It is located in the heart of Europe, produces the world’s largest dump trucks, and gives birth to truly iconic personalities who are known all over the world. Today, the team of the museum “The Country of Mini” will enlighten and amaze you: for the first time, you will read some facts about Belarus!
Hello there, dear readers. Many people in the West consider Belarus to be a region of Russia (or part of the Russian Federation). But we do know that the Republic of Belarus is an independent state with many similarities to Russia as well as many differences.
The Belovezhskaya Pushcha, Europe’s largest primaeval forest, is located on this country’s territory. The European bison, as well as hundreds of other animals and birds, call Belovezhskaya Pushcha home. Some of the oaks in the forest are more than 600 years old. But Belovezhskaya Pushcha is famous for more than just its age. The Bialowieza Accords, also known as the “Agreements on the Creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States” (CIS), were signed on December 8, 1991.
Belarus has two official languages: Russian and Belarusian. Almost all citizens, however, speak only Russian. Belarusian is only used by 10% of the population in everyday communication. The majority of people speak Trasianka, a mix of Russian and Belarusian words.
Belarusians take cleanliness very seriously. In this country, it is difficult to find garbage on the streets. From the largest city to the smallest village, cleanliness reigns supreme. This is explained in part by the large number of trash cans, which are effectively used by janitors and the state’s population.
Potatoes are the country’s second most important food. In Belarus, many potato dishes are prepared, such as draniki, potato pancakes, and so on. Belarusians eat a lot of potatoes per capita, around 180 kilogrammes per year per citizen. That is, the average Belarussian consumes approximately 0.5 kilogrammes of potatoes per year.
Belarus gave birth to three Israeli presidents. Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel and a scientist, was born in the Brest region of the Republic of Belarus. Zalman Shazar, the third president of Israel and a social activist, writer, poet, and politician, was born in Minsk province. Shimon Peres, politician, statesman, and Israel’s ninth president, was born in the village of Vishnevo, Volozhin District, Minsk Province.
This country manufactures the world’s largest automobiles. BelAZ trucks are truly the state’s pride. In January 2014, the country unveiled a new model, the BelAZ-75710, which became the world’s largest dump truck. With a weight of 503.5 tonnes, BelAZ-75710 was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Unlike in many European countries, where advertisements for alcohol, real estate, various brands, and so on are displayed on large billboards, state social advertising prevails in Belarus, such as: obey the traffic rules, love your motherland, family is important, and you turned off the gas, and so on.
When gambling was outlawed in the Russian Federation, a slew of casinos sprouted up in Belarus. Many Russians who previously gambled in Russia began to travel to the “country of potatoes” for entertainment.
On the territory of this country, there are 20,800 rivers. Nine of them stretch for more than 500 kilometres. The Berezina River is a tributary of the Dnieper River. It is the longest river that runs entirely through Belarus. The river runs for 613 kilometres. This country is the source of the Neman and Vilia rivers, while the Western Dvina, Dnieper, Sozh, Pripyat, Western Bug, and Gorin are transit rivers.
