This topic has already been considered, revised and discussed a million times. And still there is no consensus. The question of the correct naming of the Belarusian state in the Russian language, outwardly exclusively linguistic, but defining the actual historical space, appeared back in the 1990s. The disputes between philologists and patriots do not subside to this day, almost thirty years after the official renaming of the former Soviet republic. Authoritative sources express directly opposite opinions, backing them up with almost indisputable evidence.
How to correctly say - Belarus or Belarus? Personally, I cannot remake myself and will continue to write and speak like this - Belarus. But what do the rules say …
Initially, the territory of the modern Republic of Belarus, the name of which is officially enshrined in the constitution of the state in this form, was called White Rus in Western European sources. With the spread of the Russian-language education system to these lands, the ethnonym “Belarusians” and the corresponding name of the territories were entrenched among the local population and neighboring peoples.
It is believed that the western part of Russia began to be called "white", since for some time the territories did not depend on the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the adjective in this case was used as a synonym for the word "free". According to another version, White Russia was the land, the population of which professed Christianity, while Black Russia preserved pagan traditions. Some sources put forward another assumption: the name was fixed only for the reason that the inhabitants of the land wore white clothes and were predominantly blonde.
There are several more versions of the origin of the toponym: For example, N. Karamzin believed that Belaya means light, pure, with an ancient history. According to the color scheme for the parts of the world, which is mentioned among some Slavic peoples, the west was called white, the east was blue, the north was black, and the south was red. By analogy with this hypothesis, the following explanation is also applied (according to Fra Mauro's world map): the part of Russia that passes by the White Sea is called White, near the Black River - Black, near the Red River - Red.
The correct spelling and pronunciation depends on the chronological period in question. In the final stage of the First World War, in 1918, the territories of the modern RB were called the Belarusian People's Republic. Later, from February to June of the following year, already Soviet Belarus and Lithuania united into the Lithuanian-Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (other options: Litbel, Soviet Socialist Republic of Lithuania and Belarus).
The union of Belarus and Lithuania existed for only a few months, then the territories were renamed, respectively, into the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus and the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. This formation (if we talk about Belarusian lands) was renamed again a month later.
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This time finally, the name of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic was preserved until the collapse of the USSR. So, before 1991, the question: "Belarus or Belarus: which is correct?" it simply did not exist - the Soviet republic was Belarus. By the way, it was with the name of the Byelorussian SSR (or Byelorussia) that the state became one of the original members of the United Nations. In 1945, the Ukrainian and Belarusian Republics were admitted to the UN along with the USSR for a significant contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany.
The name enshrined in the modern constitution Belarus or Belarus - what was the correct name for the Belarusian SSR after the collapse of the USSR? In 1991, with the adoption of the constitution of independent Belarus, the state informed the world community about the name change. The Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic began to be called the Republic of Belarus (RB), or Belarus for short. Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), Bengal (Bangladesh), Persia (Iran), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Burma (Myanmar) and some others followed a similar path.
How to write correctly - Belarus or Belarus, if we are not talking about the name of the state, but about the traditional use of a toponym in everyday speech? Together with the official change in the name of the state in Belarus, they also changed the traditional names. For example, the central print media outlet of the Republic of Bashkortostan "Sovetskaya Belorussia" is currently renamed "Belarus Today".
And yet, how to write correctly - Belarus or Belarus - today? The problem of the correct name of the former Byelorussian SSR in Russian arose immediately after the republics gained independence. While in Belarus itself, at the highest state level, they decided on the correct name, in Russia both the population and the leading media outlets, news agencies and even high-ranking officials continued to call these territories either Belarus or Belarus.
Belarus or Belarus, how to speak and write correctly in accordance with the documents adopted at the state level? In 1995, Russia adopted the Order “On the spelling of the names of the former republics of the USSR”. According to this document, at the official level and in business correspondence, the name “Belarus” or “Republic of Belarus” should be used.
However, on the same paper, when signing international treaties or any other interaction, the wishes of the counterparties regarding the correct spelling of the state should be taken into account. Belarus or Belarus? What is the correct way to refer to other authoritative sources? Many sources allow both spelling of the name of the state. At the same time, the spelling “Belarus, Republic of Belarus” is still preferable, while “Belarus” is listed as an “unofficial name”. The Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences also promotes "Belarus"
What is the correct spelling - Belarus or Belarus? The OKSM classifier (Official classifier of the countries of the world), which is designed to identify states, and is a kind of ultimate truth. So, in this document, under the international index BY, it is Belarus (abbreviated name) or the Republic of Belarus (full name).
By the way, despite the fact that, it would seem, the Republic of Belarus itself has long decided on the name, in 2014 Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting of the CSTO member states was sitting at a table with a sign “Belarus”. This fact was further discussed in the press.
What is the correct name for the territories that have long been called White Russia? On the one hand, political correctness recommends adopting a name that corresponds to the constitution of the state, on the other hand, historical justice, which the media are so fond of recalling recently, literally imposes the familiar Belarus. The point in this issue was put by the collegium of the Ministries of Justice of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, during which it was recommended to use the name “Belarus”. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry later spoke in favor of the same proposal. At the same time, the traditional “Belarus” is not at all disdain for the brotherly people, but only a historical habit, therefore, at the everyday level, the use of this version of the name of the state is permissible.
Now let's talk a little about how life was in Soviet Belarus
Belarus is called the last island of the USSR in the post-Soviet space. There are still pioneers, collective farms, police, KGB and traffic police here. In 1995, the Soviet coat of arms was returned to Belarus.
Belarus became one of the first 4 Soviet republics to sign the Treaty on the formation of the USSR on December 30, 1922. In March 1924 and December 1926, parts of Vitebsk (with Vitebsk), Smolensk (with Orsha), Gomel (with Gomel) provinces were transferred to the Byelorussian SSR. This decision was made at a meeting of the Politburo on November 29, 1923.
These lands were defined as "related to it (BSSR) in everyday life, ethnographic and economic-economic relations." The decree was signed by Joseph Stalin. Initially, it was planned to transfer the entire province to the BSSR, but, according to the 1920 census, the majority of the population in them was Russian.
As a result of the first enlargement, the territory of the BSSR more than doubled, the population increased from 1.6 million to 4.2 million. As a result of the second consolidation, the population of the republic increased by 650 thousand people and amounted to a total of about 5 million people. The eastern border of the BSSR began to correspond to the eastern border of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania before the first partition of the Rzeczpospolita.
The Belarusian language was standardized during the years of Soviet power. In 1918, Bronislav Tarashkevich, a teacher at Petrograd University, prepared the first grammar of the Belarusian language, for the first time normalizing spelling. This is how the so-called tarashkevitsa appeared - a language norm, later adopted in the Belarusian emigration.
In 1933, Tarashkevica was contrasted with the grammar of the Belarusian language, which was created as a result of the language reforms of the 1930s. It was entrenched and used in Belarus until 2005, when it was partially unified with tarashkevitsa. In the 1920s, on the official emblem of the BSSR the phrase "Workers of all countries unite!" was written in four languages: Russian, Polish, Yiddish and Tarashkevitz.
In addition to the Belarusian language and tarashkevitsa, there is another form of existence of the Belarusian speech - trasyanka. It is a mixture of Russian and Belarusian languages, it is found everywhere in Belarus and now. Among its linguistic counterparts is surzhik (a mixture of Russian and Ukrainian), common in Ukraine and in the southern regions of Russia.
On August 6, 1958, by order of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, on the left bank of the Western Dvina not far from Polotsk, the construction of a large industrial complex, the Novopolotsk oil refinery, began. The plant was built "by the whole world", the All-Union shock Komsomol construction project was announced in the USSR.
The location was not chosen by chance. The proximity of the western borders made it possible to export to the countries of Western Europe, the refinery could provide oil to the western regions of the USSR, and the nearby Polotsk served as a convenient transport hub. Initially, the plant's capacity was designed to process 6 million tons of crude oil per year.
On February 9, 1963, the first Belarusian gasoline was received in Novopolotsk (the city was “born by a construction site”). NAFTAN is still the largest oil refinery in Belarus.
During the years of Soviet power, Belarus became one of the largest producers and exporters of potash fertilizers in the world. In 1958, in the Belarusian Polesie, they began to develop the Starobinskoye deposit of potassium salts discovered in 1949. The only “city of miners” in Belarus, Soligorsk, was also built here.
In the 1980s, Belaruskali held 17% of the world potash fertilizers market. The enterprise went through the collapse of the Union with complications, but today, according to the International Fertilizers Association, Belaruskali produces one seventh of the world volume of potash fertilizers, exporting its products to more than 70 countries.
Belarus is famous for its giant cars today. The name "BelAZ" has become a household name. Soviet children called any very large trucks that way. The first mining dump truck appeared in the USSR in 1951. It was the predecessor of BelAZ MAZ-525, produced at the Minsk Automobile Plant from 1951 to 1959. After, until 1967 - at BelAZ. Carrying capacity was 25 tons. For the first time, a 12-cylinder diesel engine, power steering, planetary gearboxes in the rear wheel hubs appeared on it.
A fluid coupling was installed between the engine and the clutch. The rear wheels of MAZ-525 with a diameter of 172 cm were attached to the body rigidly, without suspension. In 1965, at the Belarusian Automobile Plant in Zhodino, the production of a radically new dump truck - BelAZ-540, one of the best mining dump trucks in the world, began. This giant became the first owner of the Quality Mark and was a real breakthrough in technological thought.
The BelAZ-540 was the first vehicle produced in the USSR with hydropneumatic wheel suspension, combined power steering and body lift hydraulic systems. In BelAZ-540, a helical steering mechanism, hydromechanical transmission, pneumohydraulic suspension of the rear and front axles and a welded box-section frame were used. By 1986, BelAZ produced up to 6,000 vehicles a year (half of their world production). BelAZs remain the largest vehicles in the former Soviet Union, operating in almost 50 countries around the world.
During the years of the USSR, Belarus was one of the main manufacturers of high-quality electronics and household appliances. Transistor radios of the Spidola family, produced at the Minsk Radio Plant since 1960, have become iconic. Their mass production began in 1962. The Minsk Radio Plant also produced Horizont TV sets, which were among the most popular in the USSR.
Belarus became famous in Soviet times for its refrigerators produced at the Minsk plant. Here, for the first time in the USSR, two-chamber refrigerators, freezers and polyurethane foam insulation were developed. Belarusian Refrigerators were exported to more than 10 countries in Europe and Asia. The first refrigerator was released in 1962. An interesting fact: in 1959-1961, Lee Harvey Oswald, the only official suspect in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, worked at the Minsk Radio Plant as a turner.
In Minsk he met his wife Maria Prusakova. In Soviet Belarus, the Oswalds had a daughter, June. They left Minsk on May 22, 1962. Less than a year and a half remained before the events that would make Lee Harvey "famous". After her husband's death, Marina Oswald will appear on the cover of Time magazine.
Speaking about Belarus, one cannot fail to mention Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The reserve was established by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars on January 4, 1940. Until now, it is one of the largest tourist centers in the Republic of Belarus. The state border between Poland and Belarus runs through Belovezhskaya Pushcha.
On December 8, 1991, at the government residence of Viskuli, which is located on the territory of Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed a document that went down in history as the "Belovezhskaya Agreement". He stated: "The USSR as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality ceases to exist." The current President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko regrets the collapse of the USSR even today, which he emphasizes in every second interview.
Interesting facts about Belarus
Even the nearest neighbors know very little about Belarus. And people from countries farther away are often interested in where it is located and whether Belarus is a country at all. And idiots threaten to send a fleet to the shores of Belarus.
Belarusian is not spoken in Belarus. Almost. The country has 2 official languages, Belarusian and Russian, the first is only studied in a separate subject at school, and the main classes, as well as official documentation, are conducted in Russian.
But closer to the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, the language is changing, there people speak “trasyanka” (a mixture of Belarusian and Russian) and other language mixtures.
Did you know that 2 presidents of Israel, Shaim Weizman and Shimon Peres were born in Belarus? The second was president from 2007 to 2014.
An interesting fact is that there are as many as 5 Nobel Laureates in Belarus. In 2015, Svetlana Aleksievich received the Nobel Prize in Literature. You can read more about famous people of Belarus in our separate article.
There are few street advertisements, but a lot of social advertisements.
Belarus is the last country in Europe where the death penalty is allowed.
The first thing that tourists notice when visiting Belarus is that it is green, clean, safe, and compared to Russia and Ukraine, there are excellent roads here.
40% of the territory of Belarus consists of forests, which corresponds to the green stripe in the Belarusian flag.
In Belarus, there is the national park Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the largest and oldest forest in Europe, home to the largest animal in Europe, the bison.
Bulbaland. Belarusians are very fond of potatoes; most of the national dishes include this essential ingredient for the local. In Belarus there are more than 300 potato dishes (“bulba”).
The largest dump truck in the world is produced in Belarus. BelAZ-75710 weighs 360 tons, the height of its wheels is 4 meters, and if someone wanted to buy such a car, it will cost you about $ 10 million!
Belarusians are very hospitable and benevolent people … not counting some saleswomen in shops.
In addition, the locals are humble people. No matter how hard ordeals come to the lot of the Belarusian, he will not be indignant, but will completely reconcile: “So tamu and bets”.
Besides, Belarusians are hardworking people.
In Belarus, every second child, instead of wanting to become an astronaut, wants to become a programmer. Here it is a prestigious profession, and the salaries of programmers are higher than in all neighboring countries, while the average salary in the country is lower only in Ukraine.
Belarus is the “Silicon Valley” of Eastern Europe. About 10 years ago, the Hi-Tech Park was created here, where about 170 companies, 27,000 IT specialists are now located.
Among the tech companies, it is worth mentioning EPAM, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange with an annual turnover of more than $ 1 million, Wargaming, which created the popular game World of Tanks and now has 6,000 employees and 120 million users worldwide, the Viber app. which is the world's third most popular instant messenger after Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp, which was bought by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten for $ 900,000, the 10 million download Masquerade app that puts animated face masks and was bought by Facebook in 2016 …
Belarus is located in the east of Europe. It shares borders with Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Lithuania and Latvia. Moreover, the distance from Minsk to Vilnius is only 188 km, but Belarusians need a visa to visit Lithuania.
The territory of Belarus is 207 thousand sq. km. It is the 84 largest country in the world and, contrary to popular belief, it is far from being the most country in Europe, but rather average. Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Hungary will fit together on its territory.
The population of Belarus is 9.5 million people, which corresponds to 93rd place in the world. The population density is quite low. An interesting fact is that the above countries that can fit on the territory of Belarus have a total population of 46.3 million people. A large territory in Belarus is occupied by forests, rivers and lakes. No wonder the country is called "Lungs of Europe".
But the population of Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is about 2 million, so Minsk is the 11th most populous city in Europe.
The Belarusian city of Polotsk is considered the geographical center of Europe. In honor of this, a monument has been erected in this ancient city.
Belarus is proud of its athletes and sports achievements. And for good reason. For such a small country, the achievements in this area are impressive. Moreover, these achievements are in completely different sports: biathlon, freestyle, hockey, football, rowing, wrestling, track and field athletics, shooting, swimming, rhythmic gymnastics. Here are some interesting sports facts about Belarus.
Football club BATE Borisov has repeatedly surprised both domestic and foreign fans with the results. The factory club from Borisov twice did not let Juventus win (0: 0, 2: 2), which in the same group in the Champions League won twice against Real Madrid. BATE also drew with Milan, won Roma 3: 2, Lille, Athletic and even Bayern 3: 1. And the coach of the Borisov club became the youngest coach in the final stage of the Champions League.
Biathlete Daria Domracheva, who won 3 gold medals at the 2014 Olympic Games, for which she additionally received the title of “Hero of Belarus”, the most titled Belarusian woman of the Winter Olympic Games.
Tennis player Victoria Azarenko was on the first line of the WTP rating for 70 weeks, and also earned a gold medal for Belarus along with another famous Belarusian tennis player, Maksim Mirny.
But Olga Korbut then earned 4 gold medals in artistic gymnastics for the BSSR.
In Belarus they love football more than hockey, but hockey incomes are much higher. Every city, even a small one, has an ice arena. The largest, Minsk-Arena, is the fourth largest in Europe. There are 26 ice arenas in Belarus.
There are many casinos in Belarus. When the gambling business was banned in Russia, many casinos were opened in Belarus, for which Russians often come here.
Until recently, all Belarusians were millionaires. Due to strong inflation, the Belarusian ruble depreciated and for 1 euro it was possible to get up to 25,000 Belarusian rubles. Due to the constant change in the exchange rate, the Belarusians calculated prices for many goods in dollars. In July 2016, a denomination was carried out and 4 zeros were cut off from the ruble. Now it has become more convenient to count. One euro = 2 rubles.
There is 1 passport in Belarus, which is both foreign and domestic at the same time.
In Belarus, compulsory military service is 1.5 years. In the case of post-graduate service, the term is reduced to 1 year.
Here you can go to the cinema for 1-2 dollars and get a menu in the dining room for the same money.
An interesting fact about Belarus is that in terms of the number of treasures discovered per year, the country is traditionally ahead of Europe. There were so many large and small wars in this territory that it is difficult to count. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that for the time being, treasures sleep in the Belarusian land, which can only be called legendary.
Belarus is one of the few countries that does not switch to "winter" time.
Throughout Belarusian history, the territory of the country belonged to one or another state, which is why the main state language in the country often changed. And for 17 years in the 20th century, Belarus had as many as 4 state languages at the same time: Russian, Belarusian, Polish and Yiddish.
Lenin's monuments were not removed here. Such monuments are still the only attractions in many small towns.
Belarus is the only former USSR country that restored the Soviet flag (with minor changes).
In Belarus, the main religion is Orthodoxy, but you can find many temples of all possible religions around the country.
Unlike Russia and Ukraine, there is much less material inequality here.
Belarus has an extremely low unemployment rate, less than 1%. There are also very few beggars and homeless people here.
Belarus is simply incredible for its economic experiments and tests. We present you interesting economic facts about Belarus.
When people once found out that the next day the dollar would drop 3 times, all the shops were empty, because people were buying even goods that they did not need.
When the course changed, the prices in the stores changed instantly and when they went up to the checkout with the necessary goods, it turned out that the price had already changed.
In Belarus for some time at exchange rates in exchange offices, it was more expensive to sell currency than to buy it (usually the opposite is true).
The capital Minsk is a very green and clean city. In addition to numerous parks, there is the third largest Botanical Garden in the world.
An interesting fact is that Minsk is a very safe city. In the list of 378 most dangerous cities from Numbeo, Minsk was ranked 351 in danger and became the safest city in the CIS. And Belarus itself is one of the safest countries in the world according to statistics.
Compared to many big cities, there are very few traffic jams.
It is also surprising for big cities that it is quite quiet at night, with relatively few nightclubs and bars.
Public transport always runs on schedule. Surprisingly, this is true: the schedule is kept plus / minus a couple of minutes.
The National Library of the Republic of Belarus, opened in 2006 in Minsk, is one of the largest in the world. With a total area of the building of 112 thousand square meters, 55 thousand square meters have been allocated for books, and this structure weighs 115 thousand tons.
An interesting fact is that the longest street in Belarus is Independence Avenue in Minsk. Throughout its history, it not only grew in length and width, but also changed 14 names. This is one of the last main neoclassical ensembles in world architecture, one of the longest streets in Europe, a candidate for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.