The Balts or Baltic peoples are an ethno-linguistic group of peoples who speak the Baltic languages of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Grodno or Hrodna is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Minsk, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the border with Poland, and 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the border with Lithuania. In 2019, the city had 373,547 inhabitants. Grodno is the administrative center of Grodno Region and Grodno District.
Šiauliai is the fourth largest city in Lithuania, with a population of 99,462 in 2022. From 1994 to 2010 it was the capital of Šiauliai County.
Lithuanians are a Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two millions make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Russia, and Canada. Their native language is Lithuanian, one of only two surviving members of the Baltic language family along with Latvian. According to the census conducted in 2021, 84.6% of the population of Lithuania identified themselves as Lithuanians, 6.5% as Poles, 5.0% as Russians, 1.0% as Belarusians, and 1.1% as members of other ethnic groups. Most Lithuanians belong to the Catholic Church, while the Lietuvininkai who lived in the northern part of East Prussia prior to World War II, were mostly Lutherans.
The Principality or, from 1253, Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, historically known as the Kingdom of Ruthenia, was a medieval state in Eastern Europe which existed from 1199 to 1349. Its territory was predominantly located in modern-day Ukraine, with parts in Belarus, Poland, Moldova, and Lithuania. Along with Novgorod and Vladimir-Suzdal, it was one of the three most important powers to emerge from the collapse of Kievan Rus'. The main language was Old East Slavic, the predecessor of the modern East Slavic languages, and the official religion was Eastern Orthodoxy.
Arvydas Romas Sabonis is a Lithuanian former professional basketball player and businessman. Recognized as one of the best European players of all time and one of the best big man passers in the history of the game., he won the Euroscar six times and the Mr. Europa Award twice. He played in a variety of leagues, including the Spanish ACB League, and spent seven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Playing the center position, Sabonis won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics, in South Korea, for the Soviet Union, and later earned bronze medals at the 1992 Olympic Games and 1996 Olympic Games representing Lithuania. He retired from professional basketball in 2005. Sabonis was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the 1986 NBA draft, but he did not play his first NBA game until 1995, at the age of 30.
Darius Kasparaitis is a Lithuanian-American former professional ice hockey defenceman. He mainly played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Avalanche, and New York Rangers. He is a four-time Olympian and three-time medalist, winning one gold medal, one silver medal, and one bronze medal. He received the title of Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1992 and was inducted into the Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016. His 28 career Olympic games is a record among Russian national team's players.
Steponas Darius was a Lithuanian American pilot, who died in a non-stop flight attempt in the Lituanica from New York City to Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1933.
Linas Kleiza is a Lithuanian professional basketball executive and former player. Standing at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), he played at the small forward and power forward positions. In 2010, he was the Alphonso Ford EuroLeague Top Scorer Trophy winner and a member of the All-EuroLeague First Team.
Virgilijus Alekna is a Lithuanian former discus thrower and politician. He won medals at the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Olympics, including two golds.
Dainius Gintas Zubrus is a Lithuanian former professional ice hockey right winger and centre who played in the National Hockey League (NHL), the first Lithuanian to have played 1,000 games in the NHL. Drafted 15th overall in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers, Zubrus played for the Flyers, Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks.
Raudondvaris is a village on the Nevėžis River in Kaunas district, Lithuania, 1 km (0.62 mi) west of Kaunas city municipality.
Lithuania, after declaring restoration of independence in 1918, sent its athletes to the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris for the first time. At first it was considered to send 33 athletes, but then it was decided to limit the delegation to 13 soccer players and 2 cyclists. The soccer players arrived in Paris only a day before the game was scheduled. Lithuania debuted at the Olympic Games on May 25, 1924, at 2:40pm when the match between Lithuanian and Swiss teams started. Lithuania lost 9-0 (4-0). The cyclists could not finish the 188 km race because of technical difficulties.
Modestas Paulauskas is a former Soviet and Lithuanian professional basketball coach and basketball player.
Žirmūnai is the most populous administrative division (elderate) in Vilnius. It is also a neighbourhood in the Lithuanian capital city Vilnius, encompassing the city district of the same name, built in the 1960s.
Gintautas Umaras is a retired track and road racing cyclist from Lithuania, who represented the USSR at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. There he won the gold medal in the men's 4 km individual pursuit and in the men's team pursuit, alongside Viatcheslav Ekimov, Dmitry Nelyubin and Artūras Kasputis. During the Soviet time he trained at Dynamo sports society in Klaipėda.
The Grand Duchy of Moscow, Principality of Moscow or simply Muscovy, was a Rus' principality of the Late Middle Ages centered on Moscow. It eventually evolved into the Tsardom of Russia in the early modern period. The princes of Moscow were Daniilovichi, descendants of the first prince Daniil of Moscow.
The Union of Lublin was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a real union and an elective monarchy, since Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellons, remained childless after three marriages. In addition, the autonomy of Royal Prussia was largely abandoned. The Duchy of Livonia, tied to Lithuania in real union since the Union of Grodno (1566), became a Polish–Lithuanian condominium.
Mindaugas Kuzminskas is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for Pınar Karşıyaka of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He also represents the Lithuanian national team. He is 2.05 m tall, and he can play both the small forward and power forward positions.
Basketball is the most popular sport in Lithuania. Lithuanian American basketball coaches and players in the 1930s helped the Lithuania men's national basketball team win the last EuroBasket tournaments prior to World War II, in 1937 and 1939, causing a massive impact in Lithuanian society and a basketball popularity spike. Since then, despite Lithuania's small size, with a population of just almost 2.9 million, the country's devotion to basketball has made them a traditional force of the sport in Europe.
Lithuania 
