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862 - Early History

During the Iron Age, people started manufacturing iron articles. Slavic tribes settled on the territory of Belarus and came into contact with Baltic tribes. As the result of this interaction the communities of the Krivichi, the Dregovichi and the Radimichi, predominantly Slavic, were formed. The 10th-12th centuries was the time of the feudal system formation, which at first combined some features of feudalism, primitive communal and slave-owning systems. At the end of the 10th century, Christianity of Byzantine tradition spread across Belarusian territories and spurred the development of culture, the rise of architecture and the development of fine arts and writing. In the first half of the 13th century, the formation of the Belarusian language began.

The first state formation came into being on the territory populated by the Krivichi-the Principality of Polatsk, with its center in the city of Polatsk, whose history dates back to 862 AD. The first Prince of Polatsk mentioned in the written documents is Rogvolod, who ruled at the end of the 10th century. The Principality of Polatsk came to the apex of its might and power under the rule of Prince Usiaslau Charadej. At the end of the 10th century, the Principality of Turau, with its center in the town of Turau, was formed. Periodically both the Principality of Polatsk and the Principality of Turau, as many other Belarusian territories, were subjected to the authority of the Princes of Kiev but, as the process of feudal fragmentation started, they got rid of Kiev's rule. However, they failed to maintain their territorial integrity and broke up into smaller principalities.

Belarus's origins can be traced from the emergence in the late ninth century AD of Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state. After the death of its ruler, Prince Yaroslav the Wise, in 1054, Kievan Rus' split into a number of principalities, each centered on a city. One, Polatsk (Polotsk, in Russian), became the nucleus of modern-day Belarus. From the beginning of the 10th century up to the 13th century there were several state formations on the territory of the present-day Belarus. The most important ones were Principalities of Polatsk, Turau, Novgorod and some others. First, these principalities were parts of the Kievan Rus, which was an original, very vast medieval federation, where the relations between the princes were based on suzerainty-vassalage. During the 10th-12th centuries, some of the major principalities actually became independent and were being ruled by local dynasties.

The Christian religion was reaching our land from the end of the 10th century. First the rites were Byzantine (Eastern), somewhat later they changed to Latin (Western), both of them influencing the spiritual development of our land. With the advent of Christianity the written language was spreading quite fast, especially in the well-to-do and privileged sections of the public. Very soon, alongside with dogmatic literature there appeared secular books. Book writing and book copying was done at Christian cloisters. Quite a lot of years were devoted to this sacred deed by Euphrasinia Polatskaya. Kiryla Turauski (also called Zlatoust - "Kiryl the Golden Lips" for his eloquence), Klement Smoliatich, Avraniy Smolensky and other prominent religious leaders were also engaged in various enlightenment activities.

Christianity made a significant influence on the development of architecture and painting. St. Sofia Cathedral, St. Euphrasinia Church, St. Boris and Gleb (Belchytsy) Monastery in Polotsk, Annunciation Church in Vitebsk, St. Boris and Gleb (known as Kalozhskaya Church since the beginning of the 15th century) in Grodno and many other churches were built in the 11th-12th centuries. The celebrated Polotsk goldsmith Lazar Bohsha made a filigreed religious cross for Euphrasinia Polatskaya, that was so fine and precious, that it was regarded as the most beautiful cross in Eastern Europe.

From the middle of the 13th century up to the end of the 18th century, the Belarusian lands belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the GDL). The Duchy passed through two main stages in its state and political development: 1) from the middle of the 13th century till 1569, when the GDL existed as a fully independent sovereign state; 2) from 1569, when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland formed the Polish Commonwealth (Rzecz Pospolita), till the end of the 18th century. Retrospectively, the state system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the end of the 16th century to the 18th century was an early form of the bourgeois (the szlachta) democracy, the first step to the civil society.

In 1240, after the Tatar overthrow of Kiev, the dominant principality of Kievan Rus', Belorussia and part of Ukraine came under the control of Lithuania. The resulting state was called the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Rus', and Samogitia. Because territories inhabited by East Slavs made up about 90 percent of the Grand Duchy, they exerted a great cultural influence on the new state. Official business was conducted in a Slavic language (a predecessor of both Belorussian and Ukrainian) based on Old Church Slavonic, and the law code was based on that of Kievan Rus'.

Under the threat of the crusaders' and Mongolo-Tatars' aggression (the latter conquered the eastern and southern parts of Rus (ancient Russia)), the north-western territories of Belarus situated around Navahrudak united with the territories of the neighbouring Baltic tribes into one state-the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Mindovg became the head of the new state and in 1253, pursuing political goals, he became king and embraced Catholicism, which he soon abandoned. Navahrudak became the first capital of the Duchy and was superseded by Vilnya (modern Vilnius) in 1323. Even though the Baltic elite had more political power in the new state, the quantitavely prevalent Slavic population predetermined the administrative set up, the socio-economic and cultural development of the Grand Duchy. The Old Belarusian language was the official language of the country, which contributed greatly to the annexation of new East-Slavic territories. Mindovg's successors, by means of treaties, usurpation and arranged dynastic marriages, subjected all Belarusian territories to their authority. Later some Ukranian territories were also annexed to the Duchy.

When Roman Catholicism became the official religion of Lithuania shortly after Jagiello's conversion, the Lithuanian and Belorussian nobilities began converting from Orthodoxy to Catholicism and assimilating Polish culture (including the language), a process accelerated by the Union of Lublin. As a result, the Belorussian peasantry was ruled by those who shared neither their language nor its religion, Eastern Orthodoxy.

The formation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century provided favorable conditions for the development of culture. By 1385 the fact that the territory of the Grand Duchy was populated not only by Christians but also by Lithuanian pagans became an ideological pretext for the Teutonic Order and its subdivision the Livonian Order (the former German Order of Knights of the Sword) to start military aggression against the Grand Duchy. In order to eliminate this pretext and to find allies to curb crusaders' aggression, the Grand Duke Jahajla, whose political status in the country was rather shaky, signed the Krev Union (1385) with the Kingdom of Poland, according to which Jahajla succeeded to the Polish Throne.

However, in return for this Jahajla had to join all his lands to the Kingdom of Poland and convert Lithuanian pagans to Catholicism. Catholics in their turn were given special privileges, which caused tensions between Orthodox and Catholic believers and displeased the adherents of political independence of the Grand Duchy. Jahajla's cousin Vitaut became the leader of the opposition. In alliance with crusaders and his local supporters, he waged war against the King of Poland. Having won the war, Vitaut became the Grand Duke of Lithuania and granted independence to the Grand Duchy.