Lithuanian language in the context of "Lithuania"

The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively or as a second language by a population of about 6.5–7.0 million people mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Europe. Together with the Slavic languages, they form the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European family.

Scholars usually regard them as a single subgroup divided into two branches: West Baltic (containing only extinct languages) and East Baltic (containing at least two living languages, Lithuanian, Latvian, and by some counts including Latgalian and Samogitian as separate languages rather than dialects of those two). In addition, the existence of the Dnieper-Oka language is hypothesized, with the extinct Golyad language being the only known member. The range of the East Baltic linguistic influence once possibly reached as far as the Ural Mountains, but this hypothesis has been questioned.

The Curonian Spit, sometimes called Courish Split (Lithuanian: Kuršių nerija; Russian: Ку́ршская коса́ / Kurshskaya kosa, German: Kurische Nehrung), is a 98-kilometre (61 mi) long, thin, curved sand-dune spit that separates the Curonian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by Lithuania and Russia. Its southern portion lies within Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, and its northern within southwestern Klaipėda County of Lithuania.

The Baltic Way (Lithuanian: Baltijos kelias; Latvian: Baltijas ceļš; Estonian: Balti kett) or Baltic Chain (also "Chain of Freedom") was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning 675 kilometres (419 mi) across the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, with a combined population of around eight million citizens, who had been subjected to the Soviet Union's occupation and communist repression for more than 45 years, precisely speaking, between the Soviet Union's re-occupation of the Baltic states in 1944 (which took place alongside Soviet Union's Red Army's counteroffensive towards the west during the final years of World War II) and the Singing Revolution (a series of Baltic independence movements between 1987 and 1991), which culminated in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania's independence, that was achieved just before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The central government in Moscow considered the three Baltic countries constituent republics of the Soviet Union.

The demonstration originated from "Black Ribbon Day" protests held in Western cities in the 1980s. It marked the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, in which Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania were (as "spheres of influence") divided between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The Soviet-Nazi pact led to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 and the Soviet invasion and occupation of the Baltic countries in June 1940.

The Union of Lublin (Polish: Unia lubelska; Lithuanian: Liublino unija) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a real union and an elective monarchy, as Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellons, remained childless after three marriages. In addition, the autonomy of Royal Prussia was largely abandoned. The Duchy of Livonia, tied to Lithuania in real union since the Union of Grodno (1566), became a Polish–Lithuanian condominium.

The Commonwealth was ruled by a single elected monarch who carried out the duties of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and governed with a common Senate and parliament (the Sejm). The Union is seen by some as an evolutionary stage in the Polish–Lithuanian alliance and personal union, necessitated also by Lithuania's dangerous position in wars with Russia.

The Lithuanians or Old East Lithuanians (Latin: Letwini; Low German: Lettowen; Old East Slavic: Литъва, Литва; Old Swedish: lättugha; modern Lithuanian: rytiniai senlietuviai) were one of the largest East Baltic tribes, inhabiting present-day Eastern Lithuania in the 5th–13th centuries. Following the Northern Crusades, the ancient Lithuanians began gradually assimilating other neighbouring Baltic tribes, becoming the primary progenitor group of modern Lithuanians.

Lithuanian mythology (Lithuanian: Lietuvių mitologija) is the mythology of Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-Europeans, ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. In pre-Christian Lithuania, mythology was a part of polytheistic religion; after Christianisation, mythology survived mostly in folklore, customs, and festive rituals. Lithuanian mythology is very close to the mythology of other Baltic nations, such as Prussians and Latvians, and is considered a part of Baltic mythology.

The Balts or Baltic peoples (Lithuanian: baltai, Latvian: balti) are a group of peoples inhabiting the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea who speak Baltic languages. Among the Baltic peoples are modern-day Lithuanians (including Samogitians) and Latvians (including Latgalians) — all East Balts — as well as the Old Prussians, Curonians, Sudovians, Skalvians, Yotvingians and Galindians — the Western Balts — whose languages and cultures are now extinct, but made a large influence on the living branches, especially on literary Lithuanian language.

The Balts are descended from a group of Proto-Indo-European tribes who settled the area between the lower Vistula and southeast shore of the Baltic Sea and upper Daugava and Dnieper rivers, and which over time became differentiated into West and East Balts. In the fifth century CE, parts of the eastern Baltic coast began to be settled by the ancestors of the Western Balts, whereas the East Balts lived in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. In the first millennium CE, large migrations of the Balts occurred. By the 13th and 14th centuries, the East Balts shrank to the general area that the present-day Balts and Belarusians inhabit.

In a strict sense, the Union of Krewo or Act of Krėva (also spelled Union of Krevo, Act of Kreva; Polish: unia w Krewie; Lithuanian: Krėvos sutartis) comprised a set of prenuptial promises made at Kreva Castle on 14 August 1385 by Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, in regard to his prospective marriage to the underage reigning Queen Jadwiga of Poland.

Though very limited in scope, the "Union of Krewo", in historiography, often refers not only to the particular document but to events of 1385–1386 as a whole. After the 1385 negotiations, Jogaila converted to Christianity, married Jadwiga, and was crowned King of Poland in 1386.

Sigismund II Augustus (Polish: Zygmunt II August, Lithuanian: Žygimantas Augustas; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the last male monarch from the Jagiellonian dynasty.

Sigismund was elder of two sons of Italian-born Bona Sforza and Sigismund the Old, and the only one to survive infancy. From the beginning he was groomed and extensively educated as a successor. In 1529 he was chosen as king in vivente rege election while his father was still alive. Sigismund Augustus continued a tolerance policy towards minorities and maintained peaceful relations with neighbouring countries, with the exception of the Northern Seven Years' War which aimed to secure Baltic trade. Under his patronage, culture flourished in Poland; he was a collector of tapestries from the Low Countries and collected military memorabilia as well as swords, armours and jewellery. Sigismund Augustus' rule is widely considered as the apex of the Polish Golden Age; he established the first regular Polish navy and the first regular postal service in Poland, known today as Poczta Polska. In 1569, he oversaw the signing of the Union of Lublin between Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which formed the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and introduced an elective monarchy.