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Aukštaitija ( lit. Aukštaitija , Belorussian. Ўkštota , from lit. aukštas - “high”) is the historical region of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , including regions in the north-east of modern Lithuania and in the north-west of modern Belarus . The name can be literally translated as “upper land”, in contrast to Zemaitiya - “lower land”, that is, downstream of the Neman River. In the Republic of Lithuania - a historical and ethnocultural region.
Content
- 1 History
- 2 Geography
- 3 See also
- 4 notes
- 5 Links
History
In the XI – XII centuries the Aukstaitija region was inhabited by the Baltic tribes, the settlement territory of which included, in addition to modern Aukstaitija, also part of the territory of modern Latvia south of Daugavpils , as well as in the territory of modern north-western Belarus, a zone of mixed and cross-slavic Slavic-Baltic settlement, stretching from Western Dvina to the basin of the upper Neman [1] . By the second half of the XIII century, a number of eastern and southeastern enclaves of mixed populations removed from the main territory of Aukstaitija disappeared [2] during Slavic colonization, being located in the territories of northeastern Lithuania, as well as the northern half of modern Grodno region and the south-west of Vitebsk region of Belarus [3] , included Lithuania , Deltuva , Upite and Nalsha [4] [5] .
The name first appears in the Duzburg Chronicle when describing the events of 1294–1300 [6] .
The most ancient cities are Novogrudok [7] , Vilkomir and Kern . In 1265-1413 the inhabitants of Aukstaitija were converted to Christianity. The earliest archaeological finds associated with Christianity date from the second half of the 11th century.
Geography
The largest city in the region is Panevezys . The western part of the region is occupied by the Musho-Nyamunelskaya and Nyavizhsky lowlands. The eastern part of the region is occupied by the Aukštait Upland (up to 245 m [8] ) and the western part of the Šventeni Upland (289 m [9] ).
There are several large forests in the region: Tauenu Forest, алalösös Forest, Birzu Forest, имimonyu Forest, Ažvinču-Minches Forest, Lavorishki Forest and the largest Labanoro Forest. All forests are pine [10] .
On the territory of the Lithuanian Lakeland, Aukstaiti National Park is located . There are also several regional parks: Sartai Regional Park , Gražute Regional Park , Labanoras Regional Park , Sirvet Regional Park , Aniksiai Regional Park .
See also
- Aukshtayty
- Chronicle of Lithuania
- Vilensky region
- Zukia
- Jemaitia
- Suwalkia
Notes
- ↑ Balts in the 11th – 12th centuries.
- ↑ Confederation of Lithuanian Lands in the XIII century
- ↑ V. Nosevich, Generation One: Mindovg (1230s - 1250s)
- ↑ Pashuto V. Formation of the State of Lithuania
- ↑ Ivanov N.M., History of the Lithuanian-Russian State in names and dates Archived on October 10, 2008.
- ↑ Chakvin I. U. Akustays // Ethnographic Belarus. Enceclapedia. - Mn. : BelEn, 1989 .-- S. 41 .
- ↑ The Neman. The monthly literary, artistic and socio-political magazine - No. 5 1995 - Minsk: Polymya, 1995 - S. 149
- ↑ Topographic map m-ba 1: 200 000
- ↑ Topographic map m-ba 1: 200 000
- ↑ Atlas of the Lithuanian SSR. GUGK at the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Moscow 1981