Europe
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Belarus. (2022). In Q-files Encyclopedia, Geography, Europe. Retrieved from
https://www.q-files.com/geography/europe/belarus
"Belarus." Geography, Europe, Q-files Encyclopedia, 10 Feb. 2022.
https://www.q-files.com/geography/europe/belarus.
Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.
Belarus 2022. Geography, Europe. Retrieved 19 March 2024, from
https://www.q-files.com/geography/europe/belarus
Geography, Europe, s.v. "Belarus," accessed March 19, 2024.
https://www.q-files.com/geography/europe/belarus
Belarus
Most of Belarus is flat—the result of its land having been smoothed down by glaciers during the most recent Ice Ages. Rising in the centre of the country is a low range of hills. To the south lies a marshy region called the Pripyat (Pripet), Europe’s largest expanse of marshland. Elk and wild boar roam in the forests that grow on these misty wetlands. Summers in Belarus are short and cool, while winters are long and bitterly cold. Contained within the Soviet Union as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic for much of the 20th century, today Belarus is a relatively low-income industrial country with few connections to the rest of Europe. Its main relations are with its giant neighbour, Russia.
People
Four-fifths of Belarus’s people are ethnic Belarusians, an eastern Slavic people closely related to Ukrainians and Russians. Russians and Poles have lived in the region for centuries. A more recent wave of Russians arrived as workers after World War II. The most widely-spoken language in Belarus is Russian. Belarusian, a different language, is mainly spoken by the country’s Polish population in the west. In the countryside, many people speak a mixture of the two languages called “trasyanka”.
Industry
Under Soviet rule (1945–91), Belarus was transformed into a successful industrial country. Today, heavy industry is still vital to its economy. Factories in Minsk and the eastern cities of Homyel (Gomel) and Vitsyebsk produce iron and steel, as well as manufactured products such as vehicles, fertilizers, machinery and refrigerators. Belarus is one of the world’s largest exporters of tractors. Nearly all of the country’s energy—oil and gas—is supplied by Russia.
Consultant: Nicholas Harris
Facts about Belarus
Population 9,577,552
Area 202,900, sq km
Highest point Hara Dzyarzhynskaya 345 m (1132 ft)
Capital Minsk, population 1.9 million
Other major cities Homyel (Gomel, pop. 480,951), Mahilyow (Mogilev, 369,200), Vitsyebsk (Vitebsk, 342,700)
Languages Russian, Belarusian
Religions Christian (Eastern Orthodox) 80%, others and none 20%
Ethnicity Belarusian 84%, Russian 8%, Polish 3%, Ukrainian 2%, others 3%
Currency Belarusian ruble (BYR)
Chief exports refined petroleum oil, chemicals, fertilizers, iron and steel, tractors and other vehicles, cheese, butter, furniture
History of Belarus
500 BC
Slavic people settle in the region that is now Belarus
3rd century
Baltic tribes settle in the region
5th century
Slavic tribes take control of the region, replacing the Baltic culture
9th–12th centuries
Belarus is part of a huge East Slavic state called Kievan Rus; it stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea in the south and is governed from Kiev (modern capital of Ukraine)
14th century
Belarus becomes part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
1569
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth unites Lithuania and Poland’s territories— including modern-day Belarus
1772
As the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth breaks apart, Russia takes control of Belarus
1840s
Russian emperor (tsar) Nicholas I tries to make Belarus more “Russian”; speaking Belarusian in schools is forbidden
1917
Russian Revolution; Tsar Nicholas II removed from power
1918–19
Belarus briefly declares independence as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
1921
Belarus is divided between Poland and the Soviet Union
1939–45
World War II; 209 of Belarus’s 290 cities are destroyed by Germany; almost the entire Jewish population is killed in the Holocaust
1945
Belarus comes under the rule of the Soviet Union as Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
1986
Disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (in neighbouring Ukraine) pollutes large areas of Belarus with toxic chemicals
1991
Soviet Union collapses and Belarus declares independence
1994
Election is held and Alexander Lukashenko becomes the republic’s first president
2010
Alexander Lukashenko is elected president for a fourth time, with nearly 80% of the vote. On election day, thousands of protesters attempt to storm the government building, while a number of opposition presidential candidates are arrested and imprisoned.
2020
Demonstrations and protests break out against the government and President Lukashenko following the presidential election, which Lukashenko claims to have won with more than 80% of the vote. The result is widely declared to have been falsified. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leading opposition candidate in the election, flees the country. The protesters, meanwhile are subject to violent persecution by law enforcement officers.