1.
Grand Prince of Kiev
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Grand Prince of Kyiv was the title of the Kievan prince and the ruler of Kievan Rus from the 10th to 13th centuries. In the 13th century, Kiev became an appanage principality first of the Grand Prince of Volodymyr and the Golden Horde governors, according to some Ukrainian historians, Ptolemys mention of Metropolis, a Sarmatian town on the Dnieper River, shows the ancient existence of Kiev. The name Dnieper is derived from Sarmatian Dānu apara the river far away, according to Slavophiles, Kyi ruled since 430, one of the dates attributed to the legendary founding of Kiev in 482, although that date relates to Kovin on the Danube in Serbia. Some historians speculate that Kyi was a Slavic prince of eastern Polans in the 6th century, kyis legacy along with Shcheks is mentioned in the Book of Veles, the authenticity of which, however, is disputed. Oleg, an apocryphal Kiev voivode, probably of Danish or Swedish origin, bravlin was a Varangian prince or chieftain, who led a Rus military expedition to devastate the Crimea, from Kerch to Sugdaea, in the last years of the 8th century. According to some Russian historians, Dir was a chacanus of Rhos, thomas Noonan asserts that one of the Rus sea-kings, the High king, adopted the title khagan in the early 9th century. Peter Benjamin Golden maintained that the Rus became a part of the Khazar federation, some western historians suppose that Kiev was founded by Khazars or Magyars. Kiev is a Turkic place name, at least during the 8th and 9th centuries Kiev functioned as an outpost of the Khazar empire. According to Omeljan Pritsak, Constantine Zuckerman and other scholars, Khazars lost Kiev at the beginning of the 10th century, due to Mongol invasion in 1240 Michael of Chernigov left Kiev to seek military assistance from the Kingdom of Hungary. During that time Prince of Smolensk Rostislav occupied Kiev, but was captured the year by Daniel of Galicia who placed his voivode Dmytro to guard Kiev while the Grand Prince was away. Being unsuccessful in Hungary, Michael visited Konrad I in Masovia, receiving no results in Poland, he eventually asked Daniel of Galicia for a sanctuary due to the invasion of Mongols. Since the 14th century the principality of Kiev started to fall under the influence of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in 1299 Metropolitan of Kiev Maximus moved his metropolitan see from Kiev to Vladimir-on-Klyazma. In 1331 Kiev once again was taken by members of Rurik dynasty, after the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362, Kiev and surrounding areas were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by Algirdas, Grand Duke of Lithuania
2.
Ukraine
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Ukraine is currently in territorial dispute with Russia over the Crimean Peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014 but which Ukraine and most of the international community recognise as Ukrainian. Including Crimea, Ukraine has an area of 603,628 km2, making it the largest country entirely within Europe and it has a population of about 42.5 million, making it the 32nd most populous country in the world. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC, during the Middle Ages, the area was a key centre of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries, two brief periods of independence occurred during the 20th century, once near the end of World War I and another during World War II. Before its independence, Ukraine was typically referred to in English as The Ukraine, following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. Nonetheless it formed a limited partnership with the Russian Federation and other CIS countries. In the 2000s, the government began leaning towards NATO, and it was later agreed that the question of joining NATO should be answered by a national referendum at some point in the future. Former President Viktor Yanukovych considered the current level of co-operation between Ukraine and NATO sufficient, and was against Ukraine joining NATO and these events formed the background for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep, Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket because of its extensive, fertile farmlands and is one of the worlds largest grain exporters. The diversified economy of Ukraine includes a heavy industry sector, particularly in aerospace. Ukraine is a republic under a semi-presidential system with separate powers, legislative, executive. Its capital and largest city is Kiev, taking into account reserves and paramilitary personnel, Ukraine maintains the second-largest military in Europe after that of Russia. Ukrainian is the language and its alphabet is Cyrillic. The dominant religion in the country is Eastern Orthodoxy, which has strongly influenced Ukrainian architecture, literature, there are different hypotheses as to the etymology of the name Ukraine. According to the older and most widespread hypothesis, it means borderland, while more recently some studies claim a different meaning, homeland or region. The Ukraine now implies disregard for the sovereignty, according to U. S. ambassador William Taylor. Neanderthal settlement in Ukraine is seen in the Molodova archaeological sites include a mammoth bone dwelling
3.
Rurik dynasty
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The Rurik dynasty or Rurikids was a dynasty founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, who established himself in Novgorod around the year AD862. They ruled until 1610 and the Time of Troubles, following which they were succeeded by the Romanovs and they are one of Europes oldest royal houses, with numerous existing cadet branches. The Rurikid dynasty was founded in 862 by Rurik, a Varangian prince, come and reign as princes and have authority over us. Three brothers came with their kin and all the Rus in response to this invitation, Rurik set up rule in Novgorod, giving more provincial towns to his brothers. The Rurikid Dynasty DNA Project of FamilyTreeDNA commercial genetic genealogy company reports that Y-DNA testing of the descendants of Rurikids suggests their non-Slavic origin, Rurik and his brothers founded a state that later historians called Kievan Rus′. By the middle of the century, Kievan Rus′ had dissolved into independent principalities. The dynasty followed agnatic seniority and the izgoi principle, in addition, a line of Polotsk princes assimilated themselves with the princes of Lithuania. In the 10th century the Council of Liubech made some amendments to a succession rule, vsevolods line eventually became better known as the Monomakhovychi and was the predominant one. The line of Svyatoslav later became known as Olegovychi and often claim to the lands of Chernihiv. The Izyaslavychi who ruled Turov and Volhynia were eventually replaced by a Monomakhovychi branch, the Rurikid dynasty… attempted to impose on their highly diverse polity the integrative concept of russkaia zemlia and the unifying notion of a Rus′ people. But Kievan Rus′ was never really a unified polity and it was a loosely bound, ill-defined, and heterogeneous conglomeration of lands and cities inhabited by tribes and populous groups whose loyalties were primarily territorial. This caused the Rurik dynasty to effectively dissolve into several sub-dynasties ruling smaller states in the 10th and 11th centuries and these were the Olgoviches of Severia who ruled in Chernigov, Yuryeviches who controlled Vladimir-Suzdal, and Romanoviches in Galicia-Volhynia. The Olgoviches descended from Oleg I of Chernigov, a son of Sviatoslav II of Kiev and they continued to rule until the early 14th century when they were torn apart by the emerging Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Grand Duchy of Moscow. Vsevolod I of Kiev was the father of Vladimir II Monomakh, two of Vladimir IIs sons were Mstislav I of Kiev and Yuri Dolgorukiy. The Romanoviches were the line of Roman the Great, descended from Mstislav I of Kiev through his son Iziaslav II of Kiev and his grandson Mstislav II of Kiev, father of Roman the Great. The older Monomakhovychi line that ruled Principality of Volhynia, they were crowned kings of Galicia and Volhynia. Romanovychi displaced the line of Izyaslavychi from Turov and Volhynia as well as Rostyslavychi from Galicia. The last were two brothers of Romanovychi, Andrew and Lev II, who ruled jointly and were trying to repel Mongol incursions
4.
Volhynia
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Volhynia or Volyn is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe straddling Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, while the territory that still carries the name is Volyn Oblast, Volhynia has changed hands numerous times throughout history and been divided among competing powers. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been part of the independent nation of Ukraine, among important cities are Lutsk, Rivne, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Iziaslav, Novohrad-Volynskyi. In other versions, the city was located over 20 km to the west of Volodymyr-Volynskyi near the mouth of Huczwa River, before the partitions of Poland, eastern edge stretched a little west along the right-banks of Sluch River or just east of it. Volhynia is located in basins of Western Bug and Prypyat, therefore most of its rivers flow either in northern or western directions, relative to other historical regions, it is northeast of Galicia, east of Lesser Poland, and northwest of Podolia. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, and it is considered to overlap a number of other regions, among which are Polesia. Territories of historical Volhynia are now part of the Volyn, Rivne, major cities include Lutsk, Rivne, Kovel, Volodymyr-Volynskyi, Kremenets, and Starokostiantyniv. Before World War II, many Jewish shtetls, such as Trochenbrod, at one time all of Volhynia was part of the Pale of Settlement designated by Imperial Russia on its southwesternmost border. The land was mentioned in works of the Arabian scholar Al-Masudi who denoted the local tribe as people of Valin, in his work of 947-948 Al-Masudi mentions that Valinians as an intertribal union were ruled by their leader Madjak. In the opinion of Ukrainian historian Yuriy Dyba, the chronicle phrase «и оустави по мьстѣ, и по лузѣ погосты и дань и ѡброкы» reflects the actual route of the Olgas raid against Drevlians further to the west up to the Western Bugs right tributary Luha River. As early as 983, Vladimir the Great appointed his son Vsevolod the ruler of the Volhynian Principality and in 988 established the city of Volodymer. The first records can be traced to the Ruthenian chronicles, such as the Primary Chronicle, which mentions tribes of the Dulebe, Buzhan, volhynias early history coincides with that of the duchies or principalities of Halych and Volhynia. These two successor states of the Kievan Rus formed Halych-Volhynia between the 12th and the 14th centuries, after 1569 Volhynia formed a province of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During this period many Poles and Jews settled in the area, the Roman and Greek Catholic churches became established in the province. In 1375 was established a Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodomeria but it was suppressed in 1425, many Orthodox churches joined the latter organization in order to benefit from a more attractive legal status. Records of the first agricultural colonies of Mennonites date from 1783, after the Third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, Volhynia was annexed as the Volhynian Governorate of the Russian Empire. It covered an area of 71,852.7 square kilometers, many Roman Catholic church buildings were also given to the Russian Church, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lutsk was suppressed on orders of Empress Catherine II. In 1897, the population amounted to 2,989,482 people and it consisted of 73.7 percent East Slavs,13.2 percent Jews,6.2 percent Poles, and 5.7 percent Germans
5.
Triumvirate
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A triumvirate is a political regime ruled or dominated by three powerful individuals known as triumvirs. The arrangement can be formal or informal, though the three are notionally equal, this is rarely the case in reality. The term can also be used to describe a state with three different military leaders who all claim to be the sole leader, in the context of the Soviet Union and Russia, the term troika is used for triumvirate. Originally, triumviri were special commissions of three men appointed for specific administrative tasks apart from the duties of Roman magistrates. The capitales were first established around 290–287 BCE and they were supervised by the praetor urbanus. These triumviri, or the tresviri nocturni, may also have some responsibility for fire control. The triumviri or tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo supervised the issuing of Roman coins, three-man commissions were also appointed for purposes such as establishing colonies or distributing land. Triumviri mensarii served as bankers, the full range of their financial functions in 216 BCE. Another form of commission was the tresviri epulones, who were in charge of organizing public feasts on holidays. This commission was created in 196 BCE by a law on behalf of the people. The arrangement had no status, and its purpose was to consolidate the political power of the three and their supporters against the senatorial elite. After the death of Crassus in 53 BCE, the two fought a civil war, during which Pompey was killed and Caesar established his sole rule as perpetual dictator. The Second Triumvirate was recognized as a triumvirate at the time, a Lex Titia formalized the rule of Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. The legal language makes reference to the traditional tresviri, although the constitutional machinery of the Republic was not irrevocably dismantled by the Lex Titia, in the event it never recovered. Lepidus was sidelined early in the triumvirate, and Antony was eliminated in civil war, in various municipalities under the Principate, the chief magistracy was a college of three, styled triumviri. In the Bible triumvirates occurred at some events in both the Old Testament and New Testament. In the Book of Exodus Moses, his brother Aaron and, according to some views their nephew or brother-in-law, Hur acted this way during Battle of Rephidim against the Amalekites. In the Gospels as a leading trio among the Twelve apostles at three occasions during public ministry of Jesus acted Peter, James, son of Zebedee
6.
Miscellany
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A miscellany is a collection of various pieces of writing by different authors. Meaning a mixture, medley, or assortment, a miscellany can include pieces on many subjects, Manuscript miscellanies are important in the Middle Ages, and are the sources for most surviving shorter medieval vernacular poetry. They may have written as a collection, or represent manuscripts of different origins that were later bound together for convenience. Their numbers increased until their peak of importance in the 18th century, the printed miscellany gradually morphed into the format of the regularly published magazine, and many early magazines used the word in their titles. The broadest distinction is between manuscript and printed miscellanies, Printed miscellanies, which evolved in the late 17th and 18th centuries, were compiled by editors and published by booksellers in order to make a profit. However, the production of literary miscellanies came into its established form in the 16th and 17th centuries. Although literary miscellanies would often contain critical essays and extracts of prose or drama, their focus was popular verse. At this time poetry was still a dominant literary form, for low and high literature, and its variety and accessibility further suited it to miscellaneous publication. Most medieval miscellanies include some religious texts, and many consist of nothing else, a few examples are given here to illustrate the range of material typically found. The Theological miscellany was made in late 8th century Italy with 202 folios of patristic writings in Latin, the Nowell Codex is an Old English manuscript of about 1000 to 1010. It is one of the four Old English Poetic Codices from which the bulk of surviving Old English poetry comes, the lavishly illuminated late 13th century North French Hebrew Miscellany contains mostly biblical and liturgical texts, but also legal material, over 200 poems, and calendars. Verse miscellanies are collections of poems or poetic extracts that vary in authorship, genre, the Devonshire Manuscript is a verse miscellany that was produced in the 1530s and early 1540s, and contains a range of works, from original pieces and fragments to translations and medieval verse. Compiled by three eminent women, it is one of the first examples of men and women collaborating on a literary work, also prominent is the Arundel Harington manuscript, containing the writings of Sir Thomas Wyatt, Queen Elizabeth, and Sir Philip Sidney. Into the 17th century, the two Dalhousie Manuscripts are also of significance, as they contain the largest sustained contemporary collection of John Donne’s verse. Printed verse miscellanies arose in the half of the 16th century. One of the most influential English Renaissance verse miscellanies was Richard Tottel’s Songes and Sonettes, First printed in 1557, it ran into nine further editions before 1587, it was not then printed again until the 18th century. Within a miscellany, editors and booksellers would often exercise considerable freedom in reproducing, altering, throughout the 18th century, the miscellany was the customary mode through which popular verse and occasional poetry would be printed, circulated, and consumed. Including songbooks, the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature lists almost 5000 verse miscellanies which were printed between 1701 and 1800, due to the sheer number and variety of miscellanies printed in the 18th century, there are few generalizations that can be made about them
7.
Volodymyr-Volynskyi
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Volodymyr-Volynsky is a small city located in Volyn Oblast, in north-western Ukraine. Serving as the centre of the Volodymyr-Volynskyi Raion, the city itself is also designated as a separate municipality within the oblast as the city of regional significance. The city is the centre of the region of Volhynia. Population,39, 074 The mediaeval Latin name of the town became the namesake of the 19th century Austro-Hungarian Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,5 kilometres south from Volodymyr is Zymne, where the oldest Orthodox Monastery in Volynia is located. It took its name after Prince Volodymyr the Great, who founded a stronghold on the lands taken from the Polish Lendians around 981, in 988 the city became the capital of Volodymyr Principality and the seat of an Orthodox bishopric, as mentioned in the Primary Chronicle. In 1160 the building of Sobor of Dormition of The Holy Mother of God was completed, by the 13th century the city became part of Galicia–Volhynia as one of the most important trading towns in the region. Upon the conquest of Batu Khan in 1240, the city was subordinated to the Mongol Empire together with other Ruthenian principalities, in the 14th century, Metropolitan Theognostus of all Rus resided in the city for several years before moving to Moscow. In 1349 King Casimir the Great captured the city, and subsequently it became part of the Kingdom of Poland, in 1370 it was taken by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and it was not until the Union of Lublin of 1569 that it returned to the Crown of Poland. In the meantime the city was given Magdeburg rights in 1431, from 1566 to 1795 it was part of the Volhynian Voivodeship. It was a city of Poland. On July 17,1792, the Battle of Włodzimierz took place in the vicinity of the town, the city remained a part of Poland until the Third Partition of Poland of 1795, when the Russian Empire annexed it. That year the Russian authorities changed the name of cities in Volhynia including Novohrad-Volynskyi. Volodymyr-Volynsky stayed within Russian Partition till 1917, in 18th and 19th centuries the town started to grow rapidly, mostly thanks to large numbers of Jews settling there. By the second half of the 19th century they made up the majority of local inhabitants, according to the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland, in the late 19th century the city had 8336 inhabitants,6122 of them Jews. In the interbellum the city was a seat of a powiat within the Volhynian Voivodeship, following the Nazi-Soviet Pact the city was seized by Soviet forces on 19 September 1939. On 23 June 1941 the city was occupied by Germany, during World War II, a German concentration camp was located near the city. The city was recaptured by the Red Army on 20 July 1944, a Cold War air base was located north-east of the town at Zhovtnevy. Since 1991 the city has been part of Ukraine, a series of mass graves were discovered in 1997, with exhumations completed by 2013
8.
Pskov
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Pskov is a city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located about 20 kilometers east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Pskov is one of the oldest cities in Russia, the name of the city, originally spelled Pleskov, may be loosely translated as of purling waters. Its earliest mention comes in 903, which records that Igor of Kiev married a local lady, Pskovians sometimes take this year as the citys foundation date, and in 2003 a great jubilee took place to celebrate Pskovs 1, 100th anniversary. The first prince of Pskov was Vladimir the Greats youngest son Sudislav, once imprisoned by his brother Yaroslav, he was not released until the latters death several decades later. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the town adhered politically to the Novgorod Republic, in 1241, it was taken by the Teutonic Knights, but Alexander Nevsky recaptured it several months later during a legendary campaign dramatized in Sergei Eisensteins 1938 movie Alexander Nevsky. Having fortified the town, Daumantas routed the Teutonic Knights at Rakvere and his remains and sword are preserved in the local kremlin, and the core of the citadel, erected by him, still bears the name of Dovmonts town. By the 14th century, the town functioned as the capital of a de facto sovereign republic and its most powerful force was the merchants who brought the town into the Hanseatic League. Pskovs independence was recognized by Novgorod in 1348. Several years later, the veche promulgated a law code, which was one of the sources of the all-Russian law code issued in 1497. For Russia, the Pskov Republic was a bridge towards Europe, for Europe, the importance of the city made it the subject of numerous sieges throughout its history. The Pskov Krom withstood twenty-six sieges in the 15th century alone, at one point, five stone walls ringed it, making the city practically impregnable. A local school of icon-painting flourished, and the masons were considered the best in Russia. Many peculiar features of Russian architecture were first introduced in Pskov, finally, in 1510, the city fell to Muscovite forces. The deportation of families to Moscow is a subject of Rimsky-Korsakovs opera Pskovityanka. As the second largest city of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, most famously, it withstood a prolonged siege by a 50, 000-strong Polish army during the final stage of the Livonian War. The king of Poland Stephen Báthory undertook some thirty-one attacks to storm the city, even after one of the city walls was broken, the Pskovians managed to fill the gap and repel the attack. Its amazing how the city reminds me of Paris, wrote one of the Frenchmen present at Báthorys siege, as a consequence, the citys importance and well-being declined dramatically, although it has served as a seat of separate Pskov Governorate since 1777. During World War I, Pskov became the center of much activity behind the lines, Pskov was also occupied by the Estonian army between 25 May 1919 and 28 August 1919 during the Estonian War of Independence when Bułak-Bałachowicz became the military administrator of Pskov
9.
Minsk
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Minsk (Belarusian, Мінск pronounced, is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Belarus, situated on the Svislach and Nyamiha rivers. It is the centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States. As the national capital, Minsk has an administrative status in Belarus and is the administrative centre of Minsk Region. In 2013, it had a population of 2,002,600, the earliest historical references to Minsk date to the 11th century, when it was noted as a provincial city within the principality of Polotsk. The settlement developed on the rivers, in 1242, Minsk became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It received town privileges in 1499, from 1569, it was a capital of the Minsk Voivodeship in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of a region annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793, from 1919 to 1991, after the Russian Revolution, Minsk was the capital of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union. Minsk will host the 2019 European Games, Minsk is located on the southeastern slope of the Minsk Hills, a region of rolling hills running from the southwest to the northeast – that is, to Lukomskaye Lake in northwestern Belarus. The average altitude above sea level is 220 metres, the physical geography of Minsk was shaped over the two most recent ice ages. There are six smaller rivers within the city limits, all part of the Black Sea basin, Minsk is in the area of mixed forests typical of most of Belarus. Pinewood and mixed forests border the edge of the city, especially in the north, some of the forests were preserved as parks as the city grew. The city was built on the hills, which allowed for defensive fortifications. Minsk has a warm summer humid continental climate, owing to its location between the strong influence of the moist air of the Atlantic Ocean and the dry air of the Eurasian landmass. Its weather is unstable and tends to change often, the average January temperature is −4.5 °C, while the average July temperature is 18.5 °C. The lowest temperature was recorded on 17 January 1940, at −40 °C and the warmest on 29 July 1936 at 35 °C and this results in frequent fogs, common in the autumn and spring. Minsk receives annual precipitation of 690 millimetres, of one third falls during the cold period. Throughout the year, most winds are westerly and northwesterly, bringing cool, similar climatic regimes are found in Stockholm, Sweden and in Halifax, Canada. The ecological situation is monitored by Republican Centre of Radioactive and Environmental Control, during 2003–2008 the overall weight of contaminants increased from 186,000 to 247,400 tons
10.
Orsha
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Orsha is a city in Belarus in Vitebsk Region on the fork of the Dnieper and Arshytsa rivers. Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as Rsha, making it one of the oldest towns in Belarus, the town was named after the river, which was originally also named Rsha, probably from a Baltic root *rus slowly flowing. In 1320, Orsha became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in 1398-1407, the Orsha castle was built. On September 8,1514 the famous Battle of Orsha occurred, the Muscovites suffered significant defeat, however, the victorious Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not fully avail its victory. In 1555, Mikołaj the Black Radziwiłł founded a Calvinist order in Orsha, from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries Orsha was a notable religious centre, with dozens of Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic churches and orders. The town was home to a large Jewish population. Orsha was granted Magdeburg Rights in 1620, in 1630, S. Sobal opened the first printing house at the Kuciejna monastery, which became a well-known centre of Cyrillic-alphabet publishing. The town was damaged during the Russo-Polish War, which was a disaster for Grand Duchy of Lithuania, during the First Polish partition the city was taken over by the Russian Empire in 1772, and became part of the Mogilyov Gubernia. Under Russian rule, it was stripped of its Magdeburg Rights in 1776 and went into cultural, the population dropped sharply to just about 2,000 inhabitants. The city symbol in 1781 was changed to one which included the symbol of the Russian empire, in 1812, the city was badly burned during Napoleons invasion. At the time of Orsha had been taken control of French troops. According to the census of 1897, on a population of 13,161. During the First World War, the city was occupied by German forces in February–October 1918, from February 2,1919, Orsha became a part of Homyel region of Soviet Russia. After the formation of the Soviet Union, it was transferred to the Byelorussian SSR in 1924, the population before World War II was about 37,000. The city was occupied by Germany on July 16,1941, the occupiers founded several concentration camps in the city, where an estimated 19,000 people were killed. Orsha was one of the centers of the Belarusian general strike in April 1991, hundreds of thousands of coal miners had been on strike across the Soviet Union since March 1. On April 3, the day after the government had imposed consumer price increases. Virtually the entire force of that city followed on the 4th
11.
Poles
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The Poles are a nation and West Slavic ethnic group native to Poland who share a common ancestry, culture, history and are native speakers of the Polish language. The population of Poles in Poland is estimated at 37,394,000 out of a population of 38,538,000. Polands population inhabits several historic regions, including Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Mazovia, Silesia, Pomerania, Kuyavia, Warmia, Masuria, a wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Europe, the Americas and in Australasia. Today the largest urban concentration of Poles is the Katowice urban agglomeration of 2.7 million inhabitants, Poland was also for centuries a refuge for many Jews from all over Europe, a large number emigrated in the twentieth century to Israel. Several prominent Israeli statesmen were born in Poland, including Israels founder David Ben-Gurion, former President of Israel Shimon Peres, the Slavic people have been in the territory of modern Poland for over 1500 years. In the 9th and 10th centuries the tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula, the last tribal undertaking resulted in the 10th century in a lasting political structure and state, Poland, one of the West Slavic nations. After 1945 the so-called autochthonous or aboriginal school of Polish prehistory received official backing in Poland, Polish people are the sixth largest national group in the European Union. Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggest a number of around 60 million people worldwide. There are almost 38 million Poles in Poland alone, there are also Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including Germany, and indigenous minorities in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are some smaller indigenous minorities in nearby countries such as Moldova, the term Polonia is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders, officially estimated at around 10 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States, Brazil, France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles have lived in France since the 18th century, in the early 20th century, over a million Polish people settled in France, mostly during world wars, among them Polish émigrés fleeing either Nazi occupation or later Soviet rule. In the United States, a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago, Ohio, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, the highest concentration of Polish Americans in a single New England municipality is in New Britain, Connecticut. The majority of Polish Canadians have arrived in Canada since World War II, the number of Polish immigrants increased between 1945 and 1970, and again after the end of Communism in Poland in 1989. In Brazil the majority of Polish immigrants settled in Paraná State, smaller, but significant numbers settled in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Espírito Santo and São Paulo. The city of Curitiba has the second largest Polish diaspora in the world and Polish music, dishes and it is estimated that over half a million Polish people have come to work in the United Kingdom from Poland. Since 2011, Poles have been able to work throughout the EU and not just in the United Kingdom, Ireland. The Polish community in Norway has increased substantially and has grown to a number of 120,000
12.
Kiev Pechersk Lavra
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Since its foundation as the cave monastery in 1051 the Lavra has been a preeminent center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Eastern Europe. Together with the Saint Sophia Cathedral, it is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the monastery complex is considered a separate national historic-cultural preserve, the national status to which was granted on 13 March 1996. The Lavra is not only located in part of the city. While being an attraction, the monastery is currently active. It was named one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine on 21 August 2007, based on voting by experts, the word lavra is used to describe high-ranking male monasteries for monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Therefore, the name of the monastery is also translated as Kiev Cave Monastery and he chose a cave at the Berestov Mount that overlooked the Dnieper River and a community of disciples soon grew. Prince Iziaslav I of Kiev ceded the whole mount to the Antonite monks who founded a monastery built by architects from Constantinople. 1051-1062 Antoniy 1062-1063 Varlaam 1063-1074 Theodosius 1074-1077 Stefan I Bolharyn 1077-1088 Nikon the Great 1088-1103 Ioann In 1096 Cumans led by khan Boniak attacked Kiev and the Cave Monastery. 1108-1112 Theoktistos, became a bishop of Chernihiv 1132-1141 Pimen the Singer In 1159 the monastery received stauropegic status, anne, and the Church of the Life-Giving Spring. The Lavra also contains many other constructions, including, the St. Nicholas Monastery, the Kiev Theological Academy and Seminary, the Great Lavra Belltower is one of the most notable features of the Kiev skyline and among the main attractions of the Lavra. 96.5 meters in height, it was the tallest free-standing belltower at the time of its construction in 1731–1745 and it is a Classical style construction and consists of tiers, surmounted by a gilded dome. The Gate Church of the Trinity is located atop the Holy Gates, according to a legend, this church was founded by the Chernihiv Prince Sviatoslav II. It was built atop an ancient stone church which used to stand in its place, after the fire of 1718 the church was rebuilt, its revered facades and interior walls enriched with ornate stucco work made by master craftsman V. Stefaovych. In the 18th century a new gilded pear-shaped dome was built, the facade and exterior walls were decorated with stucco-moulded plant ornaments, in the early 20th century the fronts and the walls flanking the entrance were painted by icon painters under the guidance of V. Sonin. The interior of the Gate Trinity Church with murals by the early 18th century painter Alimpy Galik is of artistic value. The All Saints Church erected in 1696–1698 is a specimen of Ukrainian baroque architecture. Characteristic of the facades are rich architectural embellishments. In 1905 students of the Lavra art school painted the walls of the church
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