Belarus

Definition: Belarus

Belarus

Noun

1. A landlocked republic in eastern Europe; formerly a European Soviet.

Synonyms: Belarus

Synonyms: Belorussia (n), Byelarus (n), Byelorussia (n), Republic of Belarus (n), White Russia (n). (additional references)

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Specialty Definition: Belarus

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Republic of Belarus is a landlocked nation of Eastern Europe with the capital Minsk.

Беларусь / Biełaruś
Belarus

coat of arms

(In Detail) (Full size)

National motto: None

Official languages Belarusian, Russian

Capital Minsk

President Aleksandr Lukashenko

Prime Minister Sergey Sidorsky

President (in Exile) Ivonka Survilla

Area
- Total
- % water Ranked 84th
207,600 km²
Negligible

Population
- Total (2002)
- Density Ranked 74th
10,350,194
50/km²

Independence
- Declared
- Recognised (Event Xxxx)
1990
(Year)

Currency Belarusian Rouble

Time zone UTC +2

National anthem My Bielarusy

Internet TLD .BY

Calling Code 375

Name

Belarus is also spelled Belorussia, Byelorussia, and in other variants in the English language but the present government prefers "Belarus". Historically, in English, Belarus was sometimes referred to as "White Russia", a literal translation of its name. This literal translation is also used in a number of other languages, e.g., "Weissrussland" in German and "Baltarusija" (Baltarus, today) in Lithuanian. Some Belarusians perceived the name "Byelorussia" as derogatory, as a vestige of Russian and Soviet imperialism and policies of russification. Therefore they spoke strongly in favor of the name "Belarus". (For example, the full title of the Russian tsar said "Emperor of the Whole Russia, Great, Minor, and White".) However, the names Russia Alba, Russija Alba, Wit Rusland, Weiss Reussen, White Russia, Weiss Russland, may be found on ancient maps predating the Russian Empire. In English, Belarus and Belarusian are the common terms: they refer to the historical connection with the people known as Ruś that predated Russians, Ukrainians or Belarusianss.

There are a number of speculative hypotheses explaining the name's origin. However no conclusive documentary evidence has been found for any of these theories. One such theory is based upon the accepted fact that the Belarusian ethnos is formed primarily by the historical interactions amongst slavic and baltic ethnicities. The root "balt-" means "white" in languages and dialects of Baltic group, e.g., in Lithuanian and Latvian. Hence "Baltic Sea" (Balta jura in Lithuanian) is literally "white sea". Thus "Balta Rusija" could have been the original name, rather than a later derivative of "Russia". Another theory is that Belorusians are named after the predominant colour of their traditional clothes. Similar examples in the Slavic ethnos are: White Serbs and White Croats; and in China: Red, Black and Green Miao.

History

Main article: History of Belarus

Politics

Main article: Politics of Belarus

Voblastsi

Main article: Voblastsi of Belarus

Belarus is divided into 6 voblastsi (singular - voblasts') and one municipality (harady, singular - horad):

Brestskaya (Brest)
Homyel'skaya (Homyel')
Minsk, the horad
Hrodzyenskaya (Hrodna)
Mahilyowskaya (Mahilyow)
Minskaya
Vitsyebskaya (Vitsyebsk)

Note: voblasti have the administrative center name following in parentheses.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Belarus

Belarus is in Eastern Europe. It borders Poland and Lithuania on the west, Russia on the east, Ukraine on the south and Latvia on the north. Belarus has an area of 207,600 sq km, making it slightly smaller than the state of Kansas. Although landlocked, it has 11,000 lakes. Three major rivers run through it: the Nyoman river, the Prypyats' river, and the Dineper river. Belarus is relatively flat and marsh-rich, with its highest point at Dzyarzhynskaya Hara, 346 m, and its lowest point on the Nyoman river, 90 m. Belarus has several natural resources including forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay.

List of cities in Belarus

Economy

Main article: Economy of Belarus

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Belarus

Culture

Main article: Culture of Belarus

Belarusian language, Music of Belarus

Holidays
Date English Name Local Name Remarks

January 1 New Year Novy Hod

January 7 Orthodox Christmas

January 14 Orthodox New Year

March 8 International Women's Day

March 15 Constitution Day Adopted in 1994

May 1 International Labor Day

May 9 Victory Day Denotes the victory against Germany in World War II

July 3 Independence Day

December 25 Catholic Christmas

Movable Catholic Easter

Movable Orthodox Easter

9 days after Orthodox Easter Commemoration Day Radunica

**Holidays**
Date	English Name	Local Name	Remarks
January 1	New Year	Novy Hod
January 7	Orthodox Christmas
January 14	Orthodox New Year
March 8	International Women's Day
March 15	Constitution Day		Adopted in 1994
May 1	International Labor Day
May 9	Victory Day		Denotes the victory against Germany in World War II
July 3	Independence Day
December 25	Catholic Christmas
Movable	Catholic Easter
Movable	Orthodox Easter
9 days after Orthodox Easter	Commemoration Day	Radunica

External Links

Countries of the world | Europe
nds:Wittrussland

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Belarus."

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Crosswords: Belarus

English words defined with "Belarus": Belarusian, Byelorussian ♦ capital of Byelorussia ♦ Dnieper, Dnieper River ♦ Gomel ♦ Homel ♦ Minsk ♦ Republic of Belarus. (references)

Specialty definitions using "Belarus": Belarusian rouble. (references)

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Modern Usage: Belarus

Domain	Usage
Movie/TV Titles	Kojak: The Belarus File (1985)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Belarus

Domain	Title
References	A Strategic Assessment of Belarus,1999 edition (reference) The 2001 Belarus Economic and Product Market Databook (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	Belarus (Economic Review) (reference) Country Review, Belarus 1998/1999 (reference) Dangerous Weapons, Desperate States: Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan, and Ukraine (reference) Democratic Changes and Authoritarian Reactions in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova (reference) Historical Dictionary of Belarus (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Belarus V Mire (reference) (more periodical examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Belarus

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		The Ukrainian-Italian Joint Venture, Elsacom Ukraine is an exclusive provider of Globalstar satellite services in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. (references)
		Polish exports of footwear accessories and components, as a separate group, were worth USD 80 million in 1999. Over 77% of these exports were directed to EU countries (mainly Germany, Italy and Denmark) and about 18% to CEE countries, particularly Ukraine and Belarus. (references)
		Eastern European countries imported 50% of this equipment, and EU countries received 38%. Most products exported to EU countries were in HS 8435 (92%) and HS 8478 (81%). The major foreign importers of Polish food processing equipment are Germany, France, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Hungary. (references)
Civil Liberties	Poland	Afghan asylum seekers also encountered problems when arriving from Ukraine and Belarus. (references)
	Poland	In particular there were reports that Chechen asylum applicants encountered difficulties with admission to the country when arriving from Ukraine and Belarus. (references)
	Belarus	On September 9, the day of the Presidential election, many media Web sites were inaccessible within Belarus until midday, when a technical bypass was found and access was resumed. (references)
Economic History	Belarus	Russia is the largest partner for Belarus in the economic and political fields. (references)
	Belarus	Belarus currently has no IMET program, and bilateral exercises and cooperation are nonexistent. (references)
	Belarus	Belarus also has deposits of clay, sand, chalk, dolomite, phosphorite, and rock and potassium salt. (references)
Human Rights	Belarus	The youths wore white shirts or red shirts, and by sitting in designated seats they formed a human white-red-white banner, symbolizing the autonomous flag of Belarus replaced by Lukashenka with a flag similar to Belarus's Soviet flag. (references)
	Lithuania	It was reopened in 2000, when additional evidence came to light about his alleged participation in genocide in Lithuania and Belarus during World War II. Scottish authorities declined to extradite Gecas because of his poor health, and he died in September. (references)
Political Economy	Belarus	According to its amended Constitution, Belarus is a republic with a directly elected President. (references)
Trade	Russia	A customs union with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has been formed, but is not operational. (references)
	Kazakhstan	The overall average trade-weighted import tariff rates are approximately 9%. The low average import tariffs are due to the fact that trade with Russia -- Kazakhstan's major trade partner -- is duty-free pursuant to their membership in the five-country Eurasian Economic Community, which was established in 2001 as a successor to the Customs Union between Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (references)
Women	Belarus	At a roundtable in April 2000 on "The Problem of the Trade in Women in Belarus," it was reported that the average length of unemployment for women was more than 18 months, versus 5 months for men. (references)
Worker Rights	Belarus	On January 1, Article 181 of the new Criminal Code for Belarus entered into effect. (references)
	Poland	Women and girls are trafficked into Poland from countries such as Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, and Russia. (references)
	Portugal	The majority of trafficked persons originate in the former Soviet Union, specifically Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Speeches: Belarus

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Bill Clinton	1993-2001	We achieved agreements with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Belarus

"Belarus" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 66.67% of the time. "Belarus" is used about 3 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	66.67%	2	245,945
Noun (proper)	33.33%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	3	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Expression: Belarus

Expression using "Belarus": Republic of Belarus. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Belarus

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
belarus minsk	1,567	belarus woman	22
belarus	610	belarus part tractor	20
belarus tractor	136	belarus verhnedvinsk	19
belarus hotel	115	belarus zitkovici	18
belarus dzerzhinsk	83	belarus sluck	18
belarus grodno	73	belarus bobruysr	17
belarus vitebsk	65	belarus orsa	15
gomel belarus	58	belarus lepel	14
brest belarus	56	offshore software development belarus	12
belarus map	54	belarus rechitsa	11
belarus mogilev	50	belarus girl	11
belarus lida	47	republic of belarus	11
belarus borisov	44	travel to belarus	10
belarus mozyr	39	belarus picture	10
belarus pinsk	32	albania andorra bahrain belarus	10
belarus embassy	31	visa belarus	10
belarus lyntupy	31	belarus marriage agency	9
baranovici belarus	26	belarus news	9
belarus adoption	26	flag of belarus	9
belarus bride	24	belarus escort	8
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Belarus

Language		Translations for "Belarus"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Asturian		Bielorrusia. (various references)

Danish		BY (city, Republic of Belarus, town), Belarus (Republic of Belarus), Republikken Belarus (Republic of Belarus). (various references)

Dutch		BY (Republic of Belarus), Belarus (Belarusian, Republic of Belarus), Republiek Belarus (Republic of Belarus). (various references)

Finnish		BY (Republic of Belarus), Valko-Venäjän tasavalta (Republic of Belarus), Valko-Venäjä (Republic of Belarus). (various references)

French		BY (Belorussia-ISO code, Republic of Belarus), BLR (Belorussia-ISO code, Republic of Belarus), Biélorussie-code ISO (Belorussia-ISO code), Bélarus (Belorussia-ISO code, Republic of Belarus), République du Bélarus (Republic of Belarus), le Belarus (Republic of Belarus), la République du Belarus (Republic of Belarus), la République de Biélorussie (Republic of Belarus), la Biélorussie (Republic of Belarus). (various references)

Frisian		Wyt-Ruslân. (various references)

German		BY (Republic of Belarus), BLR (Republic of Belarus), Belarus (Republic of Belarus), Weissrussland (Republic of Belarus), weißrussland (Byelorussia, white russia), Republik Weissrussland (Republic of Belarus), Republik Belarus (Republic of Belarus). (various references)

Greek		BY (Republic of Belarus), Λευκορωσία (Republic of Belarus), �"ημοκρατία της Λευκορωσίας (Republic of Belarus). (various references)

Italian		BY (Republic of Belarus), BLR (Republic of Belarus), Bielorussia (Republic of Belarus), Belarus (Republic of Belarus), Repubblica di Bielorussia (Republic of Belarus), Repubblica di Belarus (Republic of Belarus). (various references)

Macedonian		Belorusija. (various references)

Pig Latin		elarusbay

Portuguese		BY (Republic of Belarus), Bielorrússia (Republic of Belarus), República da Bielorrússia (Republic of Belarus). (various references)

Russian		беларусь. (various references)

Samoan		Pelarusa. (various references)

Spanish		BY (Republic of Belarus), Bielorrusia (Republic of Belarus), República de Bielorrusia (Republic of Belarus). (various references)

Swedish		Vitryssland (Republic of Belarus). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Misspellings: Belarus

Misspellings
	"Belarus" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Balarus, Ballarue, Ballerup, Belaruse, Bellars, Bellatrix, Beloros, Bilauri. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Anagrams: Belarus

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-e-l-r-s-u"
	-1 letter: abuser, balers, blares, blears, bursae, bursal, rubles, saurel, suable, usable.
	-2 letters: abler, ables, abuse, arles, aures, baler, bales, bares, baser, bears, beaus, blare, blase, blear, bluer, blues, blurs, braes, buras, burls, bursa, burse, earls, lares, laser, lears, lubes, lures, rales, reals, rebus, rubes, ruble, rules, saber, sable, sabre, seral, slurb, suber, sural.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-e-l-r-s-u"
	+1 letter: arbuscle, baluster, barbules, durables, reusable, rubellas, rubeolas, rustable, surfable.
	+2 letters: absoluter, arbuscles, balusters, barleducs, belabours, bluegrass, brucellas, brutalise, burnables, crushable, insurable, labourers, railbuses, reburials, rebuttals, rescuable, saturable, scrutable, squabbler, subaerial, subaltern, subcellar, subdermal, superable, superably, trustable, umbrellas, unstabler.
	+3 letters: abstrusely, balustrade, barrelfuls, barrelsful, beglamours, beleaguers, bluebeards, boulevards, brutalised, brutalises, brutalizes, burglaries, burladeros, carbuncles, censurable, curveballs, incurables, lebensraum, lubricates, measurable, measurably, mensurable, parbuckles, presumable, presumably, railbusses, scrubbable, squabblers, subalterns, subcellars, subcentral, subnuclear, sufferable, sufferably, survivable, tablatures, trabeculas, tribulates, turntables, unscramble, vestibular.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.