Šalčininkai District Municipality (Lithuanian: Šalčininkų rajono savivaldybė) is one of 60 district municipalities in Lithuania. The municipality is part of the Vilnius County and is located in southeastern Lithuania, next to the Belarus–Lithuania border.[1] The south-eastern border of the municipality with Belarus includes a distinctive salient of Lithuanian territory, known as the Dieveniškės appendix, almost completely surrounded by Belarus.
Šalčininkai District Municipality
Šalčininkų rajono savivaldybė | |
---|---|
Country | Lithuania |
Ethnographic region | Dzūkija |
County | Vilnius County |
Capital | Šalčininkai |
Elderships | List
|
Area | |
• Total | 1,491 km2 (576 sq mi) |
Population (2021) | |
• Total | 30,052 |
• Density | 20/km2 (52/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Major settlements |
|
Website | www |
Šalčininkai is the largest town and the administrative center of the district with its newly built quarters, while the second largest town is Eišiškės, a more historical town, which was the center of the district and the largest town before 1972.
It has a Polish majority population, with three-quarters of the population claiming Polish ethnicity.[2]
History edit
Soviet occupation edit
Šalčininkai district was formed in 1950, during the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, from 34 apylinkės of the abolished Vilnius county.[1] The district's area was 957 km².[1] In 1950–53, the Šalčininkai district was part of the Vilnius region.[1] In 1962, Šalčininkai and Eišiškės districts were merged into one and named Eišiškės district, while five neighborhoods were transferred to the Varėna district.[1] In 1972, Eišiškės district was renamed to Šalčininkai district.[1] There were two towns (Eišiškės, Šalčininkai) in the district in 1974.[1]
Years | Number of
apylinkės in the district |
Source |
---|---|---|
1954–1972 | 17 | [1] |
1976 | 16 | [1] |
1979 | 14 | [1] |
1986 | 13 | [1] |
1989 | 12 | [1] |
The Šalčininkai district's official Communist newspaper was called Lenin's Precepts (Russian: Заветы Ленина, romanized: Zavety Lenina; Polish: Przykazania Lenina; Lithuanian: Lenino priesakai) and published in three languages: Russian, Polish and Lithuanian.[3] Although officially, the absolute majority of the district's residents were Poles, as many as 8,000 of the inhabitants were subscribed to the Russian-language newspaper, while only one and a half thousand - to the Lithuanian and Polish language versions.[3] The newspaper spread hostile misinformation towards the re-emerging independent Lithuanian state of Lithuania in all language versions of its issues.[3]
1990s edit
On 11 March 1990, when the Supreme Council of Lithuania declared the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, some non-Lithuanians in the Vilnius Region, mostly members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, began actively creating a separatist territorial entity under Moscow's inspiration and guidance.[3] From 1988 to 21 August 1991, the autonomists of the Šalčininkai and Vilnius districts organized three congresses of the Poles of the Vilnius region.[3] In order to disrupt the Lithuanian state at that time, both aforementioned district councils adopted dozens of anti-state resolutions.[3] For example, by the decision of the Šalčininkai district council, as many as 384 of the district's young men were taken into the Soviet army during one and a half years and the work of the Lithuanian border guards was sabotaged in various ways.[3] During this period, all Lithuanian government decisions were blocked in Vilnius and Šalčininkai districts.[3] The autonomists acted brazenly, because of Moscow's direct support and because they were aided by the Soviet army, which was still stationed on Lithuanian soil.[3] The attempts to create a Polish autonomy in the Vilnius Region collapsed when the Moscow-led Soviet leadership, which was the project's main supporter, collapsed in the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt.[3]
In 1995, the Šalčininkai district municipality was established instead of the Šalčininkai district.[1]
Geography edit
Geographically, the eastern part of the district is in the Ashmyany Highlands , the western part is in the Southeast Plain , while the southwestern part is in the Eišiškės Plateau . The highest place (265 m (869 ft 5 in)) is near Katkuškės , the lowest (121 m (397 ft 0 in)) is near Šalčia, near the boundary between the Šalčininkai and the Varėna district municipalities.[1]
Through the district flows the river Merkys and its tributaries Šalčia and Verseka ,[1] as well as the Nemunas tributary Gauja. In the Šalčininkai district, there are 3 lakes and 13 ponds.[1] The Poškonys Reservoir (Poškonių tvenkinys) with an area of 0.3 km2 on the Gauja River is located in the district.
Forest coverage is 48%, with pine forests prevailing.[1] The biggest forest is the Rūdninkai forest.[1] The most important mineral deposits are gravel (Jašiūnai, Pabarė , Navakonys , Mantviliškės , Mikališkės ), sand (Pabarė).[1]
Lithuanian Route 104 passes through the district.
Climate edit
The average temperature in January is -4.5 °C, while in July it is 17 °C.[1] Annual rainfall is 650 mm.[1]
Demographics edit
Ethnicity edit
Ethnic group | 2021[4] | 2011[5] | 2001[6] | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pop. | % | Pop. | % | Pop. | % | |
Poles | 22,933 | 76.3 | 26,858 | 77.75 | 31,223 | 79.48 |
Lithuanians | 3,789 | 12.6 | 3,746 | 10.84 | 4,086 | 10.4 |
Russians | 1,517 | 5.05 | 1,858 | 5.38 | 1,948 | 4.96 |
Belarusians | 857 | 2.85 | 1,162 | 3.36 | 1,139 | 2.9 |
Ukrainians | 174 | 0.58 | 226 | 0.65 | 253 | 0.64 |
Romani/Gypsies | / | / | 82 | 0.24 | 105 | 0.27 |
Tatars | / | / | 28 | 0.08 | 33 | 0.08 |
Germans | / | / | 13 | 0.03 | 9 | 0.02 |
Latvians | / | / | 10 | 0.02 | 13 | 0.03 |
Others | 161 | 0.54 | 53 | 0.15 | 75 | 1.34 |
Not indicated | 621 | 2.07 | 487 | 1.41 | 398 | 1.01 |
Total | 30,052 | 100 | 34,544 | 100 | 39,282 | 100 |
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Bartoševičienė 2018.
- ^ "Tautinių mažumų departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Skaržinskas 2016.
- ^ "Gyventojai pagal tautybę savivaldybėse". Statistics Lithuania (in Lithuanian).
- ^ Lietuvos Respublikos 2011 metų gyventojų ir būstų surašymo rezultatai [Results of the 2011 Population and Housing Census of the Republic of Lithuania] (in Lithuanian). pp. 162–163.
- ^ Gyventojai pagal lytį, amžių, tautybę ir tikybą [Population by Sex, Age, Nationality and Religion] (in Lithuanian). Vilnius. 2002. pp. 192–193. ISBN 9986-589-79-7.
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Bibliography edit
- Bartoševičienė, Valė (2018-12-14). "Šalčininkų rajono savivaldybė". vle.lt (in Lithuanian).
- Skaržinskas, Česlovas (2016-12-01). "Šaltoje Šalčios žemėje" [In the cold land of Šalčia]. Bernardinai (in Lithuanian).