Geography

Belarus is in a section of the great East European Plain, which stretches from Poland to the Ural Mountains in Russia. The country has an area of 80,153 square miles (207,595 square kilometers).

Most of the region is flat, but a chain of low hills runs across the center of Belarus, from southeast to northwest. Much of the country is swampy, and the Pripet Marshes take up a major part of southern Belarus.

Belarus has a cool continental climate. Average January temperatures range from 25° F (-4° C) in the southwest to 18° F (-8° C) in the northeast. Maximum temperatures in July are about 63° to 66° F (17° to 19° C).

Plants and animals

The natural vegetation of Belarus consists of both leafy trees and evergreens. In the north, evergreens, notably pine and spruce, are most common. Towards the south such leafy trees as oak and hornbeam are found. Silver birch is common everywhere. Over the centuries, much of the forest land has been cleared for farming. In particular, the forest of the uplands had largely been removed by the late 16th century.

On the western border with Poland is the largest surviving area of native mixed forest in Europe. It was preserved for centuries as the private hunting forest of first the Polish kings and later the Russian rulers. The remaining forest was eventually made a nature reserve on both sides of the frontier. The rich forest vegetation that once covered much of Europe survives here, dominated by trees that have grown to exceptional heights.

The reserve is the major home of the European bison, or wisent. Elk, deer, and boar also are found there and in other forests of Belarus, together with small game, hare, squirrel, fox, badger, marten, and, along the rivers, beaver. Birds include grouse, partridge, woodcock, snipe, and duck, and many of the rivers are well stocked with fish.

People and culture

The largest ethnic group in Belarus is the Belarussians. Russians constitute the second largest ethnic group in the country. The Belarussians speak an East Slavic language similar to Russian and Ukrainian. Belarus has for a long time had its own folk music as well as church music. There is a major school for music in Minsk. In the second half of the 20th century many people in Belarus moved from small villages to cities. More than two thirds of the population now lives in Minsk and several other large cities.

Economy

The Belarus economy was badly damaged during World War II. Many industries were built up after that, but in the late 1980s and 1990s the country faced new problems.

In April 1986 an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in neighboring Ukraine damaged about 25 percent of the land in Belarus. The land was affected by the toxic substances that were released into the air during the accident. This resulted in an increase in health problems and made some of the land unusable.

Agriculture remains an important part of the economy, however. The main crops grown in Belarus are grains (chiefly barley, rye, and oats), flax (a kind of herb), potatoes, and sugar beets. Chemical fertilizers and oil are also produced.

When it was part of the Soviet Union the republic of Belarus relied on other Soviet republics for the raw materials for its factories. It also traded its goods to the other republics. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s made it harder for Belarus to operate its factories, but it continues to produce a variety of goods. These include machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, wood and paper products, textiles, and consumer goods.

Belarus has one of the world's largest reserves of potash (potassium salts), which is used when making fertilizers. Belarus is also a world leader in the production of peat. Peat is a vegetable tissue formed by the breakup of various plants in water. It is formed into briquettes and used as fuel. There are large quantities of peat in the Pripet Marshes.

History

The Belarussian region has been inhabited for thousands of years. This area was one of the earliest to be occupied by the Slavic people. They settled there between the 6th and 8th centuries AD. By the end of the 12th century, many of the towns of today's Belarus had been founded.

In the 18th century the Russian Empire took over all the land that now forms the republic of Belarus. Afterward, the history of the region was largely tied to the course of events in the Russian Empire. In 1922, after the Russian Revolution, Belarus became part of the Soviet Union as the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

On July 27, 1990, the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic broke away from the Soviet Union. The following year it declared full independence and changed its name to the Republic of Belarus. In the years that followed Belarus attempted to establish itself as an independent country. In the process the country grew increasingly isolated from the West while establishing closer ties with Russia. Population (2000 estimate), 9,989,000.