Grand Duchy of LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 partitions of Poland–Lithuania. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation of several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija.
Christianization of LithuaniaThe Christianization of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos krikštas) occurred in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, initiated by the Lithuanian royals Jogaila, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and his cousin Vytautas the Great. It signified the official adoption of Catholic Christianity by Lithuania, the last pagan country in Europe.
Kingdom of LithuaniaThe Kingdom of Lithuania was a sovereign state that existed from 17 July 1251 until the death of the first crowned king of Lithuania, Mindaugas, on 12 September 1263. Mindaugas was the only Lithuanian monarch crowned king with the assent of the Pope and the head of the first Catholic Lithuanian state.
RutheniaRuthenia is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. The ethnonymRuthenians was used to refer to the East Slavic and Eastern Orthodox people of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland, and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Austria-Hungary, mainly to Ukrainians and sometimes Belarusians, inhabiting the territories of modern Belarus, Ukraine, Eastern Poland and some of western Russia.
Lithuanians (tribe)The Lithuanians or Old Lithuanians (Latin: Letwini; Low German: Lettowen; Old East Slavic: Литъва, Литва; Old Swedish: lättugha; modern Lithuanian: 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.
Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Geophysically, it is surrounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula and the North and Central European Plain regions. It is the world's largest brackish water basin. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude.
East SlavsThe East Slavs are a subgroup of the Slavs, who speak East Slavic languages and reside chiefly in Eastern Europe but extend also across northern Asia and the Pacific Ocean. They formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they consider their cultural ancestor. Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians are the existing East Slavic groups.
Dynastic unionA dynastic union is a type of union in which different states are governed beneath the same dynasty, with their boundaries, their laws, and their interests remaining distinct from each other. It is a form of association looser than a personal union, when several states share the same monarch, and a real union, when they have common institutions in addition to the same monarch.
BaltsGroup of peoples in northern Europe Ethnic group Balts Countries with a predominantly Baltic populationTotal populationc.
EuropeContinentEurope is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the to the south, and Asia to the east. Europe shares the landmass of Eurasia with Asia, and of Afro-Eurasia with both Africa and Asia.
Black SeaThe Black Sea is a marginal sea located between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. Consequently, while six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage basin includes parts of 24 countries in Europe.
History of Poland during the Jagiellonian dynastyBanner of Poland–LithuaniaMonarchsWładysław II Jagiełło (first)Sigismund II Augustus (last)*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.