James Baquet

You may remember me saying this of other countries, but there was no Belarus when I was a boy. In fact, like the other former Soviet Republics, it didn’t come into being as a country (again) until the breakup of the old Soviet Union, in this case in 1991.

When I was a boy, it would have been the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic; “Byelo” was another form of writing the component “Bela,” which means “white,” though no one is exactly sure why. “Rus,” of course, is the key element in “Russia.” Interestingly, the Rus people were originally seafaring Scandinavian people, whom we sometimes call “Vikings.”

Modern Belarus is a republic surrounded by Russia on the north and east, Ukraine on the south, Poland on the west, and Lithuania and Latvia on the northwest. The capital and largest city is Minsk, famous in Shenzhen as the name of the decommissioned Russian aircraft carrier that was docked in Yantian and served as a theme park from 2000 to 2016, and now resides in Nantong, Jiangsu. It is intended to anchor a new theme park iteration there.

The earliest mention of the city of Minsk, for which the carrier was named, was in 1067. In 1242 it was included within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and then was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was annexed by Russia in 1793, and remained part of that state in one form or another until independence.

Like its capital, Belarus, too, has passed through several hands, including the same Duchy and Commonwealth. Today it is a unitary presidential republic with a population of around 9.5 million. Its nearly 208,000 square kilometers is over 40 percent forested. The country lost about a third of its population during World War II, and over half of its economic resources. Today the economy has redeveloped, and depends predominantly on service industries and manufacturing.

Belarus’ official languages are Belarusian and Russian, which is actually far more widely spoken. About half of the population are Eastern Orthodox Christians, and another 7 percent Roman Catholic, but well over 40 percent consider themselves irreligious.

Vocabulary:

Which word above means:

1. tied up at a pier

2. not following any religion

3. traveling by ship

4. belonged to

5. rests, “lives”

6. area ruled by a duke

7. mainly, mostly

8. put out of service, retired

9. be the centerpiece of

10. version, instance