Lithuania , [ b ] officially the Republic of Lithuania , [ c ] is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. Lithuania covers an area of 65, km 2 25, sq mi , with a population of 2. Lithuanians belong to the linguistic group of the Balts and speak Lithuanian. For millennia, the southeastern shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the s, Lithuanian lands were united for the first time by Mindaugas , who formed the Kingdom of Lithuania on 6 July Subsequent expansion and consolidation resulted in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , which by the 14th century was the largest country in Europe.
In , the Grand Duchy entered into a de facto personal union with the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The two realms were united into the bi-confederal Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in , forming one of the largest and most prosperous states in Europe. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighbouring countries gradually dismantled it between and , with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory.
Lithuanian armed resistance to the Soviet occupation lasted until the early s. On 11 March , a year before the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union , Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to break away when it proclaimed the restoration of its independence. Lithuania is a developed country with a high income and an advanced economy. The spelling of Lithuania was a later addition to the original Latinate Lituania since as a form of hyperforeignism such as the word author being a superseding form of older autor influenced by Greek loanwords with the theta ; it is ultimately from Lithuanian : Lietuva.
Due to lack of reliable evidence, the true meaning of the name is unknown and scholars still debate it. There are a few plausible versions. On the other hand, such naming is not unprecedented in world history. The history of Lithuania dates back to settlements founded about 10, years ago.
In the 8th millennium BC the climate became warmer and forests developed. The inhabitants of what is now Lithuania travelled less and engaged in local hunting, gathering and fresh-water fishing. The Indo-Europeans , who arrived in the 3rd β 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population and formed various Baltic tribes. From the 9th to the 11th centuries, coastal Balts were subjected to raids by the Vikings. The area was remote and unattractive to outsiders, including traders, which accounts for its separate linguistic, cultural and religious identity and delayed integration into general European patterns and trends.
