| Kingdom of Lithuania Lietuvos karalystė Timeline: Differently | ||||||
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| Anthem: Tautiška giesmė ("The National Hymn") |
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 Location of Lithuania (green)
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| Capital (and largest city) | Vilnius | |||||
| Official languages | Lithuanian | |||||
| Other languages | Russian • Polish | |||||
| Religion | Catholicism | |||||
| Demonym(s) | Lithuanian | |||||
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic | |||||
| - | King | Ingio I | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | Saulius Skvernelis | ||||
| Establishment | ||||||
| - | First mentioned | 9 March 1009 | ||||
| - | Grand Duchy | 1236 | ||||
| - | Union with Poland | 2 February 1386 | ||||
| - | Commonwealth created | 1 July 1569 | ||||
| - | Partitioned | 24 October 1795 | ||||
| - | Second Kingdom | 19 August 1918 | ||||
| - | Soviet Socialist Republic | 21 February 1927 | ||||
| - | Third Kingdom | 4 December 1982 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 65,201 km2 25,174 sq mi |
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| Population | ||||||
| - | Estimate | 2,791,133 (106th) | ||||
| Currency | litas | |||||
| Drives on the | right | |||||
Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuva) officially known as the Kingdom of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos karalystė) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bounded by the Baltic Sea on the east, and borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east, and Poland to the south. The capital and largest city is Vilnius. Its surface area of 65,201 square kilometers makes it the 20th-largest country in Europe and the 116th-largest in the world. With a population of over 2.7 million inhabitants, it is the 25th-most populous country in Europe and the 106th in the world.
History[]
The cultures of Kunda, Neman and Narva settled in the region of what is now Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. They were traveling hunters and did not form stable settlements. In the 8th millennium BC, the climate became much warmer, and forests developed. The inhabitants then travelled less and engaged in local hunting, gathering and fresh-water fishing. Agriculture did not emerge until the 3rd millennium BC due to a harsh climate and terrain and a lack of suitable tools to cultivate the land. Crafts and trade also started to form at this time. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population and formed various Baltic tribes.
From the 9th to the 11th centuries, coastal Balts were subjected to raids by the Vikings, with the kings of Denmark collecting tribute at times. During the 10–11th centuries, Lithuanian territories were among the lands paying tribute to Kievan Rus', and Yaroslav the Wise was among the Ruthenian rulers who invaded Lithuania (from 1040). From the mid-12th century, it was the Lithuanians who were invading Ruthenian territories. In 1183, Polotsk and Pskov were ravaged, and even the distant and powerful Novgorod Republic was repeatedly threatened by the excursions from the emerging Lithuanian war machine toward the end of the 12th century.
In 1915, during the Great War, the Germans staged an offensive lead by Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Memel to Lithuania. By 1917 they had captured Lithuania and Friedrich was placed as military governor. Friedrich ensured the protection Lithuanian Jews. When the German lines were collapsing, the allied powers offered the Lithuanians to turn on their overlords, an assembly was held and an invasion of Germany was approved. When Lithuania was let go and a referendum was held. The military governor crowned Wilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach as Mindaugas II of Lithuania on the condition that whenever a monarch died a referendum would be held. However, Lithuania fell into political instability and fell to the Soviets in 1927.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Vytautas II was restored to the throne following a quick referendum. Vytautas II had died in 1983 and he was succeded by his nephew Prince Ingio who was crowned the new King of Lithuania.
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