Wikijunior:Europe/Belarus
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Belarus is a large country in north eastern Europe. It shares borders with Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Ukraine and Poland. The capital city is Minsk. Other big cities in Belarus are Brest and Homyel.
[edit] Belarus's History
The region that is now modern-day Belarus was first settled by Slavic tribes in the 6th century. Belarus first declared independence on March 25, 1918, forming the Belarusian People's Republic. The Soviet Union (also known as the USSR) took control of Belarus almost a year later and Belarus became a member of the union in 1922.
[edit] Belarus's Geography
Belarus is a landlocked country (it has no coastline) and is mostly flat. Belarus is bordered by Latvia on the north, Lithuania to the north west, Poland to the west, Russia to the north and east and Ukraine to the south.
There are many lakes and rivers across the country and 34% of the country is covered by forests. 20% of the southern part of Belarus is uninhabitable because of the affects of the Chernobyl (Ukraine) nuclear power plant accident in 1986.
[edit] Belarus's People
The population of Belarus is 9,724,723. Native people from Belarus, called Belorusians, make up about 81 percent of the population. Other ethnic groups include Russians, Poles, and Ukrainians.
Belarus's two official languages are Belarusian and Russian. Other languages spoken in the country include Polish, Ukrainian, and Eastern Yiddish.
Belarus has no official religion. Many people in Belarus practice or are a member of the Russian Orthodox church, with minorities practicing Catholicism, Judaism, and other religions.
Education in Belarus is free for all levels and children are required to go to school between the ages of 6 to 15. After finishing basic education, each student is given a certificate by the state and is able to enter the workforce of serve in the military. Students do have the option of going for a higher education or train in a vocational school; the length of the schooling depends on what the student has chosen. The literacy rate is 100 percent.
