Country Information on Belarus

Terrain Belarus is a low-lying country, with the highest hill, Dzjarzhinskaja, reaching only 345 m. The terrain is mostly low ridges dividing broad marshy lowlands scattered with small lakes. The major river is the Dnjapro, which flows into eastern Belarus from Smolensk in Russia. Climate Belarus has a continental climate that becomes more severe as you move to the north-east. Average January temperatures are between -4°C and -8°C, and there is frost on the ground 7 to 8 months of the year. The warmest month is July, when temperatures normally reach 19°C. Strong showers are not uncommon in June and August, and there is snow cover from December to April. Fauna/Flora Belarus was once completely covered by forests. By the 16th century, most of it had been cleared for farming, but great plots have regrown, especially in the south. The most common trees are conifer, oak, beech and silver birch. The Belavezhskaja Pushcha Nature Reserve, on the Polish border, is Europe's largest slice of primeval mixed forest and is home to a population of European bison. Belarus' other nature reserves are home to elk, deer, boar, wolf, fox, squirrel, marten, hare, beaver, otter, mink and badger. History/Politics From the 5th to the 8th centuries, the region was colonized by East Slavic tribes. The 9th century saw the area being ruled by the Kingdom of Kievan Rus. Given Kiev's destruction by the Mongols, the area was taken over by the dukes of Lithuania in the early 14th century. Over the next 400 years, Belarus became a cultural entity distinct from Russia and Ukraine. When Poland unified with Lithuania in 1569, Polish culture became much more prominent in Belarus and the Byelorussian Church was brought under the authority of the Vatican. By the end of the 18th century, all Belarus passed to the Russian Empire as a consequence of the Polish partitions. During the 19th century, Belarus started moving from agriculture to a more industrialized economy, and the serfs were freed in the 1860s. During World War I, many Russian-German battles took place in Belarus, and a lot of the country was destroyed. Germany took Belarus, but in 1921, the country was divided between Poland and Bolshevik Russia (which became the USSR the next year). When Poland was invaded by Germany and the USSR in 1939, the USSR took back the Polish section of Belarus. The Byelorussians were on the front line again when Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. In 1944, the Germans were driven out by the Red Army, but Belarus was trashed in the process: barely a stone was left standing in Minsk and a quarter of the country's population died. The first post-war 5-year plan repaired a lot of the war damage, and Minsk developed into the industrial hub of the USSR. People moved into the city and many Russians immigrated to bolster the industrial workforce. When the Chernobyl nuclear power station in Ukraine melted down in 1986, Belarus was harder hit than Ukraine itself. Around one-fifth of the country was seriously contaminated, and the tide of political opinion turned against continued membership in the Union. In 1988, the Byelorussian Popular Front was formed to address issues raised by Chernobyl and the declining use of the Byelorussian language. Nationalist sentiment grew in the following years, and on 27 July 1990, the republic issued a declaration of sovereignty within the USSR. On 25 August 1991, the Communist Party issued a declaration of full national independence. Stanislau Shushkevich, a physicist who had campaigned against official negligence at Chernobyl, was to become the first head of state. Shushkevich was removed in 1994 and in Belarus' first direct presidential elections, replaced by Alexander Lukashenko. In 1996, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement to form a union state. Economy The government of Belarus has artificially revived economic output since mid-1996 by pursuing a policy of rapid credit expansion. In an attempt to keep the rapidly rising inflation in check, the government placed strict price controls on food and consumer goods. Main industries include metal-cutting machine tools, tractors, trucks, motorcycles, chemical fibres, fertilizers, textiles and refrigerators. Real gross domestic product growth was 1.5% in 1999, inflation rate amounted to 295%, unemployment was 2.3%. Culture Byelorussian publishing has had a notable impact on the region: Byelorussian bibles were some of the first books to be printed in Eastern Europe, and the 17th century Belarusian poet, Symeon of Polatsk, introduced the Baroque style of literature to Russia. Modern Byelorussian literature was born in the 19th century - Jakub Kolas is considered the classical pioneer, while Natalla Arseneva is known as a paragon of 20th century literature.