Why Everyone is Leaving Lithuania, Explained!

once the largest land in Europe now on the course of an alarming decline Lithuania mostly gets bundled with the rest of its Baltic siblings although it's not just a one-of-a-kind story but a distinct genre in itself all the one that is unfortunately moving closer to the fate of silent films than of comic book movies the country suffered great human losses during the occupations of great powers in the 20th century yet absurdly those tragic figures are nomically dwarfed by the ones expecting the country due to joining a great Alliance willingly fortunately far less Sinister in nature yet still alarming yet due to its almost unbelievable history outlandish sights in geographical placement the explanation and exploration of Lithuania will be as rich with fun gems as there are lakes in it located on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the northeastern part of Europe Lithuania has undergone a considerably downsizing since the days we opened with and is now the 24th largest country on the continent with 65 300 kilometers square of land mass making it the 124th largest country in the world actually almost identical to the size of Sri Lanka and one of their neighbors Latvia Lithuania gets the bragging rights of being both the biggest and the most populous Baltic State though beating Estonia in aforementioned Latvia there are about 2.8 million people living here making the country ranked 35th in Europe and 144th in the world in terms of population bordering Latvia to the north Belarus on the east and south Poland to the South and Russia's territory of kaliningrad on the Southwest for a total of 1574 kilometers of borders the longest of which is with Belarus at 680 kilometers Lithuania also has a coastline of 262 kilometers and shares a maritime border with Sweden internally the country is divided into 10 counties the largest and most populous one being the ones centered around the capital city of Vilnius which is also the largest city in the country the city got its name after the vilnia river which flows and connects with a big river of neris that flows through the heart of a city vilnia meaning Ripple in Lithuanian therefore makes sense in the naming the city is filled with around 550 000 people and is located just 30 kilometers from the border with Belarus and it's about twice the population size of the runner-up kaunas as it holds 21 of lithuania's total population in its urban center alone but Vilnius isn't just only the cultural and economical Center of Lithuania but also a geographical center of Europe at least According to some as there are contestants for The honors depending on who and what you measure yet the Guinness Book of World Records does recognize the nearby Village of giriya as the epicenter of the old continent which is another word for Europe if that wasn't clear the second largest city is as we mentioned kaunas and has about 290 000 people meaning that the two biggest cities in Lithuania amount to about 31 percent of the total populace although there are two more cities with populations higher than one hundred thousand of these two Clay peda is the more notable one as it is the Port City and is located as a gate to one of the country's most noteworthy geographical features the Lithuanian Sahara or more commonly named the coronian spith the 98 kilometers long thin and curved sand dunes pit that separates the kirunian Lagoon from the Baltic Sea Coast overall Lithuania is a predominantly low lens country with the highest point being just 293.84 meters tall the Australia's Hill holds this very shy height record of the nation although that is not quite true actually considering that the Williams TV tower stands at 326 meters so the highest point should go to the Village televisions boxed us and you might say my pronunciation might been a bit off so far which is strange considering I should had a lot of time practicing Lithuanian as it is a very old language in fact it's one of the oldest languages in the world today it's the oldest living Indo-European language of Europe but moving back to things being tall or well the opposite what Lithuania lacks in terms of mountains it makes up in other recognizable reliefs such as already mentioned the cronial Lagoon which it shares with Russia's son studying abroad kaliningrad this mostly freshwater Lagoon has a total size of almost 1.6 thousand kilometers square but the Lithuanian part is only 381 km kilometer Square yet Lithuania has the better use for it as clay Pita is the only Port besides being the former base of the Teutonic Knights the Lagoon was formed 3000 years before our era as the winds created the corona speed Dune which split the two bodies of water but according to Baltic myths which we of course prefer the cronius pit was formed by a giant test named naringa to protect her home from The Rage of naglis an evil dragon with this inviting Coast lithuania's climate is both Maritime and continental and the country as a whole is located in a cool temperature zone meaning they have moderately warm Summers and moderately cold Winters the average temperature in the hottest month of July sits at only 17 degrees Celsius while in the winter it's around -5 degrees Celsius but the moderate weather didn't stop to around 2.4 million foreign tourists from spending a night in the country in 2021. most of them from their close neighbors Poland and Latvia so we stated that on the west side of Lithuania we have a lot of water right but the fact is that the east side also has its fair share of water in the form of lakes there are nearly 3 000 Lakes larger than one hectare across the territory overall supplemented by 1 600 pounds land reclamation and swamp drainage has been of major importance to the lithuanians since 1991 and if they need help with this drainage we know some guys some of these lakes also make for parts of the natural borders with Belarus something which can't be said for the Bulge around the tunnel the advantage gifts that is connected to the mainland with a passage divide of less than three kilometers other Lakes are used even better like the gulf which boasts one of the most memorable sites in Lithuania drakai Island castle built amidst The Glory Days of Lithuania in the 15th century today is an unmatched picture of a fantasy Saga idyllic only to be fine in video games yet it is a rare part of Lithuania that looks like a fairy tale you want to tell your smallest children because the Lush forests that cover a third of the country root in a four different setting an area tone Amplified by the knowledge of history and the present the true mystery starch in the third millennium BC were the Baltic tribes arriving as the weather became more hospitable yet this area is perhaps more shrouded in secrecy than any other in Europe mostly because the vaults were too far even for the grasp of the Roman Empire although afraid happened between the cultures as a part of the Amber road so hidden by their unforgiving marches the belt resisted influence of the western culture simply going by with paying tributes to White Kings or the Cuban rust to avoid raids in the 13th Century A.D the history of Lithuania as we know it today can be discussed as the German Teutonic order moved East and conquered areas of Estonia and Latvia making the Lithuanian tribes unite the only crowned king of Lithuania ever mindaogas ruled the land from the year 1236 to 1263 and even though he was baptized as a Roman Catholic at the time of his coronation on 6th of July 1253 which is now the official state Day in Lithuania his country remained majority Pagan past this Ryan and assassination the country had no other kings but had the equivalent Grand dukes and under them the power of Lithuania grew Grand Duke geogalia accepted the offer of the Polish to become their King married their Monarch and converted his duchy to Christianity in 1386. to put it in a different perspective this was only 106 years before the continent of America was discovered by the Europeans and in a way the baltics were the final frontier of the European continent battling formidable foes like the golden horde two tonic Knights and the muscovitz Lithuania reached its peak under vitotas the great in the 14th century becoming the largest country in Europe yet a new threat aroused in the East the Moskowitz grew stronger battling the Russians forced lithuanians closer to the poles and the two entities formed one a Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. the Federation was one of the largest most populous countries in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries they enjoyed the Golden Age and resisted the Moskowitz Kings of Poland and Grand Dukes of Lithuania were elected by the nobility yet as many did after the Commonwealth made a mistake of taking the fight to Russia and losing Lithuanian territories the swedes descended onto the baltics in the northern Wars and in Wars against the two Powers aided by the plague and famine the Commonwealth lost 40 percent of its populace resulting in the partition of the country by Russia to Russia and Austria after a brief time as the protoctorate state of Russia Lithuania ceased to exist in 1795 taken by the Germans in the first world war Lithuania regained its independence in 1918. for Lithuania it become clear that world war one wasn't the war to end all wars as they immediately battled the Soviets the there were Mountains and the poles who took villainous in World War II the lithuanians proclaimed neutrality but that wasn't of interest to the Soviets and then the Germans and as the Third Reich took over the extermination of a quarter million youth living in Lithuania unraveled and when the war finally ended Lithuania fell under the USSR had five percent of its population deported and stayed in it until its demise in 1990. since then Lithuania joined the European Union and nato in 2004 and has been used in Euro since 2015. after briefly returning to their own currency Litas in the post-soviet era recently it has used its position as a roadblock to kaliningrad as the bargain ship for NATO's interest which is severely endangering the country and not only because most of lithuanian's imports came from Russia in 2019. do you recall the decline in population were mentioned at the very start of this video well it turns out it's a Sinister one as it is the country with the second fastest population decline projection close to Bulgaria it's estimated that the populace of Lithuania will shrink by 22.1 percent over the next 30 Years to use 2.1 million people mostly due to mass migration but the very interesting topic of why a country's population tends to decline when it's joining the European Union is a topic that might require its own video or perhaps the decline in population has nothing to do with that and simply because people are Running Scared from sites like the hill of crosses and the hill of witches two pretty scary places you'll find in Lithuania which are really on brand with the persistent Pagan influences and I've already mentioned that lithuania's hides The Pride yet that can't be said of their men as the country is primarily known for its basketball players now who is your favorite player from the Lithuania tell me in the comments Below in three two one now while there are not many non-hoobing lithuanians known worldwide the number of Americans would at least partial Lithuanian Roots is amazing Jason Sudeikis Rose namajunas Robert cemekis John C Reilly and truly many others now hopefully we haven't scared you too much of Lithuania with his iraness as this country really should be explored in person first hand also these potato dumplings things might be worth running into a pagan ritual or two in the Deep forests of Lithuania

Channel: Countries Explained

Views: 327,994

Keywords: countries explained, countries of the world, lithuania explained, facts about countries, explore lithuania, geography, history, geography facts, geography facts you should know, lithuania in 10 minutes, lithuania, learn about countries, world facts, education, country facts, history of the world, history of countries, different countries, geography now, real life lore, explained, travel tips, travel, what are countries, how many countries, Everything about lithuania

Id: 1-yG48GZx3Y

Length: 11min 17sec (677 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 08 2023