Russian empire

Early History

6^th – 8^th centuri es – expansion of Slavic people throughout Eastern Europe. They settled on the territory of the present-day Belarus, assimilating local Baltic and some other nomads [ кочевники ]. These East Slavs were pagan, animistic.

Kievan Rus

11^th century - a loose-knit network of principalities, established along preexisting trade routes, with major centers in Novgorod, Polotsk and Kiev.

First Belarusian states

Between the 9th and 12th centuries, the Principality of Polotsk (northern Belarus) emerged[arose] as the dominant center of power on Belarusian territory, with a lesser role played by the Principality of Turov in the south.

Grand duchy of Lithuania

In the 13th century, the fragile unity of Kievan Rus disintegrated due to nomadic invvasions from Asia, which culminated with the Mongol sacking of Kiev (1240), leaving a geopolitical vacuum in the region. The East Slavs splintered into a number of independent and competing principalities. Due to military conquest and dynastic marriages the West Ruthenian (Belarusian) principalities were acquired by the expanding Lithuania, beginning with the rule of Lithuanian King Mindaugas (1240–63). From the 13th to 15th century, Baltic and Ukrainian lands were consolidated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Since the 14th century, Vilnius had been the only official capital of the state.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Lublin Union of 1569 constituted the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as an influential player in European politics and the largest multinational state in Europe.

With time the religious conflicts started to arise. The gentry with time started to adopt Catholicism while the common people by large remained faithful to Eastern Orthodoxy.

In 1595 the Orthodox hierarchs of Kiev signed the Union of Brest, breaking their links with the Patriarch of Constantinopole and placing themselves under the Pope.

Wars in the area (Great Northern War and the War of Polish Succession) damaged the economy of the country. In addition, Russian armies raided the Commonwealth under the pretext of the returning of runaway peasants. By mid-18th century their presence in the lands of modern Belarus became almost permanent.The last attempt to save the Commonwealth's independence was a Polish-belarusian-lithuanian national uprising of 1794 led by Tadeusz Kosciuszko, however it was eventually quenched.

Russian empire

Eventually by 1795 Poland was divided by its neighbours. Thus a new period in Belarusian history started.

Etymology

The name "Belarus" corresponds literally with the term “White Russia” (White Rus). There are several claims to where the origin of the name "White Rus " came from. An ethno-religious theory suggests that the name used to describe the part of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had mostly been populated by early Christianized Slavs, as opposed to Black Ruthenia, which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts.

Ruthenia is the Latin word used onwards from the 13th century, describing lands of the Ancient Rus in European manuscripts.

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