Belarus is hilly lowland which has several rivers, lakes, forests and swamps. This country is bordered by countries like Poland to its west, Russia to its east, Ukraine to its south and Latvia & Lithuania to its north. During the historical period Belarus was known as White Russia and later is was named as Belorussia. Belarus was been ruled by Russia for quite a long period. Belarus declared it first independence on 25th March 1918 which was short-lived as Soviet Union captured the country. But on 27th July 1990 its real independence was been declared from Soviet Union. Then in the year 2000 for the first time Belarus held parliamentary elections since the referendum of 1996.
Belarus is been divided into six provinces which are Minsk, Brest, Home, Vitsebsk, Mahilyow and Hrodna. Belarusian is the official language of the country although there are other languages which are also spoken. Majority of the people in the country consist of the Belarusian’s where as Russians, Ukrainians and Poles are minorities. Around 80 percent of the population belongs to the Orthodox Church and others belong to the Roman Catholic Church. The climate in this region is moderate and humid with cold winters and warm summers. Belarus has one of the most valuable mineral resources Peat, which is mainly used for fertilizers and fuel. It also has deposits such as clay, rock, potassium salt, dolomite, sand and chalk.