Country Information on Lithuania

Terrain Approximately 75% of the country's territory consists of lowlands and plains. Most of the landscape is characterized by undulating terrain in the northeast and west. As a predominantly flat country, Lithuania's highest point, Juazapinés/Kalnas, measures only 294 m. Inland water areas cover 4% of the area, forests occupy 27.6%. Most of the lakes, a total of approximately 4000, are found in the north and the south. The surface of Lithuania is traversed by 722 rivers, the shortest of which is 10 km in length. The largest of them, the Nemunas, rises in Belarus and flours through Lithuania for 475 km. Lithuania's Baltic coast extends about 100 km. Climate Climatic conditions in Lithuania are temperate. From May to September, daytime highs vary from about 14 to 22°C, but between November and March it rarely gets above 4°C. July and August, the warmest months, are also wet, with days of persistent showers. May, June and September are more comfortable, while late June can be thundery. Fauna/Flora About one third of Lithuania is densly forested, in particular the south and the east of the country, with pine, spruce and birch dominating the woodlands. Elks, deer, wild boars, wolves, and lynx inhabit the forests. Lithuanias diversity in bird species comprises water birds as well as partridges and black grouses, among others. There are five national parks in Lithuania and a number of nature reserves, the highlight being the Kursiu Nerija National Park, a special environment of high dunes, pine forests, beaches, lagoons and sea coasts. History/Politics Present-day Lithuanians, along with Latvians and ancient Prussians, are descendants of the Balts, an Indo-European ethnic group that settled on the Baltic coast 4000 years ago. The name of Lithuania was first mentioned in the Quedlinburg Annals in 1009. Under Grand Duke Gediminas, who is recognised as the founder of Lithuania, and under the rule of Grand Duke Mindaugas, the territory was extended during the 14th century southwards to take in Minsk and later as far as the Black Sea. This power enabled Lithuania to withstand the advance of the Teutonic Knights and to reach, together with Poland, the decisive victory at the Zalgiris (Tannenberg) battle in 1410. In 1569, a full-scale merger (Union of Lublin) between Lithuania and Poland (Rzeczpospolita = Commonwealth) took place, but the next 150 years showed it was insufficient to protect Lithuania from the territorial ambitions of other regional powers. At the end of the 18th century, Poland was carved up and occupied in successive partitions. Russia took possession of Lithuania in 1795 and held on to it until the early 20th century. The Russians were driven out by the German army during the First World War and, after the Bolshevik revolution brought an end to Russian involvement in the First World War, the Lithuanian Council declared independence in February 1918. In 1921, Lithuania joined the League of Nations. Although the Lithuanians had settled their differences with the Russians, temporarily at least, the Poles continued to occupy Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, in defiance of Allied demarcation which had awarded the city to the Lithuanians (1919 - 1939). In 1920, Soviet Russia signed a peace treaty with Lithuania, recognizing its independence. Lithuania suffered a military coup in 1926, and was ruled by Antanas Smetona as a corporate state from 1929 onwards. In 1939, Nazi Germany and the USSR signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact, which placed Lithuania under the German sphere of influence. When Lithuania refused to join the Nazi attack on Poland, it was included in the Soviet sphere. Lithuania regained Vilnius in October 1939, when the Red Army invaded eastern Poland; Germany invaded western Poland at the same time. By 1940, Lithuania had been placed under Soviet military occupation, communists were in government and the nation had become a republic of the USSR. Hitler invaded Lithuania in 1941 - the Red Army reconquered Lithuania by the end of 1944, and it took until the late 1980s for the nation to take its first steps towards regaining its sovereignty. Sajudis won a majority in the elections to Lithuania's Supreme Soviet in February 1990, and on 11 March this assembly declared Lithuania an independent republic. In response, Moscow carried out weeks of intimidatory troop manoeuvres, then clamped an economic blockade on Lithuania. Sajudis leader Vytautas Landsbergis agreed to a 100 day moratorium on the independence declaration in return for independence talks between the respective Lithuanian and Soviet governments. The Western World finally recognized Lithuanian independence and so did the USSR on 6 September 1991. In 1998, Valdas Adamkus, who had spent most of his adult life in the U.S.A., was elected president. Economy Lithuania has benefited from its disciplined approach to market reform and its adherence to strict fiscal and monetary policies imposed by the International Monetary Fund, measures that have helped constrain the growth of the money supply, reduce inflation, and support gross domestic product growth. Gross domestic product growth was -3% in 1999, unemployment amounted to 10%. Major industries comprise metal-cutting, machine tools, petroleum refining, shipbuilding, furniture making, textiles, food processing, fertilizers, electronic components, amber. Culture Like in other European countries, Lithuanias love to cultivate classical and popular music, apart from a rich and diverse tradition in folk music. One typically Lithuanian characteristic is about introducing slight changes to the melody with each upcoming verse in a song. Lithuania's most important contemporary artists include sculptor and painter Antanas Mon?ys and hyper-realist object artist Algimantas ?v?g?da. Wooden sacred buildings are an important and world-renown part of Lithuania's architectural heritage.