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The Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country
variously defined as being part of Eastern or Northern Europe. Situated
along the south-eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, sharing borders with Latvia
to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of
the Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest. Lithuania is a member of NATO and
of the European Union. The population is 3.4 million, the largest city and
the capital is Vilnius.
During the 1300s, Lithuania was the largest country in Europe, as
present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were
territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569
Poland and Lithuania formed a new state: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,
which was finally destroyed by its neighboring countries in 1795. Most of
Lithuania's territory was annexed to Russian Empire, until the Act of
Independence was signed on February 16, 1918, which declared
re-establishment of a sovereign state. Between 1940 and 1945 Lithuania was
occupied by several powers — Soviet Union, Nazi Germany. When World War II
was near its end in 1944 and the Nazis retreated, Lithuania would again be
merged into the Soviet Union. On March 11, 1990, Lithuania became the first
Soviet republic to declare its renewed independence.
Present-day Lithuania has one of the fastest growing economies in the
European Union. Lithuania became a full member of the Schengen Agreement on
21 December 2007. In 2009 Lithuania will celebrate the millennium of its
name.
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