LITHUANIA, (Lith. Letura).
A region in Western Europe, which in the Mid dle Ages constituted an independent realm, and whose history is closely connected with that of Poland, in whose dismemberment it passed to Russia. (See LITHUANIANS and LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.) Lithuania had dif ferent boundaries at different periods. At the time of the partition of the Polish monarchy. at the close of the eighteenth century. it extended from Courland and Livonia on the north to Volhynia and the Ukraine on the south, and from Poland and East Prussia on the west to beyond the Dnieper on the east. The region in cluded within these limits, with an area of about 100,000 square miles, is embraced in the govern ments of Kovno, Vilna. Grodno, Vitebsk. Minsk, Mohilev, and Suwalki (the last in Russian Poland). The country comprised: Samogetia (Kovno) in the northwest; Lithuania proper (the palatinates of Vilna and Troki) in the west; White Russia in the east; Black Russia in the southeast; and Polessie in the south. This region was formerly. and is still in great part, covered with forests and marshes, and the soil is very unproductive. The imperial Forest of Bialo •icza, comprising a reservation of 330 square miles, is the most famous. The chief rivers are the Dnieper, Pripet, Beresina, DiIna, Niemen, and Bug. The inhabitants are Lithuanians, Russians, Poles, and Jews. The early history of Lithuania is very obscure. Having no natural boundaries, it was anciently subject to constant invasions by its neighbors. But as the Lithuanians had no fortified towns to be captured. and as the woods and marshes were almost impassable, the country remained practically independent. The people were little advanced in civilization and had no central government until the latter part of the Middle Ages. They clung tenaciously to their
pagan beliefs and practices, and it was only about the beginning of the fifteenth century that Christianity was established, the nation accept ing the Roman Catholic faith. Early in the thir teenth century one of the chiefs, named RyngoId, whose personality is bound up with legend. is represented as having instituted a stable govern ment; the first clearly historic character. how ever, is Ilyngold's son, Mindove, who reigned over Lithuania till about 1263. At this time the Teutonic Knights were establishing their power in the Baltic regions, spreading Christianity with fire and sword, and the bloody wars waged with them are a prominent feature in the early his tory of the Lithuanian principality. Fierce wars were also carried on against the Russians. Gedi min (about 1315-40) wrested vast territories from Russia, including Volhynia and Kiev. In 1386 Jagello, Grand Prince of Lithuania. mar ried Hedvig. daughter of Louis the Great of Poland, and mounted the Polish throne, having been previously baptized. For a hundred years from the time of Jagello Lithuania and Poland had separate rulers, a loose political union exist ing between the two countries. From 1501 they had a common sovereign, and in 1569 the Diet of Lublin decreed the permanent union of Poland and Lithuania into one commonwealth, to be governed by an elective king. Henceforth the his tory of Lithuania is that of Poland. (See JAGEL LONS; POLAND; RUSSIA.) Consult Sehiemann, Russland, Palen rend "'Wand bis ins Me Jahr hundert (2 vols., Berlin, I886-87).