Lithuania

Overview

The prevalence of forests, lake and parks (30 regional, 5 national) mean the visitor can spend a great deal of time simply exploring the countryside. Generally an agricultural country, there are signs, particularly in the capital, Vilnius of modernisation. The Baroque buildings have been renovated and at times the visitor may think they are in a cheaper version of Western Europe.

The national tourist board is making efforts to promote the country, particularly now profits from tourism stay in the country rather then ending up in the Soviet Union as was the case not long ago. The visitor keen on hunting will find many opportunities for doing so.

History

The earliest evidence of inhabitants in present-day Lithuania dates back to 10 000 BC. Between 3 000-2 000 BC the cord-ware culture people spread over a vast region of Eastern Europe between the Baltic Sea and the Vistula River in the west and the Moscow-Kursk line in the east. Merging with the indigenous population they gave rise to the Balts a distinct Indo-European ethnic group whose descendants are the present-day Lithuanian and Latvian nations and the now extinct Prussians.

The first written mention of Lithuania occurs in 1009 AD although many centuries earlier the Roman historian Tacitus referred to the Lithuanians as excellent farmers. Spurred by the expansion into the Baltic lands of the Germanic monastic military orders (the Order of the Knights of the Sword and the Teutonic Order) Duke Mindaugas united the lands inhabited by the Lithuanians the Samogitians Yotvingians and Couranians into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) in the 1230s and 40s. In 1251 Mindaugas adopted Catholicism and was crowned King of Lithuania on July 6 1253; a decade later civil war erupted upon his assassination until a ruler named Vitenis defeated the Teutonic Knights and restored order.

From 1316-41 Vitenis' brother and successor Grand Duke Gediminas expanded the empire as far as Kiev against the Tartars and Russians. He twice attempted to adopt Christianity in order to end the GDL's political and cultural isolation from Western Europe. To that purpose he invited knights merchants and artisans to settle in Lithuania and wrote letters to Pope John XXII...more