Article Outline
Belarus, officially Respublika Belarus (Republic of Belarus), landlocked republic in east central Europe, bordered by Russia to the east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and the Baltic republics of Latvia and Lithuania to the northwest. Belarus has a generally flat terrain with many forests, lakes, and marshes. Nearly 80 percent of its people are ethnic Belarusians, and about three-quarters of its population live in urban centers. Belarus has a centrally planned economy dominated by state-controlled heavy industry. Its government is a presidential republic in which the executive is the chief authority. The capital and largest city is Minsk, located in the center of the country.
Since medieval times Belarusian territory was under foreign rule, and in the 18th century it was annexed by the Russian Empire. Belarusian national and cultural development made major strides only from the mid-19th century. Belarus was established in 1919 as the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), which in 1922 became one of the four founding republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In August 1991 Belarus declared its independence, contributing to the collapse of the USSR in December.
The total area of Belarus is 207,595 sq km (80,153 sq mi). Generally level terrain is disrupted by a series of highlands that run from northeast to southwest. Belarus has four additional discernible geographic regions: an area of lakes, hills, and forests in the north; an agricultural region with mixed-conifer forests in the west; a broad elevated plain in the east; and the Poles’ye (also called the Pripet Marshes), a lowland of rivers and swamps that extends into Ukraine, in the south. The country’s highest point, Mount Dzyarzhynskaya (346 m/1,135 ft), is located in an upland area just southwest of Minsk.
The Dnieper (known as the Dnyapro in Belarus) is the largest river in Belarus; it flows southward, almost the entire length of the country in the east, passing through the city of Mahilyow. Its important tributaries are the Pripyat’ in the south and the Berezina in the central region. Another major river is the Daugava (Western Daugava), which flows westward from Russia through the northern tip of the republic. The Neman (known as the Nyoman in Belarus), also a west-flowing river, links the western part of Belarus with Lithuania. The Bug, a northward-flowing river along the country’s southwestern border with Poland, is linked at the city of Brest to a canal that connects with the Pripyat’ and subsequently the Dnieper. Belarus has thousands of lakes, the largest of which is Lake Narach in the northwest.
Peat bogs and marshland cover about 25 percent of the country, while the soil of about 70 percent of Belarusian territory is podzolic (acidic with fairly large amounts of iron oxides). The forest region, though extensive, is not contiguous. Coniferous forests predominate, with pine the principal tree; spruce, oak, birch, alder, and ash trees also are found. The Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Puszcza Białowieska) Reserve in the southwest is part of the oldest existing European forest and the sanctuary of the virtually extinct European bison, or wisent. Belarus has more than 70 mammal species, including deer, fox, wild pig, wolves, and the common squirrel. There are 280 bird species, including doves, kestrels, wrens, bullfinches, and woodpeckers. Forests contain grass snakes and vipers, while rivers are the habitat of fur-bearing animals such as mink and otter.
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