISKCON, Sathya Sai Baba, Brahma Kumaris and Osho Rajneesh. ISKCON ( lithuanian : Krišnos sąmonės judėjimas ) is the largest and the oldest bowel movement as the first Krishna followers date to 1979. [ 386 ] It has three centres in Lithuania : in Vilnius, Klaipėda and Kaunas. Brahma Kumaris maintains the Centre Brahma Kumaris in Antakalnis, Vilnius. The diachronic communities of Lipka Tatars maintain Islam as their religion. Lithuania was historically home to a significant Jewish community and was an authoritative center of jewish scholarship and culture from the eighteenth century until the eve of World War II. Of the approximately 220,000 Jews who lived in Lithuania in June 1941, about all were killed during the Holocaust. [ 387 ] [ 388 ] The lithuanian Jewish community numbered about 4,000 at the end of 2009. [ 389 ] Romuva, the neopagan revival of the ancient religious practices, has gained popularity over the years. Romuva claims to continue living heathen traditions, which survived in folklore and customs. [ 390 ] [ 391 ] [ 392 ] Romuva is a polytheistic heathen religion, which asserts the holiness of nature and has elements of ancestor worship. [ 393 ] According to the 2001 census, there were 1,270 people of Baltic faith in Lithuania. [ 394 ] That number jumped to 5,118 in the 2011 census. [ 362 ]

education [edit ]

The Constitution of Lithuania mandates ten-year education ending at historic period 16 and guarantees a free populace higher education for students deemed ‘good ‘. [ 395 ] The Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania proposes national educational policies and goals that are then voted for in the Seimas. Laws govern long-run educational strategy along with cosmopolitan laws on standards for higher education, vocational training, law and science, adult department of education, and special education. [ 396 ] 5.4 % of GDP or 15.4 % of total public outgo was spent for education in 2016. [ 397 ]
According to the World Bank, the literacy rate among Lithuanians aged 15 years and older is 100 %. [ 399 ] School attendance rates are above the EU average and school leave is less common than in the EU. According to Eurostat Lithuania leads among other countries of the European Union in people with secondary department of education ( 93.3 % ). [ 400 ] Based on OECD data, Lithuania is among the top 5 countries in the world in postsecondary ( third ) education attainment. [ 401 ] As of 2016, 54.9 % of the population aged 25 to 34, and 30.7 % of the population aged 55 to 64 had completed tertiary education. [ 402 ] The contribution of tertiary-educated 25–64-year-olds in STEM ( Science, engineering, engineering, and mathematics ) fields in Lithuania were above the OECD average ( 29 % and 26 % respectively ), similarly to business, government and law ( 25 % and 23 % respectively ). [ 403 ] modern Lithuanian education system has multiple morphologic problems. Insufficient fund, quality issues, and decreasing scholar population are the most prevailing. lithuanian teacher salaries are the lowest in the stallion EU. [ 404 ] Low teacher salaries was the primary reason behind national teacher strikes in 2014, [ 405 ] 2015, [ 406 ] and 2016. [ 407 ] [ 408 ] Salaries in the higher education sector are besides low. many lithuanian professors have a second job to supplement their income. [ 409 ] PISA report from 2010 found that lithuanian results in mathematics, skill and read were below OECD average. [ 410 ] PISA report from 2015 reconfirmed these findings. [ 411 ] The population ages 6 to 19 has decreased by 36 % between 2005 and 2015. As a leave, the student-teacher proportion is decreasing and expending per student is increasing, but schools, particularly in rural areas, are forced into reorganizations and consolidations. [ 397 ] As with other baltic nations, in detail Latvia, the large volume of higher education graduates within the country, coupled with the high rate of spoken second languages is contributing to an department of education brain drain. As of 2008, there were 15 populace and 6 private universities a well as 16 public and 11 private colleges in Lithuania ( see : list of universities in Lithuania ). [ 412 ] Vilnius University is one of the oldest universities in Northern Europe and the largest university in Lithuania. Kaunas University of Technology is the largest technical university in the Baltic States and the second largest university in Lithuania. In an undertake to reduce costs [ 413 ] and adjust to precipitously decreasing number of high-school students, [ 414 ] lithuanian fantan decided to reduce the numeral of universities in Lithuania. [ 415 ] [ 416 ] In early 2018, Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences and Aleksandras Stulginskis University were merged into Vytautas Magnus University. [ 417 ]

culture [edit ]

lithuanian language [edit ]

The lithuanian speech ( lietuvių kalba ) is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 0.2 million afield. lithuanian is a baltic terminology, closely related to Latvian, although they are not mutually intelligible. It is written in an adapted interpretation of the Roman handwriting. lithuanian is believed to be the linguistically most bourgeois living aryan tongue, retaining many features of Proto Indo-European. [ 418 ] lithuanian terminology studies are crucial for relative linguistics and for reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European lyric. [ 419 ] Lithuanian was studied by linguists such as Franz Bopp, August Schleicher, Adalbert Bezzenberger, Louis Hjelmslev, [ 420 ] Ferdinand de Saussure, [ 421 ] Winfred P. Lehmann, Vladimir Toporov [ 422 ] and others .
Liber Discipuli de eruditione Christifidelium. Words: teprÿdav[ſ]ʒÿ (let it strike), vbagÿſte (indigence) The earliest know lithuanian glosses ( between 1520 and 1530 ) written in the margins of Johannes Herolt record. Words : ( let it strike ), ( indigence ) There are two main dialects of the lithuanian lyric : Aukštaitian dialect and Samogitian dialect. Aukštaitian dialect is chiefly used in the central, southerly and easterly parts of Lithuania while Samogitian dialect is used in the western depart of the nation. [ 423 ] The Samogitian dialect besides has many wholly different words and is even considered a classify language by some linguists. [ 424 ] Nowadays, the distinguishing sport between the two chief lithuanian dialects is the unequal pronunciation of stress and unaccented two-vowels uo and internet explorer. [ 423 ] The groundwork for written Lithuanian was laid in 16th and 17th centuries by lithuanian noblemen and scholars, who promoted lithuanian speech, created dictionaries and published books – Mikalojus Daukša, Stanislovas Rapolionis, Abraomas Kulvietis, Jonas Bretkūnas, Martynas Mažvydas, Konstantinas Sirvydas, Simonas Vaišnoras-Varniškis. [ 425 ] The first grammar book of the lithuanian lyric Grammatica Litvanica was published in Latin in 1653 by Danielius Kleinas. Jonas Jablonskis ‘ works and activities are specially significant for the lithuanian literature moving from the use of dialects to a standard lithuanian linguistic process. The linguistic substantial which he collected was published in the 20 volumes of Academic Dictionary of Lithuanian and is still being used in inquiry and in editing of textbook and books. He besides introduced the letter ū into lithuanian write. [ 426 ]

literature [edit ]

There is a great deal of lithuanian literature written in Latin, the main scholarly linguistic process of the Middle Ages. The edicts of the lithuanian King Mindaugas is the prime exemplar of the literature of this kind. The Letters of Gediminas are another crucial inheritance of the lithuanian Latin writings. One of the first lithuanian authors who wrote in Latin was Nicolaus Hussovianus ( around 1480 – after 1533 ). His poem Carmen de statura, feritate ac venatione bisontis ( A Song about the Appearance, Savagery and Hunting of the Bison ), published in 1523, describes the lithuanian landscape, way of liveliness and customs, touches on some actual political problems, and reflects the clang of paganism and Christianity. A person under the pseudonym Michalo Lituanus [ lt ] ( around 1490 – 1560 ) wrote a treatise De moribus tartarorum, lituanorum et moscorum ( On the Customs of Tatars, Lithuanians and Muscovites ) in the middle of the sixteenth hundred, but it was not published until 1615. An extraordinary calculate in the cultural life of Lithuania in the sixteenth hundred was the lawyer and poet of spanish origin Petrus Roysius Maurus Alcagnicensis ( around 1505 – 1571 ). The publicist, lawyer, and mayor of Vilnius, Augustinus Rotundus ( around 1520 -1582 ) wrote a no longer real history of Lithuania in Latin around the year 1560. loannes Radvanus, a human-centered poet of the second half of the sixteenth century, wrote an epic poem imitating the Aeneid of Vergil. His Radivilias, intended to become the lithuanian national epic, was published in Vilnius in 1588. [ 428 ] seventeenth hundred lithuanian scholars besides wrote in Latin – Kazimieras Kojelavičius-Vijūkas, Žygimantas Liauksminas are known for their romance writings in theology, rhetorics and music. Albertas Kojalavičius-Vijūkas wrote first printed lithuanian history Historia Lithuania. lithuanian literary works in the lithuanian speech started being first gear published in the sixteenth hundred. In 1547 Martynas Mažvydas compiled and published the foremost print lithuanian book Katekizmo prasti žodžiai ( The Simple Words of Catechism ), which marks the begin of literature, printed in lithuanian. He was followed by Mikalojus Daukša with Katechizmas. In the 16th and 17th centuries, as in the whole Christian Europe, lithuanian literature was chiefly religious. The evolution of the old ( 14th–18th hundred ) lithuanian literature ends with Kristijonas Donelaitis, one of the most big authors of the Age of Enlightenment. Donelaitis ‘ poem Metai ( The Seasons ) is a landmark of the lithuanian fabrication literature, written in hexameter. [ 429 ] With a mix of Classicism, Sentimentalism and Romanticism, the lithuanian literature of the first half of the nineteenth century is represented by Maironis, Antanas Baranauskas, Simonas Daukantas, Oscar Milosz, and Simonas Stanevičius. [ 429 ] During the Tsarist annexation of Lithuania in the nineteenth hundred, the lithuanian press banish was implemented, which led to the formation of the Knygnešiai ( Book smugglers ) movement. This apparent motion is thought to be the very reason the lithuanian speech and literature survived until today. 20th-century lithuanian literature is represented by Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas, Antanas Vienuolis, Bernardas Brazdžionis, Antanas Škėma, Balys Sruoga, Vytautas Mačernis and Justinas Marcinkevičius. In 21st century debuted Kristina Sabaliauskaitė, Renata Šerelytė, Valdas Papievis, Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė, Rūta Šepetys .

architecture [edit ]

respective celebrated Lithuania-related architects are celebrated for their achievements in the field of computer architecture. Johann Christoph Glaubitz, Marcin Knackfus, Laurynas Gucevičius and Karol Podczaszyński were instrumental in introducing Baroque and neoclassic architectural movements to the lithuanian architecture during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. [ 430 ] Vilnius is considered as a capital of the Eastern Europe Baroque. [ 431 ] Vilnius Old Town that is broad of astonishing Baroque churches and other buildings is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. [ 432 ]
Gryčia (traditional dwelling house, built in the 19th century) ( traditional dwell firm, built in the nineteenth century ) Lithuania is besides known for numerous castles. About twenty dollar bill castles exist in Lithuania. Some castles had to be rebuilt or outlive partially. many lithuanian nobles ‘ historic palaces and manor houses have remained till the nowadays and were reconstructed. [ 433 ] lithuanian village life has existed since the days of Vytautas the Great. Zervynos and Kapiniškės are two of many ethnographic villages in Lithuania. [ 434 ] Rumšiškės is an afford space museum where old ethnographic architecture is preserved. During the interwar period, Art Deco, Lithuanian National Romanticism architectural style buildings were constructed in the Lithuania ‘s temp capital Kaunas. Its computer architecture is regarded as one of the finest examples of the European Art Deco and has received the European Heritage Label. [ 435 ]

Arts and museums [edit ]

Pranciškus Smuglevičius, Jan Rustem, Juozapas Oleškevičius and Kanutas Ruseckas are the most big lithuanian painters of the 18th and 19th centuries. The lithuanian Art Museum was founded in 1933 and is the largest museum of art conservation and display in Lithuania. [ 436 ] Among other significant museums are the Palanga Amber Museum, where amber pieces comprise a major separate of the collection, National Gallery of Art, presenting collection of lithuanian art of the twentieth and twenty-first century, National Museum of Lithuania presenting lithuanian archeology, history and cultural culture. In 2018 two individual museums were opened – MO Museum devoted to modern and contemporary lithuanian art and Tartle, [ 437 ] exhibiting a collection of lithuanian art heritage and artefacts .
possibly the most celebrated figure in Lithuania ‘s artwork community was the composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis ( 1875–1911 ), an internationally celebrated musician. The 2420 Čiurlionis asteroid, identified in 1975, honors his achievements. The M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum, angstrom well as the alone military museum in Lithuania, Vytautas the Great War Museum, are located in Kaunas. other noteworthy artists includes Jonas Mekas, Jurgis Mačiūnas, Petras Kalpokas, Antanas Žmuidzinavičius, Jonas Šileika, Justinas Vienožinskis [ lt ], Kajetonas Sklėrius [ lt ], Adomas Varnas, Petras Rimša, Juozas Zikaras, Vytautas Kairiūkštis, Vincas Grybas, Stasys Ušinskas, Bronius Pundzius [ lt ], Liudas Truikys [ lt ], Robertas Antinis, Antanas Gudaitis, Antanas Samuolis [ lt ], Jonas Mikėnas [ lt ], Antanas Žukauskas, Viktoras Vizgirda, Rimantas Dichavičius, Elvyra Katalina Kriaučiūnaitė, Šarūnas Sauka, Juozas Statkevičius [ lt ] At the 2019 Venice Biennale, Lithuania won its first Golden Lion for Best National Pavilion with modern opera “ Sun & Sea ( Marina ) ” — presented by the artists Lina Lapelyte, Vaiva Grainyte and Rugile Barzdziukaite, beating out 89 other pavilions for the honor. [ 438 ] At an official collateral event to the Biennale, lithuanian artist and film maker Emilija Škarnulytė took home the Future Generation Art Prize awarding $ 100,000 to a global artist under the old age of 35, presented by the PinchukArtCentre. [ 439 ]

theater [edit ]

Lithuania has some very celebrated theater directors well known in the area and abroad. One of them is Oskaras Koršunovas. He was awarded more than forty times with particular prizes. possibly most esteemed award is swedish Commander Grand Cross : arrange of the Polar Star. [ 440 ] today ‘s the most celebrated theatres in Lithuania are in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Panevėžys. It is lithuanian National Drama Theatre, Keistuolių teatras ( Theatre of Freaks ) in Vilnius, Kaunas National Drama Theatre, Theatre of Oskaras Koršunovas, Klaipėda Drama Theatre, Theatre of Gytis Ivanauskas, Miltinis Drama Theatre in Panevėžys, The Doll ‘s Theatre, russian Drama Theatre and others. [ 441 ] There are some very popular field festivals like Sirenos ( Sirens ), TheATRIUM, Nerk į teatrą ( Dive into the Theatre ) and others. [ 442 ] [ 443 ] [ 444 ] The figures dominating in Lithuanian field global are directors like Eimuntas Nekrošius, Jonas Vaitkus, Cezaris Graužinis, Gintaras Varnas, Dalia Ibelhauptaitė, Artūras Areima ; number of talented actors like Dainius Gavenonis, Rolandas Kazlas, Saulius Balandis, Gabija Jaraminaitė and many others. [ 445 ]

film [edit ]

On 28 July 1896, Thomas Edison know photography session was held in the Concerts Hall of the Botanical Garden of Vilnius University. After a year, like american movies were available with the addition of especial record player records that besides provided fathom. In 1909, lithuanian film pioneers Antanas Račiūnas [ lt ] and Ladislas Starevich released their first movies. Soon the Račiūnas ‘ recordings of Lithuania ‘s views became very popular among the lithuanian Americans overseas. In 1925, Pranas Valuskis filmed movie Naktis Lietuvoje ( Night in Lithuania ) about lithuanian script smugglers that left the first bright lithuanian footprint in Hollywood. The most meaning and mature lithuanian american movie of the time Aukso žąsis ( Golden goose ) was created in 1965 by Birutė Pūkelevičiūtė [ lt ] that featured motifs from the Brothers Grimm fagot tales. In 1940, Romuva Cinema was opened in Kaunas and presently is the oldest still operational cinema in Lithuania. After the occupation of the state, movies largely were used for the soviet propaganda purposes, however Almantas Grikevičius, Gytis Lukšas, Henrikas Šablevičius, Arūnas Žebriūnas, Raimondas Vabalas were able to overcome the obstacles and produce valuable films. After the renovation of the independence, Šarūnas Bartas, Audrius Stonys, Arūnas Matelis, Audrius Juzėnas, Algimantas Puipa, Janina Lapinskaitė [ lt ], Dijana and her conserve Kornelijus Matuzevičius received success in external movie festivals. [ 446 ] In 2018, 4 265 414 cinema tickets were sold in Lithuania with the average price of 5,26 euros. [ 447 ]

music [edit ]

lithuanian tribe music belongs to Baltic music arm which is connected with neolithic corded merchandise polish. Two musical instrument cultures meet in the areas inhabited by Lithuanians : stringed ( kanklių ) and wind instrument cultures. lithuanian folk music music is archaic, largely used for ritual purposes, containing elements of paganism religion. There are three ancient styles of singing in Lithuania connected with ethnographic regions : monophony, heterophony and polyphony. family birdcall genres : Sutartinės ( Multipart Songs ), [ 448 ] Wedding Songs, War-Historical Time Songs, Calendar Cycle and Ritual Songs and Work Songs. [ 449 ] italian artists organized the first opera in Lithuania on 4 September 1636 at the Palace of the Grand Dukes by the ordain of Władysław IV Vasa. [ 450 ] presently, operas are staged at the lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and besides by autonomous company Vilnius City Opera .
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis is the most celebrated lithuanian painter and composer. During his short life he created about 200 pieces of music. His works have had profound determine on mod lithuanian culture. His symphonic poems In the Forest ( Miške ) and The Sea ( Jūra ) were performed only posthumously. Čiurlionis contributed to symbolism and art nouveau and was representative of the tail fin de siècle era. He has been considered one of the pioneers of pilfer art in Europe. [ 451 ] In Lithuania, choral music is very crucial. Vilnius is the alone city with three choirs laureates ( Brevis, Jauna Muzika and Chamber Choir of the Conservatoire ) at the european Grand Prix for Choral Singing. [ 452 ] There is a long-standing tradition of the Dainų šventė ( lithuanian Song and Dance Festival ). The first gear one took place in Kaunas in 1924. Since 1990, the festival has been organised every four years and summons roughly 30,000 singers and tribe dancers of respective professional levels and senesce groups from across the area. [ 453 ] In 2008, Lithuanian Song and Dance Festival together with its latvian and estonian versions was inscribed as UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. [ 454 ] Gatvės muzikos diena ( Street Music Day ) gathers musicians of assorted genres per annum. [ 455 ] Conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla performing on the scenes of Rome, New York and Birmingham. advanced classical music composers emerged in seventies – Bronius Kutavičius, Feliksas Bajoras, Osvaldas Balakauskas, Onutė Narbutaitė, Vidmantas Bartulis and others. Most of those composers explored archaic lithuanian music and its harmonic combination with advanced minimalism and neoromanticism. [ 456 ] Jazz view was active even during the years of soviet occupation. The actual discovery would occur in 1970–71 with the coming together of the Ganelin/Tarasov/Chekasin three, the alleged instigators of the Vilnius Jazz School. [ 457 ] Most known annual events are Vilnius Jazz Festival, Kaunas Jazz, Birštonas Jazz. Music Information Centre Lithuania ( MICL ) collects, promotes and shares information on lithuanian melodious culture .

Rock and protest music [edit ]

After the soviet reoccupation of Lithuania in 1944, the Soviet ‘s censoring continued firm controlling all aesthetic expressions in Lithuania, and any violations by criticizing the regimen would immediately result in punishments. [ 458 ] The first local rock bands started to emerge around 1965 and included Kertukai, Aitvarai and Nuogi ant slenksčio in Kaunas, and Kęstutis Antanėlis, Vienuoliai, and Gėlių Vaikai in Vilnius, among others. ineffective to express their opinions directly, the lithuanian artists began organizing patriotic Roko Maršai and were using metaphors in their songs ‘ lyrics, which were easily identified for their true meanings by the locals. [ 459 ] [ 460 ] Postmodernist rock ‘n’ roll band Antis and its singer Algirdas Kaušpėdas were one of the most active agent performers who mocked the soviet government by using metaphors. For example, in the song Zombiai ( Zombies ), the band indirectly sang about the Red Army soldiers who occupied the state and its military foundation in Ukmergė. [ 461 ] [ 462 ] Vytautas Kernagis ‘ sung Kolorado vabalai ( Colorado beetles ) was besides a favorite due to its lyrics in which true intend of the Colorado beetles was intended to be the Soviets decorated with the Ribbons of Saint George. [ 463 ] In the early on independence years, rock band Foje was particularly democratic and gathered tens of thousands of spectators to the concerts. [ 464 ] After disbanding in 1997, Foje singer Andrius Mamontovas remained one of the most outstanding lithuanian performers and an active player in diverse jacob’s ladder events. [ 465 ] Marijonas Mikutavičius is celebrated for creating unofficial Lithuania sport hymn Trys milijonai ( Three million ) and official hymn of the EuroBasket 2011 Nebetyli sirgaliai ( english translation was named Celebrate Basketball ). [ 466 ] [ 467 ]

cuisine [edit ]

lithuanian cuisine features the products suited to the cool and damp northerly climate of Lithuania : barley, potatoes, rye, beets, greens, berries, and mushrooms are locally grown, and dairy products are one of its specialties. fish dishes are very democratic in the coastal region. [ 468 ] Since it shares its climate and agrarian practices with Northern Europe, Lithuanian cuisine has some similarities to scandinavian cuisine. however, it has its own spot features, which were formed by a assortment of influences during the country ‘s retentive and difficult history. dairy products are an important depart of traditional lithuanian cuisine. These include white bungalow tall mallow ( varškės sūris ), curd ( varškė ), soured milk ( rūgpienis ), sour cream ( grietinė ), butter ( sviestas ), and sour cream butter kastinis. Traditional kernel products are normally seasoned, matured and smoked – smoked sausages ( dešros ), lard ( lašiniai ), skilandis, smoked ham ( kumpis ). Soups ( sriubos ) – boletus soup ( baravykų sriuba ), cabbage soup ( kopūstų sriuba ), beer soup ( alaus sriuba ), milk soup ( pieniška sriuba ), cold-beet soup ( šaltibarščiai ) and respective kinds of porridges ( košės ) are function of tradition and daily diet. Freshwater pisces, herring, wild berries and mushrooms, honey are highly democratic diet to this day. [ 469 ] [ 470 ]
One of the oldest and most fundamental lithuanian food products was and is rye bread. Rye boodle is eat every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Bread played an authoritative role in syndicate rituals and agrarian ceremonies. [ 471 ] Lithuanians and other nations that once formed part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania parcel many dishes and beverages. german traditions besides influenced lithuanian cuisine, introducing pork barrel and potato dishes, such as potato pudding ( kugelis or kugel ) and potato sausages ( vėdarai ), arsenic well as the baroque tree patty known as Šakotis. The most alien of all the influences is Eastern ( Karaite ) cuisine – the kibinai are popular in Lithuania. lithuanian noblemen normally hired french chefs, so french cuisine charm came to Lithuania in this direction. [ 472 ] Balts were using mead ( midus ) for thousands of years. [ 473 ] Beer ( alus ) is the most common alcoholic beverage. Lithuania has a long farmhouse beer custom, first mentioned in 11th century chronicles. Beer was brewed for ancient Baltic festivities and rituals. [ 474 ] Farmhouse brew survived to a greater extent in Lithuania than anywhere else, and through accidents of history the Lithuanians then developed a commercial brewing culture from their alone farmhouse traditions. [ 475 ] [ 476 ] Lithuania is top 5 by pulmonary tuberculosis of beer per head in Europe in 2015, counting 75 active breweries, 32 of them are microbreweries. [ 477 ] The microbrewery scene in Lithuania has been growing in late years, with a count of bars focusing on these beers popping up in Vilnius and besides in other parts of the state. Eight lithuanian restaurants are listed in the White Guide Baltic Top 30. [ 478 ]

Media [edit ]

The Constitution of Lithuania provides for exemption of speech and crusade, and the government broadly respects these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a officiate democratic political system trust to promote these freedoms. however, the built-in definition of freedom of formulation does not protect sealed acts, such as incitation to home, racial, religious, or social hate, violence and discrimination, or aspersion, and disinformation. It is a crime to deny or “ grossly trivialize ” soviet or nazi german crimes against Lithuania or its citizens, or to deny genocide, crimes against world, or war crimes. [ 479 ] best-selling daily national newspapers in Lithuania are Lietuvos rytas ( about 18,8 % of all daily readers ), Vakaro žinios [lt] ( 12,5 % ), Kauno diena ( 3,7 % ), Šiaulių kraštas [lt] ( 3,2 % ) and Vakarų ekspresas ( 2,7 % ). best-selling hebdomadally newspapers are Savaitė ( about 34 % of all weekly readers ), Žmonės ( 17 % ), Prie kavos ( 11,9 % ), Ji ( 8,7 % ) and Ekspress nedelia ( 5,4 % ). [ 480 ] In July 2018, the most popular home television channels in Lithuania were TV3 ( about 35,9 % of the auditorium ), LNK ( 32,8 % ), lithuanian National Radio and Television ( 30,6 % ), BTV ( 19,9 % ), Lietuvos rytas television ( 19,1 % ). [ 481 ] The most popular radio receiver stations in Lithuania are M-1 ( about 15,8 % of all listeners ), Lietus ( 12,2 % ), LRT Radijas ( 10,5 % ) and Radiocentras ( 10,5 % ). [ 482 ]

Public holidays and festivals [edit ]

As a result of a thousand-years history, Lithuania has two National days. first one is the Statehood Day on 6 July, marking the constitution of the chivalric Kingdom of Lithuania by Mindaugas in 1253. universe of modern lithuanian state is commemorated on 16 February as a lithuanian State Reestablishment Day on which declaration of independence from Russia and Germany was declared in 1918. Joninės ( previously known as Rasos ) is a public holiday with paganic roots that celebrates a solstice. As of 2018, there are 13 public holidays ( which come with a day off ). [ 483 ] Kaziuko mugė is an annual fair held since the get down of the seventeenth hundred that commemorates the anniversary of Saint Casimir ‘s death and gathers thousands of visitors and many craftsmen. other luminary festivals are Vilnius International Film Festival, Kauno Miesto Diena, Klaipėda Sea Festival, Mados infekcija, Vilnius Book Fair, Vilnius Marathon, Devilstone Open Air, Apuolė 854 [ lt ], Great Žemaičių Kalvarija Festival .

Sports [edit ]

basketball is the most democratic and national sport of Lithuania. The Lithuania national basketball team has had significant success in external basketball events, having won the EuroBasket on three occasions ( 1937, 1939 and 2003 ), vitamin a well a total of 8 early medals in the Eurobasket, the World Championships and the Olympic Games. The men ‘s national team besides has highly high television ratings as about 76 % of the nation ‘s population watched their games live in 2014. [ 484 ] Lithuania hosted the Eurobasket in 1939 and 2011. The historic Lithuanian basketball team BC Žalgiris, from Kaunas, won the european basketball league Euroleague in 1999. Lithuania has produced a number of NBA players, including Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Arvydas Sabonis and Šarūnas Marčiulionis, [ 485 ] and current NBA players Jonas Valančiūnas and Domantas Sabonis. [ 486 ]
Lithuania has won a total of 26 medals at the Olympic Games, including 6 gold medals in athletics, modern pentathlon, shoot, and swimming. numerous other Lithuanians won Olympic medals representing Soviet Union. Discus thrower Virgilijus Alekna is the most successful Olympic athlete of autonomous Lithuania, having won aureate medals in the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens games, a well as a bronze in 2008 Beijing Olympics and numerous World Championship medals. More recently, the aureate decoration won by a then 15-year-old swimmer Rūta Meilutytė at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London sparked a rise in popularity for the sport in Lithuania. Lithuania has produced big athletes in athletics, modern pentathlon, road and cut cycle, chess, rowing, aerobatics, strongman, wrestling, box, blend martial arts, Kyokushin Karate, and other sports. Lithuania will host the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup. It will be the first meter Lithuania has hosted and participated in any FIFA tournament. few lithuanian athletes have found success in winter sports, although facilities are provided by respective internal-combustion engine rinks and skiing slopes, including Snow Arena, the first indoor ski slope in the Baltics. [ 487 ] In 2018 Lithuania national ice rink ice hockey team won gold medals at the 2018 IIHF World Championship Division I. [ 488 ]

See besides [edit ]

Notes [edit ]

1. a b[14] and [15] among others, classify it as northern Europe, the [16] classifies it as eastern Europe, and [17] Usage varies greatly, and controversially,[18] in press sources. versatile sources classify Lithuania differently for statistical and other purposes. For exemplar, United Nations, and Eurovoc among others, classify it as northern Europe, the CIA World Factbook classifies it as eastern Europe, and Encyclopedia Britannica locates it in northeastern Europe.Usage varies greatly, and controversially, in press sources .

References [edit ]

Government

General information

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