1. BELARUS IN EUROPE Geographic setting Belarus is a medium-sized European coun- try with an area of about 207,600 square kilo- The territory of the Republic of Belarus is situ- metres. Sverdlovsk Oblast (Russia), Kansas ated in the western part of Eastern Europe, be- (United States), the main island of Great Britain tween latitudes 51°16’N and 56°10’N and longi- and Hunan Province (China) are of similar size. tudes 23°11’E and 32°47’E (Figure 1.1). The length Belarus is slightly smaller than Laos, half the site of the country is 560 km from north to south and of Paraguay, and slightly smaller than Victoria 650 km from west to east. Geographic extreme (Australia). points are Lake Asvieja (Viciebsk voblasć) in the In terms of population, Belarus (9.5 million north, the town of Kamaryn (Homieĺ voblasć) in inhabitants, 2016) is in a group of middle-ranked the south, the town of Vysokae (Brest voblasć) European countries which includes Switzerland, in the west and the town of Chocimsk (Mahilioŭ Austria, Hungary and Sweden (Table 1.1). voblasć) in the east. Together with Azerbaijan, it ranks in the middle 17 18 Table 1.1 Belarus among 45 selected European and CIS countries Population number GDP, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) Human Development Index (HDI) Per capita GDP, PPP Billion Current Thousand, Rank Country Rank Country dollar, Rank Country 2014 Rank Country international 2015 2015 dollar, 2015 1 Russia 143,457 1 Germany 3,841 1 Norway 0.944 1 Luxembourg 98,987 2 Germany 80,689 2 Russia 3,718 2 Switzerland 0.930 2 Norway 68,430 3 Turkey 78,666 3 United Kingdom 2,679 3 Denmark 0.923 3 Switzerland 58,551 4 United Kingdom 64,716 4 France 2,647 4 Netherlands 0.922 4 Ireland 55,533 5 France 64,395 5 Italy 2,171 5 Germany 0.916 5 Netherlands 49,166 6 Italy 59,798 6 Spain 1,615 6 Ireland 0.916 6 Sweden 47,922 7 Spain 46,122 7 Turkey 1,589 7 Sweden 0.907 7 Austria 47,250 8 Ukraine 44,824 8 Poland 1,005 8 United Kingdom 0.907 8 Germany 46,893 9 Poland 38,612 9 Netherlands 833 9 Iceland 0.899 9 Iceland 46,097 10 Romania 19,511 10 Belgium 494 10 Luxembourg 0.892 10 Denmark 45,709 11 Kazakhstan 17,625 11 Switzerland 482 11 Belgium 0.890 11 Belgium 43,585 12 Netherlands 16,925 12 Sweden 473 12 France 0.888 12 France 41,181 13 Belgium 11,299 13 Kazakhstan 429 13 Austria 0.885 13 United Kingdom 41,159 14 Greece 10,955 14 Romania 414 14 Finland 0.883 14 Finland 41,120 15 Czechia 10,543 15 Austria 404 15 Slovenia 0.88 15 Malta 36,005 16 Portugal 10,350 16 Norway 356 16 Spain 0.876 16 Italy 35,708 17 Hungary 9,855 17 Ukraine 339 17 Italy 0.873 17 Spain 34,819 18 Sweden 9,779 18 Czechia 332 18 Czechia 0.870 18 Cyprus 32,785 19 Azerbaijan 9,754 19 Portugal 290 19 Greece 0.865 19 Czechia 31,549 20 Belarus 9,496 20 Greece 286 20 Estonia 0.861 20 Slovenia 31,007 21 Serbia 8,851 21 Denmark 259 21 Cyprus 0.850 21 Slovakia 29,720 22 Austria 8,545 22 Hungary 258 22 Slovakia 0.844 22 Estonia 28,592 23 Switzerland 8,299 23 Ireland 257 23 Poland 0.843 23 Lithuania 28,359 24 Bulgaria 7,150 24 Finland 225 24 Lithuania 0.839 24 Portugal 27,835 25 Denmark 5,669 25 Azerbaijan 169 25 Malta 0.839 25 Poland 26,455 26 Finland 5,503 26 Belarus 168 26 Portugal 0.830 26 Greece 26,449 27 Slovakia 5,426 27 Slovakia 161 27 Hungary 0.828 27 Hungary 26,222 28 Norway 5,211 28 Bulgaria 137 28 Latvia 0.819 28 Russia 25,411 29 Ireland 4,688 29 Serbia 98 29 Croatia 0.818 29 Latvia 24,712 30 Croatia 4,240 30 Croatia 91 30 Montenegro 0.802 30 Kazakhstan 24,268 31 Moldova 4,069 31 Lithuania 82 31 Belarus 0.798 31 Croatia 21,581 32 Georgia 4,000 32 Slovenia 64 32 Russia 0.798 32 Romania 20,787 33 Bosnia-H 3,810 33 Luxembourg 56 33 Romania 0.793 33 Turkey 20,438 34 Armenia 3,018 34 Latvia 49 34 Kazakhstan 0.788 34 Bulgaria 19,097 35 Albania 2,897 35 Bosnia-H 41 35 Bulgaria 0.782 35 Azerbaijan 17,993 Table 1.1 continued Population number GDP, Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) Human Development Index (HDI) Per capita GDP, PPP Billion Current Thousand, Rank Country Rank Country dollar, Rank Country 2014 Rank Country international 2015 2015 dollar, 2015 36 Lithuania 2,878 36 Estonia 38 36 Serbia 0.771 36 Belarus 17,654 37 Macedonia 2,078 37 Georgia 36 37 Turkey 0.761 37 Montenegro 16,123 38 Slovenia 2,068 38 Albania 33 38 Georgia 0.754 38 Macedonia 14,009 39 Latvia 1,971 39 Macedonia 29 39 Azerbaijan 0.751 39 Serbia 13,671 40 Estonia 1,313 40 Cyprus 28 40 Macedonia 0.747 40 Albania 11,301 41 Cyprus 1,165 41 Armenia 25 41 Ukraine 0.747 41 Bosnia-H 10,492 42 Montenegro 626 42 Moldova 18 42 Albania 0.733 42 Georgia 9,630 43 Luxembourg 567 43 Malta 15 43 Armenia 0.733 43 Armenia 8,468 44 Malta 419 44 Iceland 15 44 Bosnia-H 0.733 44 Ukraine 7,971 45 Iceland 329 45 Montenegro 10 45 Moldova 0.693 45 Moldova 5,006 Sources: hdr.undp.org,data.worldbank.org, UN World Population Prospects (Nioman, and, in part, Dzvina, Dniapro). For For Dniapro). Dzvina, part, in and, (Nioman, Sea Black the or Sea Baltic the towards flow that rivers major of many area are thesource Plain try Belgorod, Voronezh,butnotMoscowOblast). Vladimir, (e.g. Tula, Federal District Central Russia’s densely populatedoblastsof the more of or one Africa South with Iran, grouped be on populationdensity,itcan or Bulgaria.Based thanthatofUkraine,Moldova States butlower er thanthat of the Baltic countriesorthe United high significantly is density population Its tries. highamongthepost-Soviet coun but relatively sons/km Australia. or population ofTaiwan or Zhengzhou).Thecountryhasbarelyhalfthe nor” Chineseurbanagglomeration(e.g.Harbin Georgia,NorthCarolina)orthatofa“mi Jersey, East CoaststateintheUnitedStates(e.g.New lation isaboutthesameasthatofamedium-sized popu Belarus’s countries. thepost-Soviet among of Eastern Europe. Almost thewholeterritory of EasternEurope. a majorpart which occupies graphical unit, alargephysicalgeo East EuropeanPlain, to itsadvantage. population. Belarusisseekingtoturnthisfactor basedonitseconomy,areaor might suppose one than country European important more Belarus its significance. Strategically, it is a far Europe. Itisthisstrategicpositionthatgives the country liesat ageopolitical focalpoint of doubt, a Without Russia. and EU the between route broughtdestruction. army Berlin-Warsaw-Minsk-Smolensk-Moscow EuropeandRussia / SovietUniononthe tween be a gateway role as theregion’s War), World during Napoleon (e.g. in otherperiods Lithuania). However, of tory formedthecoreareaofGrandDuchy Baltic andBlackseas,laterwhentheterri the between alongtherivers – whoadvanced Vikings –Swedish of theVarangians the time at instance, (for strengthened sometimes was role routes. Inthecourseofhistory,itsgateway transportcorridorsandtrade and east-west Belarus hasbeenameetingpointofnorth-south centuries, therefore,theterritoryofpresent-day , its ridges rising above the East European the East European , its ridgesrisingabove Although Belarusisa The Belarus lies in the western part of the partofthe lies inthewestern Belarus thegateway forms Belarus present, At 2 ) islowinEuropean(andglobal)terms population density population ’s campaign ofBelarus(46per landlocked coun and the Second andtheSecond 19 - - - - - - - - - of Belarus consists of different types of plains. 1795. These areas remained a part of the Russian After Denmark (and excluding Malta and the Empire until its collapse in 1917 (Figure 1.3). Vatican City), Belarus is Europe’s second “flat- Towards the end of the First World War, test” country. the independence of the Belarusian People’s The difference in elevation between the Republic (BPR, under German military occu- highest point (Dziaržynskaja, 345 m) and the pation) was declared (March 25, 1918). This lowest point (the Nioman Lowland, 78 m) is 267 occurred only weeks after the signing of the metres, which is less than the difference in eleva- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (today Brest) (March 3, tion observed in the Baltic states (e.g. Lithuania, 1918), a peace treaty between Soviet Russia and 294 m) or in the Netherlands (329 m). Most of the Central Powers. The BPR had an area of Belarus’s terrain was formed by glaciers and sub- around 300,000 square kilometres. sequently altered by the post-glacial processes. After the withdrawal of German troops, Thus, despite the small difference in elevation, in early 1919 the Bolsheviks proclaimed (in the Belarusian landscape is gently undulating Smolensk) the Soviet Socialist Republic of with a remarkable diversity of natural condi- Belarus (SSRB), the territory of which was most- tions. The flat relief and the relatively fertile ly incorporated – in February 1919 – into the soils that overlay the moraine and fluvioglacial Soviet puppet state of the Lithuanian-Belarusian sediments provide favourable conditions for ag- Soviet Socialist Republic (Litbel), which existed riculture, forestry, industry, residential housing for about five months. and infrastructure development. As a consequence of the Peace of Riga (March 18, 1921), which concluded the Polish- Soviet war of 1919–1921, the western areas of State territory present-day Belarus were ceded to Poland. In the central areas, a new Soviet republic was es- The first states on the present-day territory of tablished: the Byelorussian (or Belarusian) Soviet Belarus arose between the 10th and 13th centuries Socialist Republic (BSSR) (Box 1.1).