Polish–Lithuanian CommonwealthThe Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, or simply Poland–Lithuania, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch in real union, who was both King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. It was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th- to 17th-century Europe. At its largest territorial extent, in the early 17th century, the Commonwealth covered almost and as of 1618 sustained a multi-ethnic population of almost 12 million.
Grand Duchy of LithuaniaThe Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to the late 18th century, when the territory was partitioned in 1795 among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation born from several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija. The Grand Duchy expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other neighbouring states, including what is now Belarus, Lithuania, most of Ukraine as well as parts of Latvia, Moldova, Poland and Russia.
Demographics of UkraineAccording to the United Nations, Ukraine has a population of 36,744,636 as of 2023. This is a steep decline from 2020, when it had a population of almost 44 million people. This is in large part due to the ongoing Ukrainian refugee crisis, and loss of territory caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In addition, it should be noted that the most recent (and only) census of a post-Soviet Ukraine occurred over 20 years ago, in 2001. Thus, much of the information presented here could be inaccurate and/or outdated.
SiberiaSiberia (saɪˈbɪəriə ; Sibir', sjɪˈbjirj) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its various predecessor states since the centuries-long conquest of Siberia, which began with the fall of the Khanate of Sibir in the late 16th century and concluded with the annexation of Chukotka in 1778. Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, covering an area of over , but home to only one-fifth of Russia's population.
SlavsSlavs are the most populous European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, mainly inhabiting Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. A large Slavic minority is also scattered across the Baltic states and Central Asia, while a substantial Slavic diaspora is found throughout the Americas, as a result of immigration.
BelarusiansBelarusians (bielarusy) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. More than 9.5 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 8 million Belarusians reside in Belarus, with the United States and Russia being home to more than half a million Belarusians each. During the Soviet era, Belarusians were referred to as Byelorussians or Belorussians (from Byelorussia, derived from Russian "Белоруссия"). Before, they were typically known as White Russians or White Ruthenians (from White Russia or White Ruthenia, based on "Белая Русь").
Danube DeltaThe Danube Delta (Delta Dunării, ˈdelta ˈdunərij; Deľta Dunaju, deljˈtɑ dʊnɐˈju) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania (Tulcea County), with a small part in Ukraine (Odesa Oblast). Its approximate surface area is , of which is in Romania. With the lagoons of Razim–Sinoe ( with water surface), located south of the main delta, the total area of the Danube Delta is .
Russian Orthodox ChurchThe Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; Russkaja pravoslavnaja cerkov’, abbreviated as РПЦ), alternatively legally known as the Moscow Patriarchate (Moskovský patriarhat), is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The primate of the ROC is the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'. The Christianization of Kievan Rus' commenced in 988 with the baptism of the Rus' Grand Prince of Kiev—Vladimir the Great—and his people by the clergy of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Jewish Autonomous OblastThe Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO; Yevreyskaya avtonomnaya oblast; yidishe avtonome gegnt, jɪdɪʃɛ avtɔnɔmɛ ɡɛɡnt) is a federal subject of Russia situated in the far east of the country, bordering Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast in Russia and Heilongjiang province in China. Its administrative center is the town of Birobidzhan. The JAO was designated by a Soviet official decree in 1928, and officially established in 1934. At its height, in the late 1940s, the Jewish population in the region peaked around 46,000–50,000, approximately 25% of its population.
PodoliaPodolia or Podilia (Podillia, poˈd(j)iljːɐ; Podolye; Podolia; Podole; Podolien; Padollie; Podolė; Podolie ) is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the west-central and south-western parts of Ukraine and in northeastern Moldova (i.e. northern Transnistria). Podolia is bordered by the Dniester River and the Carpathian arc. Covering an area of , it features an elongated plateau and fertile agricultural land. Its main rivers are the Dniester and the Southern Bug, which serve as important trade channels.
