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145-642: The Pale of Settlement included all of modern-day Belarus and Moldova , much of Lithuania , Ukraine and east-central Poland , and relatively small parts of Latvia and what is now the western Russian Federation . It extended from the eastern pale , or demarcation line inside the country, westwards to the Imperial Russian border with the Kingdom of Prussia (later the German Empire ) and Austria-Hungary . Furthermore, it comprised about 20% of

290-610: A core part of the Belarusian national identity, with Belarus continuing to refer to itself as the "partisan republic" since the 1970s. Following the war, many former Soviet partisans entered positions of government, among them Pyotr Masherov and Kirill Mazurov , both of whom were First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia. Until the late 1970s, the Belarusian government was almost entirely composed of former partisans. Numerous pieces of media have been made about

435-532: A disputed election took place on 8 January 1922, and the territory was annexed to Poland. Żeligowski later in his memoir which was published in London in 1943 condemned the annexation of the Republic by Poland, as well as the policy of closing Belarusian schools and general disregard of Marshal Józef Piłsudski 's confederation plans by Polish ally. In January 1919, a part of Belarus under Bolshevik Russian control

580-696: A frontier market into an important centre of Orthodox learning in the sixteenth century, and later of industry, commerce, and administration by the nineteenth. The city prospered again during the Russian Empire's Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century. In 1918, when the Ukrainian People's Republic declared independence from the Russian Republic after the October Revolution there, Kyiv became its capital. From

725-523: A national consciousness. In western Belarus under Polish control, Byelorussia became commonly used in the regions of Białystok and Grodno during the interwar period. The term Byelorussia (its names in other languages such as English being based on the Russian form) was used officially only until 1991. Officially, the full name of the country is Republic of Belarus ( Рэспубліка Беларусь , Республика Беларусь , Respublika Belarus ). In Russia,

870-612: A quarter of its population and half of its economic resources. In 1945, the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations and the Soviet Union. The republic was home to a widespread and diverse anti-Nazi insurgent movement which dominated politics until well into the 1970s, overseeing Belarus' transformation from an agrarian to an industrial economy. The parliament of the republic proclaimed

1015-466: A secret political society, the Brotherhood of Saint Cyril and Methodius, whose members put forward the idea of a federation of free Slavic peoples with Ukrainians as a distinct and separate group rather than a subordinate part of the Russian nation; the Russian authorities quickly suppressed the society. Following the gradual loss of Ukraine's autonomy, Kyiv experienced growing Russification in

1160-507: A staggering quarter of the prewar population . In the 1990s some raised the estimate even higher, to 2.7 million. The Jewish population of Belarus was devastated during the Holocaust and never recovered. The population of Belarus did not regain its pre-war level until 1971. Belarus was also hit hard economically, losing around half of its economic resources. The borders of the Byelorussian SSR and Poland were redrawn, in accord with

1305-565: A steady influx of ethnic Ukrainian migrants from other regions of the country . During the country's transformation to a market economy and electoral democracy , Kyiv has continued to be Ukraine's largest and wealthiest city. Its armament-dependent industrial output fell after the Soviet collapse, adversely affecting science and technology, but new sectors of the economy such as services and finance facilitated Kyiv's growth in salaries and investment, as well as providing continuous funding for

1450-578: A vast East Slavic state ruled by the Rurikids . Upon the death of its ruler Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, the state split into independent principalities. The Battle on the Nemiga River in 1067 was one of the more notable events of the period, the date of which is considered the founding date of Minsk . Many early principalities were virtually razed or severely affected by a major Mongol invasion in

1595-528: Is Vitali Klitschko , who was sworn in on 5 June 2014, after he had won the 25 May 2014 Kyiv mayoral elections with almost 57% of the votes. Since 25 June 2014, Klitschko is also Head of Kyiv City Administration . Klitschko was last reelected in the 2020 Kyiv local election with 50.52% of the votes, in the first round of the election. Most key buildings of the national government are along Hrushevskoho Street ( vulytsia Mykhaila Hrushevskoho ) and Institute Street ( vulytsia Instytutska ). Hrushevskoho Street

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1740-621: Is landlocked , relatively flat, and contains large tracts of marshy land. About 40% of Belarus is covered by forests. The country lies within two ecoregions: Sarmatic mixed forests and Central European mixed forests . Many streams and 11,000 lakes are found in Belarus. Three major rivers run through the country: the Neman , the Pripyat , and the Dnieper . The Neman flows westward towards

1885-626: Is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River . As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2,952,301, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyiv is an important industrial, scientific, educational, and cultural center in Eastern Europe . It is home to many high-tech industries, higher education institutions, and historical landmarks. The city has an extensive system of public transport and infrastructure, including

2030-405: Is in the oblast council building on ploshcha Lesi Ukrainky ("Lesya Ukrainka Square"). The growing political and economic role of the city, combined with its international relations, as well as extensive internet and social network penetration , have made Kyiv the most pro-Western and pro-democracy region of Ukraine; (so called) National Democratic parties advocating tighter integration with

2175-437: Is in the transitional zone between continental climates and maritime climates . Natural resources include peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite , dolomite ( limestone ), marl , chalk, sand, gravel, and clay. About 70% of the radiation from neighboring Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster entered Belarusian territory, and about a fifth of Belarusian land (principally farmland and forests in

2320-582: Is named after the Ukrainian academician, politician, historian, and statesman Mykhailo Hrushevsky , who wrote an academic book titled: "Bar Starostvo: Historical Notes: XV–XVIII" about the history of Bar, Ukraine . That portion of the city is also unofficially known as the government quarter ( урядовий квартал ). The city state administration and council is in the Kyiv City council building on Khreshchatyk Street. The oblast state administration and council

2465-551: Is the traditional English name for the city, but because of its historical derivation from the Russian name, Kiev lost favor with many Western media outlets after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014 in conjunction with the KyivNotKiev campaign launched by Ukraine to change the way that international media were spelling the city's name. The first known humans in the region of Kyiv lived there in

2610-687: The Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1941, but in 1943 the German authorities allowed local collaborators to set up a client state, the Belarusian Central Council . During World War II, Belarus was home to a variety of guerrilla movements , including Jewish, Polish, and Soviet partisans. Belarusian partisan formations formed a large part of the Soviet partisans , and in the modern day these partisans have formed

2755-580: The Bandkeramik predominated in what now constitutes Belarus, and the Cimmerians as well as other pastoralists roamed through the area by 1,000 BC. The Zarubintsy culture later became widespread at the beginning of the 1st millennium . In addition, remains from the Dnieper–Donets culture were found in Belarus and parts of Ukraine . The region was first permanently settled by Baltic tribes in

2900-672: The Battle on the Irpen' River and conquered the city. The Tatars , who also claimed Kyiv, retaliated in 1324–1325, so while Kyiv was ruled by a Lithuanian prince, it had to pay tribute to the Golden Horde . Finally, as a result of the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, Algirdas , Grand Duke of Lithuania, incorporated Kyiv and surrounding areas into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . In 1482, Crimean Tatars sacked and burned much of Kyiv. At

3045-917: The Belarusian Byzantine Catholic Church was formed by the Poles to bring Orthodox Christians into the See of Rome . The Belarusian church entered into a full communion with the Latin Church through the Union of Brest in 1595, while keeping its Byzantine liturgy in the Church Slavonic language. The union between Poland and Lithuania ended in 1795 with the Third Partition of Poland by Imperial Russia, Prussia , and Austria . The Belarusian territories acquired by

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3190-661: The Belarusian People's Republic . Immediately afterwards, the Polish–Soviet War ignited, and the territory of Belarus was divided between Poland and Soviet Russia. The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic exists as a government in exile ever since then; in fact, it is currently the world's longest serving government in exile. The Belarusian People's Republic was the first attempt to create an independent Belarusian state under

3335-544: The Belarusian Popular Front campaigned for early elections later in the year, two years before they were scheduled. By May of that year, about 383,000 signatures had been collected for a petition to hold the referendum, which was 23,000 more than legally required to be put to a referendum at the time. Despite this, the meeting of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus to ultimately decide

3480-649: The Belarusian minority was no exception. The polonization drive was inspired and influenced by the Polish National Democracy , led by Roman Dmowski , who advocated refusing Belarusians and Ukrainians the right for a free national development. A Belarusian organization, the Belarusian Peasants' and Workers' Union , was banned in 1927, and opposition to Polish government was met with state repressions. Nonetheless, compared to

3625-765: The Byelorussian SSR , which became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. After the Polish-Soviet War (1918–1921), Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland. Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland , and were finalized after World War II. During World War II, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about

3770-836: The CIS , the CSTO , the EAEU , the OSCE , and the Non-Aligned Movement . It has shown no aspirations of joining the European Union but maintains a bilateral relationship with the bloc , and also participates in the Baku Initiative . The name Belarus is closely related with the term Belaya Rus' , i.e., White Rus' . There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus' . An ethno-religious theory suggests that

3915-724: The First Partition of Poland . At the time, most Jews (and in fact most imperial subjects) were restricted in their movements. The Pale came into being under the rule of Catherine the Great in 1791, initially as a measure to speed colonization of territory on the Black Sea recently acquired from the Ottoman Empire . Jews were allowed to expand the territory available to them, but in exchange Jewish merchants could no longer do business in non-Pale Russia. The institution of

4060-760: The Hudud al-'Alam . The texts of those authors were discovered by Russian orientalist Alexander Tumansky . The etymology of Sambat has been argued by many historians, including Grigoriy Ilyinsky , Nikolay Karamzin , Jan Potocki , Nikolay Lambin , Joachim Lelewel , and Guðbrandur Vigfússon . The Primary Chronicle states that at some point during the late 9th or early 10th century Askold and Dir, who may have been of Viking or Varangian descent, ruled in Kyiv. They were murdered by Oleg of Novgorod in 882, but some historians, such as Omeljan Pritsak and Constantine Zuckerman , dispute that, arguing that Khazar rule continued as late as

4205-601: The Imperial Russian Army , dispensed free medical treatment for the poor, offered dowries and household gifts to destitute brides, and arranged for technical education for orphans. According to historian Martin Gilbert's Atlas of Jewish History , no province in the Pale had less than 14% of Jews on relief; Lithuanian and Ukrainian Jews supported as much as 22% of their poor populations. The concentration of Jews in

4350-540: The Kyiv Metro . The city's name is said to derive from the name of Kyi , one of its four legendary founders. During its history , Kyiv, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several stages of prominence and obscurity. The city probably existed as a commercial center as early as the 5th century. A Slavic settlement on the great trade route between Scandinavia and Constantinople , Kyiv

4495-610: The Polesia woodland ecological zone, a part of the European mixed woods area, and the East European forest steppe biome . However, the city's unique landscape distinguishes it from the surrounding region. Kyiv is completely surrounded by Kyiv Oblast . Originally on the west bank, today Kyiv is on both sides of the Dnieper , which flows southwards through the city towards the Black Sea . The older and higher western part of

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4640-476: The Ptolemy world map there are several settlements indicated along the mid-stream of Borysthenes , among which is Azagarium, which some historians believe to be the predecessor to Kyiv. However, according to the 1773 Dictionary of Ancient Geography of Alexander Macbean , that settlement corresponds to the modern city of Chernobyl . Just south of Azagarium, there is another settlement, Amadoca, believed to be

4785-654: The Soviet Union after the war ended in 1921, and the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. In the 1920s and 1930s, Soviet agricultural and economic policies, including collectivization and five-year plans for the national economy , led to famine and political repression. The western part of modern Belarus remained part of the Second Polish Republic . After an early period of liberalization, tensions between increasingly nationalistic Polish government and various increasingly separatist ethnic minorities started to grow, and

4930-576: The Tatars (i.e., Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Mogilev) had been referred to as White Rus' . A fourth theory suggests that the color white was associated with the west, and Belarus was the western part of Rus' in the 9th to 13th centuries. The name Rus' is often conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia , thus Belarus is often referred to as White Russia or White Ruthenia . The name first appeared in German and Latin medieval literature ;

5075-506: The UN 2011 evaluation, there were no risks of natural disasters in Kyiv and its metropolitan area . Kyiv has a warm-summer humid continental climate ( Köppen Dfb ). The warmest months are June, July, and August, with mean temperatures of 13.8 to 24.8 °C (56.8 to 76.6 °F). The coldest are December, January, and February, with mean temperatures of −4.6 to −1.1 °C (23.7 to 30.0 °F). The highest ever temperature recorded in

5220-475: The UN Security Council statement condemning "the apparent terrorist attack" intimating the possibility that the Belarusian government itself was behind the bombing. Mass protests erupted across the country following the disputed 2020 Belarusian presidential election , in which Lukashenko sought a sixth term in office. Neighbouring countries Poland and Lithuania do not recognize Lukashenko as

5365-544: The abdication of Nicholas II , and as revolution gripped Russia . On March 20 (April 2 N.S. ), 1917, the Pale was abolished by the Russian Provisional Government decree, On the abolition of religious and national restrictions . The Second Polish Republic was reconstituted from much of the former territory of the Pale in the aftermath of World War I. Subsequently, most of the Jewish population of

5510-487: The destruction of Kyiv . These events had a profound effect on the future of the city and on the East Slavic civilization . Before Bogolyubsky's pillaging, Kyiv had had a reputation as one of the largest cities in the world, with a population exceeding 100,000 at the beginning of the 12th century. In the early 1320s, a Lithuanian army led by Grand Duke Gediminas defeated a Slavic army led by Stanislav of Kyiv at

5655-491: The sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990, and during the dissolution of the Soviet Union , Belarus gained independence on 25 August 1991. Following the adoption of a new constitution in 1994, Alexander Lukashenko was elected Belarus's first president in the country's first and only free election after independence, serving as president ever since. Lukashenko heads a highly centralized authoritarian government. Belarus ranks low in international measurements of freedom of

5800-429: The state-owned enterprise industrial sector. Norway and Japan have joined the sanctions regime which aims to isolate Belarus from the international supply chain. Most major Belarusian banks are also under restrictions. Belarus lies between latitudes 51° and 57° N , and longitudes 23° and 33° E . Its extension from north to south is 560 km (350 mi), from west to east is 650 km (400 mi). It

5945-510: The (larger) Ukrainian minority , Belarusians were much less politically aware and active, and thus suffered fewer repressions than the Ukrainians. In 1935, after the death of Piłsudski, a new wave of repressions was released upon the minorities, with many Orthodox churches and Belarusian schools being closed. Use of the Belarusian language was discouraged. Belarusian leadership was sent to Bereza Kartuska prison . In September 1939,

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6090-488: The 13th century, but the lands of modern-day Belarus avoided the brunt of the invasion and eventually joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . There are no sources of military seizure, but the annals affirm the alliance and united foreign policy of Polotsk and Lithuania for decades. Incorporation into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania resulted in an economic, political, and ethno-cultural unification of Belarusian lands. Of

6235-454: The 1919-proposed Curzon Line . Joseph Stalin implemented a policy of Sovietization to isolate the Byelorussian SSR from Western influences . This policy involved sending Russians from various parts of the Soviet Union and placing them in key positions in the Byelorussian SSR government. After Stalin died in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev continued his predecessor's cultural hegemony program, stating, "The sooner we all start speaking Russian,

6380-486: The 1920s Ukrainization as well as the migration of the rural Ukrainophone population made the Russophone city Ukrainian-speaking and bolstered the development of Ukrainian cultural life in the city; the Soviet industrialization that started in the late 1920s turned the city, a former centre of commerce and religion, into a major industrial, technological and scientific centre; the 1932–1933 Great Famine devastated

6525-491: The 19th century, by means of Russian migration, administrative actions, and social modernization. At the beginning of the 20th century the Russian-speaking part of the population dominated the city centre, while the lower classes living on the outskirts retained Ukrainian folk culture to a significant extent. However, enthusiasts among ethnic Ukrainian aristocrats, soldiers, and merchants made attempts to preserve

6670-723: The 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including Kievan Rus' , the Principality of Polotsk , the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and the Russian Empire . In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in 1917, different states arose competing for legitimacy amid the Civil War , ultimately ending in the rise of

6815-441: The 2nd to the 4th centuries suggest trade relations with the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire . Notable archaeologists of the area around Kyiv include Vikentiy Khvoyka . Scholars continue to debate when the city was founded: The traditional founding date is 482 CE, so the city celebrated its 1,500th anniversary in 1982. Archaeological data indicates a founding in the sixth or seventh centuries, with some researchers dating

6960-451: The 3rd century. Around the 5th century, the area was taken over by the Slavs. The takeover was partially due to the lack of military coordination of the Balts, but their gradual assimilation into Slavic culture was peaceful. Invaders from Asia , among whom were the Huns and Avars , swept through c. 400–600 AD, but were unable to dislodge the Slavic presence. In the 9th century, the territory of modern Belarus became part of Kievan Rus' ,

7105-405: The 920s, leaving historical documents such as the Kievan Letter and Schechter Letter . Other historians suggest that Magyar tribes ruled the city between 840 and 878, before migrating with some Khazar tribes to the Carpathian Basin . The Primary Chronicle mentions Hungarians passing near Kyiv. Askold's Grave was previously known as " Uhorske urochyshche " (Hungarian place). According to

7250-745: The Baltic Sea and the Pripyat flows eastward to the Dnieper; the Dnieper flows southward towards the Black Sea . The highest point is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara (Dzyarzhynsk Hill) at 345 metres (1,132 ft), and the lowest point is on the Neman River at 90 m (295 ft). The average elevation of Belarus is 160 m (525 ft) above sea level . The climate features mild to cold winters, with January minimum temperatures ranging from −4  °C (24.8  °F ) in southwest ( Brest ) to −8 °C (17.6 °F) in northeast ( Vitebsk ), and cool and moist summers with an average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F). Belarus has an average annual rainfall of 550 to 700 mm (21.7 to 27.6 in). The country

7395-507: The Belarusian partisans, including the 1985 film Come and See and the works of authors Ales Adamovich and Vasil Bykaŭ . The German occupation in 1941–1944 and war on the Eastern Front devastated Belarus. During that time, 209 out of 290 towns and cities were destroyed, 85% of the republic's industry, and more than one million buildings. After the war, it was estimated that 2.2 million local inhabitants had died, and of those some 810,000 were combatants—some foreign. This figure represented

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7540-417: The Byelorussian SSR took place. Though the opposition candidates, mostly associated with the pro-independence Belarusian Popular Front , took only 10% of the seats, Belarus declared itself sovereign on 27 July 1990 by issuing the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic . Wide-scale strikes erupted in April 1991. With the support of the Communist Party of Byelorussia ,

7685-405: The Canadian Ukrainian linguist Jaroslav Rudnyckyj , the name can be connected to the Proto-Slavic root *kyjь , but should be interpreted as meaning 'stick, pole' as in its modern Ukrainian equivalent Кий . The name should in that case be interpreted as 'palisaded settlement'. Kyiv is the romanized official Ukrainian name for the city, and it is used for legislative and official acts. Kiev

7830-433: The Dnieper River forms a branching system of tributaries , isles, and harbors within the city limits. The city is close to the mouth of the Desna River and the Kyiv Reservoir in the north, and the Kaniv Reservoir in the south. Both the Dnieper and Desna rivers are navigable at Kyiv, although regulated by the reservoir shipping locks and limited by winter freeze-over. In total, there are 448 bodies of open water within

7975-428: The Empire and the major centre of commerce in its southwest. In the turbulent period following the 1917 Russian Revolution , Kyiv became the capital of several successive Ukrainian states and was caught in the middle of several conflicts: World War I , during which German soldiers occupied it from 2 March 1918 to November 1918, the Russian Civil War of 1917 to 1922, and the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921. During

8120-412: The European Union receive most votes during elections in Kyiv. In a poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in the first half of February 2014, 5.3% of those polled in Kyiv believed "Ukraine and Russia must unite into a single state", nationwide this percentage was 12.5. The Dnieper River naturally divides Kyiv into the Right Bank and the Left Bank areas. Historically on

8265-452: The Jewish population lived and worked, the courts of Hasidic dynasties flourished in the Pale. Thousands of followers of rebbes such as the Gerrer Rebbe Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (known as the Sfas Emes ), the Chernobyler Rebbe , and the Vizhnitzer Rebbe flocked to their towns for the Jewish holidays and followed their rebbes' minhagim ( Hebrew : מנהגים , Jewish practices) in their own homes. The tribulations of Jewish life in

8410-466: The Khazars". In De Administrando Imperio , Constantine Porphyrogenitus mentions a caravan of small cargo boats which assembled annually, and writes, "They come down the river Dnieper and assemble at the strong-point of Kyiv (Kioava), also called Sambatas". At least three Arabic-speaking 10th century geographers who traveled the area mention the city of Zānbat as the chief city of the Russes. Among them are ibn Rustah, Abu Sa'id Gardezi , and an author of

8555-401: The Kyiv Chronicle in the 12th century, and they were identified as old-Russian mythological heroes. The city of Kyiv stood on the trade route between the Varangians and the Greeks . In 968 the nomadic Pechenegs attacked and then besieged the city . By 1000 CE the city had a population of 45,000. In March 1169, Grand Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal sacked Kyiv , leaving

8700-419: The Pale became more significant following the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, since, until then, the empire's (former Muscovy's) Jewish population had been rather limited. The dramatic westward expansion of the Russian Empire through the annexation of Polish–Lithuanian territory substantially increased the Jewish population. At its height, the Pale had a Jewish population of over five million, and represented

8845-399: The Pale of Settlement were immortalized in the writings of Yiddish authors such as humorist Sholem Aleichem , whose novel Tevye der Milkhiger ( Yiddish : טבֿיה דער מילכיקער , Tevye the Milkman , in the form of the narration of Tevye from a fictional shtetl of Anatevka to the author) forms the basis of the theatrical (and subsequent film) production Fiddler on the Roof . Because of

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8990-401: The Pale, and reignited the study of the Talmud in Russia. After 1886, the Jewish quota was applied to education, with the percentage of Jewish students limited to no more than 10% within the Pale, 5% outside the Pale and 3% in the capitals of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev. The quotas in the capitals, however, were increased slightly in 1908 and 1915. Amid the difficult conditions in which

9135-506: The Pale, and were thus predominantly merchants, artisans, and shopkeepers. This made poverty a serious issue among the Jews. However, a robust Jewish community welfare system arose; by the end of the 19th century nearly 1 in 3 Jews in the Pale were being supported by Jewish welfare organizations. This Jewish support system included, but was not limited to, providing free medicine to the poor, giving dowries to poor brides, kosher food to Jewish soldiers, and education to orphans. One outgrowth of

9280-706: The Pale, coupled with Tsar Alexander III 's "fierce hatred of the Jews", and the rumors that Jews had been involved in the assassination of his father Tsar Alexander II, made them easy targets for pogroms and anti-Jewish riots by the majority population. These, along with the repressive May Laws , often devastated whole communities. Though attacks occurred throughout the existence of the Pale, particularly devastating Russian pogroms occurred from 1881 to 1883 and from 1903 to 1906, targeting hundreds of communities, assaulting thousands of Jews, and causing considerable property damage. Jews typically could not engage in agriculture due to restrictions on Jews owning land and farming in

9425-437: The Pale, which led many Jews to believe that the Pale might soon be abolished. These hopes vanished when Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 . Rumors spread that he had been assassinated by Jews, and in the aftermath anti-Jewish sentiment skyrocketed. Anti-Jewish pogroms rocked the country from 1881 through 1884 . The reactionary Temporary regulations regarding the Jews of 1881 prohibited any new Jewish settlement outside of

9570-448: The Pale. The laws also granted peasants the right to demand the expulsion of Jews in their towns. The laws were anything but temporary, and would be in full effect until at least 1903. In 1910, Jewish members of the State Duma proposed the abolition of the Pale, but the power dynamic of Duma meant that the bill never had a realistic chance to pass. Far-right political elements in the Duma responded by proposing that all Jews be expelled from

9715-499: The Poles to reconvert to the Orthodox faith. In 1863, economic and cultural pressure exploded in a revolt , led by Konstanty Kalinowski (also known as Kastus). After the failed revolt, the Russian government reintroduced the use of Cyrillic to Belarusian in 1864 and no documents in Belarusian were permitted by the Russian government until 1905. During the negotiations of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , Belarus first declared independence under German occupation on 25 March 1918, forming

9860-410: The Recruit Charter of 1810), and their families had the right to live outside the Pale of Settlement. In some periods, special dispensations were given for Jews to live in the major imperial cities, but these were tenuous, and several thousand Jews were expelled to the Pale from Moscow as late as 1891. The extremely restrictive decrees and recurrent pogroms led to much emigration from the Pale, mainly to

10005-400: The Russian Empire under the reign of Catherine II were included into the Belarusian Governorate (Russian: Белорусское генерал-губернаторство ) in 1796 and held until their occupation by the German Empire during World War I . Under Nicholas I and Alexander III the national cultures were repressed with policies of Polonization replaced by Russification which included

10150-531: The Russian Empire. At times, by imperial decree Jews were forbidden to live in agricultural communities, or certain cities, (as in Kiev , Sevastopol and Yalta ), and were forced to move to small provincial towns, thus fostering the rise of the shtetls . Jewish merchants of the First Guild ( купцы первой гильдии , the wealthiest sosloviye of merchants in the Russian Empire), people with higher or special education, university students, artisans , army tailors, ennobled Jews, soldiers (drafted in accordance with

10295-415: The Russian interior to escape the invading German army, and then ultimately in 1917 with the end of the Russian Empire as a result of the February Revolution . The archaic English term pale is derived from the Latin word palus , a stake, extended to mean the area enclosed by a fence or boundary. The territory that would become the Pale first began to enter Imperial Russian hands in 1772, with

10440-566: The Soviet Union in 1941. The defense of Brest Fortress was the first major battle of Operation Barbarossa . The Byelorussian SSR was the hardest-hit Soviet republic in World War II; it remained under German occupation until 1944. The German Generalplan Ost called for the extermination, expulsion, or enslavement of most or all Belarusians to provide more living space in the East for Germans. Most of Western Belarus became part of

10585-551: The Soviet Union invaded and occupied eastern Poland, following the German invasion of Poland two weeks earlier which marked the beginning of World War II . The territories of Western Belorussia were annexed and incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR. The Soviet-controlled Byelorussian People's Council officially took control of the territories, whose populations consisted of a mixture of Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews, on 28 October 1939 in Białystok . Nazi Germany invaded

10730-583: The Soviet period, became the Bogomolets National Medical University in 1995. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Imperial Russian Army and ecclesiastical authorities dominated city life; the Russian Orthodox Church had involvement in a significant part of Kyiv's infrastructure and commercial activity. In the late 1840s the historian, Mykola Kostomarov (Russian: Nikolai Kostomarov ), founded

10875-652: The Supreme Council at the time and was largely opposed to political and economic reform, with allegations that some of the deputies opposed Belarusian independence. A national constitution was adopted in March 1994 in which the functions of prime minister were given to the President of Belarus . A two-round election for the presidency on 24 June 1994 and 10 July 1994 catapulted the formerly unknown Alexander Lukashenko into national prominence. He garnered 45% of

11020-524: The United States and Western Europe. However, emigration could not keep up with birth rates and expulsion of Jews from other parts of the Russian Empire, and thus the Jewish population of the Pale continued to grow. During World War I, the Pale lost its rigid hold on the Jewish population when large numbers of Jews fled into the Russian interior to escape the invading German army. The Pale of Settlement de facto ceased to exist on August 19, 1915, when

11165-492: The United States have all imposed sanctions against Belarus because of the rigged election and political oppression during the ongoing protests in the country. Further sanctions were imposed in 2022 following the country's role and complicity in the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Russian troops were allowed to stage part of the invasion from Belarusian territory. These include not only corporate offices and individual officers of government but also private individuals who work in

11310-471: The administrator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs allowed, in view of the emergency circumstances of wartime, the residence of Jews in urban settlements outside the Pale of Settlement, with the exception of capitals and localities under the jurisdiction of the ministers of the imperial court and the military (that is, palace suburbs of Petrograd and the frontline). The Pale formally came to an end soon after

11455-581: The aforementioned scholars the building of the fortress of Kyiv was finished in 840 under the leadership of Keő (Keve), Csák, and Geréb, three brothers, possibly members of the Tarján tribe . The three names appear in the Kyiv Chronicle as Kyi, Shchek, and Khoryv and may be not of Slavic origin, as Russian historians have always struggled to account for their meanings and origins. According to Hungarian historian Viktor Padányi, their names were inserted into

11600-510: The area would perish in the Holocaust one generation later. Jewish life in the shtetls ( Yiddish : שטעטלעך shtetlekh "little towns") of the Pale of Settlement was hard and poverty-stricken. Following the Jewish religious tradition of tzedakah (charity), a sophisticated system of volunteer Jewish social welfare organizations developed to meet the needs of the population. Various organizations supplied clothes to poor students, provided kosher food to Jewish soldiers conscripted into

11745-504: The boundaries of Kyiv, which include the Dnieper itself, its reservoirs, and several small rivers, dozens of lakes and artificially created ponds. They occupy 7949 hectares. Additionally, the city has 16 developed beaches (totalling 140 hectares) and 35 near-water recreational areas (covering more than 1,000 hectares). Many are used for pleasure and recreation, although some of the bodies of water are not suitable for swimming. According to

11890-582: The buildings on the Khreshchatyk , the main street of the city, where German military and civil authorities had occupied most of the buildings; the buildings burned for days and 25,000 people were left homeless. Allegedly in response to the actions of the NKVD, the Germans rounded up all the local Jews they could find, nearly 34,000, and massacred them at Babi Yar in Kyiv on 29 and 30 September 1941. In

12035-680: The capital of the Amadoci people living in an area between the marshes of Amadoca in the west and the Amadoca mountains in the east. Another name for Kyiv mentioned in history, the origin of which is not completely clear, is Sambat, which apparently has something to do with the Khazar Empire . The Primary Chronicle says the residents of Kyiv told Askold "there were three brothers Kyi, Shchek, and Khoriv. They founded this town and died, and now we are staying and paying taxes to their relatives

12180-399: The chronicles of Jan of Czarnków mention the imprisonment of Lithuanian grand duke Jogaila and his mother at " Albae Russiae, Poloczk dicto " in 1381. The first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the late-16th century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey , who was known for his close contacts with the Russian royal court. During the 17th century, the Russian tsars used

12325-455: The city again suffered significant damage, and Nazi Germany occupied it from 19 September 1941 to 6 November 1943 . Axis forces killed or captured more than 600,000 Soviet soldiers in the great encircling Battle of Kyiv in 1941. Most of those captured never returned alive. Shortly after the Wehrmacht occupied the city, a team of NKVD officers who had remained hidden dynamited most of

12470-592: The city border the Polesian Lowland . Kyiv expanded into the Dnieper Lowland on the left bank ( to the east ) as late as the 20th century. The whole portion of Kyiv on the left bank of the Dnieper is generally referred to as the Left Bank ( Лівий берег , Livyi bereh ). Significant areas of the left bank Dnieper valley were artificially sand-deposited, and are protected by dams. Within the city

12615-462: The city is now he erected a cross, where a church later was built. Since the Middle Ages an image of Saint Michael has represented the city as well as the duchy . There is little historical evidence pertaining to the period when the city was founded. Scattered Slavic settlements existed in the area from the 6th century, but it is unclear whether any of them later developed into the city. On

12760-420: The city sits on numerous wooded hills ( Kyiv Hills ), with ravines and small rivers. Kyiv's geographical relief contributed to its toponyms , such as Podil ("lower"), Pechersk ("caves"), and uzviz (a steep street, "descent"). Kyiv is a part of the larger Dnieper Upland adjoining the western bank of the Dnieper in its mid-flow, and which contributes to the city's elevation change. The northern outskirts of

12905-477: The city was 39.4 °C (102.9 °F) on 30 July 1936. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the city was −32.9 °C (−27.2 °F) on 11 January 1951. Snow cover usually lies from mid-November to the end of March, with the frost-free period lasting 180 days on average, but surpassing 200 days in some years. The municipality of the city of Kyiv has a special legal status within Ukraine compared to

13050-465: The city. According to Oleg Trubachyov 's etymological dictionary from the Old East Slavic name *Kyjevŭ gordŭ (literally, "Kyi's castle", "Kyi's gord "), from Proto-Slavic *kyjevъ , This etymology has been questioned, for instance by Mykhailo Hrushevsky who called it an "etymological myth", and meant that the names of the legendary founders are in turn based on place names. According to

13195-646: The city. However, the prevailing south wind blew most of the radioactive debris away from Kyiv. In the course of the collapse of the Soviet Union the Ukrainian parliament proclaimed the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in the city on 24 August 1991. In 2004–2005, the city played host to the largest post-Soviet public demonstrations up to that time, in support of the Orange Revolution . From November 2013 until February 2014, central Kyiv became

13340-536: The concentration of Jews in a circumscribed area was the development of the modern yeshiva system. Prior to the Pale, schools to study the Talmud were a luxury. This began to change when the rabbi Chaim of Volozhin began a sort of national-level yeshiva. In 1803, he founded the Volozhin Yeshiva and began to attract large number of students from around the Pale. The Tsarist authorities were not pleased with

13485-582: The country's name was changed to the Republic of Belarus on 25 August 1991. Stanislav Shushkevich , the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, met with Boris Yeltsin of Russia and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine on 8 December 1991 in Białowieża Forest to formally declare the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States . In January 1992,

13630-426: The date for said referendum was delayed by six months. However, with no evidence to suggest such, the Supreme Council rejected the petition on the grounds of massive irregularities. Elections for the Supreme Council were set for March 1994. A new law on parliamentary elections failed to pass by 1993. Disputes over the referendum were accredited to the largely conservative Party of Belarusian Communists , which controlled

13775-547: The development of housing and urban infrastructure. Kyiv emerged as the most pro-Western region of Ukraine; parties advocating tighter integration with the European Union dominate during elections . The traditional etymology, stemming from the Primary Chronicle , is that the name is a derivation of Kyi (Ukrainian: Кий , Russian: Кий , rom. : Ky or Kiy ), the legendary eponymous founder of

13920-404: The economy, with inflation reaching 108.7%. Around the same time the 2011 Minsk Metro bombing occurred in which 15 people were killed and 204 were injured. Two suspects, who were arrested within two days, confessed to being the perpetrators and were executed by shooting in 2012. The official version of events as publicised by the Belarusian government was questioned in the unprecedented wording of

14065-605: The empire's most important religious figures, but until the 19th century, the city's commercial importance remained marginal. In 1834, the Russian government established Saint Vladimir University, now called the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv after the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861). (Shevchenko worked as a field researcher and editor for the geography department). The medical faculty of Saint Vladimir University, separated into an independent institution in 1919–1921 during

14210-557: The end of the Ukrainian-Soviet and Polish-Soviet wars in 1921, Kyiv was a city of the Ukrainian SSR , and made its capital in 1934. The city suffered significant destruction during World War II but quickly recovered in the postwar years, remaining the Soviet Union 's third-largest city. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence in 1991, Kyiv remained Ukraine's capital and experienced

14355-411: The faster we shall build communism." Between Stalin's death in 1953 and 1980, Belarusian politics was dominated by former members of the Soviet partisans, including First Secretaries Kirill Mazurov and Pyotr Masherov. Mazurov and Masherov oversaw Belarus's rapid industrialisation and transformation from one of the Soviet Union's poorest republics into one of its richest. In 1986, the Byelorussian SSR

14500-453: The following areas were added: After 1805 the Pale gradually shrank, and became limited to the following areas: Rural areas for 50 versts (53 km) from the western border were closed for new settlement of the Jews. In 1917 Congress Poland did not belong to the Pale of Settlement but Jews were allowed to settle there. According to the 1897 census, the governates or guberniyas had

14645-518: The following percentages of Jews: In 1882 it was forbidden for Jews to settle in rural areas. The following cities within the Pale were excluded from it: Belarus in Europe  (dark grey)  –  [ Legend ] Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus , is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe . It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to

14790-424: The former lands of Kievan Rus' , including the territories of modern-day Belarus and Ukraine . On 2 February 1386, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland were joined in a personal union through a marriage of their rulers . This union set in motion the developments that eventually resulted in the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , created in 1569 by the Union of Lublin . In

14935-416: The founding as late as the late 9th century. There are several legendary accounts of the origin of the city. One tells of members of a Slavic tribe ( Eastern Polans ), brothers Kyi (the eldest, after whom the city was named), Shchek, Khoryv, and their sister Lybid, who founded the city (See the Primary Chronicle ). Another legend states that Saint Andrew passed through the area in the 1st century. Where

15080-494: The harsh conditions of day-to-day life in the Pale, some two million Jews emigrated from there between 1881 and 1914, mainly to the United States . The Pale of Settlement included the following areas. The ukase of Catherine the Great of December 23, 1791 limited the Pale to: After the Second Partition of Poland , the ukase of June 23, 1794, the following areas were added: After the Third Partition of Poland ,

15225-575: The largest component (40 percent) of the world's Jewish population at that time. The freedom of movement of non-Jewish imperial subjects was greatly increased, but the freedom of movement of Jews was greatly restricted and officially kept within the boundaries of the pale. The name "Pale of Settlement" first arose under the rule of Tsar Nicholas I . Under his rule (1825 to 1855), the Pale gradually shrank and became more restrictive. In 1827, Jews living in Kiev were severely restricted by imperial decree. In 1835

15370-621: The last three months of 1919, Kyiv was intermittently controlled by the White Army . Kyiv changed hands sixteen times from the end of 1918 to August 1920. From 1921 to 1991, the city formed part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , which became a founding republic of the Soviet Union in 1922. The major events that took place in Soviet Ukraine during the interwar period all affected Kyiv:

15515-544: The late paleolithic period ( Stone Age ). The population around Kyiv during the Bronze Age formed part of the so-called Trypillian culture , as evidenced by artifacts from that culture found in the area. During the early Iron Age certain tribes settled around Kyiv that practiced land cultivation, husbandry and trading with the Scythians and ancient states of the northern Black Sea coast. Findings of Roman coins of

15660-619: The late 19th century. Even so, Jewish culture , especially in Yiddish , developed in the shtetls (small towns), and intellectual culture developed in the yeshivot (religious schools) and was also carried abroad. The Russian Empire during the existence of the Pale was predominantly Orthodox Christian , in contrast to the area included in the Pale with its large minorities of Jewish, Roman Catholic and until mid-19th century Eastern Catholic population (although much of modern Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova are predominantly Eastern Orthodox). While

15805-590: The legitimate president of Belarus and the Lithuanian government has allotted a residence for main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other members of the Belarusian opposition in Vilnius . Neither is Lukashenko recognized as the legitimate president of Belarus by the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom or the United States. The European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom, and

15950-561: The months that followed, thousands more were taken to Babi Yar where they were shot. It is estimated that the Germans murdered more than 100,000 people of various ethnic groups, mostly civilians, at Babi Yar during World War II. Kyiv recovered economically in the post-war years, becoming once again the third-most important city of the Soviet Union. The catastrophic accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 occurred only 100 km (62 mi) north of

16095-617: The name "Belarus". Despite significant efforts, the state ceased to exist, primarily because the territory was continually dominated by the Imperial German Army and the Imperial Russian Army in World War I , and then the Bolshevik Red Army . It existed from only 1918 to 1919 but created prerequisites for the formation of a Belarusian state. The choice of name was probably based on the fact that core members of

16240-440: The name used to describe the part of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had been populated mostly by Slavs who had been Christianized early, as opposed to Black Ruthenia , which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts . An alternative explanation for the name comments on the white clothing the local Slavic population wears. A third theory suggests that the old Rus' lands that were not conquered by

16385-613: The names of the Yotvingians . Another hypothesis connects the word with the Gothic Kingdom that occupied parts of the territory of modern Belarus and Ukraine in the 4th and 5th centuries. The self-naming of Goths was Gutans and Gytos , which are close to Gudija. Yet another hypothesis is based on the idea that Gudija in Lithuanian means "the other" and may have been used historically by Lithuanians to refer to any people who did not speak Lithuanian. From 5000 to 2000 BC,

16530-506: The native culture in Kyiv, by clandestine book-printing, amateur theatre, folk studies, etc. During the Russian industrial revolution in the late 19th century, Kyiv became an important trade and transportation centre of the Russian Empire, specialising in sugar and grain export by railway and on the Dnieper river . By 1900, the city had also become a significant industrial centre, with a population of 250,000. Landmarks of that period include

16675-419: The naturally regenerating forest 2% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 16% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership . Belarus borders five countries: Latvia to the north, Lithuania to the northwest, Poland to

16820-402: The newly formed government were educated in tsarist universities, with corresponding emphasis on the ideology of West-Russianism. The Republic of Central Lithuania was a short-lived political entity, which was the last attempt to restore Lithuania to the historical confederacy state (it was also supposed to create Lithuania Upper and Lithuania Lower). The republic was created in 1920 following

16965-558: The old town and the prince's hall in ruins. He took many pieces of religious artwork - including the Theotokos of Vladimir icon - from Vyshhorod. In 1203, Prince Rurik Rostislavich and his Kipchak allies captured and burned Kyiv. In the 1230s, the city was besieged and ravaged several times by different Rus princes. The city had not recovered from these attacks when, in 1240, the Mongol invasion of Rus' , led by Batu Khan , completed

17110-552: The other administrative subdivisions of the country . The most significant difference is that the city is considered as a region of Ukraine (see Regions of Ukraine ). It is the only city that has double jurisdiction. The Head of City State Administration – the city's governor – is appointed by the president of Ukraine , while the Head of the City Council – the mayor of Kyiv – is elected by local popular vote. The mayor of Kyiv

17255-410: The part of the migrant population not registered for ration cards; and Joseph Stalin 's Great Purge of 1937–1938 almost eliminated the city's intelligentsia In 1934, Kyiv became the capital of Soviet Ukraine. The city boomed again during the years of Soviet industrialization as its population grew rapidly and many industrial giants were established, some of which exist today. In World War II ,

17400-467: The press and civil liberties . It has continued several Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy . Belarus is the only European country that continues to use capital punishment . In 2000, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation, forming the Union State . The country has been a member of the United Nations since its founding and has joined

17545-519: The primary location of Euromaidan . During the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces attempted to seize Kyiv but were repelled by Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of the city; Kyiv itself escaped major damage. Following the Russian retreat from the region in April 2022, Kyiv has been subject to frequent air strikes . Geographically, Kyiv is on the border of

17690-645: The principalities held by the duchy, nine of them were settled by a population that would eventually become the Belarusians . During this time, the duchy was involved in several military campaigns, including fighting on the side of Poland against the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410; the joint victory allowed the duchy to control the northwestern borderlands of Eastern Europe . The Muscovites , led by Ivan III of Russia , began military campaigns in 1486 in an attempt to incorporate

17835-535: The provinces of Astrakhan and the North Caucasus were removed from the Pale. Nicholas tried to remove all Jews from within 80 kilometres (50 mi) of the Austrian Empire 's border in 1843. In practice, this was very difficult to enforce, and the restrictions were lessened in 1858. Tsar Alexander II , who ruled 1855 to 1881, expanded the rights of rich and educated Jews to leave and live beyond

17980-406: The railway infrastructure, the foundation of numerous educational and cultural facilities, and notable architectural monuments (mostly merchant-oriented). In 1892, the first electric tram line of the Russian Empire started running in Kyiv (the third in the world). Kyiv prospered during the late 19th century Industrial Revolution in the Russian Empire, when it became the third most important city of

18125-440: The religious nature of the edicts creating the Pale is clear (conversion to Russian Orthodoxy , the state religion, released individuals from the strictures), historians argue that the motivations for its creation and maintenance were primarily economic and nationalist in nature. The end of the enforcement and formal demarcation of the Pale coincided with the beginning of World War I in 1914, when large numbers of Jews fled into

18270-435: The return to Orthodox Christianity of Belarusian Uniates . Belarusian language was banned in schools while in neighboring Samogitia primary school education with Samogitian literacy was allowed. In a Russification drive in the 1840s, Nicholas I prohibited the use of the Belarusian language in public schools, campaigned against Belarusian publications, and tried to pressure those who had converted to Catholicism under

18415-448: The school and sought to make it more secular, eventually closing it in 1879. The authorities re-opened it in 1881, but required all teachers to have diplomas from Russian institutions and to teach Russian language and culture. This requirement was not only untenable to the Jews, but essentially impossible, and the school closed for the last time in 1892. Regardless, the school had great impact: its students went on to form many new yeshivas in

18560-418: The south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an area of 207,600 square kilometres (80,200 sq mi) with a population of 9.1 million. The country has a hemiboreal climate and is administratively divided into six regions . Minsk is the capital and largest city ; it is administered separately as a city with special status. Between the medieval period and

18705-591: The southeastern regions) was affected by radiation fallout. The United Nations and other agencies have aimed to reduce the level of radiation in affected areas, especially through the use of caesium binders and rapeseed cultivation, which are meant to decrease soil levels of caesium-137 . In Belarus forest cover is around 43% of the total land area, equivalent to 8,767,600 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 7,780,000 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forests covered 6,555,600 hectares (ha), and planted forests covered 2,212,000 hectares (ha). Of

18850-473: The staged rebellion of soldiers of the 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division of the Polish Army under Lucjan Żeligowski . Centered on the historical capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , Vilna ( Lithuanian : Vilnius , Polish : Wilno ), for 18 months the entity served as a buffer state between Poland , upon which it depended, and Lithuania, which claimed the area. After a variety of delays,

18995-674: The term to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The term Belorussia (Russian: Белору́ссия , the latter part similar but spelled and stressed differently from Росси́я , Russia ) first rose in the days of the Russian Empire , and the Russian Tsar was usually styled "the Tsar of All the Russias", as Russia or the Russian Empire was formed by three parts of Russia—the Great , Little , and White . This asserted that

19140-536: The territories are all Russian and all the peoples are also Russian; in the case of the Belarusians, they were variants of the Russian people. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the term White Russia caused some confusion, as it was also the name of the military force that opposed the red Bolsheviks. During the period of the Byelorussian SSR, the term Byelorussia was embraced as part of

19285-457: The territory of European Russia and largely corresponded to historical lands of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Cossack Hetmanate , the Ottoman Empire (with Yedisan ), Crimean Khanate , and eastern Principality of Moldavia ( Bessarabia ). Life in the Pale for many was economically bleak. Most people relied on small service or artisan work that could not support the number of inhabitants, which resulted in emigration, especially in

19430-572: The time of the Lithuanian rule, the core of the city was located in Podil and there was a Lithuanian Kyiv Castle  [ uk ] with 18 towers on the Zamkova Hora which served as a residence of Vladimir Olgerdovich , Grand Prince of Kyiv , and subsequently of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania (e.g. Vytautas ). With the 1569 Union of Lublin , when the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

19575-584: The treaty never went into operation. Occupied by Russian troops since the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav , Kyiv became a part of the Tsardom of Russia from 1667 on the Truce of Andrusovo and enjoyed a degree of autonomy. None of the Polish-Russian treaties concerning Kyiv have ever been ratified. In the Russian Empire , Kyiv was a primary Christian centre , attracting pilgrims , and the cradle of many of

19720-462: The usage of Belorussia is still very common. In Lithuanian, besides Baltarusija (White Russia), Belarus is also called Gudija . The etymology of the word Gudija is not clear. By one hypothesis the word derives from the Old Prussian name Gudwa , which, in turn, is related to the form Żudwa , which is a distorted version of Sudwa, Sudovia. Sudovia , in its turn, is one of

19865-547: The vote in the first round and 80% in the second, defeating Vyacheslav Kebich who received 14% of the vote. The elections were the first and only free elections in Belarus after independence. The 2000s saw some economic disputes between Belarus and its primary economic partner, Russia. The first one was the 2004 Russia–Belarus energy dispute when Russian energy giant Gazprom ceased the import of gas into Belarus because of price disagreements. The 2007 Russia–Belarus energy dispute centered on accusations by Gazprom that Belarus

20010-488: The west, Russia to the north and the east, and Ukraine to the south. Treaties in 1995 and 1996 demarcated Belarus's borders with Latvia and Lithuania, and Belarus ratified a 1997 treaty establishing the Belarus-Ukraine border in 2009. Belarus and Lithuania ratified final border demarcation documents in February 2007. Kiev Kyiv (also Kiev ) is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine . It

20155-672: The western right bank of the river, the city expanded into the left bank only in the 20th century. Most of Kyiv's attractions as well as the majority of business and governmental institutions are on the right bank. The eastern "Left Bank" is predominantly residential. There are large industrial and green areas in both the Right Bank and the Left Bank. Kyiv is further informally divided into historical or territorial neighbourhoods, each housing from about 5,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. The first known formal subdivision of Kyiv dates to 1810 when

20300-525: The years following the union, the process of gradual Polonization of both Lithuanians and Ruthenians gained steady momentum. In culture and social life, both the Polish language and Catholicism became dominant, and in 1696, Polish replaced Ruthenian as the official language, with Ruthenian being banned from administrative use. However, the Ruthenian peasants continued to speak their native language. Also,

20445-526: Was a tributary of the Khazars , until its capture by the Varangians ( Vikings ) in the mid-9th century. Under Varangian rule, the city became a capital of Kievan Rus' , the first East Slavic state. Completely destroyed during the Mongol invasions in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. Coming under Lithuania , then Poland and then Russia , the city would grow from

20590-519: Was contaminated with most (70%) of the nuclear fallout from the explosion at the Chernobyl power plant located 16 km beyond the border in the neighboring Ukrainian SSR . By the late 1980s, political liberalization led to a national revival, with the Belarusian Popular Front becoming a major pro-independence force. In March 1990, elections for seats in the Supreme Soviet of

20735-642: Was declared the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia (SSRB) for just two months, but then merged with the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) to form the Socialist Soviet Republic of Lithuania and Belorussia (SSR LiB), which lost control of its territories by August. The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) was created in July 1920. The contested lands were divided between Poland and

20880-685: Was established, the Lithuanian-controlled lands of the Kyiv region ( Podolia , Volhynia , and Podlachia ) were transferred from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland , and Kyiv became the capital of Kyiv Voivodeship . The 1658 Treaty of Hadiach envisaged Kyiv becoming the capital of the Grand Duchy of Rus' within the Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth , but this provision of

21025-441: Was siphoning oil off of the Druzhba pipeline that runs through Belarus. Two years later the so-called Milk War , a trade dispute, started when Russia wanted Belarus to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and through a series of events ended up banning the import of dairy products from Belarus. In 2011, Belarus suffered a severe economic crisis attributed to Lukashenko's government's centralized control of

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