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Lituania, oficialmente la República de Lituania (en lituano: Lietuvos Respublika), es uno de los veintisiete Estados soberanos que forman la Unión Europea, constituido como un Estado social y democrático de derecho, cuya forma de gobierno es la república semipresidencialista unitaria.
Vilnius ( / ˈvɪlniəs / VIL-nee-əs, Lithuanian: [ˈvʲɪlʲnʲʊs] ⓘ; previously known in English as Vilna, see other names) is the capital of and largest city in Lithuania, and the second-most populous city in the Baltic states.
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- Lithuania
- 112 m (367 ft)
- Vilnius County
- Overview
- Land
- Relief
- Drainage
- Soils
- Climate
- Plant and animal life
- Ethnic groups, languages, and religion
Lithuania, country of northeastern Europe, the southernmost and largest of the three Baltic states. Lithuania was a powerful empire that dominated much of eastern Europe in the 14th–16th centuries before becoming part of the Polish-Lithuanian confederation for the next two centuries.
Aside from a brief period of independence from 1918 to 1940, Lithuania was occupied by Russia beginning in 1795, was controlled by Germany for a brief period during World War II, and was incorporated into the U.S.S.R. in 1944 as one of its constituent republics. On March 11, 1990, Lithuania declared its independence by a unanimous vote of its newly elected parliament. The new Soviet parliament acknowledged Lithuania’s independence on September 6, 1991. Lithuania was admitted into the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2004. The capital is Vilnius.
Lithuania is bounded by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland and the detached Russian oblast of Kaliningrad to the southwest, and the Baltic Sea to the west.
Underlying rock structures are of little significance for the contemporary Lithuanian terrain, which basically is a low-lying plain scraped by Ice Age glaciers that left behind thick, ridgelike terminal deposits known as moraines. The Baltic coastal area is fringed by a region characterized by geographers as the maritime depression, which rises gradually eastward. Sand dunes line an attractive coast; the Curonian Lagoon (Lithuanian: Kuršiu Marios), almost cut off from the sea by the Curonian Spit, a thin 60-mile (100-km) sandspit, forms a distinctive feature. It is bounded by the Žemaičiai Upland to the east, which gives way to the flat expanses of the Middle Lithuanian Lowland.
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The lowland, consisting of glacial lake clays and boulder-studded loams, stretches in a wide band across the country from north to south; some portions of it are heavily waterlogged. The elevated Baltic Highlands, adjacent to the central lowland, thrust into the eastern and southeastern portions of the country; their rumpled glacial relief includes a host of small hills and numerous small lakes. The Švenčioniai and the Ašmena highlands—the latter containing Mount Juozapinė, at 957 feet (292 metres) above sea level the highest point in Lithuania—are located in the extreme east and southeast.
Lithuanian rivers drain to the Baltic and generally have the slow, meandering characteristics of lowland rivers. The Neman River (Nemunas), cutting north and then west through the heart of the country, is the largest. Its main tributaries are the Merkys, Neris, Nevėžis, Dubysa, Jūra, Minija, and Šešupė. A distinctive feature of the Lithuanian landscape is the presence of about 3,000 lakes, mostly in the east and southeast. The boggy regions produce large quantities of peat that, dried by air, is used in both industry and agriculture.
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Lithuanian soils range from sands to heavy clays. In the northwest the soil is either loamy or sandy (and sometimes marshy) and is quite heavily podzolized, or leached out. In the central region, weakly podzolized loamy peats predominate, and it is there that the most fertile, and hence most cultivated, soils are found. In the southeast there are s...
The climate of the country is transitional between the maritime type of western Europe and the continental type found farther east. As a result, damp air masses of Atlantic origin predominate, alternating with continental Eurasian and, more rarely, colder Arctic air or air with a southern, tropical origin. Baltic Sea influences dominate a comparati...
Lithuanian vegetation falls into three separate regions. In the maritime regions, pine forests predominate, and wild rye and various bushy plants grow on the sand dunes. Spruce trees are prevalent in the hilly eastern portion. The central region is characterized by large tracts of oak trees, with elegant birch forests in the northern portions, as well as distinctive black alder and aspen groves. Pine forests prevail in the south. Indeed, about one-third of the country is forested, and about another one-fifth is taken up by meadowlands. Swamps and marshlands account for only a small percentage of the total land.
Wildlife is very diverse and includes numerous mammalian species. There are wolves, foxes, otters, badgers, ermine, wild boars, and many rodents. The deep forests harbour elk, stags, deer, beavers, mink, and water rats. Lithuania is also home to hundreds of species of birds, including white storks, ducks, geese, swans, cormorants, herons, hawks, and even an occasional bald eagle. There are many types of grouse and partridge as well.
Ethnic Lithuanians make up more than four-fifths of the country’s population; there are also Russians and Poles and lesser numbers of Belarusians, Ukrainians, Latvians, Tatars, Roma (Gypsies), and others. There was a significant Jewish community in Lithuania prior to World War II, and an influx of Jews from German-controlled Poland in 1941 boosted this population to nearly 250,000. By 1944, however, the majority of the population had been murdered, deported, or sent to concentration camps (see Holocaust).
The official language of Lithuania is Lithuanian. Russian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, and other languages are spoken in the larger cities. Yiddish is commonly spoken by members of the tiny remaining Jewish community in Lithuania.
La capital de Lituania es Viln a -o Vilnius, su nombre en lituano-. Esta ciudad está situada en la provincia del mismo nombre y su centro histórico es Patrimonio de la Humanidad desde que así lo decidiera la UNESCO en 1994.
- La República de Užupis. Užupis es una isla dentro de una isla, mejor dicho una república dentro de una república. O al menos eso pretende la declaración de independencia del barrio más bohemio de Vilnius.
- Monumento a Frank Zappa. Aunque parezca cuando menos extraño que el músico y guitarrista Frank Zappa tenga una escultura en Vilnius, todo se entiende como un homenaje a uno de los padres de la música moderna, con composiciones ecléticas que van desde el rock psicodélico al jazz vanguardista y la música electrónica, y por tanto a la libertad musical, algo que en Lituania es motivo de alabanza.
- Gueto judío. Vilnius se convirtió en un gueto judío durante la ocupación del ejercito nazi en la segunda guerra mundial. En realidad había dos, el Pequeño Gueto donde se concentraba a los judíos que se llevaron al campo de exterminio de Paneriai, y el Gran Gueto donde vivían los judíos dedicados a los trabajos forzados.
- Qué hacer en Vilnius – Actividades. La capital lituana puede ofrecer actividades para todos los gustos. Además de los clásicos tours guiados por Vilnius para conocer las razones que le llevaron a convertirse en patrimonio de la Humanidad, hay propuestas variadas que atraen a los amantes del Street Art y los graffitis más subversivos de las Repúblicas Bálticas, a itinerarios que nos permiten conocer las cervezas artesanas lituanas, o a…
Lietava, a small river not far from Kernavė, the core area of the early Lithuanian state and a possible first capital of the eventual Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is usually credited as the source of the name.
10 de may. de 2024 · Vilnius, city, capital of Lithuania, at the confluence of the Neris (Russian Viliya) and Vilnia rivers. A settlement existed on the site in the 10th century, and the first documentary reference to it dates from 1128. In 1323 the town became capital of Lithuania under Grand Duke Gediminas; it was.
