Lithuania
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| National motto: None | |||||
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| Official language | Lithuanian | ||||
| Capital | Vilnius | ||||
| President | Arturas Paulauskas (acting) | ||||
| Prime Minister | Algirdas Brazauskas | ||||
| Area - Total - % water | Ranked 128th 65,200 kmÃÂò Negligible | ||||
| Population
- Total (July 2003) - Density | Ranked 125th
3,592,561 55.1/km² | ||||
| GDP (PPP)
- Total (Year) - GDP/head | Ranked 85th
$30,080 million $8,400 | ||||
| Independence
- Declared - Recognised | From Imperial Russia
February 16, 1918 July 12, 1920 | ||||
| Currency | Litas | ||||
| Time zone | UTC +2 | ||||
| National anthem | Tautiska Giesme | ||||
| Internet TLD | .LT | ||||
| Calling Code | 370 | ||||
| Table of contents |
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2 Politics 3 Counties 4 Geography 5 Economy 6 Demographics 7 Culture 8 Miscellaneous topics 9 External links |
First mentioned in 1009, Lithuania grew to be a significant nation in the Middle Ages. It was converted to Christianity in the 13th century by the German Teutonic Knights and incorporated into the Teutonic Order. Lithuania became an independent Grand Duchy that eventually stretched across much of Eastern Europe. In the 16th century, it joined with Poland in a personal union under one monarch as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This union remained until the partitions of Poland in 1795 when Lithuania was itself annexed by Imperial Russia.
Under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, a smaller Lithuania established its independence as a kingdom in February 1918 as a part of German planned Mitteleuropa, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, and then as a republic in November, after Germany's defeat in World War I. The republic intended to break 4 centuries long union with Poland and subsequently was plagued by territorial disputes with Poland (over Central Lithuania and Suwalki) and Germany (over Klaipėda) and became a dictatorship in 1926. It was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940 during World War II.
Communist rule ended after the advent of glasnost and Lithuania proclaimed its renewed independence on March 11, 1990, the first Soviet republic to do so, though Soviet forces unsuccessfully tried to suppress this until September 1991. Lithuania has since sought closer ties with the West, so became a member of NATO on March 29, 2004 and is expected to become a member of the European Union in May 1, 2004.
The Lithuanian head of state is the president, elected directly for a five-year term, who also functions as commander in chief overseeing foreign and security policy. The president, on the approval of the parliament, also appoints the prime minister and on the latter's nomination the rest of the cabinet, as well as a number of other top civil servants and the judges for all courts, including the Constitutional Court (Konstitucinis Teismas).
The unicameral Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has 141 members that are elected for a four-year term. About half of the members of this legislative body are elected in single constituencies (71), and the other half (70) are elected in the nationwide vote by proportional representation. A party must receive at least 5% of the national vote to be represented in the Seimas.
Lithuania consists of 10 counties (apskritys, singular - apskritis), each named after their principal city. The counties are subdivided into 56 municipalities, both cities and districts. The administrative division was created in 1994.
The largest and most populous of the Baltic states, Lithuania is a partly maritime country with about 100 km of sandy coastline, of which only 38 km face the open Baltic Sea. Lithuania's major warm-water port of Klaipėda lies at the narrow mouth of KurÃÂÃÂių Gulf (Curonian Lagoon), a shallow lagoon extending south to Kaliningrad. The main river Nemunas and some of its tributaries are used for internal shipping.
The Lithuanian landscape is glacially flat, except for morainic hills in the western uplands and eastern highlands no higher than 300 meters, with the highest point being the Juozapinės at 292 m. The terrain is marked by numerous lakes (e.g. Lake ViÃÂÃÂtytis) and swamps, and a mixed forest zone covers 30% of the country. The climate lies between martitime and continental, with wet, moderate winters and summers. According to some geographers, Lithuania's capital, Vilnius, lies at the geographical centre of Europe.
Lithuania, the Baltic state that has conducted the most trade with Russia, has been slowly rebounding from the 1998 Russian financial crisis. High unemployment, at 12.5% in 2001, and weak consumption have held back recovery. In 2003 Lithuania had the highest economic grow ratio among all European Union candidates, reaching 8,8% in third quarter. Trade has been increasingly oriented toward the West. Lithuania has gained membership in the World Trade Organisation and has moved ahead with plans to join the European Union in 2004. Privatisation of the large, state-owned utilities, particularly in the energy sector, is underway. The litas, the national currency, has been pegged to the euro since February 2, 2002.
Over 80% of the Lithuanian population is ethnically Lithuanian and speaks the Lithuanian language, one of the two remaining living members of the Baltic language group, which is also the only official state language. Several sizable minorities exist, such as Russians (8%), Poles (7%) and Belarusians (1.5%), and each respective language is also spoken in Lithuania.
The predominant religion is Roman Catholicism, but Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Judaism also exist as minority religions.
History
Main article: History of LithuaniaPolitics
Main article: Politics of LithuaniaCounties
Main article: Counties of Lithuania
Geography
Main article: Geography of LithuaniaEconomy
Main article: Economy of LithuaniaDemographics
Main article: Demographics of LithuaniaCulture
Main article: Culture of LithuaniaMiscellaneous topics
External links
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