LOCALHISTORYARTICLES
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GEOGRAHICAL POSITION Belarus is a new country in Eastern Europe. It's situated on the way from the Western Europe to Russia and from Scandinavia to the Ukraine,Turkey, some Aravic countries. It's a border between the Westeuropean and the Eastslavic worlds. The area of Belarus is 207.6 thousand km2. It's population is 10.28 million. By its population Belarus ranks 14-th inEurope.Nearly two thirds of Belarussian believers of the country belong to theEastern Orthodox Church . Nearly 20% of believers are Catholics. In Belarusthere are also different Protestant groups, Jews and Muslims. HISTORY OF BELARUS The first written documents of the Belarussian statehood go as far back as 980 AD when Prince Rogvold reigned on the Principality of Polatsk which is the historic and religious center of the Belarussian nationality and culture. The young fast growing state made close trade ties with German cities, Scandinavia, neighboring eastern and southern principalities. From the 13-th till the 16-th century the territory of contemporary Belarus was the center of medieval polyethnic state - the Great Principality of Lithuania. The lands of contemporary Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania and western regions of Russia comprised this state. In the 15-th - 16-th centuries Belarus had highly developed social relations. For example, the first Statute (Code of Laws) of the Great Principality of Lithuania was issued in 1529 while no one country in Europe had analogous document. The second issue was printed in 1566 and the third - in 1588. The Statute was the main law of the state, so practically it was the first some sort of Constitution. The last Statute (Code of Laws) was so perfect that was abolished only in 1840. All the Statutes were written in Belarusan. In the result of hard and numerous wars with Moscow (Russian) state in the 15-th - 16-th centuries the Great Principality of Lithuania made a political union with the Polish Kingdom. According to it the Litva- Poland confederation Rzecz Pospolita emerged. As a result of social development in Rzecz Pospolita in 18-th century on the 3-rd of May 1791 the first European and the second in the world (after American) Constitution was adopted. In 1794 Poles, Belarusans, Lithuanians rose up against Russian-Prussian intervention and reactionary nobility of Rzercz Pospolita. But the rising wasn't a success. Belarusan nobleman Andrej Tadeucz Banaventura Kasciuszka headed the rising. He also took part in the War for Independence in the North America, was a friend of Th.Jefferson , knew J. Washington. Nowadays the monuments to Tadeusz Kasciuszka, national hero of Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, the USA, honorable citizen of France, can be seen in Washington, Chicago, Miluokes, Klivlend in the USA and also in France and Poland. Only in the motherland There is no monument to him. In the result of three divisions of Rzecz Pospolita Belarus was incorporated in to the socially backward Russian Empire. In the 19-th century tsarist Russia suprassed all kinds of political and cultural movements in Belarus. Only after the October Socialist Revolution in 1917 in December the All-Belarusan Congress opened in Minsk. On the 25-th of March 1918 the All-Belarusan Executive Committee declared the creation of the Belarusan People's Republic. But Soviet Russia with the help of Red Army liquidated it. On the lst of January 1919 Belarusan Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) was proclaimed. In the 30-th of the XX. century great harm has been done for the development of Belarusan national intelligencia, culture, science by Stalin's repression's As the result of the Great Patriotic war in 1941-1945 Belarus lied in ruins. It lost about one forth of its population. But in postwar years Belarus was rebuilt anew. And only at the beginning of 90-th Belarus restored its prewar population. On the 27-th of July 1990 BSSR was proclaimed a Sovereign republic. On the 11-th December 1991 the Supreme Soviet ratified the Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Belarusan Constitution was adopted on the 15-th of March 1994, but in 1996 the Constitution got some supplements and errata. The first Belarusan President Alexander Luckashenka was elected on the 23-th of June 1994. THE HISTORY OF THE NAME Scientists think that the Western Rus got the name Belarus (the White Rus), because this land hasn't ever been under Mongol-Tatar yoke. While the rest territory of Rus was occupied by Mongol-Tatars. In the old Eastslavic language the word, white is the synonym to the words <clean> and to a definite degree to the word <unconquered>. Thus our republic got the name Belarus. What century was the name <Belarus> first mentioned in? In 1979 in American periodical <Speculum> the unknown source of geography and history of Europe in 13-th century was published. The priority of this discovery belongs to American scientist M.L.Colcker. The publication has been done according the manuscript of the 13-th century which is kept in the library of Trinity College in Dublin (Ireland) . It's in Latin and contains different works of Middle Ages (poems, treatises, et all.). The manuscript is dedicated to the history of Ireland. But a small geographical treatise <Incipient descriptions terrarum> (the Description of the Lands) is located at the beginning of it. In this treatise Alba Ruscia (the White Russia; Belarus) is mentioned. It's the first mention of Belarus. CULTURE Belarus is a country of well-developed cultural relations. Great work have been done by Belarusan people in the field of architecture in the Polatsk Principality. We have to mention St. Sophia Cathedral among Belarusan architectural building of that period. It was built in 1044-1066 during rule of the Prince Vseslav I of Polatsk. It's a unique building of Polatsk architectural school. Belarus had also well-developed culture in the 15-th and 16-th centuries. The first Belarusan book was printed in 1483. 23 books of Bible were printed in Prague in Belarusan printing-house by Belarusan scientist Dr. Fracsishak Skaryna. Belarusan Bible is the third in the word. But in Rzech Pospolita Belarusan, as an official language, was abolished.In tsarist Russia and in Soviet time Belarus became a field of russification. And today we can see the result of it . The sources of Belarusan culture come from the pre-Christian times and have much in common with the traditions of other Indo-European cultures. One of the most important events in Belarusan culture is Kupalle a holiday of nature with it's roots deep in ancient times and connected with the solstice. Many people take part in this holiday demonstrating a special repertoire of music and dance, spectacular rites. In Belarus people widely celebrate such popular Christian holidays as Christmas and Easter. One of the most important of cultural life is the existence of professional theatres which embody the bright images and events of Belarusan history in drama, music and ballet. The rich Belarusan poetry, literature and drama are admired by Belarusan audience that like to sing, write poems and actively influence the cultural life. In the creative process musicians, artists, actors, writers try to express their personal philosophy, to make their contribution to the development of Belarusan culture. Krasnoselkiy Hi!We are students from 7th,8th forms of Krasnoselkiy school: (Pavel Shpula, Natasha Dudko, Alexey Meleshko, Dasha Boguk, Alla Kolodzinskaya, Olya Pukel, Alexandra Rusinovskaya). We are 13,14 years old. We live in the settlement of Krasnoselskiy(Volkovysk district,Grodno Region). It is western Belarus. Our settlement is new.Earlier it was the village of Krasnoye selo. Our settlement is situated,on the river Ross,is not very big.It's population is about 8000.Near our settlement were found places where ancient people lived. The archa-elogists found mines where our ancestor mined silicon .There are many plants in our settlement .They are two cement plants,a slate plant . There is a school with two buildings,there are three kindergarten in it. As our settlement is a fast-growing place we have a lot of high buildings with every convinience . In the centre of our settlement we have a big park with a fountain in the middle of it . There are many shops ,a library ,a hospital,a post office,a bank and chemists shop and club in it . There is a forest round our settlement which is rich in berries and mushrooms . We like our settlement . We want to give more information about Krasnoselskiy mines . Krasnoselskiy mines There is an unique monument of antiquities in our settlement-the silicic mines . The archeologists found in our settlement not only silicic mines , but also workshops on its working up . These mines dates from the Stone Age and Bronze one (the late New Stone Age ) (middle of the 3d-beginning of the 1st millennium b .c .) The search of silicon was a constant trouble for people in the Stone Age and Bronze one on the territory of Belarus .The land around Krasnoselskiy was very rich in deposits of silicon . Many silicon was lay on the ground , but it was not good for manufacture of big implements for work (axes and adzes) . It was too fragile and dry . For such goals the primitive man was looking for silicon , that deposited at a depth and was wet . The ancient miners founded their settlement not far from mines . They lived in dug-outs . The walls of dug-outs were twined round with twigs , the roofs were covered with lumps of cortex , old pelts . After breakfast several young men went hunting , the others went to work in mines in the neighbouring valley. The two together worked in the mine: the first miner beat off chalk the other gathered this chalk from the ground in a sack and called the third helper , who rose the sack with help of cord on the superficiality of the earth . When the silicon was seen on the wall- it was being plucked out . But only part of instruments which was made of silicon , was utilized for need of settling . The most of make was exchanged for other goods . In summer 1962 during excavations was found skeleton of man . The skeleton was on the bottom of mine ( the depth of mine was 3-5 meters .) He lay all croo- ked on the right side , the head to the south of . Close to deceased lay the needle made of bone . In the west side by legs stood a jug . The size of skull showed , that the Krasnoselskiy miner (according to data ) occupied on intermediate post between the type of Baltic Region and the one of the north-Ukraine . Most probably that local settling worked at Krasnoselskiy mines , but the possibility of appearance of miners here from other regions cannot be ruled out . Beresovka We are students of school 1 in the town Beresovka.Our town is little ,but many people prefer to live in such quiet little towns .It is not far from the river Neman,one of the biggest in our country. Our town is famous for the glassworks '' Neman'' which produces glass things and exports them to many countries .As a matter of fact the town appeared after the construction of the plant more than a hundred years ago.Most of the population of the town work there. So our parents do. We are 7form students. At school we study two foreign languages:English and German.Many students attend music school, they play many musical instruments. Some students are interested in poetry and write poems and stories themselves. 2000 год наступает и новое что-то несет О прошлом мы память оставим А в будущем что же нас ждет... We also have parties at school with a lot of cakes and much music and dancing. Our form teacher is always with us , we love her because she understands us and always helps us. In summer we usually go hiking .It is so exciting. We enjoy sitting at the fire in the forest, singing songs and sleeping in tents . Now we start working in I*Earn .We are eager to learn as much as possible about the life of teenagers and about the history and culture of other counties. Ann Nesson, Anastasiya Chigas, Barbara Mihajlova and Tanya Karabach.
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