Lithuania: From a Baltic Name to a Modern European Country

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Text to type: The earliest known written record of Lithuania’s name comes from the Annals of Quedlinburg. It described events from 9 March 1009 and used the Latin form *Litua*. However, this record was not the beginning of the Lithuanian people. It was simply the first surviving written mention. The exact meaning of *Lietuva* is still debated. One theory connects it to the small Lietava River near Kernavė. Another connects it to the *leičiai*, a historical warrior group. Lithuanians are Balts, not Slavs. Lithuanian is an East Baltic language related to Latvian, although speakers of the two languages cannot automatically understand each other. It preserves some very old features of the Indo-European language family.

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Text to type: In the 13th century, Baltic tribes in Aukštaitija formed a pagan state. Mindaugas was crowned the Catholic King of Lithuania on 6 July 1253, although he later returned to pagan practice. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania developed from this early state. Gediminas made Vilnius the lasting capital from 1323. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Grand Duchy became one of Europe’s largest states. Around 1430, it stretched from the Baltic Sea toward the Black Sea and covered about 930,000 square kilometres. Lithuania was the last major pagan state in Europe. After Jogaila signed the Union of Krewo in 1385, Lithuania was Christianized in 1387. In 1410, Polish–Lithuanian forces defeated the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald.

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Text to type: The Union of Lublin created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. Lithuania shared a state with Poland but kept its own laws, army, and treasury. After three partitions, the Third Partition ended the state in 1795, and the Russian Empire took most Lithuanian lands, including Vilnius. Resistance continued. Lithuanians joined uprisings in 1830–1831 and 1863–1864. Russia banned Lithuanian books printed in the Latin alphabet from 1864. Book smugglers, called *knygnešiai*, secretly carried such books from East Prussia. On 16 February 1918, twenty members of the Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence in Vilnius. The Act restored an independent democratic Lithuanian state with Vilnius as its capital.

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Text to type: In August 1939, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact placed the Baltic states in the Soviet sphere. The Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in June 1940. Nazi Germany occupied it in 1941, and Soviet forces returned in 1944. Anti-Soviet partisans continued fighting into the early 1950s, while about 130,000 Lithuanians were deported to Siberia. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania declared the restoration of independence. “Restoration” was important: the Act stated that the independence declared in 1918 had never legally lost its force. Moscow responded with an economic blockade. On 13 January 1991, Soviet forces attacked important buildings in Vilnius, killing fourteen unarmed people. The Soviet Union recognized Lithuania on 6 September 1991, and the last Russian army units left in 1993.

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Text to type: Modern Lithuania is a country of about 2.9 million people on the eastern Baltic Sea. Its capital is Vilnius, Lithuanian is its official language, and Klaipėda is its main port. Forests cover about one third of the land, and there are more than 3,000 lakes. Lithuania joined NATO and the European Union in 2004. It entered the eurozone in 2015, so it uses the euro. These memberships connect the restored state closely with European and transatlantic institutions. Older history remains visible in modern culture. Baltic amber was once traded to the Roman Empire, and Palanga now has an amber museum. The Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai became a symbol of Catholic resistance during the Soviet period. Basketball is also a major part of modern culture; Lithuania hosted EuroBasket in 2011.

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