 | It has been suggested thatGreat Lithuanians bemerged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since October 2025. |
Lithuania proper[a] refers to a region that existed within theGrand Duchy of Lithuania where theLithuanian language was spoken.[4] The primary meaning is identical to theDuchy of Lithuania, a land around which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania evolved. The territory can be traced byCatholicChristianparishes established inpaganBaltic lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania subsequent to theChristianization of Lithuania in 1387. Lithuania proper (Lithuania Propria) was always distinguished from the Ruthenian lands since the Lithuanians differed from the Ruthenians in their language and faith (Paganism in the beginning and Catholicism since 1387).[5][6][7] The term in Latin was widely used during the Middle Ages and can be found in numerous historical maps untilWorld War I.
Lithuania proper is sometimes also called Lithuania Major, particularly in contrast withLithuania Minor.
The Lithuanian geographerKazys Pakštas wrote that Lithuania proper was known since the administrative division of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1566, when the name was assigned to the palatinates ofVilnius andTrakai.[1] The name was used in documents and maps.[1] Lithuania proper also included theDuchy of Samogitia.[1]
A fewBaltic confederations from the second half of the 12th century and the 13th century are known.[8]
Historians designate Lithuania proper (or theLand of Lithuania in a narrow sense) as a Lithuanian land that existed prior toGrand Duchy of Lithuania, near other lands: Land ofNalšia, Land ofDeltuva, Land ofUpytė.[9][10][11][12] According toHenryk Łowmiański, Lithuania proper was in the nucleus of futureTrakai Voivodeship between rivers:Nemunas,Neris andMerkys.[13]Tomas Baranauskas suggests[14] that Lithuania proper was aroundAšmena area, ethnicLithuanian lands in modernBelarus. According to Belarusian writerMikola Yermalovich (although his reliability is questioned by scholars[15][16]) Lithuania (Belarusian:Летапiсная Лiтва, literary: Lithuania of chronicles) was in the upper Nemunas region,[17][18] now in modern Belarus.
Scholars often use the termLithuania proper to refer to lands inhabited by ethnic Lithuanians[19] as opposed to lands controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania inhabited by Ruthenians (ancestors of modern Belarusians and Ukrainians), Poles,Lithuanian Jews or many other nationalities.[citation needed] Already during the Grand Duchy times, Lithuania proper was a term designated to land where Lithuanians live.[20] Administratively, it consisted ofVilnius Voivodeship,Trakai Voivodeship and theDuchy of Samogitia.[21][22] This division continued even after thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned.[23] Thus, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was divided into the historical regionsSamogitia (literallyLower Lithuania), Lithuania proper andRuthenia.
For centuries, eastern and southern lands of this territory, that had direct contacts with Ruthenia and Poland, initially inhabited by ethnicLithuanians were slowly Ruthenised,Polonised andRussified, and the Lithuanian-speaking territory shrunk. Eastern parts of Lithuania Propria suffered heavy population losses during theDeluge, and further on during theGreat Northern War and followingplague epidemic in 1710–1711. Subsequent immigration of Ruthenians and Poles into these territories accelerated the process. A significant push to the de-Lithuanisation ensued when Lithuania became a part of theRussian Empire, and especially, after Lithuanian language bookswere forbidden to print inLatin letters in 1864. The process continued at the time ofPolish rule, as Lithuanian language schools and libraries were closed, and later underSoviet rule, as no Lithuanian schools were in these territories at all. Nowadays significant "islands" of Lithuanian-speaking people remain in eastern and southern parts of Lithuania proper (modern Belarus (seeGervėčiai [lt] andPelesa [lt] inGrodno Region) andPoland (seePunskas inPodlaskie Voivodeship). Many people of these territories now speaking Belarusian still refer to themselves as Lithuanians.[24]
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At the end ofWorld War I, theCouncil of Lithuania declared anindependent Lithuanian state re-established in the ethnic Lithuanian lands.
After negotiations withBolshevik Russia, a large part of Lithuania proper was acknowledged bySoviets as part of the Lithuanian Republic by signing theSoviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920. Some of these territories were also claimed by theSecond Republic of Poland. This led to series of military conflicts and eventually towar.
In 1943,Antanas Smetona (in exile at the time) began working on a study "Lithuania Propria".[25] The book was dedicated to the history of Lithuanian lands beforePolonisation,Russification, andGermanisation, hoping that it would help to substantiate a claim to unreturned territories in apeace conference afterWorld War II. His work was left unfinished, and for a long time was available only as a manuscript and was virtually unknown.[26]
Currently theRepublic of Lithuania has no territorial claims.[27]
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