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Belarusians
(беларусы/biełarusy)

Regions with significant populations
Belarus: 8,159,073
Russia	521,443
United States	600.000
Ukraine	275,763
Israel	130.000
Kazakhstan	66,476
Latvia	68,174
Canada	50,000 - 70,000
Brazil	45,000 - 80,000
Poland	50,000 - 70,000
Lithuania	41,100
Moldova	20,000
Australia	20,000
Estonia	17,241
Argentina	7,000
Great Britain	7,000
Belgium	2,000
Greece	1,168
Portugal	1,002
Languages
Belarusian, Russian
Religion
Predominantly Orthodox Christianity; Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and Protestant minorities. Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Other Slavs, particularly other East Slavs

Belarusians (Template:Lang-be, Template:Lang-ru, byelorusy) are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. There are over 8 million people who associate themselves with the Belarusian nationality today.

Location

Belarusians also form minorities in neighboring Poland (especially in the Podlaskie Voivodeship), Russia and Lithuania. At the beginning of 20th century Belarusians constituted a majority in the regions around Smolensk.

Noticeable numbers have emigrated to the United States, Brazil and Canada in the early 20th century. During Soviet times, many Belarusians were deported or migrated to various regions of the USSR, including Siberia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

Since the breakup of the USSR several hundred thousand have emigrated to the European Union, United States, Canada and Russia.

Languages

The most spoken language in Belarus is Russian, principally spoken by 72% of the population, while the other official language, Belarusian, is only used by 11.9% in every day life. Statistical data shows that Belarusian is fluently communicated, read and written by 29.4%, while 52.5% of the population can communicate and read in Belarusian. Belarusian is a language of the Eastern Slavic group.

Genetics

Belarusians show the characteristic R1a genes of the male ancestorship at 51%, similar to other East slav groups. Such large frequencies of R1a have been found only in East Europe and India.

Genetical studies show that genetically Belarusians have close genetical similarities with Poles, Russians and Ukrainians, which belong to the same group. A study of the Y chromosome in East Slavs groups shows that there is no significant variation in the Y chromosome between Belarusians, Poles, central-southern Russians and Ukrainians, and it is overlapped by their vast similarities, thus revealing an overwhelmingly shared patrilineal ancestry.

A genetic portrait of modern Belarusians documents A separation of subpopulations along the south-north line, which is demonstrated particularly in distribution of Y chromosomal lineages R1b, I1a and I1b, N3 and G-chromosomes, has been noted; east-west gradient is insignificant.

Name

The name Belarus can be literally translated as White Ruthenia that is a historical region in the east of modern Republic of Belarus, known in Latin as Ruthenia Alba. This name was in use in the West for some time in history, together with White Ruthenes, White Russians (though not to be confused with the political group of White Russians that opposed the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War) and similar forms. Belarusians trace their name back to the people of Rus' {{citation}}: Empty citation (help).

History

The Belarusian people trace their distinct culture to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and earlier Kievan Rus and the Principality of Polatsk. Most Belarusians are descendants of the East Slav tribes Dregovichs, Krivichs and Radimichs, as well as of a Baltic tribe of Jotvingians who lived in the west and north-west of today's Belarus.

In 13th-18th centuries Belarusians were mostly known under the name of Ruthenians which refers to the Eastern part of state of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Litva, Vialikaja Litva) of which the White Ruthenian, Black Ruthenian and Polesian lands were part of since the 13th-14th centuries and where Ruthenian language which developed in Old Belarusian language gradually became the dominant written language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, that replaced Latin. Casimir's Code of 1468 and all three editions of Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1529, 1566, and 1588) were written in Old Belarusian language. Eventually it was replaced by Polish.

On the grounds of the dominance of Ruthenian language (which later evolved into modern Belarusian and Ukrainian Languages) culture in the Eastern parts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, some modern Belarusian scholars and people in Belarus count that Grand Duchy of Lithuania was mostly Belarusian state when it existed.

Between 1791 and 1917 much of Belarus, with its Christian and Jewish populations, was acquired by the Russian Empire in a series of military conquests and diplomatic manoeuvres, and was part of a region known as the Pale of Settlement.

After World War I Belarusians revived their own statehood, with varying degrees of independence - first as the short-lived Belarusian National Republic under German occupation, then as the Byelorussian SSR from 1919 until 1991, which merged with other republics to become a constituent member of the Soviet Union in 1922). Belarus gained full independence with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Cuisine

See also

• Demographics of Belarus
• Dregovichs
• History of Belarus
• Krivichs
• List of Belarusians (ethnic group)
• Litvins
• Radimichs

References and notes

1. 1999 census
2. Demographics of Russia
3. ^ http://www.belarustime.ru/belarus/culture/diaspore/c6420f28d9870602.html
4. Про кількість та склад населення України за підсумками Всеукраїнського перепису населення 2001 року Template:Ref-uk
5. Demographics of Kazakhstan
7. Multiculturalcanada.ca
8. ^ 2002 census
10. 2000 census
11. http://www.statistics.gr/portal/page/portal/ESYE/BUCKET/A1605/Other/A1605_SPO15_TB_AN_00_2006_07_F_EN.pdf
12. http://sefstat.sef.pt/Docs/Distritos_2009.pdf
13. CIA - The World Factbook -- Belarus -- People -- Religions -- 1997 Census
14. http://www.ethnologue.com/%5C/15/show_family.asp?subid=90707
15. ^ Belta.by
16. Behar, Doron M.; Thomas, Mark G.; Skorecki, Karl; Hammer, Michael F.; Bulygina, Ekaterina; Rosengarten, Dror; Jones, Abigail L.; Held, Karen; Moses, Vivian; Goldstein, David; Bradman, Neil; Weale, Michael E. (2003). "Multiple Origins of Ashkenazi Levites: Y Chromosome Evidence for Both Near Eastern and European Ancestries". American Journal of Human Genetics. 73 (4): 768–779. doi:10.1086/378506. PMC 1180600. PMID 13680527.
17. "DK Zelenin, Ethnographical divisions of East Slavs"
18. Balanovsky, Oleg; et al. (2008). "Two Sources of the Russian Patrilineal Heritage in Their Eurasian Context". American Journal of Human Genetics. 82 (1): 236–250. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.09.019. PMC 2253976. PMID 18179905. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |last2= (help)
19. Malyarchuk, Boris; et al. (2004). "Differentiation of Mitochondrial DNA and Y Chromosomes in Russian Populations". Human Biology. 76 (6): 877–900. doi:10.1353/hub.2005.0021. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |last2= (help)
20. Genetic portrait of modern Belarusians: mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome perspective. Alena Kushniarevich, 1Larysa Sivitskaya, 1Nina Danilenko, 2Richard Villems, 1Oleg Davydenko 1Institute of Genetics and Cytology, Academicheskaya Str 27, Belarus, 2Estonian Biocenter, Riia Str 23, Estonia
21. http://www.krugosvet.ru/enc/istoriya/BELORUSI.html Энциклопедия Кругосвет
22. http://www.hetman.by/files/data/historyone_en.pdf
23. http://flagspot.net/flags/by-arms.html
24. http://depts.washington.edu/baltic/papers/grandduchy.htm
25. Zejmis, Jakub, “Belarusian National Historiography and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as a Belarusian State,” Zeitschrift fur Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung , 1999, 48, p. 383.

External links

• Ethnographic Map (New York, 1953)
• CIA World Fact Book 2005
• "ЧТО ТАКОЕ БЫТЬ БЕЛОРУСОМ?", ("What does it mean to be a Belarusian? ") a 2009 survey Template:Ru icon

v t e Slavic ethnic groups
East Slavs	Alaskan Creoles Belarusians Belarusian Latvians Belarusian Lithuanians Belarusian Poles Belarusian Russians Russians Cossacks Albazinians Baikal Cossacks Don Cossacks Kuban Cossacks Nekrasov Cossacks Siberian Cossacks Terek Cossacks Greben Cossacks Doukhobors Goryuns Gurans Harbin Russians Kamchadals Kamenschiks Karyms Lipovans Molokans Polekhs Pomors Semeiskie Siberians Starozhily Rusyns Lemkos Pannonian Rusyns Rusyn Romanians Ukrainians Boykos Cossacks Zaporozhian Cossacks Kuban Cossacks Hutsuls Podlashuks Poleshuks Podolyans Litvins
West Slavs	Czechs Chods Gorals Silesian Gorals Kashubians Gochans Krubans Slovincians Lechites Masurians Moravians Poles Bambers Borderlands Poles Bug River Poles Greater Poland people Kaliszans Kuyavians Taśtaks Kociewians Kurpies Lasovians Łęczycans Lesser Poland people Masovians Łowiczans Międzyrzec Boyars Poborzans Polish Uplanders Russian Poles Sącz Lachs Sieradzans Warmians Obotrites Ruhrpolen Silesians Cieszyn Vlachs Slovaks Sorbs Lower Sorbs Wends Texas Wends Upper Sorbs
South Slavs	Bosniaks Bosniak Albanians Bosniak Croatians Bosniak Kosovars Bosniak Montenegrins Bosniak Serbians Bulgarians Anatolian Bulgarians Banat Bulgarians Bessarabian Bulgarians Bulgarian Albanians Bulgarian Croatians Bulgarian Hungarians Bulgarian Italians Macedonian Bulgarians Pomaks Thracian Bulgarians Croats Bunjevci Burgenland Croats Croat Muslims Janjevci Krashovani Molise Croats Šokci Gorani Macedonians Albanian Macedonians Bulgarian Macedonians Mijaks Torbeši Montenegrins Ethnic Muslims Resians Serbs Bosnian and Herzegovinian Serbs Kosovo Serbs Macedonian Serbs Montenegrin Serbs Croatian Serbs Vojvodina Serbs Serb Muslims Shopi Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia Slovenes Carinthian Slovenes Croatian Slovenes Hungarian Slovenes Italian Slovenes Prekmurje Slovenes Venetian Slavs Yugoslavs

v t e Eastern Christianity
Cultural area of Christian traditions that developed since Early Christianity in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, North and East Africa, Asia Minor, South India, and parts of the Far East.
Main divisions	Communions Eastern Orthodox Church Oriental Orthodox Churches Eastern Catholic Churches Assyrian Church of the East Ancient Church of the East Independent Churches/Communions Old Believers Spiritual Christianity True Orthodox churches Tolstoyans Protestantism Eastern Protestantism	Christ Pantocrator (circa 1261) in Hagia Sophia
History	Christianization of Armenia Christianization of Georgia Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire Copts Proto-orthodoxy Ecumenical council Heresies Nestorianism Iconoclasm Paulicianism Bogomilism Church of the East China Sichuan India Mongols Oriental Orthodox Churches Council of Chalcedon Saint Thomas Christians/Malankara Church Arab Christians Antiochian Greek Christians Melkite Ghassanids Christianization of Bulgaria Christianization of Kievan Rus' Turkic Christians Eastern Orthodox Church East–West Schism Raskol Moscow–Constantinople schisms 15th–16th centuries schism 1996 schism 2018 schism
Scriptures	Canon Old Testament New Testament Deuterocanon Septuagint Peshitta
Theology	Hesychasm Icon Apophaticism Filioque clause Miaphysitism Dyophysitism Nestorianism Theosis Theoria Phronema Philokalia Praxis Theotokos Hypostasis Ousia Essence–energies distinction Metousiosis
Worship	Sign of the cross Divine Liturgy Iconography Asceticism Omophorion

• Belarusian people
• Ethnic groups in Kazakhstan
• Ethnic groups in Europe
• Slavic nations
• Rus