Aukštaitija (; literally ''Highland'' or ''Upland'') is the name of one of five ethnographic

regions of Lithuania Lithuania can be divided into five historical and cultural regions (called ethnography, ethnographic regions). The exact borders are not fully clear, as the regions are not official political or administrative units. They are delimited by cult ...

. The name comes from the fact that the lands are in the upper basin of the Nemunas, as opposed to the Lowlands that begin from

Šiauliai Šiauliai ( ; ) is a city in northern Lithuania, the List of cities in Lithuania, country's fourth largest city and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, sixth largest city in the Baltic States, with a population of 112 581 in 202 ...

westward. Although

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

is surrounded by Aukštaitija, the city itself is not considered to be a part of any ethnographic region in most cases.

Geography

Aukštaitija is in the northeast part of Lithuania and also encompasses a small part of

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. The largest city located entirely within this region,

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

, is considered to be the capital, though not in a political sense. Sometimes

Utena Utena () is a city in north-east Lithuania. It is the administrative center of Utena district and Utena County. Utena is one of the oldest settlements of Lithuania. The name of the city is most probably derived from a hydronym. The name of the ...

is regarded as a symbolical capital. The largest cities by population are: *

– 84,587 *

Jonava Jonava () is the ninth largest city in Lithuania with a population of . It is located in Kaunas County in central Lithuania, north east of Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. It is served by Kaunas International Airport. ''Achema'', t ...

– 26,423 *

– 25,397 *

Kėdainiai Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest List of cities in Lithuania, cities in Lithuania. It is located north of Lithuania's second largest city Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. Kėdainiai were first mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle ...

– 22,677 * Ukmergė – 20,154 * Visaginas – 18,024 *

Radviliškis Radviliškis () (; ; , ''Radvilishok'') is a city in the Radviliškis district municipality, Šiauliai County, Lithuania. Radviliškis has been the administrative center of the district since 1950, and is an important railway junction. History ...

– 15,161 The region has many lakes, mainly on the eastern side.

Subdivisions

History

Historically, Aukštaitija corresponded to the

Duchy of Lithuania The Duchy of Lithuania (; ) was a state-territorial formation of ethnic Lithuanians that existed from the 13th century to 1413. For most of its existence, it was a constituent part and a nucleus of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Other alternative ...

until the 13th century. Its initial capital was most likely

Kernavė Kernavė was a medieval capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and today is a tourist attraction and an archeological site (population 238, 2021). It is located in the Širvintos district municipality located in southeast Lithuania. A Lithuanian ...

. In the 1322 treaty of

Gediminas Gediminas ( – December 1341) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1315 or 1316 until his death in 1341. He is considered the founder of Lithuania's capital Vilnius (see: Iron Wolf legend). During his reign, he brought under his rule lands from t ...

, Aukštaitija was called ''terra Eustoythen'' (land of Aukštaitians). Some German sources also titled Grand Duke

, after whom the

Gediminids The House of Gediminas (), or simply the Gediminids, were a dynasty of monarchs in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. A cadet branch of this family, known as the Jagiellonian dynasty, reigned also in th ...

dynasty is named, ''Rex de Owsteiten'' (King of Aukštaitija). Aukštaitija was mentioned as ''Austechia'' in '' Chronicon terrae Prussiae'', written around 1326. Politically, from the end of the 13th century, it comprised the Duchy of Vilnius/Lithuania and the Duchy of

Trakai Trakai (; see Trakai#Names and etymology, names section for alternative and historic names) is a city and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania or just from the administrative limits of the Lithuanian capi ...

, and it is possible that the term was then used to refer to both of them. Since the 15th century, the

and

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

voivodeships made up Aukštaitija, a political and ethnic entity also known as

Lithuania proper Lithuania proper refers to a region that existed within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania where the Lithuanian language was spoken. The primary meaning is identical to the Duchy of Lithuania, a land around which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania evolved. T ...

Demographics

The local people mainly speak the Aukštaitian dialect of Lithuanian. Under the new classification of dialects, Lithuanian is divided into only two dialects, Aukštaitian and Samogitian, with all other varieties now classified as subdialects. The Sudovian and Dzūkian dialects are also considered subdialects of Aukštaitian; the specific subdialect spoken in Aukštaitija is thus known as East Aukštaitian. The region has Russian and Belarusian minorities in the east. The subdialects spoken there use more loanwords from those languages. However, the usage of dialects in the region, as in Lithuania in general, is declining.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aukstaitija Lithuanian ethnographic regions Historical regions in Lithuania

Geography

Subdivisions

History

Demographics

See also

References