Introduction to Geography of Belarus
Belarus, or Byelarus, Republic of, a country in eastern Europe. During 1922–91 it was a part of the Soviet Union. Belarus is bordered by Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. The area is 80,155 square miles (207,600 km2). Belarus' greatest length, from east to west, is about 360 miles (580 km); its greatest width is about 320 miles (515 km).
Facts in brief about BelarusCapital: Minsk.Official languages: Belarusian and Russian.Official name: Respublika Byelarus (Republic of Belarus).Area: 80,155 mi2 (207,600 km2). Greatest distances—north-south, 340 mi (545 km); east-west, 385 mi (620 km).Elevation: Highest—Dzerzhinskaya Gora, 1,135 ft (346 m) above sea level. Lowest—Neman River at northwestern border, 295 ft (90 m) above sea level.Population: Current estimate—9,615,000; density, 120 per mi2 (46 per km2); distribution, 72 percent urban, 28 percent rural. 1999 census—10,045,237.Chief products: Agriculture—barley, cattle, flax, hogs, potatoes, rye, sugar beets. Manufacturing—bicycles, clocks, computers, engineering equipment, furniture, metal-cutting tools, motorcycles, plywood and paper, potassium fertilizer, refrigerators, television sets, textiles, trucks and tractors.Flag: The flag of Belarus has a wide red horizontal stripe above a narrower green stripe. A traditional embroidery pattern of red and white appears at the left.Money: Basic unit—Belarusian ruble.Physical Geography
Belarus is a country in eastern Europe.Virtually all of Belarus' surface features are flat to rolling and were formed by debris from melting glaciers during the last Ice Age. The most prominent feature is the Minsk Uplands, a ridge 700 to 1,100 feet (213 to 335 m) high extending northeast-southwest across the central part of the republic. In the south are extensive marshes, largest of which are the Pripyat, or Pinsk, Marshes. Principal rivers are the Dnieper, Neman, Pripyat, and Western Dvina. There are numerous small lakes in many areas. About 30 per cent of Belarus is covered by forests.
The climate is marked by short, cool summers and long, cold winters. Minsk, for example, has an average January temperature of 21° F. (–6° C.) and an average July temperature of 66° F. (19° C). Annual rainfall averages 20 to 28 inches (510 to 710 mm), depending on location, and is evenly distributed throughout the year.
Economy
Before World War I, Belarus was an impoverished region, relying on subsistence farming and local trade. Following the war, small factories were built in the east and much of the farmland was organized into large collectives and state farms. After World War II, large-scale industrialization was begun.
Agriculture, which is accountable for about a fourth of the country’s economic output, is based mainly on commercial crops. Flax is grown for its fiber; barley, oats, rye, wheat, potatoes, and sugar beets are the mainstays of Belarus' food-processing industry. Large numbers of beef and dairy cattle, pigs, and poultry are raised.
Except for peat, potash, rock salts, and petroleum, Belarus is poorly endowed with minerals. The southern part of Belarus has a few deposits of coal.
Industry was devastated by World War II, but was rapidly rebuilt and greatly expanded during the postwar years. It centers mainly in Minsk and the cities of eastern Belarus, especially Gomel, Vitebsk, and Mogilev. Chief manufactured products include trucks, tractors, farm machinery, textiles, and food products. Automobiles, engineering equipment, metal-cutting tools, machine tools, computers and other electronic equipment, cement, glass, and chemicals, especially potassium fertilizer are also produced. Consumer goods, including bicycles, clocks and watches, motorcycles, refrigerators, and television sets are also manufactured in Belarus. Many wood products are also produced in Belarus, and these include furniture, matches, plywood, and paper goods.
Belarus’ major trading partners are Russia and Ukraine, as also Austria, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Belarus exports a huge amount of tractors, among other equipment to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.
Railways link the principal cities and provide the main form of transportation. There is also a relatively well-developed road system, with highway networks connecting the cities of Belarus with major European cities. The major rivers carry a sizable amount of traffic. The Dnieper-Bug Canal links the Bug and Pripyat rivers, and together with other canals links the rivers of Belarus with ports on the Baltic and Black seas. The country's main airport is in Minsk.
There are 215 daily newspapers published in Belarus, of which about 130 are in the Belarusian language.
The People
In 1989 Belarus had a population of 10,200,000 and a population density of about 127 persons per square mile (49 per km2).
Largest CitiesMinsk, the capital 1,612,000Gomel 488,000Mogilev 359,000Vitebsk 347,000Bobruysk 232,000About 80 per cent of the people are Belarusians, or White Russians; the rest are chiefly Great Russians, Poles, and Ukrainians. Both Belarusian and Russian are official languages. Russian Orthodoxy is the prevailing religion, followed by Roman Catholicism. Education through high school is compulsory, and all education, including college, is free. The Belarusian State University and the Belarusian Academy of Sciences are in Minsk.
Government and History
Under the constitution of 1996, Belarus is a parliamentary democracy. The legislative body is a two-house parliament, consisting of an upper house, the 64 member Council of the Republic, and a lower house, the 110 member House of Representatives. The head of state is the president who is popularly elected. The head of government is the prime minister, who is appointed by the president with the approval of the parliament.
There are six provinces in Belarus, namely Brest, Homyel, Hrodna, Minsk, Mahilyow, and Vitsyebsk, each governed by a local provincial council. The president also appoints regional executives, who in their turn elect local executives to govern the regional and local councils.
The judicial system of Belarus includes the Constitutional Court, which is the highest court of Belarus, apart from the Supreme Court and the provincial, city, and district courts.
The Belarusian army is made up of about 95, 000 members, and all men above the age of 18 are required to serve 18 months.
The area of modern Belarus was settled by East Slavic peoples before 800 A.D. It was ruled by Kiev from the 9th to the 12th century, and thereafter splintered into separate principalities. Early in the 14th century, it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which merged with Poland in 1569. Late in the 18th century, Russia acquired the region through the three partitions of Poland—1773, 1793, and 1795.
The region was devastated by the Napoleonic invasion of 1812 and again in World War I. After the war, Poland and Russia fought for control of the region. By the Treaty of Riga, 1921, Poland acquired the western portion of the region while Russia retained the eastern portion.
In 1922 the eastern portion was made a union republic of the Soviet Union as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The entire region was occupied by Germany during most of World War II. After the war, the Polish portion of the region was incorporated into the Byelorussian S.S.R. As a concession by the Western Allies to secure Soviet cooperation in establishing the United Nations, the Byelorussian S.S.R., although part of the Soviet Union, was admitted to the organization as a charter member with a separate vote.
During 1990–91, rising nationalism throughout the union republics gradually eroded the authority of the Soviet central government. In 1991 the Byelorussian S.S.R. declared itself independent and changed its name to Republic of Belarus. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Belarus achieved independence. Also that year, Belarus joined the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 1992, in an international agreement, Belarus promised to relinquish its nuclear weapons. Belarus and Russia signed an agreement in 1996 that established close political and economic ties.