Romanization of Belarusian in the context of Columns of Gediminas

Barysaw or Borisov (Belarusian: Барысаў, romanized: Barysaŭ, IPA: [baˈrɨsaw]; Russian: Борисов, IPA: [bɐˈrʲisəf]) is a city in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Barysaw District. It is located on the Berezina River and 74 kilometres (46 mi) north-east from the capital Minsk. As of 2025, it has a population of 134,732.

Belarusians (Belarusian: беларусы, romanized: biełarusy [bʲeɫaˈrusɨ]) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99 million Belarusians reside in Belarus, with the United States and Russia being home to more than 500,000 Belarusians each. The majority of Belarusians adhere to Eastern Orthodoxy.

A selsoviet (Belarusian: сельсавет, romanized: sieł'saviet; Russian: сельсовет, romanized: sel'sovet, IPA: [sʲɪlʲsɐˈvʲet]; Ukrainian: сільрада, romanized: sil'rada) is the shortened name for Selsky soviet, i.e., rural council (Belarusian: се́льскi саве́т; Russian: се́льский сове́т; Ukrainian: сільська́ ра́да). It has three closely related meanings:

• The administration (soviet) of a certain rural area.
• The territorial subdivision administered by such a council.
• The building of the selsoviet administration.

Selsoviets were the lowest level of administrative division in rural areas in the Soviet Union. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, they were preserved as a third tier of administrative-territorial division throughout Ukraine, Belarus, and many of the federal subjects of Russia.

The Christianization of Kievan Rus' was a long and complicated process that took place in several stages. In 867, Patriarch Photius of Constantinople told other Christian patriarchs that the Rus' people were converting enthusiastically, but his efforts seem to have entailed no lasting consequences, since the Russian Primary Chronicle and other Slavonic sources describe the tenth-century Rus' as still firmly entrenched in Slavic paganism. The traditional view, as recorded in the Russian Primary Chronicle, is that the definitive Christianization of Kievan Rus' dates happened c. 988 (the year is disputed), when Vladimir the Great was baptized in Chersonesus (Korsun) and proceeded to baptize his family and people in Kiev. The latter events are traditionally referred to as baptism of Rus' (Russian: Крещение Руси, romanized: Kreshcheniye Rusi; Ukrainian: Хрещення Русі, romanized: Khreshchennia Rusi; Belarusian: Вадохрышча Русі, romanized: Vadokhryshcha Rusi) in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian literature.

Latgale (Latgalian: Latgola; Latvian: Latgale; Russian: Латгалия, romanized: Latgaliya; Polish: Łatgalia; German: Lettgallen; Belarusian: Латгалія, romanized: Lathalija; Belarusian Latin: Łathalija; Latin: Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. While most of Latvia is historically Lutheran, Latgale is predominantly Catholic: 65.3% according to a 2011 survey. After the Counter-Reformation it was the northernmost predominantly Catholic province or region in Europe. There is a considerable Eastern Orthodox minority (23.8%), of which 13.8% are Russian Orthodox Christians and 10.0% are Old Believers. As of 2020, the region's population was 255,968.

The region has a large population of ethnic Russians, especially in Daugavpils, the largest city in the region and the location of the region's only public university, the University of Daugavpils. Many of the Russians who lived in Latgale before Soviet rule are Old Believers. Rēzekne, often called the heart of Latgale, Krāslava, and Ludza are other large towns in the region, which also has a Belarusian minority. There is also a significant Polish minority. As part of the Polotsk and Vitebsk guberniyas, the region was part of the Pale of Settlement and had a very large Jewish population – but many of the Jews were killed in WW2 and most of the remainder emigrated. Other than in Daugavpils, the Baltic German presence in Latgale was less sizable than in other regions of Latvia. According to the Latvian Official Statistics portal, Latgale is the only region of Latvia where the number of Slavs surpasses the number of ethnic Latvians.

Belarusian (endonym: беларуская мова, romanized: bielaruskaja mova, pronounced [bʲɛlaˈruskaja ˈmɔva]) is an East Slavic language. It is one of the two official languages in Belarus, the other being Russian. It is also spoken in parts of Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland (where it is the official language in 5 bilingual municipalities), Ukraine, and the United States by the Belarusian diaspora.

Before Belarus gained independence in 1991, the language was known in English as Byelorussian or Belorussian, or alternatively as White Russian. Following independence, it became known as Belarusian, or alternatively as Belarusan.

The Berezina or Byarezina (Belarusian: Бярэзіна, romanized: Biarezina, IPA: [bʲaˈrɛzʲinɐ]; Russian: Березина) is a river in Belarus and a right tributary of the Dnieper. The river starts in the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve. The length of the Berezina is 613 kilometres (381 mi). The width of the river is 15–20 m, the maximum is 60 m. The banks are low (up to 0.5 m), steep in some areas (up to 1.5 m high), sandy, and the floodplain is swampy. The Berezina usually freezes over in the first half of December.

Its main tributaries are Bobr, Klyava, Ol'sa and Ala [be; ru] from the left and Hayna and Svislach from the right. The Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve by the river is on the UNESCO list of biosphere reserves. Peat bogs cover 430 km and thus occupy a large part of the reserve. These open peat zones have remained virtually untouched and are among Europe's largest bogs.

The Principality of Polotsk (obsolete spelling: Polock; Belarusian: По́лацкае кня́ства, romanized: Polackaje kniastva; Latin: Polocensis Ducatus), also known as the Duchy of Polotsk or Polotskian Rus', was a medieval principality. The origin and date of the establishment of the state are uncertain. Chronicles of Kievan Rus' mention Polotsk being conquered by Vladimir the Great, and thereafter it became associated with Kievan Rus' and its ruling Rurikids.

The principality was supposedly established around the town of Polotsk (now in Belarus) by the tribal union of Krivichs. In the second half of the 10th century, Polotsk was governed by its own dynasty; its first ruler mentioned in the chronicles was the semi-legendary Rogvolod (?–978), better known as the father of Rogneda. The principality was heavily involved in several succession crises of the 11th–12th centuries and a war with the Novgorod Land. By the 13th century, it was integrated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Western Belorussia or Western Belarus (Belarusian: Заходняя Беларусь, romanized: Zachodniaja Biełaruś; Polish: Zachodnia Białoruś; Russian: Западная Белоруссия, romanized: Zapadnaya Belorussiya) is a historical region of modern-day Belarus which belonged to the Second Polish Republic during the interwar period. For twenty years before the 1939 invasion of Poland, it was the northern part of the Polish Kresy macroregion. Following the end of World War II in Europe, most of Western Belorussia was ceded to the Soviet Union by the Allies, while some of it, including Białystok, was given to the Polish People's Republic. Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Western Belorussia formed the western part of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR). Today, it constitutes the west of modern Belarus.

Created by the USSR after the conquest of Poland, the new western provinces of Byelorussian SSR acquired from Poland included Baranavichy, Belastok, Brest, Vileyka and the Pinsk Regions. The majority of Belastok Region was returned to Poland and the rest of the regions were reorganized one more time after the Soviet liberation of Belarus into the contemporary western provinces of Belarus which include all of Grodno and Brest regions, as well as parts of today's Minsk and Vitebsk regions. Vilnius was returned by the USSR to the Republic of Lithuania which soon after that became the Lithuanian SSR.

The Belarusian-Ukrainian border (Belarusian: Беларуска-ўкраінская граніца, romanized: Bielaruska-ŭkrainskaja hranica, Ukrainian: Білорусько-український кордон, romanized: Bilorus'ko-ukrajin'skyj kordon) is the state border between Belarus and Ukraine with a length of about 1,084 km (674 mi). It starts from the triple junction with Poland to the west and stretches to the triple junction with Russia to the east. The tripoint border at the triple border junction of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine is marked in the form of a monument, while at the other border junction there is a river, the Western Bug that coincides with the border of Poland.

The Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC; Belarusian: Беларуская праваслаўная царква, romanized: Bielaruskaja pravaslaŭnaja carkva, Russian: Белорусская православная церковь, romanized: Belorusskaya pravoslavnaya tserkov',) is the official name of the exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus. It represents the union of Russian Orthodox eparchies in the territory of Belarus and is the largest religious organization in the country, uniting the predominant majority of its Eastern Orthodox Christians.

Bishop Vienijamin (Vital Tupieka) became the Patriarchal Exarch of the Belarusian Orthodox Church in 2020.

Ruthenian and Ruthene are exonyms of Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term Rutheni was used in medieval sources to describe all Eastern Slavs of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as an exonym for people of the former Rus', thus including ancestors of the modern Belarusians, Rusyns and Ukrainians. The use of Ruthenian and related exonyms continued through the early modern period, developing several distinctive meanings, both in terms of their regional scopes and additional religious connotations (such as affiliation with the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church).

In medieval sources, the Latin term Rutheni was commonly applied to East Slavs in general, thus encompassing all endonyms and their various forms (Belarusian: русіны, romanized: rusiny; Ukrainian: русини, romanized: rusyny). By opting for the use of exonymic terms, authors who wrote in Latin were relieved from the need to be specific in their applications of those terms, and the same quality of Ruthenian exonyms is often recognized in modern, mainly Western authors, particularly those who prefer to use exonyms (foreign in origin) over endonyms.

The Mukhavets (Belarusian: Мухавец, romanized: Mukhaviets [muxaˈvʲets]; Russian: Муховец, romanized: Mukhovets, Polish: Muchawiec) is a river in western Belarus.

A tributary of the Bug River, the Mukhavets rises in Pruzhany, Belarus, where the Mukha river and the Vyets [be] canal converge, flows through south-western Belarus and merges with the Bug River in Brest.

Brest Fortress (Belarusian: Брэсцкая крэпасць, romanized: Bresckaja krepasć; Russian: Брестская крепость, romanized: Brestskaya krepost; Polish: Twierdza brzeska; Lithuanian: Bresto tvirtovė), formerly known as Brest-Litovsk Fortress, is a 19th-century fortress in Brest, Belarus. In 1965, the title Hero Fortress was given to the fortress to commemorate the defence of the frontier stronghold during the first week of Operation Barbarossa, when Axis forces invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. The title "Hero Fortress" corresponds to the title "Hero City" that the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union awarded to twelve Soviet cities.

The Ruthenian Uniate Church (Belarusian: Руская уніяцкая царква, romanized: Ruskaja unijackaja carkva; Ukrainian: Руська унійна церква, romanized: Ruśka unijna cerkva; Latin: Ecclesia Ruthena unita; Polish: Ruski Kościół Unicki) was a particular church of the Catholic Church in the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was created in 1595/1596 by those clergy of the Eastern Orthodox Church who subscribed to the Union of Brest. In the process, they switched their allegiances and jurisdiction from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Holy See.

The church had a single metropolitan territory — the Metropolis of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia. The formation of the church led to a high degree of confrontation among Ruthenians, such as the murder of Archeparch Josaphat Kuntsevych in 1623. Opponents of the union called church members "Uniates". Catholic documents today no longer use this term due to its perceived negative overtones.

The ruble, rouble or rubel (Belarusian: рубель, romanized: rubieĺ; Russian: рубль, romanized: rubl'; abbreviation: Br, ISO code: BYN) is the currency of Belarus. It is subdivided into 100 kopecks (Belarusian: капейка, romanized: kapiejka, Russian: копейка, romanized: kopeyka).

The exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble is determined based on a basket of currencies consisting of the Russian ruble (with a weight of 60%), the US dollar (with a weight of 30%) and the renminbi (with a weight of 10%). The euro was part of said currency basket but was excluded in December 2022 due to a decrease in the volume of trade between Belarus and the European Union.

The Lovat (Belarusian: Ловаць, romanized: Lovac', IPA: [ˈɫovatsʲ]; Russian: Ло́вать) is a river in Vitebsk Oblast of Belarus, Usvyatsky, Velikoluksky, and Loknyansky Districts, as well as of the city of Velikiye Luki, of Pskov Oblast and Kholmsky, Poddorsky, Starorussky, and Parfinsky Districts of Novgorod Oblast in Russia. The source of the Lovat is Lake Lovatets in northeastern Belarus, and the Lovat is a tributary of Lake Ilmen. Its main tributaries are the Loknya (left), the Kunya (right), the Polist (left), the Redya (left), and the Robya (right). The towns of Velikiye Luki and Kholm, as well as the urban-type settlement of Parfino, are located on the banks of the Lovat.

From the source, the Lovat flows in the southeastern direction along the border between Russia and Belarus, it turns north and enters Pskov Oblast of Russia, crossing the border as Lake Sesito. In this area, the Lowat flows through the lake district, passing, in particular, Lake Vorokhobskoye. Downstrean of Velikiye Luki, in the selo of Podberezye, the Lovat turns northwest and enters Novgorod Oblast. Close to Lake Ilmen, the Lovat shares a river delta with the Pola and the Polist, though technically Polist is counted as a tributary of the Lovat.

The Principality of Turov, later called the Principality of Turov and Pinsk (Belarusian: Турава-Пінскае княства, romanized: Turava-Pinskaje kniastva; Russian: Турово-Пинское княжество, romanized: Turovo-Pinskoye knyazhestvo; Ukrainian: Турово-Пінське князівство, romanized: Turovo-Pins'ke knyazivstvo), also known as Turovian Rus', was a medieval principality of Kievan Rus' from the 10th century on the territory of modern-day Belarus and northern Ukraine. The princes of Turov often served as grand princes early in 10th and 11th centuries. Its capital was Turov (Turaŭ), and other important cities included Pinsk, Mazyr, Slutsk, Lutsk, Brest, and Volodymyr.

Until the 12th century, the principality was very closely associated with the principalities of Kiev and Volhynia. Later for a short period time until the Mongol invasion it enjoyed a wide degree of autonomy when it was annexed to the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. In the 14th century, it became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.