Land and People

Lithuania is a flatland, drained by the Nemen River. In addition to the capital, other important cities are Kaunas, Klaipeda (Memel), and Siauliai. About 80% of the population is Lithuanian; there are Russian, Polish, Belarusian, Latvian, and Jewish minorities. The major religion is Roman Catholicism and there are small communities of Lutherans and Russian Orthodox. The Lithuanians speak a Baltic language (see Balts), which is the official language; Polish and Russian are also widely spoken. The republic's educational and cultural institutions include universities at Vilnius and Kaunas and the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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