Myths | BelarusDigest

myths

Did Belarusians ever have an independent state prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union?

Belarus has a start-stop history. Between 12th and 17th centuries Belarus was the core of the Belarusian-Lithuanian state called the Grand Duchy of Litva. It was a multiethnic state and the old Belarusian was the only official language. Litva...

4 April 2011

Did Belarus adopt its first Constitution in the Soviet Union?

The first constitution in the Belarusian land was the constitution of May 3 1791, adopted by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which comprised Belarus, in order to redress the political defects of the state and to enable it to withstand the...

4 April 2011

Was the Belarusian legal system first developed in the Soviet Union?

The legal tradition in Belarus is a long one. The Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,

4 April 2011

Has Belarus always been under the control of foreign countries?

On the contrary, for a significant part of its history Belarus was a center of the Belarusian–Lithuanian State Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1230–1596) which was one of the largest European states of that time. This Duchy controlled almost half...

4 April 2011

Does the word “Belarus” translate as “White Russia”?

While Bela does mean white, Rus is a different geographical and political term than Russia. Rus, also known as Ruthenia, refers to the Eastern Slavic lands that nowadays belong mostly to Belarus and Ukraine. In the modern Belarusian language there is a clear...

4 April 2011

Is Belarus far from Europe?

Belarus is actually in the geographical centre of Europe. Perhaps look at the coordinates because it really is right in the middle: the exact geographical centre of Europe is located around Polatsk 55°30′0″N 28°48′0″E. The closest European capital, Vilnius,...