Lithuania

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Country Name

Lithuania, or officially the Republic of Lithuania.

Location

Lithuania is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of the Baltic states. Lithuania is situated on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the southeast of Sweden and Denmark.

It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Russia to the southwest.

Capital

Vilnius.

Reason for Naming

According to a widespread popular belief, the word Lietuva (Lithuania) originated from the Lithuanian words lyti (to rain) and lietus (rain). However, there is no serious scientific support for this theory. Since the word Lietuva has a suffix (-uva), the original word should have no suffix.

Flag

The first use and adoption of the current flag design were on 25 April 1918. Then the Flag of Lithuania was restored on 18 November 1988.* The current flag was adopted on 8 July 2004.​ The flag consists of three horizontal stripes of yellow, green, and red colors. The flag was in force the years from 1919 to 1940 until Lithuania did not become part of the Soviet Union and the flag was not dropped. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the tricolor has been readopted as the national flag. The yellow color represents the sun and fertile cornfields, the green color represents forests and meadows, and the red color represents the bloodshed in the struggle for the country's independence and for the courage of Lithuanians during these fights. *The flag that is used nowadays differs only by dimensions from the flag used before the Soviet occupation. ​ * Flag Facts:

- The flag of Lithuania is similar to the flag of Myanmar both composed of three horizontal stripes of yellow, green, and red, but the flag of Myanmar charges with a large white five-pointed star at the center. -The flags of Lithuania, Myanmar, and Suriname are the only non-African national flags to contain the pan-African colors red, yellow, and green.