By Aidan Power

Map Of Europe

Map of Lithuania.

Flag and national anthem of Lithuania

Overall 3,545,319 Capital city Vilnius Population Of Other Main Cities Kaunas = 379,800 and Klaipeda = 193,400 Currency Litas How many Mobile Phones 500,000 (2001)

Ethnicity (Race)  Main Ethnic Groups Lithuanian 83.4% Polish 6.7% Russian 6.3% Other 3.6%  Main Religions Roman Catholic 79% Russian Orthodox 4% Protestant 2% none 10%

Economic Activities  Services Telephones, radios, television, railways, ports and harbours, airports.  Industry Metal-cutting machine tools, electric motors, television sets, refrigerators and freezers and agricultural machinery.  Agriculture grain, potatoes, sugar, beets, and milk.

Main Industries  Food processing, fertilizers, optical equipment, electronic components, computers, amber jewellery, televisions, ship building, furniture making and electric motors.

Main agriculture  Agriculture in Lithuania is very important and employs 227,000 persons. Example: vegetables, beef, eggs, fish and flax.

B RIEF HISTORY OF L ITHUANIA The Lithuanians untied in the 12 th century. From the 14 th to the 16 th century, Poland and Lithuania made up one of medieval Europe's largest empires. In 1795 Lithuania came under Russian rule. Following world war one and the collapse of Russia, Lithuania declared independence (1918), under German protection. In 1944 the Soviets again took over Lithuania following World War II. They became independent again in 1990 and they were accepted into the UN on 17 th September In late 2002, Lithuania was accepted for membership in the EU and NATO and joined both in 2004.

 Basketball is the most popular and successful team sport in Lithuania.  They won the European basketball championship in 1937, 1939 and 2003.Several Lithuanian basketball players have played successfully in the NBA:  Vydrunas Ilgauskas (Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat), Darius Songaila (Philadelphia 76ers) and Linas Kleiza (Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors).

Famous People Arvydas Sabonis (right) was a former NBA player for the Portland Trail Blazers. Sarunas Marciulionis former NBA player for the Golden State Warriors.

 Lithuania, after declaring restoration of independence from the Russian Empire in 1918, sent its athletes to the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris for the first time.  Since then the Lithuanians have competed in 5 Olympics and have won 6 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 10 bronze medals in a variety of sports including athletics, swimming, sailing and basketball. In total they have won 21 medals out of 6 Olympics.

The END  By Aidan Power